We remember Penelope as the faithful wife of the eponymous character from Homer's Odyssey, which focuses on Odysseus's ten-year journey home following the ten-year Trojan War. Despite the outwardly happy ending of Odysseus's return, Penelope is a tragic figure defined by her fidelity if little else. In my telling of Penelope's story, I explore the emotional landscape and loss of identity when one is reduced in such limiting ways and unable to speak for oneself in any other terms than love and devotion to another. Penelope, for soprano and large chamber ensemble, is scored for flute, oboe, bass clarinet (doubling on clarinet), bassoon, horn in F, trumpet in C, trombone, two percussionists, piano, soprano, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass. This ensemble is diverse enough to offer a great range of contrasting--but also complementary--colors while small enough to allow clarity of individual parts. The piece consists of three movements: I. Be still, my heart, my heart, be still II. I do [interlude #1] Twenty Long Years [interlude #2] III. I need him I wish I could remember Odysseus The three movements mark stages of Penelope's decreasing sense of self. The first portrays falling in love characterized by metric ambiguity, rhythmic complexity, and a spectrum built on a B1 fundamental given in the double bass. The second consists of Penelope's vow of fidelity, which is then challenged by Odysseus's abandonment for war. The final movement consists of Penelope professing her love and need for Odysseus once again. But now that twenty years have gone by, those feelings and memories are fading. The music returns to the B fundamental in the last section. But where B had been the fundamental for falling in love at the beginning, now the spectrum conveys a sense of tragic permanence: all Penelope can do is utter Odysseus's name, slightly morphed in each incantation via varying IPA syllables. Though the audience may know the ending to Homer's poem, my piece ends on any day before Odysseus's return: the drama for me lies in the unknowing. Liminal processes in music intrigue me and so I have implemented various liminal techniques throughout the piece. At the beginning of the first movement, for example, the piano has a regular eight-beat-plus-one-eighth-note "pulse". That is to say I do not expect a pulse to be felt, per se. Instead of a perceived periodicity, I suspect a listener will hear long tones of indeterminate lengths. I use the term literally (as in subliminal) in the section "I wish I could remember". Penelope tries, but fails, to recollect a concert she and Odysseus attended before the war. In the music I quote pieces by the composers she is incorrectly recalling, thus externalizing her failing memory. One other liminal process I use often in Penelope is the process of timbral morphing. This term pertains to the process wherein one instrument seems to morph into another. In measure 25 of "Be still, my heart, my heart, be still" the double bass harmonic blends into a cello which then is blended by violin II and bass clarinet. This type of orchestration projects a state of intermediacy such that I suspect the listener may not accurately identify the instrument(s) being heard. This technique occurs in the last movement in measures 106-107 where the oboe subsumes Penelope, as if mistaking her identity for the woodwind. These liminal processes help contribute to the transition of Penelope's emotional state from gain to loss.

The purpose of this study is to present various insights into Frank Ticheli's song cycle, An American Dream. Frank Ticheli is an American composer, born in 1958, mainly known for his music for concert band and wind ensemble. He has also composed various orchestral pieces, which are very important. This essay provides a general overview of all his orchestral oeuvre until 2010. It then focuses on the genesis and creation of his orchestral song cycle An American Dream. Deep study of the score and preparation for performance and recording were used to give insights into this work, which is subtitled: A Symphony of Songs for Soprano and Orchestra. Direct communication with Frank Ticheli proved most helpful. The essay also refers to performance issues and assessment of the work for performance with various types of orchestras. Part of this essay is the inclusion of the recording of An American Dream, which took place in November 2009, at the Gusman Hall, University of Miami, Frost Symphony Orchestra, Zoe Zeniodi, conductor. Leilah Dione Ezra is the soprano on the recording.

Benjamin Britten was one of the major twentieth-Century composers in England, wrote twelve song cycles for voice and piano or various instruments, and the most prolific composer of the genre since Gustav Mahler. On this Island written during his early period, Britten employs various Baroque musical traits and the modern music techniques, which shows his influence on the neoclassical style. The study of the lecture recital document contains four main sections: the life of the composer, the stylistic features of Britten¡¦s song compositions, the written background of the cycle, and detailed analysis of the whole cycle. On This Island was Britten¡¦s first song cycle written for solo voice and piano. The success of premiere of the cycle brought him as one of the most important composer of this genre in the history of the twentieth-century music.

A song cycle for baritone and mixed chamber ensemble, "Songs about Words" consists of five songs for everyday concepts and subjects, and explores deeper themes of communication and identity. The ensemble consists of piano, accordion, tenor saxophone, percussion and double bass. The text was inspired by Pablo Neruda and written by the composer.

abstract: “OUT.” is a song cycle for bass and piano that follows the coming out process of a young homosexual who has been raised in a politically and religiously conservative corner of American culture. This character was taught from a very young age that anything or anyone of a queer nature was inherently wrong and should be avoided and scorned. The story arc captured in this seven-movement work is only a small portion of what the character ultimately goes through as they mature. This portion of their narrative has been isolated with the hope of embodying a queer character of strength, and this piece begins with the character knowing, understanding, and having already come to terms with their own sexuality. The story outlined in this song cycle is one of hardship that ultimately leads to triumph, as a demonstration that overcoming queer suppression is an achievable goal. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Composition 2019

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Ricky Ian Gordon (1956-) is one of America¡¦s most distinguished contemporary composers. Though successful in writing for opera, dance, theater and film, he has gained great recognition for his song compositions. Composed in 1992, Genius Child is a song cycle of 10 songs which sets the poems of American poet, Langston Hughes (1902-1967). The study is divided into five parts for discussion: An overview of Gordon¡¦s life, art music of Gordon, an introduction to poet Langston Hughes; the background to composing Genius Child; and music analysis of six selected songs from Genius Child. By analyzing six songs from Gordon¡¦s Genius Child, the study is to discuss how Gordon tightly combines music and poems together through vocal, melody, rhythm and other music techniques, which enables to depict the poem¡¦s conception. Gordon often properly utilizes simple rhythms and relaxing genre of music, and integrates them with the textures and harmonies of classical music, to create elegant music with style. His music can appropriately reflect the conception and deep meaning of the poet writing a poem. In addition, Gordon adds popular music elements into music to express the styles of popular music, reflecting modern urban life.

abstract: Everyday Arias for soprano and orchestra was composed largely in Arizona and completed in February 2011. The text was taken from a small collection of the composer's own poetry referencing her memories of life in rural Mississippi. Everyday Arias endeavors to elevate these prosaic experiences and settings to art, expressing the everyday as beautiful and worthy of artistic treatment. The primary compositional model for this work was Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915, but other influences included Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Benjamin Britten, and Dominick Argento. Barber's and Argento's musical treatment of prose style seemed particularly appropriate to the goals of Everyday Arias. Ives and Copland used hymn tunes both to evoke certain associations of worship and as sources of interesting material. The vocal writing of all five composers was influential, but the orchestration techniques for winds are largely a product of studying Ives and Argento, while many string gestures are more obviously tied to Britten and - more historically - Debussy.The primary motive that weaves through the work features an ascending major second followed by a descending perfect fourth, in a long-short-long rhythmic pattern. As a melodic fragment, the motive is often inverted to a descending-ascending pattern, or distorted slightly by expanding the second interval to a perfect fifth, or used in retrograde. The motive was derived from the first measure of the melody "Toplady" (1830) by Thomas Hastings, better known as the hymn "Rock of Ages." In the first movement, the motive is used most frequently in sequences. The second movement treats the motive as a melodic element and as a unit in ostinati. The final movement humorously transforms it into a syncopated gesture to evoke ragtime. / Dissertation/Thesis / D.M.A. Music 2011