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Four Musical Settings of Ophelia

This paper presents a detailed comparative analysis of four important settings of Ophelia's song texts from Shakespeare's Hamlet composed by Brahms, Strauss, Chausson, and Pasatieri. Each of the first three represents a different facet of song composition during the period 1873-1919. The "Five Songs of Ophelia" by Brahms recall the simplicity of Volkslied. Strauss's "Drei Lieder der Ophelia" assume a more complex and formal demeanor, while Chausson's setting, "Chanson d'Ophelie," demonstrates French preoccupation with setting the natural speech rhythms of language. Pasatieri's "Ophelia's Lament," from 1975, uses operatic gestures within the context of piano-accompanied song. An interview with Pasatieri which defines this song as monodrama is transcribed in the appendix.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc332625
Date05 1900
CreatorsOdom, Gale J. (Gale Johnson)
ContributorsBush, Deanna D., Shrader, David L.
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
Formatv, 115 leaves : music, Text
RightsPublic, Odom, Gale J. (Gale Johnson), Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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