Matching Items (3)
Discovering Puerto Rican art song: a research project on four art song works by Héctor Campos Parsi
Description
Puerto Rico has produced many important composers who have contributed to the musical culture of the nation during the last 200 years. However, a considerable amount of their music has proven to be difficult to access and may contain numerous errors. This research project intends to contribute to the accessibility of such music and to encourage similar studies of Puerto Rican music. This study focuses on the music of Héctor Campos Parsi (1922-1998), one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century in Puerto Rico. After an overview of the historical background of music on the island and the biography of the composer, four works from his art song repertoire are given for detailed examination. A product of this study is the first corrected edition of his cycles Canciones de Cielo y Agua, Tres Poemas de Corretjer, Los Paréntesis, and the song Majestad Negra. These compositions date from 1947 to 1959, and reflect both the European and nationalistic writing styles of the composer during this time. Data for these corrections have been obtained from the composer's manuscripts, published and unpublished editions, and published recordings. The corrected scores are ready for publication and a compact disc of this repertoire, performed by soprano Melliangee Pérez and the author, has been recorded to bring to life these revisions. Despite the best intentions of the author, the various copyright issues have yet to be resolved. It is hoped that this document will provide the foundation for a resolution and that these important works will be available for public performance and study in the near future.
ContributorsRodríguez Morales, Luis F., 1980- (Author) / Campbell, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Buck, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Holbrook, Amy (Committee member) / Kopta, Anne (Committee member) / Ryan, Russell (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Oxford’s Grove Dictionary of Music describes art song as “song intended for the concert repertory, as opposed to a traditional or popular song,” but despite this broad
definition, poetry is the primary text source for art song. Poetry is stereotypically
considered more suitable for art song because of its rhythm, meter, and rhyme. However,
poems are not the only sources for art songs.
Many examples of prose are used in song, such as Libby Larsen’s Try Me, Good
King! which sets the last words of the wives of Henry XIII, and Patrice Michaels’ The
Long View: A Portrait of Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Nine Songs, which sets texts from
Justice Ginsburg’s life. Despite the wealth of potentials texts, there are not many songs
set to text from novels. Even setting letters is more common than novel excerpts,
including Stacy Garrop’s My Dearest Ruth and Libby Larsen’s Songs from Letters.
There may be concerns which prevent text from novels being set to song, for
example, the short length of a song may limit its ability to contextualize plot or character
relationships. Composers and performers may also face challenges in approaching
narration or dialogue from multiple characters to be sung by only one voice.
Additionally, prose often contains more filler words and colloquial language. All of these
are challenges which must be faced when adapting and performing text from novels.
Despite these challenges, using text from novels can be a rewarding experience
for musicians and audiences, as they bring to life the drama and emotion of a character.
Some authors, such as Jane Austen, use novels to reflect their characters’ worlds as well
as their own cultures and societies. Paired with art song, an intimate way of sharing
human experiences with audiences, songs with text from novels have the potential to
become profound snapshots of a character or author’s world.
This paper will discuss art songs with prose text excerpted from novels and will
analyze sources of both poetry and prose to determine if there are fundamental textual
differences which prevent the performance of songs with text from novels.
ContributorsMarr, Mackenzie Lyn (Author) / Campbell, Andrew (Thesis advisor) / Aoki, Miki (Committee member) / Aoki Navarro, Fernanda (Committee member) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
This paper is a performance guide for Quatro Canções da Floresta do Amazonas [Four Songs of The Amazon Forest] by Brazil's most prolific composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos. The primary purpose of the paper is to serve as a source for the correct pronunciation of the Brazilian Portuguese language of the songs. It will begin with an overview of Heitor Villa-Lobos's life and career, showing how his compositions catalyzed the Nationalistic movement in Brazilian classical music. His inclusion of native and folk elements into classical compositions was a significant innovation, which places Villa-Lobos as one of the most important Brazilian classical composers. Furthermore, this paper will explore the issue of Brazilian Portuguese diction in depth, using the Quatro Canções da Floresta do Amazonas to aid non-native Brazilian speakers. This includes an International Phonetic Alphabet transcription of the songs, as well as a recording of the songs being read and sung by the author, a link to which can be found in the appendix.
ContributorsWillmer, Asleif Findabhair (Author) / FitzPatrick, Carole (Thesis advisor) / Dreyfoos, Dale (Committee member) / Solis, Theodore (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017