Identifier

etd-11112009-210447

Degree

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

Department

Music

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Stephen Paulus (b. 1949) is emerging as one of America’s accomplished composers for the voice. He is skilled in writing sensitively for the demands of the solo voice and is becoming known as an important contributor to the genre with approximately 50 art songs, 12 song cycles as well as 10 operas and 250 choral pieces. This paper will discuss the song cycle, All My Pretty Ones, for soprano and piano, which was published in 1984 with a text by Michael Dennis Browne. The cycle was Paulus and Browne’s first collaboration and since its conception the two have continued to work together on operas, oratorios, and song settings. All My Pretty Ones, consists of eight songs and was commissioned by a National Endowment for the Arts as a Composer/Librettist Fellowship. The written document is composed of five chapters and will introduce Paulus as a prolific American composer, provide performance considerations, as well as an overview and interpretation of the song cycle and its poetry. Chapter One provides biographical information on Stephen Paulus. Chapter Two includes information pertaining to Paulus’ compositional style and inspiration in composing. Chapter Three includes biographical information on poet, Michael Dennis Browne as well as a comprehensive interpretation of the eight songs of the cycle. Chapter Four contains a detailed examination of the musical settings of the eight songs, and finally, Chapter Five will draw conclusions.

Date

2009

Document Availability at the Time of Submission

Release the entire work immediately for access worldwide.

Committee Chair

Bade, Lori

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.4073

Included in

Music Commons

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