A poet revealed: Elizabeth Barrett Browning asportrayed in Libby Larsen's "Sonnets from the

Portuguese" and Dominick Argento's "Casa Guidi"

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Authors Rowe, Martha L., 1953-

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A POET REVEALED:

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING AS PORTRAYED

IN LIBBY LARSEN'S SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE

AND DOMINICK ARGENTO'S CASA GUIDI

by

Martha Lu Rowe

A Document Submitted to the Faculty of the

SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND DANCE

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS WITH A MAJOR IN PERFORMANCE

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

1 9 9 6

UMI Number: 9713358

UMI Microform 9713358 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.

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THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

GRADUATE COLLEGE

As members of the Final Examination Committee, we certify that we have

read the document prepared by Mdrtha Lu Rowe

entitled A Poet Revealed: Elizabeth Barrett Brov/ning As Portrayed

In Libby Larsen's Sonnets From The Portuguese And Dominick

Argento's Casa Guidi

and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the requirements

Doctor of Musical Arts for the Degree of

binson

Date PronJJocelyn Reiter

Date

Date

Final approval and acceptance of this document is contingent upon the

candidate's submission of the final copy of the dociiment to the

Graduate College.

I hereby certify that I have read this document prepared under my

direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the

requirement.

Director Date

3

STATEMENT BY AUTHOR

This document has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.

Brief quotations from this document are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgment of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the head of the major department of the Dean of the Graduate College when in his or her judgment the proposed use of the material is in the interests of scholarship. In all other instances, however, permission must be obtained from the author.

SIGNED:.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you, Libby Larsen and Dominick Argento, for being so gracious and

giving so generously of your time. My thanks to Susan Brailove at Oxford University

Press for sending me score after score of Larsen's works. Thank you. Prof. Robinson,

Prof. Reiter, and Dr. Day for your invaluable guidance and support. Lyneen, thanks so

much for constantly reminding me about deadlines and keeping me on track. Dr.

Brobeck, my eternal thanks for forcing me to become computer-literate. Jane, Chris,

Janet, Greg, Ron, Brian, Laurie, Tina, Paul, Jill, Mary, and Diane -for the wine, the

movies, the shoulders, the incredible friendship you all showed over the course of this

degree - my deepest thanks. To the music faculty and my students at NMSU: thanks for

cutting me some slack. I owe you one. And to ray family - my love.

5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. UST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 6

n. ABSTRACT 7

m. INTRODUCTION 8

IV. ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

Life 10

Letters and Sonnets from the Portuguese 15

V. LIBBY LARSEN

Life and Works 18

Sonnets from the Portuguese

Compositional Background 20

Overview of Text 22

VI. SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: ANALYSIS OF

SELECTED WORKS 26

VII. DOMINICK ARGENTO

Life and Works 42

Casa Guidi

Compositional Background 45

Overview of Text 46

Vm. CASA GUIDI: ANALYSIS OF SELECTED WORKS 50

DC. CONCLUSIONS 70

X. REFERENCES 72

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ILLUSTRATION I, Chronological order of letters used in Casa Guidi

ILLUSTRATION 2, Arch form of Casa Guidi

7

ABSTRACT

Composers Libby Larsen and Dominick Argento have each written song cycles

based on the texts of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Larsen's Sonnets from the Portuguese.

for soprano and chamber orchestra, is a setting of six of the forty-four poems from

Browning's amatory sequence of the same name. Argento's Casa Guidi. for mezzo-

soprano and orchestra, is a setting of excerpts from letters written by Browning,

primarily to her sister Henrietta, during her years in Florence. This study examines the

two composers' images of Browning, and how those images are portrayed through

choice of text and musical setting.

The image of Browning depicted in Larsen's cycle is that of a woman who moves

from a fear of love to an acceptance and embracing of it. The love that she comes to

know is a love that recognizes the necessity of moving on in spite of unresolved issues.

This image was gleaned from Browning's sonnets by Larsen and soprano Arleen Auger,

who worked closely together to create a cycle that would speak of mature love, in

contrast to the youthful love in Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben. Three of the six

sonnets in the cycle are analyzed for Larsen's use of compositional devices that reinforce

the themes of the recognition and acceptance of love and of U:aist in non-resolution.

The texts chosen by Argento were based on his desire to depict the feminine and

vulnerable aspects of Browning during her years in Florence. Although the letter

excerpts are not arranged in chronological order, they accurately reveal a woman who

delighted in her home and family. The last three of the five songs are examined to show

how Argento's careful text setting and use of orchesural color and motives enhance

Browning's words and the overall mood of the letters.

I. INTRODUCTION

American composers Libby Larsen and Dominick Argento have each written a

song cycle based on texts by Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Larsen's cycle. Sonnets from

the Portuguese, is a setting of six of the forty-four poems from Browning's famous

amatory sequence of the same name, written in 1845. The text of Argento's Casa Guidi

is compiled primarily from Browning's letters to her sister, Henrietta, written between

1846 and 1857. The combined texts of the two cycles offer a limited but informative

portrait of the Victorian poet from the time she met Robert until a few years before her

death in 1861.

The purpose of this study is to examine how the composers' images of Browning

affected their choice of text, and how those images were musically depicted. Brief

biographical studies of Larsen and Argento are presented, as well as a more detailed

study of Browning, focusing on her life from 1845 to 1857. Compositional background

information is given, followed by a general overview of each cycle. A text-centered

analysis of selected songs focuses on why particular texts were chosen, how they were

set and manipulated, what the composers intended to emphasize, and how the music

reflects that intent.

The question arose of how to shorten Elizabeth Barrett Browning's name. If

Robert Browning had not been an equally famous poet and an important name in this

document, the issue would have been easily addressed. Various authors have used

"EBB," "Barrett-Browning," and simply "Browning." I have chosen to use the

traditional last name as well, substituting "Elizabeth" when both her name and Robert's

appeared in a possibly confusing setting. The use of "Robert" was an arbiurary decision

based on the need for clarity.

9

The scores used in the analysis sections are the composers' own piano reductions.

Both strongly prefer their original orchestral versions, but acknowledged the usefulness

of the reductions. For the sake of space, the reductions have been reproduced in this

document with the orchestral instrumentation indicated.

10

n. ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING

UFE

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was arguably the most influential female poet of the

Victorian era. She had been considered to succeed Wordsworth as England's Poet

Laureate even before she had published her most famous works, Sonnets from the

Portuguese and Aurora Leigh. Tennyson was acmally awarded the post, but Browning's

influence and success continued to grow. Writers and poets such as George Eliot, Dante

Gabriel Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, and Virginia Woolf held her work in high esteem and

cited her influence on their own writing.

Browning, bom March 3, 1806, was the eldest of twelve children bom to Edward

Barrett Moulton-Barrett and Mary Graham Clarke. She was by all accounts a bright,

lively, and loving child. Her early interest in poetry was both indulged and encouraged

by her parents, particularly her father, who paid for the printing of much of her early

work. Browning, in return, dedicated all of her early volumes of poetry to him.

Browning longed to receive the type of classical education that was expected of a

poet, and which was limited to males. Her eldest brother, Bro, was granted exactly what

she wanted, and his education made her aware of her own limited freedom and

opportunities. Browning's precociousness and determination helped her to overcome the

obstacles society had placed before her. She consumed the works of English and French

writers, and, with the help of Bro's tutor, learned both Greek and Latin. In later years

she would go on to teach herself Italian, Spanish, German, and Hebrew.

In 1821, Browning and two of her sisters, Henrietta and Arabel, fell seriously ill.

The sisters recovered fully, but she was not so fortunate. The illness left her an invalid

and her health became an obsession with both her and her family. However, she was not

11

completely distressed by her condition, as she discovered that the life of an invalid could

afford her the solitude necessary for a productive literary output. Browning's next

several years were characterized by a series of improvements in her health followed by

periods of illness. She was often advised by her doctors to remain for long periods of

time in her close, darkened room, and even to refrain from changing her clothes too

often. She would typically wear a fully-lined black velvet dress all winter long, replacing

it with a black silk dress for the warmer months.' Early in her illness she was prescribed

opium, in the form of laudanum, to ease muscle spasms and help her to sleep. She

continued to take the opium for the rest of her life, stopping only briefly during her one

successful pregnancy.

In October of 1821, the unexpected death of Browning's mother began a series of

devastating losses that would profoundly affect the entire Browning household.

Browning found herself addressing the idea of divine retribution, believing that grief

would be the price extracted for happiness.^ She began then to steel herself against

further loss.

In 1832 another loss occurred, this time loss of place. Due to financial problems,

the Barretts had to sell Hope End, the family estate where Browning had lived since she

was three years old. The family moved first to Sidmouth, then to London, eventually

settling permanently on Wimpole Stieet. Prior to that last move, however. Browning

became seriously ill again. By August of 1838 she was given an ultimatum by her

doctor; winter somewhere warmer or he would not be responsible for the consequences.

She spent the next three years recovering in Torquay, during which time she lost two

' Dorothy Mermin. Elizabeth Barrett Browning: The Origins of a New Poetry (Chicago: U of Chicago P. 1989) 78.

- Mai^arciFoistcr, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (New York: Doubleday. 1988) 51.

12

brothers. Sam, six years her junior, died in February, 1840 in Jamaica of a fever. Five

months later Bro. her favorite brother, drowned in a sailing accident in Torquay.

In September of 1841 Browning finally returned to London, vowing never to

leave her home again. Though still dependent upon her nightly dose of opium, she was

feeling much stronger, and was determined to regain her health. She threw herself into

her work, becoming a critic for the literary journal Athenaeum, and preparing a new

volume of her own poems.

In spite of her renewed strength, she found herself avoiding social contact,

staying alone in her room during the day and seeing her family in the evenings. She

allowed a few relatives and old friends to visit, but otherwise refused anyone who

requested to see her. including Wordsworth.^ Her correspondence, however, was

prodigious, and she found she could stay in contact with the outside world while still

maintaining her self-imposed isolation. She could also control others' perceptions of her

by what she chose to say or not say in her letters.

One friend who was allowed regular visits was John Kenyon, a distant cousin

and himself a poet. He took great interest in Browning's work and served as an

important liaison between her and other poets. It was Kenyon who offered to introduce

her to a young poet whom she regarded as a genius and about whom she had spoken

enthusiastically; Robert Browning. She immediately refused Kenyon's offer, fearing her

own excitement, as well as her father's displeasure with the idea of an unmarried man in

her room.

Robert Browning did finally meet her. but only after a lengthy correspondence.

In January 1845. after seeing his own name in one of her poems, he wrote her effusing,

"I love your verses with all my heart...and I love you too." Thus began one of the most

^ Mermin. Origins. 80.

13

well-documented courtships of all time. At first the letters were full of praise for one

another's work, although she would offer careful criticism of his writing when requested.

Over time, though, Robert's requests to actually meet her became more frequent and

insistent. She demured, fearing that he had fallen in love with the person he imagined

her to be, not the person she actually was. She feared that his chivalric nature was

responding to an image of a passi ve invalid, a damsel awaiting rescue, when in reality

she was a thirty-eight-year-old spinster afraid to leave the security of her protected

world.

After refusing many of his requests to come visit, she finally relented. By the

time they met on May 20, 1845, the content of their letters had shifted from professional

to highly personal, and the relationship was already far advanced. Nevertheless, more

than a year would pass before Browning would decide to marry him. She knew that her

father would refuse to give his blessing to her marriage, or to the marriage of any of her

siblings. After his wife's death, Mr. Barrett had become intensely religious, and believed

it was his duty as a father to demand complete obedience from his children and to protect

them from sin. No suitor had ever been deemed chaste enough for his children, and she

knew Robert would be no exception.

It was in secret that Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning were married on

September 12, 1846, and in secret that they left for Paris the following week. The night

before the wedding. Browning had entrusted only her maid Wilson with the plan. She

needed Wilson, who not only helped her get to the church, but also moved with the

couple to Paris and then on to Florence, serving as Browning's housekeeper and eventual

nanny.

After a short stay in Paris and then in Pisa, the Brownings set up housekeeping in

Florence. They lived for three months in a six-room apartment at the Casa Guidi, a

14

former palace that had been broken into rental quarters. When their lease expired,

Robert tried in vain to renew it at the less-expensive summer rates. Unable to justify the

extra expense of the winter rates, Robert again went searching for housing. They

temporarily settled in a small house opposite the Grand Duke's palace in the piazza Pitti.

On May 9, 1848, the Brownings were able to once again return to Casa Guidi, remaining

there until Elizabeth's death in 1861. They leased the apartment unfurnished, and both

Robert and Elizabeth took great pleasure in furnishing the large, high-ceilinged rooms.

Their marriage was an unqualified success, each taking great delight in the

other's presence. Browning's health improved markedly in the mild Italian climate, and

her success as a writer continued to grow. She became enamoured of the Italian culture,

and deeply involved in the politics of the country. She also became a mother. In March

1849, Browning gave birth to Robert Wiedemann Barrett Browning, nicknamed "Pen."

None of Browning's family ever came to visit her in Florence although she,

Robert, and Pen returned to London four times between 1851-56. Her father, who died

in 1857, refused to even acknowledge her presence, but she was able to see and stay in

close contact with many of her siblings, especially Henrietta and Arabel. When back in

Italy, she would write long, detailed letters on a regular basis, keeping her friends and

family abreast of her life and thoughts.

Browning thrived as a wife and mother as well as a literary figure. It was after

her marriage that two of her most famous works, Casa Guidi Windows (1848) and

Aurora Leigh (pub. 1856), were written, and her Sonnets from the Portuguese, written

during her courtship, were published. Her output began to slow when, in the winter of

1859, she became very ill. Her final book. Poems from Congress, was published in

March I860. After that, bouts of what appears to have been pulmonary tuberculosis

15

became more frequent, rendering her progressively weaker.-^ On June 29, 1861, at the

age of 56, Browning died in her husband's arms.

LETTERS AND SONNETS

Although known as a poet, a large portion of Browning's literary output was in

the form of letters. She was a prolific correspondent who expected her letters to be

saved and read by future generations and biographers. Mermin states:

By the mid nineteenth century, writers who hoped to interest posterity could expect their letters to be published after their deaths, and perhaps even before, unless they took pre-emptive action.^

Robert had opposed the publication of her letters, and burned many of those in his

possession. He could not bring himself to destroy the love letters, though, and Pen had

them published in 1899.^ Many of the letters to other people were also saved. Philip

Kelley and Ronald Hudson have collected all of the surviving letters of both Robert and

Elizabeth, and expect the letters, along with related documents and annotations, to fill

forty volumes.

Browning's letters are often rich in detail and imagery. They present a sense of

spontaneity which is dampened only by the fact that "the same lively sentences [are]

reproduced for different correspondents."' Browning's letters to her family undoubtedly

contained some of those stock phrases, but they also were characterized by that sense of

Mermin. Origins. 236.

^ Mermin. Origins. 125.

^ Edward C. McAleer. 77ie Sro\v7i(/igso/Ca5a C«/c/t (New York: Browning Inst.. 1979) 101.

' Mermin. Origins. 125.

16

intimacy reserved for those who knew her best. Letters to her sister, Henrietta, on which

the Argento cycle was based, were written on several levels: as sister to sister; wife to

wife; mother to mother; and certainly friend to friend. These letters, along with

annotations, were carefully copied into manuscript books by Henrietta's husband,

Surtees Cook, in 1875 and published in 1929.®

Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese, the basis of the Larsen cycle, serve an

important role in literary history. The set of poems was the first major amatory sequence

written in English since the Renaissance. Its publication sparked a revival of the love

sonnet sequence, with such poets as Tennyson, the Rossettis, and Meredith following

Browning's lead.^ Its publication also marked the first time a woman poet adopted the

voice of the sonneteer, traditionally a male domain. In the sonnets of such poets as

Dante, Petrarch, and Shakespeare, it is the man, the subject, who speaks and the

unobtainable woman, the object, who is admired. In Browning's sonnets, not only is the

speaker a woman, but she is both the pursuer and the pursued, the lover and the beloved.

The object of her love is not an unobtainable ideal, but a man she will eventually marry.

Furthermore, it is a poet addressing another poet, not a poet singing to his muse.

The semi-autobiographical Sonnets was the first long work Browning wrote

based on her own experiences, rather than those of mythical or fictionalized characters.

The poems chronicle a struggle with and subsequent victory over fear and self-doubt.

They also present a speaker who not only longs for the beloved, but makes demands of

him as well. Many of the themes and allusions Browning employs can also be found in

® Lcon3sA\i{\ix\ty, Elizjabeth Barrett Browning: Letters to her Sister. !846-1859 {London: John Murray, 1929).

^ Mermin. Origins. 129.

Mermin. Origins. 129.

17

her love letters to Robert. Indeed, the dating of the poems is based on parallel passages

between the letters and poems. They were probably written in the fall and winter of

1845-46, although Robert was not shown them until 1849.

The poems were extremely important to Browning. They were among the very

few possessions that she took with her when she and Robert eloped. She never

mentioned them during the first three years of their marriage, waiting until the summer

of 1849 to present them to Robert. In spite of the personal nature of the texts, he

insisted they be published. The title. Sonnets from the Portuguese, was intended to

imply they were Browning's translations of another poet's works, and not those of her

own.'' They were published as part of a larger collection of her works in 1850 and

again in 1853 and 1856. Although they have become her most famous poems, no

separate edition of them was published during her lifetime.

'' Mermin. Origins, 144.

18

ni. LffiBYLARSEN

UFEAND WORKS

Composer Elizabeth (Libby) Larsen was bom in Wilmington, Delaware in 1950,

and grew up in Minneapolis. She earned all three of her degrees from the University of

Minnesota. Originally intending to major in voice, she soon found that her true talent

lay in the fields of theory and analysis, and then composition. She studied with

composers Eric Stokes, Paul Fetler, and Dominick Argento at the University of

Minnesota and earned her Ph.D. in composition in 1978. While still a graduate student,

she and fellow composer Stephen Paulus co-founded the Minnesota Composer's Forum.

They also shared the role of Composer-in-Residence of the Minnesota Orchestra from

1983-87.

Larsen is the recipient of many awards, including the American Council on the

Arts Young Artists Award, the American Express "Women to Watch," and a Bush Artist

Fellowship. The Ford Foundation and the Jerome Foundation have also granted her

awards. She is a former vice-president of the American Music Center and has served on

the Music Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Larsen's compositions cover a broad range of genres, from opera to music for

trombone and percussion. She is in constant demand as a composer, having received

commissions from such artists as Benita Valente. Arleen Auger, Richard Stoltzman,

Emanuel Ax, and Eugenia Zuckerman. Opera companies in Houston, Omaha,

Cleveland, Minnesota, and Arkansas have commissioned and performed her works, as

have the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Houston Symphony, and the Minnesota

Orchestra.

19

Because of her interest in the voice, many of her compositions are operas. They run the

gamut from the children's opera Some Pig (19731 to the multi-media Frankenstein: The

Modem Prometheus (1989).

Her solo vocal works include numerous song sets and four song cycles. Larsen,

an avid reader, has a particular interest in women writers or the writings of women. All

of her song cycles to date have been based on the prose (letters or other writing) or

poetry of women. "She is committed to looking deeply into primary source writings of

creative women, mainly Americans."She believes that, in general, men do not set

women's texts well, and suspects that the reverse is also probably true.'^ A list of her

cycles and their subjects include: ME: (Brenda Ueland) (1987). based on Ueland's

autobiography of the same name: Songs from Letters (1989), on letters from Calamity

Jane (Martha Jane Canary Hickok) to her daughter, Janey; Sonnets from the Portuguese

(1991), selected from Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sequence of the same name; and

Mary Cassatt (1994). on letters from the artist. The Cassatt cycle incorporates slides of

the artist's paintings as an integral part of the performance.

GENERAL STYLE CHARACTERISTICS

Larsen's love of literature strongly influences her compositional choices.

In my music. I generally let the rhythm of the words, the varying length of phrases, and the word emphasis dictate specific rhythm, phrase structure and melodic material. When my music is performed, the words and phra.ses should flow quite naturally, almost conversationally.''*

Harriet McClcary, "A Song Cycle by Libby Larsen: ME (Brenda Ueland)." The NATS Journal 51.2 (1994) 3.

Libby Larsen, personal interview. 4 December 1995.

Libby Larsen. "Double Joy." American Organist 18 (March 1984) 50.

20

Larsen's melodies are both lyrical and declamatory, with one style often

overlapping into the other. She uses primarily diatonic writing, especially favoring

fourths and fifths, believing that they "fall naturally in the acoustics of the voice."

Octave leaps and displacements are also frequently employed, though never in a non-

vocal manner. Any unusual intervals or tonal shifts are usually prepared or reinforced

by the accompaniment.

Although her harmonies are basically tonal, she avoids key signatures, choosing

instead to leave the music free to move as the text suggests. As a result, frequent shifts

of key centers are common, and the harmonies tend to function in a non-traditional

manner.

The accompaniments, piano or orchestral, are often motive-based. The motives

may serve as an ostinato or as a thematic germ. Larsen sometimes uses the

accompaniment, especially the orchestra with its variety of colors, as a commentary on

the inner motivation of the writer, in contrast to the external details given by the text.

Finally, it is imponant for Larsen to establish a relationship with ihe performers

for whom she is writing.

Part of my creative process is always working with performers towards a performance...It is very difficult for me to write a piece without knowing the physicality of the...performers.'®

SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE

BACKGROUND

Just such a relationship was established between Larsen and soprano Arleen

Auger. In 1988, Auger asked Larsen to write a song cycle that would speak of mature

Larsen, "Double Joy." 50.

Libby Larsen. lecturc. Qnivcrsiiy of Arizona. 3 December 1995.

21

love, in contrast to the youthful love in Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben. She also

asked that Larsen use the same instrumentation that exists for Berlioz's Les nuits d'ete.'"^

She wanted to record the Larsen cycle with the Berlioz, and knew it would ease

production problems if both cycles required the same instrumentation.'^

Furthermore, Auger had a definite idea about the text. Not only did she want it

to speak of mature love, but she was specifically interested in Browning's Victorian

sequence, the Sonnets from the Portuguese. Larsen, preferring contemporary American

English and non-romanticized love, said:

I immediately had this vision of running up against a brick wall...so I asked her why...She said the right thing, because I became passionate about it. "The poetry is about mature love, which is about love and death...In mature love a person learns [that] non-resolution is where love lies, that the uust in non-resolution is what mature love is about."

Auger was also drawn to the sonnet form, which is highly structured and

restricted. She thought that Browning had found "freedom in constriction," both in the

Victorian language with which she dealt and in the Victorian world in which she lived.

The use of the sonnet was "...the perfect metaphor for freedom within confinement.

Auger and Larsen worked closely together throughout the development of the

cycle, both in person and by mail. They pored over the forty-four sonnets together,

finally deciding on numbers I, XXVIH, XXXIV, XXXV, XL, and XLIIL This grouping

The Berlioz orchestration includes 2 fl.. ob.. 2 cl.. bsn.. 3 hn.. harp and strings. The Larsen uses fl.. ob.. 2 cl.. bsn.. 2 hn., percussion (ch.. vib.. mar., orch bells, tam-tam), harp and string quintet.

Larsen. lecture.

Larsen. lecture.

Larsen. lecture

22

was faithful to the development of Browning's "growth from death and the questioning

through the [recognition and embracing of] love.'-i

The cycle was previewed at the Aspen Music Festival in 1989, with a mumal

friend, Joel Revzen, conducting. It was then reworked and previewed again at the

Ordway Music Theatre in St. Paul, Minnesota in November of 1991. Instrumentalists

were drawn from the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, with

Revzen again conducting. A preview recording was made with the intent of securing the

official premier performance.^2

This performance and recording proved to be Auger's last. A few weeks later a

malignant tumor was discovered in her brain. In the preface to their cycle, Larsen shares

this excerpt from Auger's final letter to her:

Finally I have been able to find enough peace and quiet, rest and concentration time.,.to listen to the tape of our piece...Oh, Libby, every time I hear our piece the more I fall in love with it. You have really written something very special which touches my heart and speaks my intentions from our project. I only regret that I will not be able to debut (premier) it and that someone will have that pleasure and honor because it will and must be performed! (March 1993).23

OVERVIEW OF TEXT

The image of Browning portrayed in Larsen's cycle is that of a woman who

moves from a fear of love to an acceptance and embracing of it. The love that she comes

2' Larsen. interview.

22 This performance of the Sonnets was included on the recording The Art ofArleen Auger

(Koch International Classics; 3-7248-211). Even though the sound quality of the live performance did not match that of the other compositions, which were recorded in the studio, the recording won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Recording.

23 Libby Larsen. preface. Sonnets from the Portuguese (Oxford: 1994).

23

to icnow is a mature love, a love that has experienced grief and death; a love that

recognizes the necessity of moving on in spite of unresolved issues.

The six sonnets Larsen chose to set show the poet's progression from resistance

to receptivity to reciprocity. The opening song, / thought once how Theocritus had sung,

is also the opening poem of the sequence. The poet reflects on what the past years had

promised and yet failed to bring. There is no hint of bitterness, but only melancholy and

resignation to her present state. Suddenly she is aware of another presence, which she

identifies as Death. She is physically overwhelmed by this presence, and struggles to

release herself from its grip. In the final words of the sonnet the presence reveals itself

as "Not Death, but Love." The Death-Love struggle within the poet then continues to

figure predominantly throughout the remainder of the sonnet sequence.

The second song, based on Sonnet XXVIII, recalls the events that have occurred

in the relationship between the poet and her now-revealed beloved from their first

meeting to the present. In My Letters! the poet is pictured sitting, reading through her

bundle of love letters. The Love-Death theme appears in the form of "dead" and "mute"

papers that bear words of life and love. She ponders her lover's words as they progress

from a simple request to see her to messages too intimate to even repeat. Her responses

to his growing passion move from overwhelming excitement, through fear, to her own

intimate response.

With the same heart, / said, I'll answer thee is taken from Sonnet XXXIV. The

poet has now chosen to respond to her lover as freely as she does to those in her own

family. She contrasts her childhood response to being called with her response to

summons from her lover. In childhood, her smile was feigned and was brought forth in

obedience. Now, her response is accompanied by a willing heart and a release from

solitude. Furthermore, there is an invitation for a physical, sensual response from the

24

lover: "Lay thy hand on it [her heart], best one, and allow that no child's foot could run

as fast as this blood."

In the fourth song, a setting of Sonnet XXXV, the poet begins to count the cost

of this Love. What can and must she risk in order to partake of it? Must there be a

death, both of herself and of her relationship to her family, in order to know love? If she

gives all, will he be everything she needs? If I give all for thee serves as the pivotal

point of the

cycle, as it is not only where the poet questions, but where she decides. She finally

entrusts herself to her beloved and asks him to "Open thine heart wide and fold within

the wet wings of thy dove."

Sonnet XL, Oh, Yes!, is an affirmation of the poet's decision to love. She

contrasts love based on surface sensuality and its sometimes cruel result with the depth

of love that she has found with her beloved. She sees their love as that which cannot be

destroyed. Neither could it have been rushed, but came "soon, when others cry 'Too

late!'"

The final song of the cycle, a setting of Browning's famous How do I love thee?,

is the forty-third of the forty-four sonnets. It is a proclamation of the poet's love for her

beloved, and an affirmation of her committment to him. Finally released from the

constrictions of her past, she is able to say over and over again, "I love thee." The

Death-Love theme returns one final time. Here, Death is seen not as a hindrance to Love

but as that which will carry it even further.

Larsen's preface to the cycle offers a great deal of information about her

compositional processes and her understanding of the poet's journey from Death to Love.

Throughout the cycle certain compositional devices are used to reinforce the themes of

the recognition and acceptance of Love and of trust in non-resolution. Motives such as a

25

heartbeat-like ostinato and chords that move from open to closed and back out again are

used to help further enhance the sense of emotional struggle with which the poet is

dealing. The concept of non-resolution is treated literally as both the melodies and

harmonies take frequent unexpected turns within a basically tonal framework. Text

repetition also plays a key role defining the movement towards Love. When Larsen

chooses to repeat text, she tends to repeat it two times. Her intent is to give the sense of

the poet daring to speak the words, beginning to believe them, and finally proclaiming

them openly.

26

TV. SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE:

ANALYSIS OF SELECTED WORKS

This chapter offers a text-based analysis of the first, fourth, and final songs of

Larsen's cycle. The three songs chronicle the poet's thoughts and struggles as she moves

from recognizing Love, to weighing the risks of loving, and finally freely proclaiming

her love.

With each song, the text in its original form is given, followed by an analysis of

the text's relationship to Browning's life. A musical analysis, focusing on the recurring

themes of Death to Love and trust in non-resolution, completes each section.

27

1.1 thought once how Theocritus had sung

SONG TEXT

I thought once how Theocritus had sung Of the sweet years, the dear and wished-for years. Who each one in a gracious hand appears To bear a gift for mortals, old or young: And, as I mused it in his antique tongue, I saw in gradual vision through my tears. The sweet, sad years, the melancholy years. Those of my own life, who by turns had flung A shadow across me. Straightway I was 'ware. So weeping, how a mystic shape did move Behind me, and drew me backward by the hair; And a voice said in mastery, while I strove, -"Guess now who holds thee?" - "Death," I said. But there The silver answer rang, - "Not Death, but Love." (Sonnet I)

TEXT BACKGROUND

The opening sonnet of Browning's work, which also serves as the first song in

Larsen's cycle, was originally entitled "Death or Love."-*^ It introduces the reader to the

two main themes of the sequence: the struggle to choose between Death - a continuation

of life as the poet has known it - and Love; and the necessity of non-resolution.

The first nine lines of the sonnet reveal a melancholy woman who is reflecting

back on her "sweet sad years." She freely employs allusions from classical Greek

literature to help describe her condition, both before and after the appearance of the

"mystic shape", a shadow which to her is nothing more than the expected end: Death.

The image of the shape physically pulling her backwards, an allusion to Athena pulling

the wrath-filled Achilles by his hair, reinforces her role as the pursued.Note, however.

Shaakeh S. Agajanian. Sonnets from the Portuguese and the Love Sonnet Tradition (New York: Philosophical Library. 1985) 69.

^ Dorothy Mermin. Elizabeth Barrett Browning: The Origins of a New Poetrv (Chicago: U of Chicago P. 1989) 138.

28

that it is Achilles, the male, who is being pulled back by Athena, the female. A reversal,

or perhaps doubling, of roles can be seen through this image. In the final line of the

sonnet, the shape identifies itself as "Not Death, but Love." The poet must now choose

whether to continue in the life she has known, or yield to the new force.

Whether or not Browning's intent in this sonnet was primarily biographical, it

speaks of situations remarkably similar to her own life. Browning had known many

deaths prior to writing the sonnets. She had lost several close family members, including

her mother and her favorite brother. She had also seen her father, Edward Moulton

Barrett, change from a loving parent into a possessive, controlling tyrant. Her own

physical state had been tenuous and fragile, with doctors often encouraging her not to

leave her room for weeks at a time. This tomb-like existence, though conducive to her

literary output, served to reinforce her fear of life outside her own environs. After

meeting Robert, however, and acknowledging her growing love for him, she had to

make a choice; would she continue in the familiar but stifling environment she knew, or

would she yield to the new shape that now held her?

ANALYSIS

Larsen's setting of the sonnet was based on two main concepts: freedom within

constriction and trust in non-resolution. As Larsen began to work with the text she knew

that the music must yield to the words.

I decided very early on that I would not stick to sonnet form, but I would let the phrasing and the drama of the iines...give me the shapes for the phrases of the piece, and that I would [not] go for end rhyme.

Larsen. lecture.

29

This decision was completely in line with Browning's approach to the sonnets.

Browning's form and rhymes are exact, but the reader is drawn beyond the form to the

complete thoughts. There is no sense of a downward inflection or a pause between the

first and second lines of text, but rather a need to continue on through "sweet years."

Larsen phrases the musical text in exactly that manner (see Example 1).

EXAMPLE 1. Phrase structure based on text sense, mm. 7-9.

Q] calmly, peacefully

I ^ ^ ^ ^,-1

V 1 thought ones how Tha

• 1 '

• 0 - ch - tus had sung Ot ma L-J

swaac years.

^ yttyltgaio

'f * K ' 1

•mf

The concepts of constraint and freedom along with trust in non-resolution are

raised in the opening measures of this song. Larsen creates a motive that moves from a

widely-spaced unison f to a close-spaced chord that moves inward but fails to resolve in

an expected manner (see Example 2). The movement from open to closed, from freedom

to constraint, from clarity to non-resolution, which is repeated in measures 3-4, is

reinforced by her choice of instruments. The first pitch is scored for chime, harp, and

string bass. The bass plays a very soft pizzicato against the harp's harmonic and the

chime's overtone-dominated pitch, thus creating a sense of ambiguity even within a

unison. The next two chords, scored for woodwinds, create a sense of uneasy restfulness.

The movement from open to closed becomes a motive that recurs often throughout the

cycle, always scored in exactly the same manner. The chime continues to be used in an

30

ambiguous fashion throughout the cycle. Larsen specifically wished to avoid associating

it with any particular image, choosing instead to let the listener decide its meaning.-"'

EXAMPLE 2. Opening motive, ram. 1-4

J^-f.calnily. peaceMy

•mp

Another important motive found throughout the piece is an alternation of fifths

and thirds, considered by Larsen to be resolved and less resolved, respectively. 8 This

motive first appears in measures 1 and 2, but also functions independently of the opening

motive (see Example 3). The same motive occurs again in measures 25-30 and 50-52.

EXAMPLE 3. Alternating fifths and thirds, mm. 10-13.

• - ' 1 ; \ ^ I ( [ Uia dear and wtshad - lor years. Who each one a gra - cious hand ap •

Larsen, lecture.

Larsen, preface.

31

Several other textual ideas influenced Larsen's composition. A sense of stasis, of

being trapped, is given by the constant repetition of a minor third in the vocal line

(Example 1 as well as mm. 25-28,30-31,36-43). The poet's "melancholy" is emphasized

by the falling minor third motive. In measures 31-34 the shadow is "flung" harmonically

and spatially by the strings, and the physical struggle between the poet and the mystic

shape is musically depicted through the use of the minor third motive in an insistent,

ascending sequence. Larsen also chooses to set the question "Guess now who holds

thee?" three times. The final question is followed by a sudden quiet return to the opening

measures of the piece, as the poet accepts her imagined fate: "'Death,' I said". The chime

is struck to introduce the "silver answer", and again one final time to usher in Love's

revelation (see Example 4).

EXAMPLE 4. Return of opening motive, mm. 51-53. Tempo Prino, very leeiio frttiy

said. Tcopo Primo, very legKo Lea

frttiy

PP

As the final word, "Love", is sung there is a momentary sense of F major, but it is

inmiediately engulfed in an FMmM9, which serves to associate Love with non-

resolution.

32

IV. If I leave all for thee

SONG TEXT

If I leave all for thee, wilt thou exchange And be all to me? Shall I never miss Home-talk and blessing and the common kiss That comes to each in turn, nor count it strange When I look up, to drop on a new range Of walls and floors, another home than this? Nay, wilt thou fill that place by me which is Filled by dead eyes too tender to know change? That's hardest. If to conquer love, has ttied. To conquer grief, tries more, as all things prove. For grief indeed is love and grief beside Alas, I have grieved so I am hard to love. Yet love me - wilt thou? Open thine heart wide. And fold within, the wet wings of thy dove. (Sonnet XXXV)

TEXT BACKGROUND

The question of a mutual exchange is raised in the opening lines of Sonnet

XXXV. The poet is not simply asking herself if she is ready to leave all for her lover,

but she is placing conditions on that decision. She is not pleading with him, but being

very forthright: he must become all to her. She is facing the loss of things that are dear

to her as well as those things which have caused her great grief. Is his love enough to

compensate for all of her losses and bring joy besides? In spite of all the questioning,

she finally asks him to indeed love her and draw her to himself.

Browning was an invalid and she was fearful. But she was also a successful poet

with a remarkable mind. Robert's regard for her gifts was high, and he saw her not as a

peer but as a teacher. However, his love for her was not only as poet to poet, but as man

to woman, and he desperately wanted her to marry him. Browning's reticence is

understandable. She had in many ways created the isolation in which she dwelt,

knowing that such a state was conducive to her literary output. Both she and Robert

lived with their parents, but she was financially independent. Robert was not. She

33

dearly loved her siblings and her father, in spite of recent difficulties with him. She

knew she was in love with Robert, and wanted to be with him, but she also knew that her

marriage would come at no small price. She had already suffered so many griefs. Could

Robert truly love someone who had hurt so deeply, and could he be her all?

ANALYSIS

Larsen calls this piece the essence of the cycle.^^ It is where the poet makes her

decision to risk all. But that decision is prefaced by questions and doubts. Larsen

immediately establishes the effect of indecision and struggle in the opening motive. The

clarinet and bassoon each begin on an a-flat, three octaves apart, and move inwards to a

major seventh. The overall sense is that of A-flat major, but the a-natural in the bassoon

creates a tension that is heard repeatedly throughout the piece (see Example 5).

EXAMPLE 5. Opening motive, mm. 1-2.

LSO.

Wsn.

The strings then enter with a melody soon to be echoed in the vocal line. As the

voice introduces the first question in measure 9, the a-flat / a-natural conflict again

Larsen. interview.

34

appears. It is immediately answered in the orchestra by the return of the opening motive.

The next several measures are characterized by Larsen's constant repetition of the four-

note question ,"Wilt thou exchange?" This questioning motive is the basis of the entire

vocal line. The idea of exchange is carried further as the questioning motive is literally

exchanged from one instrument to another (see Example 6).

EXAMPLE 6. Exchange of questioning motive, mm. 13-15.

puxMing ahtttd U IS

/

WK UMU ax • etianga?

pus/line ahtad to IS

cki mp

Wilt UMU ax - etianga? Wis Uiou ax-Changs And ba

, « • m 4

mf

1 '1 I

i-f

The voice rests in measures 17-18, as if musing or waiting for an answer. The

opening motive appears twice during that time, indicating that the issue is yet to be

resolved. As the singer wonders about missing her home and family, in measures 19-23,

the tonality is rather firmly centered in A-flat major. However, as she considers her new

home, the harmonies become progressively more dissonant, culminating in yet another

return of the opening motive in measure 29. The orchestra then moves back and forth

between the opening motive and the questioning motive, one leading upwards and the

other pulling downwards (see Example 7).

35

EXAMPLE 7. Alternation of opening and questioning motives, mm. 30-32.

cl. f"

In measure 34, the voice then interjects a "Nay" between two statements of the

opening motive. Two measures later Larsen breaks the even 6/4 feel of the piece by

elongating the rhythm of "dead eyes," creating a hemiola effect and drawing attention to

the poet's real fear: that she has hurt too much to be loved. Larsen then brings the upper

notes of the opening motive into the vocal line where it is sung on [a], as though the poet

is mourning the possibility that love might fail (see Example 8).

EXAMPLE 8. Opening motive in voice, mm. 39-41.

36

The next several measures offer a sense of constant striving. The vocal line

becomes progressively more disjunct, reaching higher and higher, then is pulled back

down to a repeated a-natural at "I am hard to love." Again Larsen disrupts the 6/4

rhythm by adding an extra dotted-half note to the final a-natural, centering on the poet's

fear. In the following measure, the decision to risk all is made. The singer asks her

lover to accept her. She then calls three times for him to "open thine heart wide," each

time becoming progressively higher and louder. After the third repetition, the opening

motive returns again, only to be met by the singer's quiet but complete statement of her

request: "Open thine heart wide, and fold within the wet wings of thy dove."

The orchestra moves gently between two non-resolving chords as the request is

made, once again associating love with non-resolution. The opening motive, with its

a-flat - a-natural dissonance, appears at the word "dove," but at its final statement the

a-natural in the bassoon is drawn downwards to a pianissimo a-flat. The questions have

been answered; the decison has been made.

37

VI. How do I love thee?

SONG TEXT

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight For the ends of Being and ideal Grace. I love thee to the level of everyday's Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light. I love thee freely, as men strive for Right; I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise. I love thee with the passion put to use In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose With my lost saints, -1 love thee with the breath. Smiles, tears, of all my life! - and, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death. (Sonnet XLIII)

TEXT BACKGROUND

How do I love thee? is Browning's most famous and enduring work. The poet,

thus far the recipient of love, now takes on the role of the lover. For the first time in the

forty-three sonnets she says "I love thee." Eight times she proclaims that love, in

marked contrast to the questioning and fearfulness exhibited in the earlier sonnets. Each

repetition of "I love thee" addresses a phrase or image that had appeared earlier in the

sonnet sequence, and resolves the conflicts with which the poet struggled.shg closes

the sonnet with the promise that, God willing, she will love him "better after death."

When Browning decided to marry Robert, she did so without reservation. She

had come to trust in the depth and sincerity of his love. She had also come to trust in

her own love for him, telling Robert "no man was ever before to any woman what you

are to me." She had counted the cost, and was completly prepared to move forward.

Agajanian. SoHncK, 112.

Forster. 164.

38

out of her old life and into a new one. She would also discover in time that their love for

one another would indeed transcend death. Robert never remarried after her death in

1861, but remained very much in love with her until his own death almost thirty years

later.

ANALYSIS

Auger wanted the cycle to close with this sonnet because the text not only

showed the poet as both lover and beloved, but also resolved the conflict between Death

and Love. Larsen, although reticent at first to set such a well-known text, became

enthusiastic about it in time.

[Browning] has really gone the cycle, to understand that death is not a resolution...It's as if she's gone back into her whole life and recognized the griefs, which were many, and now takes them to the place of light.^^

The first eight measures serve as an introduction to the body of the sonnet. The

piece opens with a horn solo accompanied by a series of unrelated chords in the strings.

By this point in the cycle, the concept of non-resolution has become so integral to the

work that what might have originally been considered a dissonance is now comfortably

familiar to the listener (see Example 9)

Larsen. lecture.

EXAMPLE 9. Series of unresolved chords, mm. 1-6.

very fi-eeiy throughout frt*fy,wimfy

ftry legato ttn:

r-»-i ofc-l J -«u-

How do I lava ihaa?. frttiy, warmfy

—

-t— mp •mf

'••f % (f

b* em 3^!; em Jm'" fTMml

The chords lead quietly to the vocal entrance in measure 5. The opening question and

preparatory response is sung in an unaccompanied and freely moving manner. The

chordal accompaniment then resumes as the voice introduces the primary textual and

musical motive of the piece. This motive, on the words "I love thee," is characterized by

an entrance on the second half of the downbeat, drawing the primary attention to the

word "love," which is always placed on the second beat. The second beat is further

emphasized by the J P pattern in the orchestra (see Example 10).

EXAMPLE 10. "I love thee" motive, ms. 9.

a tempo, goofy

I iov« maa to ina dapui and a tempo, gently

V • '

40

In measures 9-17, Larsen exploits the descriptiveness of the text. Examples of

text painting are many: "depth" descends; "breadth" crescendos; "height" ascends; "My

soul can reach" literally reaches and reaches in an ascending sequence that continues to

climb to an a2 at "out of sight," then quickly but gently returns to the unaccompanied

"Being and ideal Grace."

The chorda! accompaniment resumes yet again in measure 18 as variations of the

"I love thee" motive are presented. With each repetition of the motive, the intensity

increases. Measures 18-29 are marked poco piu mosso with an accelerando in measure

28-29. In measure 27, the hom further heightens the tension by introducing a duple

figure against the triple figure in the voice and other instruments. By measure 29, the

voice abandons text and sings the "I love thee" motive on [a], climbing once again to an

At that moment, the opening motive of the entire cycle is heard in the orchesura (see

Example 11).

EXAMPLE 11. "I love thee" motive followed by opening motive, mm. 29-33.

r 'we

pen I

•»—I

The return of the opening motive is quite significant. It was the musical

representation of what the poet had mistakenly identified as Death. She now recognizes

41

all those unresolved chords as Love, and rather than struggle against it, she joins it. In

measure 33 Larsen combines the "I love thee" motive in the voice with the Love motive

in the orchestra. The piece then moves towards the climax in measure 38. The orchestra

plays fortissimo as the singer sings ab2, the highest note in the cycle. Once again,

however, Larsen quickly subdues the excitement as the orchestra quietly plays the same

material found in the opening four measures of the piece.

A simple duet between the hom and the voice ushers in the final words of the

sonnet: "And if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death." The poet has now

gone the cycle. Death is no longer a resolution, but that which frees the soul to love

more fully.

Larsen chose to base the cycle's postlude not on material from earlier in the

cycle, but on new material drawn from this final song. The opening motive of the cycle

does indeed t i e the whole cyc le toge the r in tha t i t appea r s in seve ra l o f the p ieces . Bu t in

order to emphasize the change that has occured in Browning's life, and to reinforce the

connection of Love with non-resolution, Larsen ends with this new material that

"cadences" in an unresolved FMm--Ml3 chord. There is no sense of ending or

completion, but simply a preparation for what the relationship yet holds.

SUMMARY

Larsen has presented the image of Browning as a woman who moved from

fearing love to completely embracing it. The texts chosen by Larsen and Auger also

show Browning as one who required as much from her lover as she was willing to give.

The three sonnets analyzed here show how Larsen used text repetition, musical motives,

and an overall sense of non-resolution to portray Browning's growth into and acceptance

of mature love.

42

V. DOMINICK ARGENTO

UFEAND WORKS

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Dominick Argento was bom in York,

Pennsylvania in 1927, the son of Sicilian immigrants. He showed an early interest in

music, teaching himself to play the piano and instructing himself in music theory and

harmony. At the age of sixteen, after years of playing on a rickety upright in his parent's

restaurant, he was given a baby grand piano and began formal training on the

instrument.33

Two years later, in 1945, he was drafted into the army, serving as a

cryptographer in North Africa. When he returned home in 1947, he enrolled at the

Peabody Conservatory where his harmony teacher, Nicolas Nabokov, encouraged him in

his compositional studies. He also began working with Hugo Weisgall, who sparked In

him a life-long interest in opera. Argento was awarded a Fullbright Grant to Florence in

1951, where he studied twelve-tone composition with Luigi Dallapiccola and piano with

Pietro Scarpini. He returned to Peabody, where he earned his M.M. in 1954. He then

went on to earn his Ph.D. in composition in 1957 at the Eastman School of Music. His

composition teachers at Eastman included Howard Hanson, Bemard Rogers, and Alan

Hovhaness. In 1958 (and again in 1964), Argento was named a Guggenheim Fellow,

returning once again to Florence. That same year he also joined the theory and

composition faculty at the University of Minnesota, where he continues to date to serve

as a Regents Professor.

Harriet F. Sigal. "The Concert Vocal Works of Dominick Argento: A Performance Analysis." diss.. New York University. 1983. 22.

43

Argento's interest in the dramatic and vocal arts led to the composition of several

operas and vocal chamber works. He also received numerous cormnissions for

incidental music from such companies as the Guthrie Theatre. In 1964 he co-founded the

Center Opera, Minneapolis, known later as the Minnesota Opera, and composed The

Masque of Angels for its inaugural production.

To date, Argento's non-choral vocal works include eleven operas, two

monodramas, and several song cycles and sets. He has served as his own librettist for

many of his operas, and chooses carefully the texts for his solo vocal works. He is most

interested in prose, especially the genres that offer information about the authors' lives.

Three of his extended works for solo voice have been settings of letters: Casa Guidi

(1983), on the letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning; Letters from Composers (1968),

from letters of Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Puccini and Debussy; and

the recently completed duo song cycle A Few Words About Chekhov (1995), from that

author's letters. Two other cycles are settings of diary entries: From the Diarv of

Virginia Woolf ('1975'>. for which he won the Pulitzer Prize; and The Andre Expedition

(1982), which chronicles the fate of a polar expedition.

GENERAL STYLE CHARACTERISTICS

The human voice and the conununication of text are of paramount importance to

Argento. He is drawn to the natural speech rhythms of prose, and seeks to follow those

rhythms in his settings. His melodies, a combination of lyrical and parlando-style

writing, are patterned after the rise and fall of speech inflections.

I try to set the words very closely to what the natural declamation would be, but not slavishly because the music must still be free enough to make

44

interesting vocal lines and rhythms. Using prose instead of poetry helps me since there [are] no internal rhythms to combat.^^

Argento's oft-lauded ability to write for the voice is due in no small part to his

wife's coaching. Soprano Carolyn Bailey has been instrumental in developing his

understanding of vocal technique, and continues to advise him and critique his

writings.35 His understanding of the voice has led to many opportunities to compose for

singers of international stams. From the Diarv of Virginia Woolf was written for Janet

Baker, Casa Guidi for Frederica von Stade, The Andre Expedition for Hakon Hagegard,

and A Few Words About Chekov for von Stade and Hagegard. It is important for him to

know the voice for whom he is writing. When asked if he has a certain vocal timbre in

mind as he writes, he responded, "Definitely. All my vocal music has been composed

with a specific singer in mind.''^® Ms. von Stade spoke highly of Argento's vocal

writing in a recent letter: "FCasa Guidil is very vocally satisfying. Mr. Argento writes

beautifully for the voice and has set the songs with great care and understanding."^^

Although most of Argento's works are text- and voice-dominated, other musical

aspects receive careful attention. His melodies are flexible, often moving in unexpected

directions. The avoidance of predictable music is especially important to him in his

opera writing.

The moment [an aria] becomes whistleable, and the kind of thing you can take out to the intermission and hum, it means in effect that you've failed...If it

Dominick Argento, e-mail to the author. 31 January 1996.

Sigal 37.

Argento. interview.

Frederica von Stade. letter to the author, postmarked 8 March 1996.

45

has found a little niche in the audience's brain as ...a separate entity...then it hasn't worked.^®

His harmonic structure is equally flexible. Though well-schooled in the twelve-tone

technique, Argento's use of the system is completely unforced. He freely mixes tonal

and atonal writing, and even his strict twelve-tone compositions exhibit a marked

lyricism and accessibility.

In many of Argento's works, orchestral colors play an important role in furthering

the impact of the text. Argento regards the instruments as "essentially imitators of the

voice," and uses them in a highly descriptive manner.The lines are often quite lyrical,

frequently imitating or developing the material of the vocal line. He also uses the

accompaniment to establish the underlying mood of the text.

Argento's compositional skills, while not limited to vocal writing, are at their

height when a fine text or dramatic situation is an integral part of the composition.

Communication is key, and the voice and instruments are used towards that end.

CASA GUIDI

BACKGROUND

In 1982, Argento was commissioned by The Minnesota Orchestral Association to

write a song cycle for orchestra and mezzo-soprano, Frederica von Stade. After

searching for a text on which to base the work, Argento chose the letters of Browning to

her sister, Henrietta. When asked why he chose that particular writer, he explained;

Dominick Argento. interview. All Things Considered. National Public Radio, Washington. D.C.. 3 February 1994.

"Dominick Argento." Grove Dictionary of American Music, 1986 ed.

46

[My choice] was prompted by the fact that the commission was for Frederica von Stade, and her musical persona - being so feminine and vulnerable led me to something equally feminine and vulnerable, hence to Browning. Furthermore, Casa Guidi is in Florence where my wife and I have lived every summer for the past 35 years, so we know her story and the residence quite well.'*®

Casa Guidi was completed September 17, 1983 and first performed eleven days

later by von Stade and the Minnesota Orchestra, conducted by Neville Marriner. At von

Stade's request, Argento agreed to write a piano reduction, although he was not at all

pleased with the results.

I don't much care for the piano reduction: Flicka [von Stade]wanted it made in order to be able to perform it on her recitals and the publisher decided it made more sense to print a reduced vocal score than an orchestral score. For me, the work is very much colored by the orchestral color and dependent on it, especially the third and the final song which are not at all satisfactory to my ear on piano.'*!

The version for voice and piano was first performed by von Stade and pianist Martin

Katz at the University of California at Los Angeles on January 6, 1984.

OVERVIEW OF TEXT

The text of Casa Guidi is compiled primarily from letters written between

October 1846 and March 1853. The texts of the second and fifth songs. The Italian

Cook and the English Maid and Domesticity, are set almost verbatim, with only a few

passages from the original letters being omitted. The texts of the other three pieces,

however, are a pastiche of excerpts from various letters written during that seven-year

per iod ( see I l lus t r a t ion I ) .

Argento. e-mail. 31 January 1996.

Argento. e-mail. 31 January 1996.

47

ILLUSTRATION I: Chronological order of letters used in Casa Guidi

DATE SENT FROM SENT TO SONG

2 October 1846

24 November 1846

31 March 1847

April 1847

2 August 1847

21 February and 2-4 March

24 June, 1848

19 November 1848 and

15 November 1850

4 March 1853

3 May 1857

13 May 1857

after 1 July 1857

Roanne

Pisa

Pisa

Florence

Florence

Florence

Florence

Florence

Florence

Florence

Florence

Florence

Florence

Henrietta

Henrietta

Henrietta

Henrietta

Henrietta

Henrietta

Henrietta

Henrietta

Henrietta

Henrietta

Mrs. Martin

Henrietta

Robert Browning

Robert Browning

Robert Browning

Casa Guidi

Casa Guidi

Casa Guidi

Casa Guidi

The Italian Cook the English Maid

Domesticity

Casa Guidi and Robert Browning

The Death of Mr. Barrett

The Death of Mr. Barrett

Fanny Haworth The Death of Mr. Barrett

The texts, even within a single song, are not set in chronological order. It was not

Argento's intent to write a biography of Browning, but to compile texts that revealed his

image of a woman who loved her home and her family. It is not Browning the poet who

48

emerges from this work, but the wife of Robert and mother of Pen {Casa Guidi,

Domesticity and Robert Browning), Elizabeth, grieving daughter of Edward Moulton

Barrett {The Death of Mr. Barrett), and Mrs. Browning, head of a sometimes very

amusing household staff {The Italian Cook and the English Maid). Argento explained:

I wanted to give a rounded view of her happy stay at Casa Guidi: The house itself; the servants; her husband (the centerpiece); her one regret; and the domestic joy they experienced.'^^

Browning, the poet, however, is also given due consideration. Phrases like "he

loves her through a lustrous atmosphere which not only keeps back the faults, but

produces continual novelty, through its own changes" {Robert Browning) and "I am

made of paper and it tears me" (7/ze Death of Mr. Barrett), are the product of a mind

acutely aware of that which is being set to paper. Argento enhances such descriptive

phrases with equally descriptive music.

The overall form of the five songs is that of an arch. The opening and closing

songs speak of Browning's domestic happiness; the second and fourth deal with people

close to her; and the middle song focuses on her love for Robert Browning. Illustration

2 below shows how the pieces create that arch and gives the subject and emotional focus

of each piece (see Illusu-ation 2). The work is a cycle in the truest sense. Not only are

all of the texts interrelated, but the final song returns to both the mood and much of the

musical material of the opening song.

"Ba" was a nickname given to EBB by her brother. Edward, and used by family and intimate friends. Robert also used the nickname regularly after 22 December 1845. (Agajanian. 5£7«/ieK. 16).

Argento, e-mail to the author. 14 February 1996.

49

ILLUSTRATION 2. Arch form of Casa Guidi.

///. Robert Browning husband

love

//. The Italian Cook... servants amusement

rV. The Death of Mr. Barrett father grief

1. Casa Guidi home and marriage

delight

V. Domesticity home and family

delight and peace

Certain musical characteristics appear throughout the cycle which enhance the

various emotional states of Browning. Text painting, both in the orchestra and in the

vocal line, occurs frequently. Specific moods, which reinforce the words of the letters,

are created through the use of tempo maridngs, descriptive motives, and orchestral

colors. Perhaps most importantly, Argento's insistence upon following the natural

rhythms and inflections of speech allow the words to flow freely and hence more

effectively. Along with Argento's colorful orchestrations and unpredictable harmonies,

all of the musical characteristics have but one goal: to serve the text.

50

VI. CAS A GUIDI:

ANALYSIS OF SELECTED WORKS

The last three songs of the cycle, Robert Browning, The Death of Mr. Barrett.

and Domesticity^ will be examined in detail as examples of the "feminine and

vulnerable" aspects of Browning that Argento wished to portray. Robert Browning

reveals a woman who is deeply in love with her husband and somewhat in awe that the

love is returned. The Death of Mr. Barrett recalls the pain caused by Browning's

marriage to Robert; it recalls the price exacted from her in order to know love.

Domesticity takes her beyond that pain and back to her love for her husband, her child,

and her home.

Each song is presented in the same manner. The text as it appears in the song is

given first, followed by excerpts from the letters from which the text was taken, and

biographical background information. A detailed text-based analysis is then given.

51

III. Robert Browning

SONG TEXT

And now I begin to wonder naturally whether I may not be Some sort of a real angel after all. It is not so bad a thing, be sure, for a woman To be loved, to be loved by a man of imagination. He loves her through a lustrous atmosphere Which not only keeps back the faults but produces Continual novelty through its own changes.

If ever a being of a higher order lived among us Without a glory round his head...he is such a being. I feel to have the power of making him happy... I feel to have it in my hands.

It is strange that anyone so brilliant should love me. But true and strange it is...it is impossible for me to

doubt it anymore. Here am I, in the seventh year of marriage. Happier than on the seventh day! The love not only stays, but grows. It grows! He rises on me hour by hour and I am Bound to him indeed with all the cords of my heart.

And Papa thinks that I have sold my soul -For genius...mtxt genius!

ANNOTATED TEXT

...and now I begin to wonder naturally whether I may not be some sort of a real angel after all. It is not so bad a thing, be sure, for a woman to be loved by a man of imagination. He loves her through a lustrous atmosphere which not only keeps back the faults, but produces continual novelty, through its own changes. (24 November 1846 -Pisa)

Here am I, in the seventh year of marriage, happier than on the seventh day! The love not only stays, but grows. (4 March 1853 - Florence)

He rises on me hour by hour. If ever a being of a higher order lived among us without a glory round his head..he is such a being. Papa thinks that I have sold my soul - for genius.genius.

I feel to have the power of making him happy...I feel to have it in my hands. It is strange that anyone so brilliant should love me, - but true and strange it is...and it is impossible for me to doubt it any more. (2 October 1846 - Roanne)

52

TEXT BACKGROUND

The Browning's marriage is sometimes described in almost storybook terms. The

repressed and invalid heroine wins the heart of the hero who secretly marries her and

whisks her off to another land. All of this literally happened, but the hero and heroine

were very real people who had to address both real and imagined fears.

Browning's penchant for selective self-revelation via the written word created

problems for her as the relationship with Robert began to develop. "She worried that his

feelings sprang from his imaginative response to her writings...She could not reconcile

her physical self...with the self that existed in words.'"*^ Robert had a difficult time

convincing Browning that it was the real Elizabeth he loved, not a poetic image of her.

Although her fears were groundless she needed time to realize the depth and genuineness

of his affection. He could see in her that which she could not see in herself. Her fear of

being a burden to him, of being too old and frail for his robust nature, haunted her during

their courtship. Once married, though, her fears quickly dissipated as Robert proved to

be an unusually devoted husband.

ANALYSIS

The text of Robert Browning is drawn from three different letters, two of which

were written within two months of her marriage. The third letter was written seven years

later, and serves as testimony to the consistency of Browning's love for Robert, and his

love for her. Words she wrote in 1846 were equally - if not more - true in 1853, and

Argento's insenions of a later excerpt into a much earlier one reads quite accurately.

Mermin. Origins. 126.

53

Argento considers Robert Browning to be the "centerpiece" of the cycle. ^5 Not

only is it literally placed in the center of the cycle, but it is the point of the whole cycle.

Browning's happiness - Argento's focus throughout the work - was a direct result of

loving and being loved by Robert.

The song opens with the only clearly defined twelve-tone row of the cycle.

Muted strings present the row in a canonic fashion that slowly ascends higher and

higher, then suddenly, but gendy, settles into a pianissimo D-flat major chord at measure

9. The movement of a contrapuntal, ascending tone row to a momentary, but definite,

sense of tonality is suggestive of Browning's sense of being elevated and thus secure in

Robert's love (see Example 13).

EXAMPLE 13. Canonic treatment of opening row, mm. 1-9.

A4tgit((e</ "660.)

una cordc\

Ht. air ' • • • ^ Adsfio senu rigofv (• 52 ca.)

Argento, e-mail. 14 Feb. 1996.

54

The row continues in the tuba and homs for two more measures, serving as the

foundation for alternating major and minor chords. The voice enters on a repeated d-flat

above these chords, bringing a sense of setdedness to the upward motion of the row.

Robert Browning seems to center around that d-flat, although there are many tonal

excursions during the course of the song.

Measures 9-22 center on Robert's image of Browning and her grateful acceptance

of that image. She speaks of the joy and wonder of being loved by a man who is not

only of a "higher order," but who places her on that same plane.

Another important ascending motive, based on alternating major and minor

thirds, begins in measure 11 at the word "angel," and continues through measure 22.

The motive reappears in measure 30 and is heard in one instrument or another for the

next thirty-four measures, shifting registers and timbres, but always present. Above this

motive, with its broken chord accompaniment, flows a vocal line that adheres quite

easily to speech rhythms and inflections (see Example 14).

EXAMPLE 14. Ascending-third motive, mm. 12-14.

meixa mce

bail X thing, be sure, for i Nvorn*an To be loveti, to be

In measure 18, a melisma on "lusUrous" introduces the first of five obvious

examples of text painting. The other examples include: "glory" in measures 27-28;

55

"grows" in measures 49-50 and again in 51-53; "rises" in measures 55-56; and "bound"

in measure 59 (see Example 15).

EXAMPLE 15. Text painting on "lustrous" and "rising," mm. 18, 55-56.

tetspre erescendo

-]•'[* .-4 f-sempre crescendo

The row returns in a brief interlude in measures 21-24. The treatment is similar

to measures 3-8, but it is written a half-step higher. The row is combined with the

ascending-third motive in measures 21-22 and again in measures 23-24, where it is

supported by a D-major chord. This prepares the stage for the entrance of a transposed

and extended version of the material from measure 9. That material was first used as

Browning was referring to herself. In measure 25, when the material returns a perfect

fifth (enharmonic) higher. Browning is referring to Robert, "...a being of a higher order."

They share the same musical material, but his is indeed "higher," indicating how highly

she regarded him.

A return to the D-flat key center in measure 40 is marked by a great simplicity in

both the vocal line and the accompaniment. From measures 40-48 the voice, doubled by

the violins, is accompanied solely by the ascending-third motive. In measure 49, on the

word "grows," the clarinets, bassoons, and second violins join in. Argento then restates

"It grows!," adding all but the Uiimpets and low brass. As Browning speaks of Robert's

goodness towards her and her love for him. the music thickens and becomes more

56

brilliant through measure 64, culminating in an upward sweep by the full orchestra. The

point of climax is quite unexpected as the orchestra suddenly stops, leaving only the

echo of the vibraphone to be heard (see Example 16).

EXAMPLE 16. Truncation of climax, mm. 62-65.

Pki

heart. .,

tronco

WW , J .fcfufo mo marc. V 1 ifK 1-^ (J i

The final measures return once again to the musical material of the opening

eleven measures. Measures 66-68 are almost an exact repetition of measures 9-10, and

the singer returns one final time to intone "And Papa thinks that I have sold my soul for

genius..." on d-flat. Finally, at "...mere genius," the row makes its last appearance,

accompanied by a pedal d-flat and f in the bass and viola respectively. The row ascends

and tapers away in measure 76, leaving only the pedal tones to sound.

Browning's addition of "...mere genius" is telling, as it indicates the importance

she placed on Robert's mental gifts. In a letter to Mary Russell Mitford she wrote, "I

always did admire the moral heroic beyond all things...next to genius!" Browning knew

that her father did not understand the value of Robert's abilities, and that in his eyes she

had indeed "sold her soul." It was her hope, however, that one day her father's eyes

would be opened. That was not to be.

57

IV. The Death of Mr. Barrett

SONG TEXT

It is true that first words must be said -But of the past I cannot speak. I believe Hope had died in me long ago Of reconciliation in this world...

Occupation is the only thing to keep one On one's feet a little, that I know well. Only it is hard sometimes to force oneself Into occupation...there's - the hardness.

I take up books - but my heart goes walking up and down Constantly through that house of Wimpole Street, Till it is tired, tired, tired. The truth is, I am made of paper, and it tears me.

ANNOTATED TEXT

[I]t is true that first words must be said...Occupation is the only thing to keep one on one's feet a little - that I know well. Only it is hard sometimes to force oneself into occupation, - there's - the hardness...! take up books - but my heart goes walking up and down constantly through that house of Wimpole street, till it is tired, tired. (13 May 1857 - Florence)

Of the past I cannot speak...I believe hope had died in me long ago of reconciliation in this world, (to Mrs. Martin - 3 May 1857 - Florence)

The truth is, I am made of paper, and it tears me. (to Fanny Haworth - after July 1, 1857 - Florence)

TEXT BACKGROUND

Edward Moulton Barrett's death in April of 1857 allowed Browning to lay to rest

any residual hope she might have had of re-establishing communication with her father.

She had tried for years to reach him through any means possible: her letters, her

siblings, her friends, even her son. But Mr. Barrett angrily rebuffed her attempts. There

is record of only two letters from him to her after her marriage. The first arrived in

Orleans within a few days after they had fled London. The essence of the letter was that

58

she was disinherited and cast out of his affection forever. The only other letter from him

arrived six years later when Browning was back in London on holiday. She and Robert

had written separate letters to Mr. Barrett pleading for reconciliation. He replied only to

Robert's letter in a "violent and unsparing manner." Browning told Henrietta later that it

was written "...with the plain intention of giving me as much pain as possible."

Furthermore, he returned, unopened, all of the letters she had written him from Italy.

Prior to this letter, she had never quite given up hope for reconciliation. As a parent

herself, she could never understand how he could refuse forgiveness. From that point on

she would wonder if the love he had shown her through the years was ever truly love.

ANALYSIS

The Death of Mr. Barrett is the only song in the cycle that uses letters written to

someone other than Henrietta. Mrs. Martin had been a neighbor of the Barrett's when

they lived at Hope End, and Fanny Haworth was a friend of Robert's with whom

Browning kept an ongoing correspondence. Axgento ackowledges that although it was

his intent to draw material from the letters to Henrietta, he had "...glanced at

[Browning's] other letters, and it wouldn't surprise me if I borrowed a line here and there

if that line struck my fancy.'"^

Browning's grief and depression are expressed over and over in the excerpts

Argento chose to set: "Hope had died in me long ago;" "it is hard to force oneself into

occupation;" "my heart goes walking...till it is tired, tired;" and "I am made of paper and

it tears me." Grief and depression are often accompanied by an overall sense of

numbness, and it is that pervading numbness that is heard throughout this song.

Argento. e-mail, 14 Feb. 1996

59

The piece is marked mesto con moto ma molto calmo ("mournful with movement

but very calm"). It opens with a muted violin motive that rocks back and forth among

three pitches, d-e (second violins) and f-e (first violins). This slow, hypnotic motive

never stops throughout the piece, becoming almost eerie in its constant presence .The

voice also establishes a recurring motive , beginning in measure 2, that surges upwards

then quickly falls, reminiscent of a deep, sad sigh (mm. 2-5, 10-14, 25-27) (see Example

17).

EXAMPLE 17. Three-note ostinato and sigh motive, mm. 1-4.

con Uahrr Nte>io con moiu ma mollo cakno i i " S2 ca.l

(hac first words must be true

/

The piece as a whole is remarkably spare. It is essentially a duet between the

voice and the violins. Every few measures the clarinets, harp, chime (off-stage), and low

strings sound a series of three slow chords which enter pianissimo, crescendo to a

mezzo-piano, then die away "a niente." No chime or harp is used in measure 22 during

the suspended violin pattern, but they are heard again in measure 28. The three-chord

motive generally follows the pattern established by its first entrance in measures 4-5:

AM - C#Mm7 - AM (see Example 18).

60

EXAMPLE 18. Recurring three-chord pattern, nun. 4-5.

pfp^pena sentito dolce

AM AM

The tonal centers shift in subsequent statements, but the basic relationship and qualities

remain the same. Both motives, the chords and the three-note pattern in the violins, give

a sense of stasis, of not being able to move. Browning speaks of that stasis in measures

19-23: "...it is hard sometimes to force oneself into occupation...there's - the hardness."

In measure 31, Argento emphasizes Browning's emotional fatigue by adding a

third "tired" to her text. In the same measure he also creates a subtle shift in the chordal

motive that begins to hint at her healing. The pattern in measures 31-33 is DM - FMm7,

with no return to the DM. In the final four measures the pattern is E-flatM - GMm7 -

AM. Combined, those two patterns create a sense of reaching upwards without falling

back down. When the violin motive finally ends on e, it has become an integral part of

the AM chord. The grief is still present, but it ceases to dominate her (see Example 19).

61

EXAMPLE 19. Final statement of three-chord motive, mm. 34-37.

Poco meno mooo niente

I am nude of pa • per. uid. it tears me.

mp

A M

62

W. Domesticity

SONG TEXT

We have fires now, though the weather is lovely for November And I take long walks every day. We have fires now, and as soon as the lamp comes Robert sits in his arm chair, and I curl myself up on the sofa. Or perhaps on a cushion on the hearth. And we say to one another; "Oh how delightful this is! I do hope no one will come tonight."

So we read and talk and Robert can't keep from Letting out the end of David Copperfield, And I scold him and won't hear a word more.

Then the door opens, and enter Baby holding by Wilson's finger. "I can't think what he wants," Says Wilson, "but he would come." Upon which he walks straight up to me and puts up one foot. Pointing to it with his hand, he walks straight up to me And puts up his foot, pulling at my gown -Perhaps you don't know what this means, but I do, but I do. He wants to go to bed...

So I get up and go away with him and Wilson, And Robert calls after us: "Come back soon, Ba."

And I go back soon...

ANNOTATED TEXT

We have fires now, though the weather is lovely for November, and I take long walks every day. We have fires now, and as soon as the lamp comes, Robert sits in his arm chair, and I curdle myself up on the sofa, or perhaps on a cushion on the hearth, and we say to one another

"Oh, how delightful this is! I do hope nobody will come to-night" - and so, we read, and talk, and Robert can't keep from letting out the end of Copperfield, and I scold him and won't hear a word more. Then the door opens, and enter Baby holding by Wilson's finger.

"I can't think what he wants," says Wilson." but he would come." Upon which he walks straight up to me and puts up one foot, pointing to it with his hand, and pulling at my gown - perhaps you don't know what that means, but I do. He wants to go to bed...So I get up and go away with him and Wilson, and Robert calls after us:

"Come back soon, Ba." And I go back soon -... (15 Nov. 1850, Florence)

63

TEXT BACKGROUND

Browning's letter to Henrietta dated 15 Nov. 1850 offers a picture of the almost

idyllic evenings the family shared at home. She and Robert had now been happiily

married for four years, they had a beautiful, healthy twenty-month old son, and they

were settled in a home they loved. She was enjoying remarkably good health,

considering her history and the fact that she had only recently suffered from yet arother

difficult miscarriage.

Both she and Robert loved to sit and read in the evenings, and neither took

particular pleasure in entertaining. "I think it rather a bore...when visitors come to our

tea table and break up our evenings!" Browning said earlier in the same letter. No

visitors did come that evening, though, allowing her to indulge in blissful domesticity.

ANALYSIS

Her bliss and tranquillity are sensed throughout Argento's musical setting. The

harmonic rhythm is quite slow, and moments of clear tonality in the orchestra are used to

undergird the tonally-freer vocal line. The work begins with muted strings and the harp

playing quiet {mormorando) D-major arpeggios in contrary motion. The vocal line,

doubled by the oboe and clarinet, weaves slowly through the arpeggios, gradually

leaving D-major and drawing the orchestra along with it. As in the other four pieces of

the cycle. Domesticity passes through several tonal centers in a relatively short period of

time. Because the arpeggio motive remains constant, the frequent shifts do nothing to

alter the sense of tranquillity (see Example 20).

64

EXAMPLE 20. Arpeggio motive, mm. 1-2.

Allegromoiiento*S0*84) .estlinnte

monnorando_

A

The arpeggio motive continues undisturbed through the first forty-five measures.

Twice the vocal line is tacet as the orchestra continues, suggesting Browning sitting

quietly, admiring her home and her husband. The arpeggios give way to blocked chords

in measures 46-50 as Browning lovingly chides Robert for "letting out the end of David

Copperfield" (see Example 21).

EXAMPLE 21. Interruption of arpeggio motive, mm. 46-47.

33 Poco meno mosM < J* * 69 ca.) ed a ptaoen

read olk, from and

65

Peace immediately reigns again, though, as the arpeggio motive returns in

measure 51, centered now in A-flat major. This six-measure orchestral interlude is

interrupted in measure 57 as the door opens and Pen and Wilson appear. Thematic

material that was first used in the second piece of the cycle. The Italian Cook and the

English Maid, is again used in connection with Wilson as she says "I can't think what he

wants..." (see Example 22).

EXAMPLE 22. Comparison of motives associated with Wilson.

The Italian Cook and the English Maid, mm. 28-30.

crtKendo

Atui when ihe ajitj gf t{^ d(>nie5- dc hap - pi-neaen • joye<J_ m Eng

Domesticity, mm. 61-62.

(tmu pcrtatQ fsenu foiLJ f — n

•*1 on'c thinkwhachewancsrsayswil'son. he would come."—

66

In measure 63 the arpeggios cease, replaced by a pedal a in the tympani and

basses. The dotted-quarter note pulsation of the tympani suggests a quiet heart beat,

perhaps Browning's as she watches her child come up to her, seeking her help. It is here

that Argento takes more liberty with the text than at any other point in the cycle.

Browning wrote "Upon which he walks straight up to me and puts up one foot, pointing

to it with his hand, and pulling at my gown - perhaps you don't know what that means,

but I do." Argento expands her text through repetition: "Upon which he walks straight

up to me and puts up one foot, pointing to it with his hand. He walks straight up to me

and puts up his foot pulling at my gown - perhaps you don't know what this means, but I

do but I do." This text addition creates a stronger sense of the bond between mother and

child.

The vocal line in this section begins in D-major but, as has happened throughout

the cycle, quickly begins to move in and out of other tonalities, all the while stabilized

by the pedal a. As the voice continues, the violins and violas join in with quotes from

the material just sung (see Example 23).

EXAMPLE 23. Pedal a and vocal motives in orchestra, mm. 74-77.

;wr "wr bed...

•9^

67

The cycle is brought to a quiet completion by retuming to material from the first

song. With the exception of the vocal line, the final seven measures of the work are

taken almost directly from the last six measures of the opening song of the cycle, Casa

Guidi (see Example 24).

EXAMPLE 24. Closing measures of Casa Guidi and Domesticity.

Casa Guidi, mm. 40-46.

@ UiBbeflo imaicvolc

ays 03 Now, Bi, would-n*t ic have been wronf if we two had not

a tempo

sub.mp

mar • ried?'

n ^ . \ ^ 1

T '"'"-1 'P —_

^r—i JTj 1 1 i~l "pi

Ppco meno mosso P Piup

house— there's the tniih— "Like a room in a nov-eijl. this room has been called.

68

(EXAMPLE 24, conL)

Domesticity, mm. 83-90.

S3 Ltftheiio amorcvole (come prima)

And Rob -ere alls

- a tempo ma poco ritenuto ten.

i£ 'tet us: "Come back soon« J—n . '«*•

mp o»yc, dehors

sen.

mU. • Poco Rieno mosso (come priihi)

P

And I go bide soon...

The only times in the cycle that Robert's words are quoted are in these two parallel

passages: "Now, Ba, wouldn't it have been wrong if we two had not married," (Casa

Guidi), and "Come back soon, Ba," {Domesticity). As Browning responds with "And I

go back soon," the piano enters with the opening motive of the cycle followed by a solo

viola playing the final line of Casa Guidi: "Like a room in a novel, this room has been

called."

69

SUMMARY

Argento's image of Browning as feminine, vulnerable, and quite happy in her

Florentine home is reflected in the choice of texts used in Casa Guidi. The excerpts

from her letters focus primarily on Browning's love for Robert, for her son, and for her

home - all stereotypically feminine associations. Her vulnerability is seen as she grieves

over the death of her father. Argento employed orchestral motives to reinforce the mood

of the letters. Text painting and melodic lines that follow the namral rhythms and

inflections of the words were created to further enhance the presentation of Browning's

texts.

70

vn. CONCLUSIONS

Argento's and Larsen's images of Elizabeth Barrett Browning played a primary

role in the development of their respective cycles. Larsen's work portrays Browning as a

woman who moves from fear of Love to an embracing of it, and who learns to trust in

the face of unanswered questions. She is also depicted as a woman who sees Death no

longer as an ending, but as that which frees the soul to love more deeply. These images,

taken directly from Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese, and reflected in her own

life, are reinforced musically through the use of unresolved harmonies, suspended

dissonances, text repetition, and rhythmic and melodic motives.

Both Larsen and Argento honored the rhythms and inflections of Browning's

writings in their text setting. Phrase length, as well as melodic direction and rhythm,

were consuiicted so as to maintain the integrity of the flow of the language. Both

composers used the colors and textures of the orchestra to create moods that reflected the

emotional intent of the text, and both worked with tonally unrestricted harmonies.

Finally, both had a particular soloist for whom they were writing; Larsen for soprano

Arleen Auger: Argento for mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade.

The texts chosen by Argento, excerpts from letters, were based on his desire to

depict the feminine and vulnerable aspects of Browning during her years at Casa Guidi.

Although the excerpts are not arranged in chronological order, they accurately reveal a

woman who delights in her home and family.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a composite of both composers' images. Her

biographies present her as both fragile and strong, highly intelligent, driven, fearful,

passionate, and capable of loving profoundly. When presented together, Larsen's and

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Argento's cycles offer a limited but quite accurate picture of Browning from the time she

meets Robert until just prior to her death.

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Vm. REFERENCES

Agajanian, Shaakeh S. Sonnets from the Portueuese and the Love Sonnet Tradition. New York: Philosophical Library, 1985.

Argento, Doniinick. Casa Guidi: A Cvcle of Five Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra. [New York]: Boosey and Hawkes, 1983.

Argento, Dominick. Casa Guidi: A Cvcle of Five Songs for Mezzo-Soprano and Piano. [New York]: Boosey and Hawkes, 1983.

"Argento, Doniinick." New Grove Dictionary of American Music. 1986 ed.

Auger, Arleen. The Art of Arleen Auger. Koch, 1992.

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett. Elizabeth Barrett Browning: Letters to Her Sister. 1846-1859. Ed. Leonard Huxley. London: John Murray, 1929.

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett. 1845-1846. Ed. Elvan Kintner. 2 vols. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard UP, 1969.

Browning, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning. Twentv-two Unpublished Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning Addressed to Henrietta and Arabella Moulton-Barrett. Ed. J.A.S. Altham. New York: Haskell House, 1971.

Cooper, Helen. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Woman and Artist. Chapel Hill: U of North Carolina P, 1988.

Dow, Miroalsva Wein. A Variorum Edition of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Sonnets from the Portuguese. Troy, NY: Whitson Publishing, 1980.

Forster, Margaret. Elizabeth Barrett Browning: A Biography. New York: Doubleday, 1988.

Hayter, Alethea. Mrs. Browning: A Poet's Work and its Setting. NY: Barnes and Noble. 1963.

Larsen, Libby. "Double Joy." American Organist 18 (March 1984): 50.

Larsen, Libby. Sonnets from the Portuguese. New York: Oxford UP, 1994 (pending).

Larsen, Libby. Sonnets from the Portuguese (orchestral score). New York: Oxford UP. 1989.

Leighton. Angela. Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Bloomington: Indiana Press. 1986.

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Lubbock, Percy. Elizabeth Barrett Browning in her Letters. London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1906.

McAJeer, Edward C. The Brownings of Casa Guidi. New York: Browning Institute, 1979.

McCleary, Harriet. "A Song Cycle by Libby Larsen: ME (Brenda Ueland)." The NATS Journal 51.2 (1994V 3.

Mermin, Dorothy. Elizabeth Barrett Browning: The Origins of a New Poetry. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1989.

Sigal, Harriet. The Concert Vocal Works of Dominick Argento: A Performance Analysis. Diss. New York U, 1983. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1983.