University Presentation Showcase: Undergraduate Poster Gallery
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Creation Date
2023
Major
Music Theory and Composition
Department
Music
Degree
Undergraduate
Mentor
Joyce Hall Wolf
Mentor Department
Music
Abstract
My project is an examination of various vocal settings of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem, The Children’s Hour (1860). From the time of Longfellow’s death, there have been many composers who have set this poem to music. These composers range from the well-known Charles Ives to more obscure men, such as Don Dilworth, Arthur R. Gaul, and Langton Williams. I have examined the portions of the poem’s text set to music using the SHMRG method of analysis.
As a Theory and Composition major, I studied the poem and set it to music. In this examination, I also compare my own compositional setting of the poem to the works of others. Looking deeper into the compositional aspects of the works, I have examined the portions of the poem’s text set to music. I also studied the harmonies used, genre, musical imagery, melody, range, and if the piece is diatonic or chromatic. When one understands the many different approaches used to composing music for this poem, one has a better understanding of the composer’s own interpretation of Longfellow’s poem and the meaning that they want to convey.
