Gender and Compositional Choice: Four Songs on a Poem of Heinrich Heine by Female and Male Composers

dc.contributor.advisorCitron, Marcia J.
dc.contributor.committeeMemberHenze, Matthias
dc.contributor.committeeMemberKing, Stephen
dc.contributor.committeeMemberLavenda, Richard
dc.creatorPiersall, Paul
dc.date.accessioned2012-09-06T00:06:13Z
dc.date.accessioned2012-09-06T00:06:23Z
dc.date.available2012-09-06T00:06:13Z
dc.date.available2012-09-06T00:06:23Z
dc.date.created2012-05
dc.date.issued2012-09-05
dc.date.submittedMay 2012
dc.date.updated2012-09-06T00:06:23Z
dc.description.abstractAs an accepted genre of female composition, song lies in a unique position among musical genres. This allows it to stand largely outside the area of Claude Steele’s notion of “stereotype threat,” and being absent such weighty pressures, it could then furnish an arena in which female composers can do their best work. As a genre that combines the arts of music and poetry, song is based upon a given set of symbols that provide the composer with inspiration. The study of these symbols and their possible metaphorical meanings can offer a guide to that inspiration. By studying two settings by male composers and two settings of female composers, we can compare their individual and gendered approach to those symbols for elements of a masculine or feminine style. Heinrich Heine’s 23rd poem in Die Heimkehr, analyzed thoroughly in Chapter 2, is the focal text in this study. In Chapters 3 through 6 each of the settings is examined at length using both a standard formal analysis and the “Grundgestalt” concept of Schoenberg. The settings examined are “Ihr Bild” by Franz Schubert, “Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen” and “Ihr Bildniss” (two versions of the same work) by Clara Schumann, “Ich stand in dunkeln Träumen” by Hugo Wolf, and a setting of the same name by Ingeborg von Bronsart. Each discussion focuses on the individual reactions to the specific symbols identified in Chapter 2, as well as the global approach to some well-known literary aspects of paternalistic literary culture of the time. The thesis concludes with a summary of the similarities and differences in the preceding four examinations. Chapter 7 also draws conclusions based on those contrasts, which yields an evaluation of gendered reactions and the possibility of a feminine style in the nineteenth century.
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationPiersall, Paul. "Gender and Compositional Choice: Four Songs on a Poem of Heinrich Heine by Female and Male Composers." (2012) Diss., Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/64636">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/64636</a>.
dc.identifier.slug123456789/ETD-2012-05-86
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/64636
dc.language.isoeng
dc.rightsCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.
dc.subjectFeminine style
dc.subjectHeinrich Heine
dc.subjectGrundgestalt analysis
dc.subjectIch Stand in Dunkeln Traumen
dc.subjectStereotype threat
dc.subjectCompositional choice in song
dc.subjectVocal performance
dc.titleGender and Compositional Choice: Four Songs on a Poem of Heinrich Heine by Female and Male Composers
dc.typeThesis
dc.type.materialText
thesis.degree.departmentMusic
thesis.degree.disciplineMusic
thesis.degree.grantorRice University
thesis.degree.levelDoctoral
thesis.degree.nameDoctor of Musical Arts
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