First Advisor

Krämer, Reiner

Third Advisor

Kauffman, Deborah

First Committee Member

Zaremba, Drew

Second Committee Member

Kauffman, Deborah

Degree Name

Doctor of Arts

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

8-2024

Department

College of Performing and Visual Arts, Music, Music Student Work

Abstract

The following dissertation is a researched music composition project that utilizes remembrance poetry from the Great War, also called the First World War or World War I, and the Requiem Mass tradition. The purpose of this study is to create a War Requiem composition that brings awareness to female narratives of the Great War by using Great War Poetry by women poets. The dissertation composition combines Requiem aeternam, Lux aeterna, and Requiescant in pace texts from the Requiem Mass.1 In addition, the composition uses Vera Brittain’s poem “Roundel,”2 Winifred Mabel Letts’s poem “Your Name,”3 Margaret Cole’s poems “Rest” and “Falling Leaves,”4 and Josephine Preston Peabody’s poem “Harvest Moon.”5 The seven-movement composition is approximately 45 minutes long and scored for mixed SATB (soprano, alto, tenor, bass), choir, and organ. The seven movements are titled (1) “Requiem aeternam et Rest,” (2) “Falling Leaves,” (3) “Roundel,” (4) “Harvest Moon,” (5) “Your Name, Loss, and If Love of Mine” (6) “Lux aeterna,” and (7) “Postlude: Requiem aeternam et Rest.”

The research and music composition dissertation unfolds in five chapters. The first chapter of the dissertation contains an introduction to the study, primary composition goal, limitations, compositional constraints, rationale, a brief overview of the Great War, a background section on the Requiem Mass, Requiem Mass texts and plainchants, background on composed Requiem Masses from the late 15th century to the 20th century, a section on works studied, a section on critical Requiem Mass sources relevant to the study, and a chapter summary. The second chapter houses the investigative study on the concepts of rest, loss, death, light, combat, remembrance, irony, and anti-war politics in the Great War poetry used in A Great War Requiem composition and provides background vignettes on the poets Vera Brittain, Winifred M. Letts, Josephine Preston Peabody, and Margaret Cole. Chapter III will feature the score, and Chapter IV provides thematic analyses of A Great War Requiem. More specifically, the chapter discusses how the Requiem Mass plainchant melodies and textual themes were embedded into the melodic material, harmonic structure, and other features, such as counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, and soundscape of the composition. The final chapter is a conclusion of the study and offers recommendations for future scholarship and creative projects on War Requiems.

Abstract Format

html

Extent

178 pages

Local Identifiers

Cypret_unco_0161D_11250.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

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