Jean Louise Kreiling, Ph.D. 1986

Advisor: Thomas Warburton

Dissertation Title: The Songs of Samuel Barber: A Study in Literary Taste and Text-Setting

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Dissertation Abstract:

Samuel Barber’s compositions for accompanied solo voice comprise a dozen opus numbers (more than three dozen songs), spanning almost fifty years of his life. These works have received little critical attention, perhaps because Barber’s frequently lyrical, neoromantic style fails to stimulate polemical discourse among analysts and historians. Yet Barber’s selection and handling of texts clearly invite close investigation and explication. The texts of Barber’s songs range from the anonymous eighth- to thirteenth-century writings set in the Hermit Songs to poetry by such modernists as Joyce and Yeats; from Matthew Arnold’s famous “Dover Beach” to obscure surrealistic verse by American, Filipino, and Polish poets; and from the fastidious regularity of A. E. Housman’s poetry to the rhapsodic prose of James Agee. Barber’s text-setting techniques are as diverse as his texts; depending upon the literary stimulus, the composer used musical structure and style to imitate, elaborate, illuminate, or even contradict the language he set. By means of literary and musical analysis, as well as examination and interpretation of primary materials including sketches, notes, and autograph scores, this study explores the motivations, purposes, and results of Barber’s choices of and treatments of song texts. These findings contribute not only to a clearer understanding of Barber’s compositional technique and his historical position, but also to an important perspective on the complex relationships between music and language.

Dr. Kreiling is Professor Emerita of Music at Bridgewater State University in Massachusetts. She has published articles on music and literature, has performed as a singer and a pianist, and has received acclaim as a poet. She has published two collections of poetry and won numerous prizes for her poetic writing.