LIBBY LARSON’S SONG CYCLE LOVE AFTER 1950

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LIBBY LARSON’S SONG CYCLE LOVE AFTER 1950

Libby Larsen was born in the year 1950, in Wilmington, Delaware. She is considered as one of the most fruitful and highly performing living composers in the United States of America. Libby is credited with a catalogue of close to two hundred artistic works that range from every genre. Her work spans from intimate vocal and chamber music to the widely popular massive orchestral and choral sores. She has constantly received praise for coming up with music that is dynamic, full of inspiration and one that captures the intense contemporary American spirit.

Libby has been sought over the years during the commissioning and premiering of great artists, ensembles and orchestras from virtually every part of the universe. She has been able to establish a permanent place where her works can be stored in the concert repertory. She is widely acclaimed as the solitary composer versed in the English dialect since the reigns of Benjamin Britten who have been able to match inspirational verses with fine music in an intelligent and expressing manner[1].

Libby is a composer who made ownership of the art of symphonic writing and a qualified mistress of orchestration. She is credited with assembling one of the most compelling structures of music of the modern times. Her music has received constant admiration for its clarity in texture simply rhythms that are easy to absorb and highly engaging melodic tours that end up rendering the act of singing as one of the most natural forms of expressions that  can be imagined. Libby has been able to develop a way that renders present-day opera to be both musically present and easily reached by the average audience. Her ability to compose new music that sinks in the memories of the audience and lies completely within the precincts of the conventional harmonic language is highly impressive[2].

One of her most acclaimed composition is her song cycle, “Love After 1950”. Libby knows this era precisely since she was born during this time. “Blonde men (A Torch Song)” is a lyrical piece in this cycle that symbolizes the physical aspect of love. The speaker in this piece reinstates her love for blonde men regarding their greenish gold of their eyebrows and lashes. The singer loves their character as indicated in the opening poetic phrase that says, “I think I ought to tell you that I hate blonde men before you break your heart.” by establishing whom the singer is addressing[3].

Her composition style is one of whereby rhythm tends to take on amore significant role as opposed to the traditional harmonic style. This is attributed to how she feels that the effects of a percussive world having besieged the human population. She describes the American language being consistent of beautiful rhythm. The American dialect and its rhythm therefore end up being the language of her music. Her fascination into researching on rhythmic patterns, pitch range and the phrase contours that comprise the American spoken language and in the process comes up with a process she refers to as “rhythmating”. This process facilitates her analysis of the various aspects of the spoken language[4].

She is able to develop color in the song cycle by focusing on the tonal areas and at the same time rendering the audience able to perceive the pitches that are not actually being played. This is done by way of acoustics. This is discovery in developing tone was probably discovered during her time at graduate school when she acted as a lab instructor in the classes on the acoustics of music. The insight gained during this time facilitates the development of a foundation whereby she feels the voice is in essence a stringed instrument[5].

Larsen’s harmonic style is mainly based on the repetitive intervals that facilitate the featuring of dramatic moments in the texts of her compositions especially in “Big sister says, 1967 and Boy’s Lips II”. The song cycle has been composed in horizontal manner in that the compositions tend to rely on the construction of musical motives that develop a feelings and emotions in the audience that cannot be expressed using words[6]. The various song titles tend to reflect the particular dance rhythm that ends up working as the basis for the song. The boy’s lips reflects the dance rhythm of a blues, blond men reflects that of a torch song the big sister says, 1967 reflects a honky-tonk, the empty song reflects a tango whereas I make my magic reflects an isadora’s dance[7].

Regarding the aspect of color and movement in her composition masterpieces, the artist draws inspiration from the natural surroundings. This can be evidenced when researching on the region of Minneapolis where she composed most of her works. The region is surrounded by lakes and creeks, and has an urban energy. This makes it possible to travel by canoe in the middle of the city. In this way, this impression has found its way in her music through the sense of movement from ground water and the transition of civilized energy to nature[8].

 

Bibliography

Alenier, Karren LaLonde. Talking Process with Composer Libby Larsen. “The Steiny Road to Operadom: The Making of American Opera. Bloomington, Ind.: Unlimited Publishing LLC, 2007.

Blackstone and Buchanan. ―Composing, Words, Music.”In Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir Vol. 2. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2007.

Boyer, Douglas R. ―Music Style and Gender in the Choral Music of Libby Larsen. Choral Journal, (October 1993): 17-28.

Claussen, Rene, Libby Larsen, Morten Lauridsen, Kirke Mechem, and Tom Wine. ―Libby Larsen.‖ In Composers On Composing for Choir/G7110. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2007.

Helmholtz, Hermann. On the Sensations of Tone. 2nd edition ed. New York: Dover Publications, 1954.

Kelly, Jennifer W. ―Libby Larsen Composes ‗Love Songs: Five Songs on Texts by Women Poets.‘ An Artist Identity Informs Her Work.‖ D.M.A. diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 2005. In Dissertations and Theses Full Text. Proquest, http://search.proquest.com/docview/305033210?accountid=14604 (accessed August 20, 2011).

Ketcham, Christopher. Notes from September 11: Poems and Stories. Petaluma, California: Wordrunner Chapbooks, 2004.

McCutchan, Ann. The Muse That Sings: Composers Speak About the Creative Process. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

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