IN HER WORDS: AN EXAMINATION OF THE FEMALE NARRATIVE

IN HER WORDS: AN EXAMINATION OF THE FEMALE NARRATIVE

WITHIN SELECT WORKS OF LIBBY LARSEN

By

Eileen C. Jennings

Submitted to the faculty of the

Jacobs School of Music in partial fulfillment

of the requirements for the degree,

Doctor of Music In Music

Indiana University

December 2021

ii

Accepted by the faculty of the

Indiana University Jacobs School of Music,

in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree

Doctor of Music

Doctoral Committee

__________________________________________

Patricia Havranek, Research Director and Chair

__________________________________________

Dominick DiOrio

__________________________________________

Alice Hopper

__________________________________________

Marietta Simpson

December 6, 2021

iii

Copyright © 2021

Eileen C. Jennings

iv

Table of Contents

LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................................... v

INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 1

CHAPTER 1 THE SONGS ............................................................................................................. 4

TRY ME, GOOD KING .................................................................................................................. 7

MY ÁNTONIA .............................................................................................................................. 28

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: A DRAMATIC CANTATA ............................................................. 49

CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................. 67

APPENDIX A: SONG TEXT COMPARISON ............................................................................. 68

APPENDIX B: EPISTOLARY CHART OF LIBBY LARSEN WORKS .................................... 93

BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 98

v

List of Figures

Figure 1.1. Timeline of the Wives of Henry VIII. ........................................................................... 8

Figure 1.2. Katherine of Aragon. ..................................................................................................... 8

Figure 1.3. Timeline of Katherine of Aragon. ................................................................................. 8

Figure 1.4. Anne Boleyn. ................................................................................................................ 11

Figure 1.5. Timeline of Anne Boleyn. ........................................................................................... 11

Figure 1.6. Jane Seymour. .............................................................................................................. 14

Figure 1.7. Timeline of Jane Seymour. .......................................................................................... 14

Figure 1.8. Anne of Cleves. ............................................................................................................ 17

Figure 1.9. Timeline of Anne of Cleves......................................................................................... 17

Figure 1.10. Katherine Howard. .................................................................................................... 22

Figure 1.11. Timeline of Katherine Howard. ................................................................................. 22

Figure 2.1 Willa Cather…………………………………………………………………………..28

Figure 2.2 Anna Pavelka………………………………………………………………………….28

Figure 2.3 Timeline of Willa Cather……………………………………………………….……..32

Figure 2.4 Timeline of Jim Burden………………………………………………………...……..32

Figure 3.1 Eleanor Roosevelt……………………………………………………………………..49

1

INTRODUCTION

Nature gave them a more mobile imagination, a more delicate

organization…Their sensibility is quicker, more lively, and

touches a wider variety of objects and subjects...from this that

suppleness and continual variety in everything, that we so often

see in their letters…without effort and with unexpected but

natural transitions.1

Through the act of telling their own stories, women ensure their narratives survive for

future generations. Their primary method of preserving their stories for posterity's sake was

through the act of writing letters. In Rachael Scarborough King’s book Writing to the World:

Letters and the Origins of Modern Print Genres, printed news sources are derived from the craft

of letter writing.2 The art of letter writing was honed and elevated by women, as Elizabeth C.

Goldsmith explains in Writing the Female Voice: Essays on Epistolary Literature. Women have

imbued their letters with a sense of truth and wit that conveys their thoughts and impressions of

their personal circumstances and the world beyond. By telling their stories through letter-writing,

women made epistolary writing more substantiated which led to new forms of communication. In

King’s book, she explains the nature of epistolary media necessitates the development of new

genres, creating new records of correspondence. Women’s epistles developed into diary entries,

memoirs, epistolary novels, and newspaper editorials. This epistolary evolution has defined the

natural inclination of writing for women.

As one of the most prolific contemporary composers, Libby Larsen has been motivated

by her need to communicate from childhood.3 It is no wonder epistolary writing appears as a text

choice for the musical compositions discussed herein. It is also important to point out that the

1 Goldsmith, page 53, quoting M. Suard, “Du style épistolaire,” in Lettres de Madame de Sévigné (Paris:

Firmin Didot Frères, 1849), iii. 2 King, Rachael Scarborough. Writing to the World: Letters and the Origins of Modern Print Genres.

Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 24 June 2018. 3 Von Glahn, Denise. Libby Larsen, Composing an American Life. Urbana: University of Illinois Press,

2017.

2

epistolary records Larsen chooses are not limited to the pieces in this document.4 Libby Larsen

helps illuminate the female narrative by using stories penned by women. The women represented

in Try Me Good King, My Antonia, and Eleanor Roosevelt affect history: changing the portrayal

of women and their power perceived, changing the law or even social convention, or trespassing

on socio-economic boundaries.

The very essence of epistolary writing is to directly address an audience to express the

emotional contents of one’s life, reflections, and observations. This writing genre is tailor-made

for a singer’s delivery and effective for song and drama by revealing the subject. Larsen pays

homage to these women and substantiates their narratives by utilizing an effectively simplistic

and straightforward compositional style that is purely her own. She contours and molds melody

and accompaniment to reflect living beings, lives, places, and times, breathing life once more into

things almost forgotten.

With the advent of their education, noblewomen of France and Italy elevated epistolary

writing in the sixteenth century. It soon began spreading throughout Europe, for communication

and as the entertainment of the time. It was the true reflection of women’s writing ability, and

Margaret F. Rosenthal refers to this as the development of self-portraiture.5 Women found a way

to communicate with the world through their writing. Letter writing served as a way to hone their

writing skills, which led to publishing opportunities in the form of novels, newspapers, and

periodicals. Women helped develop some of the significant forms we know now. At the heart of

these genres of the written word is communication through narrative. Communication being a

keyword for Libby Larsen, it is an expression at the heart of the composer’s formative

beginnings.

The female narrative seamlessly weaves into the works of Libby Larsen. We will explore

the lives of these women and female characters and show how music acts as a vehicle to bring

4 See chart in Appendices.

5 Goldsmith, page 53.

3

their lives to the forefront again. We will examine how the setting of their words and lives

through music animates history. We will delve into how this music pays homage to the female

narrative, spanning from the sixteenth century to the twentieth century. Finally, we will look for

the ways in which these narratives echo throughout history.

Women spoke their minds in public, raised families, or held professional careers

nationally and internationally. The women who appear in the works discussed all had the strength

to transcend their circumstances and utilize words to express their existence. Larsen has an innate

ability to draw forth her female subjects’ exceptional yet humanistic quality. At each turn, she

draws our attention to their extraordinary feats while reminding us of the fallibility in humanity.

This is the female narrative through the eyes, ears, and mind of Libby Larsen.

4

CHAPTER ONE: THE SONGS

Libby Larsen creates musical portraiture in Try Me, Good King, My Ántonia, and Eleanor

Roosevelt: A Dramatic Cantata. In Try Me, Good King, she addresses the final words of the

wives of Henry VIII, giving voice to women who were able to speak in a time when women were

to be silent. In My Ántonia, Larsen voices Cather’s fictional narrative while referencing instances

in Cather’s own life and experiences. Similarly, Libby Larsen and Sally M. Gall elucidate the

prolific writings of Eleanor Roosevelt in the form of a dramatic cantata. The work musically

honors one of the most important First Ladies in our country’s modern history in Eleanor

Roosevelt: A Dramatic Cantata.

The texts Libby Larsen sets in these three works are derived from women’s epistolary

writing. Try Me, Good King is taken from the final words of the queens of England during the

reign of Henry VIII. The source materials prove to be hard to authenticate, especially in the cases

of execution. Out of the two former wives of Henry VIII who were executed, Anne Boleyn’s

source material was much more plentiful than her much younger cousin, Katherine Howard. In

contrast, the text Larsen has set in My Ántonia follows the autobiographical events of Willa

Cather, each attached to a real-life memory. The author’s life has been a focus of study for many

Americans, so the biographical evidence and the literature on Cather’s use of personal life

experiences in her writing have been discussed by many literary critics. The text settings Larsen

uses happen to be the more easily sourced biographical reflections. The song cycle derives from a

first-person account written in the style of a memoir itself. Finally, in Eleanor Roosevelt, most of

its textual content is taken from Roosevelt’s autobiography and prolific periodical contributions.

Each source is epistolary, written by females, and a reflection on life. Each adapted to music, and

each a reinvention of life, a narrative.

In general, any composer’s choice of song text is inherently biased to be dynamic and

compelling. Understanding the context of specific characters, including actual historical figures,

5

is integral to creating distinct and persuasive portrayals in performance. Even when examining

texts of an epistolary nature, lyrics can weigh more heavily on some character traits. The

composer abbreviates a song text to build momentum. The mere fact that we have the actual

words from some of these women is impressive. Their station and privilege afforded posterity.

The women represented were all public figures and ranked from among society’s elite to the

ordinary people. Some came from lives of luxury while others struggled to overcome adversity.

All the women possessed a capacity for cleverness and are timeless symbols of the skills of

female communication.

The original texts compared to the song texts illustrate and assist in examining the

characters. I have included, in chart form, the entirety of the original texts alongside the song

texts in the appendices. Any instance of a musical text originating from multiple primary sources

is indicated. The resulting list illustrates how Larsen selected specific texts to create the musical

narrative for these women. To construct these women, Larsen uses simple devices such as tempi,

meter change, and melisma as companions to the text. These musical devices and others indicate

characterization choices.

Sparsity in harmonic soundscape gives the text its due attention. It creates a delicate

intimacy that can be a challenge. For singers, this entails a tightrope balancing of emotional

stakes: too much emotion, and one teeters too far to one side and compromises technique; or if

the singer disconnects from the text, they risk losing the interest of their audience. That is what

makes this music challenging. The singing technique needs to be solid. The text, and therefore the

characterization, must be grounded as well. Having a sense of the athleticism and vocal demands

of the pieces and building muscle memory will allow the singer freedom of interpretation and

character molding. Grounding these characters is knowing the historical figures through their

primary source materials, or as close to contemporary sources as possible. I have considered

many of the original texts, secondary source material, and any other sources pertinent to

understanding the subject for epistolary evidence.

6

Larsen and Gall created the narrative from the most compelling source materials. This

curation might steal some agency from the epistles, if only by truncating the original text. It is the

singer’s responsibility to be accountable for the material not being shared within the song by

knowing and studying the full texts. There are four areas of examination: source texts versus

libretti; persuasion through emotional motivation; musical themes; practical application of

research.

7

TRY ME, GOOD KING Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII

For Solo Soprano and Piano

In the nineteenth century, there were many discussions on epistolary writing. These led to

the conclusion that women were superior letter writers. For several centuries, this was the one

substantial means of being heard at all in the case of women. Elizabeth C. Goldsmith explains

women excel at writing letters because of a quasi-biological propensity. 6 Much of the words one

writes down when formally addressing others is an attempt to steer one’s narrative. Even women

in the upper echelons of society relied on paternal or matrimonial association. Women could only

control their narratives through letter writing.

Try Me, Good King is derived from the words of the wives of Henry VIII and the queens

of England written in letter form. Libby Larsen includes the melodic motives of John Dowland,

Michael Praetorius, and Thomas Campion, but the Queens wrote the texts. Some contain accounts

from Henry VIII or court attendants. The text is formal with decorum, an indication of their

station. This, combined with Larsen’s music and quotes from other composers, makes the

narrative of these women altogether different and expands the original intention of the letters.

Sensitivity is applied to each queen’s personality, and through musical devices such as style,

tempo, duration, mode, range, or rhythmic content, each woman’s personality is reflected.

6 Goldsmith, page 53.

8

Figure 1.1 Timeline of the Wives of Henry VIII

7

Figure 1.2 1 Katherine of Aragon

“KATHERINE OF ARAGON”

Katherine of Aragon to Henry VIII

7 January 1536

Figure 1.3 Timeline of Katherine of Aragon

7 Katherine of Aragon by Unknown artist oil on oak panel, circa 1520 20 1/2 in. x 16 1/2 in. (520 mm x

420 mm)

9

The textual content is from the original source and reveals more about who this queen

indeed was. Katherine of Aragon was a well-groomed woman from the time she was very young.

She held deep religious values and convictions and was an evenly measured woman.

Katherine’s final residence was a house in Kimbleton in Huntingdonshire, and a

household that differed very little from the nunnery suggested to her in the divorce.8 She awoke

in the very early morning hours in a small room in a homely estate, weak from heart palpitations,

as death approached.9 This is the historical scene of Katherine of Aragon’s last moments. The

first song of this cycle is simple, which paints the meager surroundings in which the dying queen

laid. The piano’s left hand never deviates from F♮. The right-hand switches between delivering

segments of the cantus firmus and bells tolling, but at most, it uses two notes per harmonic

progression, making it simplistic but hollow and lacking in meter.

The lack of meter suspends the song in a sort of limbo: uncertainty was ever-present in

Katherine’s life. Though the song has no meter, Larsen uses the sense of chronometry for the text

delivery, harkening to the Latin Mass and Katherine’s devotion to the Catholic Church. Katherine

adhered to Canonical rules in her final moments, which was paramount: the mass was not said

until dawn broke. Her constant faith was also evident in her conversations with Chapuys; she

worried about the Reformation and her steadfastness being a tenet for the opposition to this

movement.10

This chronometry also creates a triple against duple that personifies Katherine’s

cardiac struggles at the end of her life: she suffered through this cardiac failure for four hours

before she finally passed.11

Each triple is the wavering of her voice as her heart failed as she

dictated her last letter. The constancy indicates her unwavering resolve in tempo.

Melisma marks moments of agony and exhaustion within the piece. The first instance of

melismatic use is a simple turn of the voice on the word “king.” Henry VIII was merciless with

8 Starkey, page 541-542.

9 Ibid., page 548.

10 Ibid., page 546-548.

11 Ibid., page 548.

10

Katherine throughout the post-marital relationship: assigning guardsmen who Katherine

considered her “gaolers,”12

denying her visitors and advisors, even keeping her from seeing her

daughter, Princess Mary, for two years.13

Larsen uses this melismatic wavering throughout the

cycle. Each occurrence is heard on “king” in Katherine of Aragon’s case per this dramatic but

straightforward theme. The agonistic melisma is seen on the word “many” twice on the score’s

page five. Katherine was a woman who had endured a marriage that was full of pain. This text

painting illustrates Katherine’s mortal agony and exhaustion.

Katherine of Aragon’s ever-present uncertainty is expertly illustrated through Larsen’s

intentional lack of meter accordant with a steady tempo and dramatic melisma. These all work in

tandem to convey the importance and character of Katherine’s final letter to Henry VIII. The lack

of meter effectively represents perseverance in the face of uncertainty with a steady tempo and

melisma, creating the scene of Katherine of Aragon dictating her final letter written to her

husband, Henry VIII.

When Katherine of Aragon’s body was taken for burial, her doctor, De la Sá, was

convinced she had been poisoned. Katherine’s heart had turned black and riddled with a

considerable mass. Modern medical historians are sure that this was a sign of malignancy.

Katherine of Aragon had indeed died of a broken heart of sorts.14

12 Ibid., page 541.

13 Fraiser, page 227.

14 Lindsey, page 114.

11

15

Figure 1.4 Anne Boleyn

“ANNE BOLEYN”

Anne Boleyn to Henry VIII, 6 May 1536;

Henry’s Love letter to Anne Boleyn;

Anne Boleyn execution speech, 19 May 1536FigureFi

Figure 1.5 Timeline of Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn was born and raised by prominent courtiers. She began serving in the court

of Margaret of Austria in 1513, a court known to host some of the most elite nations’

progeny.16

It was no secret that Anne Boleyn was a well-educated and sharply-witted young

woman whose connections had benefited her greatly. She would not get to live into the twilight

years of her life, having been only thirty-five or thirty-six years of age at her execution. She was

married to Henry VIII for only three and half years.17

Anne Boleyn was one of two wives to be

beheaded by Henry VIII. The second song in Try Me, Good King is “Anne Boleyn” and is the

15 Anne Boleyn, Hans Holbein.


17 Fraiser, page 257.

12

source of the cycle’s namesake. Larsen’s compositional style is in stark contrast with that of

“Katherine of Aragon.” Anne Boleyn was educated and vocal. Larsen continues to use tempo and

meter to illustrate but also employs more expanded range and dynamic shifts.

The tempo changes and mixed meters allude to the quickness of Anne Boleyn’s mind.

There are four sections of varying emotional states: section one, measures 1- 24, self-defense and

rage; section two, measures 25 - 42, pleading and reminiscent; section three, 43 - 71, a reprisal of

the first section but emphatically; section four, 72 - end, declamatory but penitent. Anne Boleyn’s

fire and eloquence are portrayed in measures 1-24. The words dictate the rhythm and realness.

Out of the three letters that Larsen uses, these are the actual words nearing the end of Boleyn’s

life. The lyrical content originates from the letter she wrote closest to her execution on the

nineteenth of May 1536. The letter itself is more nuanced, but when taken out of context, these

excerpts portray a demanding and assuming woman, making it more critical for the singer to

distinguish the character from the actual historical figure.

Anne Boleyn refers to herself as being from a lowly station at the beginning of the second

section, but Boleyn existed within the bounds of the aristocracy. Anne Boleyn’s education was

well-documented, a succession of French-speaking royal households, which left her as educated

as her brother George, a feminine feat of the time.18

In the first section, Larsen employs the

extreme in range for the singer. Extreme range and the opening interval of a descending octave

(A6 to A5) set an emotional momentum to the first twenty-four measures. The use of the triplet

throughout this section gives a sort of heady lilt, as though the singer is drunk with anger and

fury. Through her rage, she can still form the words to tell her captors she was not deserving of

death.

The “low estate” she refers to in measure 27 is her lack of a boastful title. The momentum

changes with the time signature of 3/2. The slowing contrasts the emotional voracity of the

18 Starkey, page 258.

13

opening and slips the song into remembrance. Anne Boleyn had served in the French court for the

new Queen Claude before returning to England. Boleyn soon found her new lowly station in the

New Year of 1521 as lady-in-waiting for Queen Katherine of Aragon.19

The deceleration and time

change show Anne Boleyn’s attempt at humility. The Queen did not write this text in the

following section. Henry VIII did.

Henry VIII’s infatuation with Anne Boleyn began sometime in the winter of 1524-1525.

Henry intended to make Anne Boleyn his “official” mistress.20

At measure 33, the text comes

from the love letters exchanged between the monarch and his mistress. The words of Henry VIII

are sung with affection, slowly and freely. The ending phrase to this section is a diminution of the

phrase at the beginning: “do you not remember the words of your own true hand?” The decaying

of the phrase marks the character Anne Boleyn’s realization of the moment her fate was sealed:

Henry had entangled her and kept her unaware of her vulnerability. The second section, which

consists of the words of Henry VIII, does not propel Anne Boleyn’s narrative forward, but it

catalyzes the rage for the proceeding section.

The third section is a reprisal of the “Try Me, Good King” fury. Anne Boleyn was known

to have tried too hard to gain her station. She displayed an impressive shield of ancestors, but she

was only a remote female descendant making it easy to discredit. Anne Boleyn was a woman who

asserted too much.21

She was the woman who had such power as to persuade the king to divorce

his wife and instead marry her.22

Her freedom to make her own choices at one point was due to

her relationship with the king. The third section reflects Anne Boleyn’s assertiveness by

employing emphasis and repetition. The rage is amplified by desperation. Larsen repeats the

words “try me” five times throughout the twenty-nine measures.

19 Ibid., pages 261-264.

20 Ibid., page 273-275.

21 Ibid., page 258.

22 Ibid., page 361.

14

The final sixteen measures of the song are taken from Anne Boleyn’s speech at her

execution. In contrast to the previous sections, the vocal line no longer leaps and bounds with

emotional fluctuation. Larsen uses a vocally static secco recitative to show Anne Boleyn’s

resignation. When Anne Boleyn reached the scaffold, the men implicated in her trial were all

executed, including her father and brother.23

24

Figure 1.6 Jane Seymour

“JANE SEYMOUR”

Jane Seymour to the Council,

12 October 1537; “Tudor Rose,” Anonymous

Figure 1.7 Timeline of Jane Seymour

Larsen chooses a lullaby for Jane Seymour’s final words, because her death directly

results from giving birth to her son Edward VI. It is a quiet song sung to send a child to sleep. By

23 Ibid.

24 Jane Seymour, Hans Holbein, c.1536.

15

the time Jane Seymour became queen, Henry VIII had been estranged from Princess Mary; Jane

Seymour was able to bring reconciliation to the daughter-father relationship earning Jane the

moniker “the pacific” or peace-maker.25

The calmness in this piece juxtaposes the fiery Anne

Boleyn and has more levity than Katherine of Aragon. The text is partially taken from the joyous

birth announcement of Edward VI, the long-awaited male heir. The use 6/8 and 9/8 reinforces the

idea of the lullaby by creating a swaying, like rocking a baby to sleep. This lullaby is hauntingly

effective for representing this Queen, who died of an illness that was a result of childbirth.

She died of Puerperal fever, also known as "child-bed fever," which was a common

postpartum illness at the time. Within a week after the birth of Edward VI, Seymour fell ill. The

sickness worsened into septicemia, and she died.26

Larsen uses trills and 32nd notes to create a

shiver to both the vocal line and the accompaniment. This figure appears in measure 8 first, when

the singer has thirty-second notes on “estimable” and “almighty.” The thirty-second notes are

syllabic and give the impression of speaking through chattering teeth. Push ahead also appears in

measure 8, followed by an immediate rallentando and decrescendo in measure 9, signifying

weakness and fatigue. This chilling theme continues in the piano at measure 12 and in 16 with

the more erratic quintuplet 32nd notes. The piano illustrates the sickness taking over. In her

feverish delirium, Jane Seymour was described as having “fantasy in her sickness.”27

Her frenzy

explains why the “The Tudor Rose” text appears at the pickup to measure 17. Her sickness

caused a rapid decline. She had a short-lived recovery with only a momentary relief before

succumbing. Seymour died a few days later.28

The chilling theme’s appearance increases in

measure 21, with a series appearing in measures 22 and 24. This theme makes its final iteration in

measure 28, as the vocal line dissipates on a hum, illustrating this Queen’s fading energy.

25 Starkey, p. 584-586.

26 Fraiser, p. 277-281.

27 Ibid., p. 280.

28 Starkey, p. 607-608.

16

The lyrical content is taken from the birth announcement of Prince Edward V as well as

an anonymously written poem from the end of the War of the Roses. The two-tone rose was the

symbol of the creation of the Tudor line. The last words of Jane Seymour from the birth

announcement of her son are accompanied by “The Tudor Rose.” The poem celebrates the union

of the two houses, Lancasters and Yorks, after the War of the Roses. The poem’s use in the

context of a lullaby represents Jane’s constant effort to bring peace to the Tudor household. As a

queen, Jane Seymour served as a calming source for the exhausted Henry VIII, having just

endured the turbulent and tumultuous Anne Boleyn. Jane made a great effort to bring the long

ostracized and disowned Princess Mary back into Henry’s grace. Out of the three deaths, Jane’s

was also the most painful for the king.

Jane Seymour stands in stark opposition to Anne Boleyn. Jane Seymour was patient,

kind, even-keeled, and held no agenda for her ascension. She described herself as “a

gentlewoman, born of good and honorable parents and with an unsullied reputation. She had no

greater treasure in the world than her honor which she would rather die a thousand times than

tarnish.”29

She could be seen as a “Plain Jane.” Though her time with Henry VIII was brief, she

had the most lasting effect on the king. Henry VIII spent more than a year mourning her death

and delaying the search for a new wife.30

Seymour’s musical portrait is brief, like her life, and it

leaves the audience wanting more.



17

31

Figure 1.8 Anne of Cleves

“ANNE OF CLEVES”

Anne of Cleves to Henry VIII

11 July 1540

Figure 1.9 Timeline of Anne of Cleves

It took three years after the death of Jane Seymour for Henry VIII to find another wife.

The majority of Europe saw Henry VIII as being on the verge of becoming a persona non grata, if

not already marked with the moniker. Many of the monarchies still held allegiance to Rome, and

the Pope still begrudged Henry for his treatment of Katherine of Aragon. There was also the fact

that a once strikingly handsome Henry wanted his new wife to be beautiful, even though he had

not aged well physically nor in character. This made his proposals unwelcome. Wooing the

31 Anne of Cleves, Hans Holbein, 1539. Oil and Tempera on Parchment mounted on

canvas, Musée du Louvre, Paris.

18

eligible aristocratic ladies was more of a challenge. Not to mention, his treatment of his first two

wives did not go unnoticed, and his short marriage to Jane Seymour ended in death from

childbirth. Those newly christened Protestant monarchies saw this as a risk of death for their

sisters and daughters if Henry were crossed or displeased in any way.32

Anne of Cleves is wholly different from the three previous musical depictions. She

herself had spent the majority of her life only an elbow’s length away from her mother. She had

not paid her time in courts abroad or as a lady of any queen. The historical record shows a young

woman whose circumstance was held in the hands of her family, who kept her sheltered. Her

future marriage was the work of her brother William. Anne’s brother lacked the pragmatic sense

of his late father, but he still had the ambition to maintain and reinforce his claim on the expanse

of his inheritance.33

With the encouragement of his councilors, Henry decided to look to the German territory

of Cleves for a wife. Anne of Cleves’s father was Protestant-leaning and had two eligible

daughters, Anne and Amalie. Henry had assigned Hans Holbein, Flemish portraitist, and court

painter, to travel to the continent to capture the likeness of prospective brides. After Henry had

failed to attract the mother of Mary of Queen of Scots, Marie of Guise, nor Duchess Christina of

Milan, Henry sent Holbein to determine the aesthetic appeal of the daughters of Cleves. Henry

had been told of Anne’s lovely appearance, but the portrait was not as pleasing as he had hoped

for his next bride.34

Anne of Cleves was in stark opposition to Henry VIII’s preferences. She was intelligent,

but she did not know English. Linguistic capabilities were Katherine of Aragon’s and Anne

Boleyn’s strengths. It was assumed that she would be able to learn English quickly.35

At the age

of twenty-three, Anne of Cleves was, at best, a very naïve and sheltered woman, but ev0en she


33 Fraser, page 298-299.

34 Lindsey, page 138-140.


19

had heard of Henry’s prior wives. This did not comfort Anne. There had been rumors about her

future husband swirling about Europe that he had essentially killed his prior three wives.36

This

did not ease her hesitancy to leave her homeland for good. The pre-contract was signed before

she embarked on her journey to England. Having such a contract would only stoke the fire of

disinclination. She had signed a binding agreement with a man she had neither met nor had the

opportunity to discern his character. But Anne of Cleves soon departed for England after the

signing, a long and grueling trip beginning in November 1539, only traveling five miles a day

with her convoy.37

She would arrive in the English territory of Calais on the 11th of December

accompanied by fifteen Clevian ladies. Anne was gracious and quickly obliged, attesting to her

zeal to please and her manners being those of a princess. 38

On the 31st of December 1539, Anne of Cleves arrived in Rochester and was conducted

to the Bishop’s Palace. Henry was impatient and wanted to stoke the coals of romance, so he paid

a visit to his future bride. The impromptu visit was a debacle of a meeting due to the

miscommunication of both parties. It was a testament to Henry’s inability to realize that he was

no longer the young hunk he once was. The visit is explained as follows: Henry, along with a

gang of gentlemen, dressed in “cloaks of marble colour,” and went to Anne of Cleves’s Privy

Chamber. Henry intended it to appear like a fairytale with a band of men coming to Anne to

profess his excitement in poetic verse as a grand romantic display. Firstly, Anne did not speak

English yet. Secondly, upon their arrival, Anne was too distracted by the bull-baiting outside her

window. She did not realize the masked gentleman who delivered a word from her fiancé was

Henry himself. It is also unclear whether Henry was disappointed by Anne’s reaction or just her

appearance, but he, nonetheless, declared their first meeting to be a disastrous affair.39

The

contract was to be executed, no matter how doomed it was. On January 6, 1540, Henry VIII and





20

Anne, Daughter of Cleves, were married. Their marriage lasted a mere six months, but in that

time, Henry would spend all of it conveying to whoever would listen that his still potent

masculinity was highly dissatisfied by his unassuming, unworldly, and wildly sexually

uninformed wife.40

Henry’s dissatisfaction mirrored Anne of Cleves' readiness to surrender their marriage,

and we see this explicitly in her letter to Henry. Neither party even wanted to continue their

marriage. Anne of Cleves was a sheltered woman, but Henry’s reaction to obstinate women was

well-known. So, when Anne was informed of the dissolution of marriage and the formal title of

sister to the king, she took pleasure in her acceptance and escaped with her life. Larsen uses 6/8 to

illustrate her enthusiastic surrender. The triple meter lends itself well to the dance-like naivete

and levity in Anne’s musical response. The nursery rhyme sense emphasizes the childish quality

in the accompaniment that skips along with the duo of eighth followed by quarter repetitively.

The accompaniment ceases momentarily when the voice enters, and for every clause uttered until

measure 19, the vocalist sings briefly a cappella. These silences are Anne’s brief attempt at

decorum with the subtext of relief and happiness. When the indication of as a matter of fact

appears in the pickup to measure 23, the accompaniment changes into declarative dotted quarter

block chords, as Anne accepts Henry’s offer. The piano’s iambic pauses are less frequent after

this declamatory acceptance, signifying Anne’s uncontained glee. The subsequent accompanying

material becomes a reflection of this glee.

The vocal line is compact in range and melodic content: meaning, Anne of Cleves intends

to stay within the bounds of the offer given to her by the king. In doing so, she escapes with her

life. Larsen uses the boundaries of the staff to signify Anne of Cleves’s respect for the contractual

offer she received in dissolving her marriage with Henry VIII. Larsen sets the voice only to use

limited ranges when delivering clauses in her letter. The first phrase of the song is only mere half


21

steps in measures 4, 5, and 6. The range expands minutely in the following phrase, G4 to Eb5,

only a minor sixth. The voice remains in this head voice tessitura, keeping the lyrical content

even-keeled, light, and matter of fact. Her pragmatism and unemotional response is emphasized

twice in the vocal line by the editorial indication of as a matter of fact. Perhaps Anne had in mind

the bull-baiting she witnessed upon her English arrival, and it became more so a prophetic parable

in what not to do.

The whole vocal range does not step outside these bounds of an octave or ninth, F5 to

G6, for the first three pages. It is not until the final page of the piece we start to see her

obsequious nature lead to the giddiness of newfound freedom.

In pick up to measure 56, we see the first indication of Anne’s true happiness in leaving the

marriage. The octave leap from A5 to A6 shows the extent of her glee, the most significant

ascending leap for the voice. Previously, the voice used the interval of the fourth as a large leap,

in measures 14 to 15, 36, 41, pickup to measure 44, and pickup to measure 50. This octave leap at

measure 56 also occurs on the word “sister” with an indication for the singer to wink. By now, the

marriage had been a joke in Henry VIII’s eyes because he had not been carnally satisfied. “Sister”

indicated the marriage had been nothing but a joke at its fruition. Anne was more content with

this title. The word “sister” jumps an octave in measures 56 and 68 showing that her laughing is

the only instance of range extremity. This defines Anne as having the last laugh: she no longer

has to be married to the tyrant Henry; she has escaped with her life and does not have to return to

the court of Cleves where she would have to re-enter into a marriage contract and reassume her

submission to her brother’s and mother’s will.

She lived until 1557. She died of cancer at the age of forty-one, an older age than most

people of her time; it was a ripe old age, considering the previous fates of Henry VIII’s prior

wives. The song is very straightforward with no changes in meter, alluding to Anne’s very frank

and literal sensibility. She was performing the machinations of royalty, not romance.

22

Upbeat tempo with anacrusis shows the complete opposite of her predecessor; dance-like

content shows how childlike and naïve she was. The accompaniment gives the impression of a

nursery rhyme’s playfulness. She utterly lacked any sort of worldly or carnal knowledge of what

marriage entailed; this was the main complaint of her husband, now brother.

41

Figure 1.10 Katherine Howard

“KATHERINE HOWARD”

Recorded at her execution

By an unknown Spaniard,

13 February 1541

Figure 1.11 Timeline of Katherine Howard

41 Catherine Howard, oil on wood panel by Hans Holbein the Younger, 1535–40; in the Toledo Museum

of Art, Ohio.

23

“All that knew me, and kept my company, know how glad and desirous I was to come to Court.”

-Katherine Howard

The narrative for Katherine Howard is less straightforward than any of the other songs in

the cycle. It is the only contribution to the set that is not from a primary source. This is an

uncorroborated account taken from a witness of the execution, not Katherine Howard herself.

Larsen’s selection of this text for “Katherine Howard” does make for dramatic appeal, but these

are not the last words on record directly written by Katherine Howard: technically her last words

are found in the written confession. The text’s author is not known in the introduction of Hume’s

Chronicle of King Henry VIII of England.42

This text was produced by a copyist in the nineteenth

century and translated from the original Spanish.43

A servant of a Spaniard in court who was a

loyalist to Katherine of Aragon wrote the infamous text. The text is not a primary source of the

material, yet it is suggestive enough to pique the interest of many who venture into researching

Katherine Howard. Because we do not know that the text was a direct quote, we cannot know if it

represents her with any accuracy. Larsen uses rhythm, tempo, and meter to portray Katherine

Howard. Speechlike syllabism creates catches of the breath in the dotted rhythms and trembling

in the triplets.

Katherine Howard was a cousin of Anne Boleyn and the niece of Thomas Boleyn, the

former Earl of Wiltshire: a man who held quite a bit of power.44

Her father was the fecund Lord

Edmund, the third son of the second Duke of Norfolk, so she had noble blood, but not enough to

merit the stature of a woman who would become queen.45

Nonetheless, she caught the eye of

King Henry when she was eighteen or nineteen (thirty years Henry’s junior).46

Katherine Howard

42 Hume, xiii-xxvi and p. 84-87

43 Ibid.



46 Fraser, page 315.

24

had a completely different kind of naivete than Anne of Cleves, because she was more aware of

the world, but was unaware of the consequences of her actions. Katherine Howard was raised by

a domineering mother; Her father was lazy and inhibited by his aristocratic birth from achieving

any agency. He was constantly in debt, making her dreams of grandeur all the more a

necessity. And like her unfortunate cousin, Anne Boleyn, Katherine Howard was also charming

and found it just as easy to attract the opposite sex.47

Katherine Howard was four or five years younger than either Anne Boleyn or Jane

Seymour when she attracted the eye of the King. Though she was of noble lineage, she grew up in

a poor household. Edmund’s career had never amounted to anything of note, though he had

fought at Flodden and had been knighted in 1515.48

His knighthood helped build accolades for the

family name, which in turn made Katherine Howard’s royal prospects that much more

substantial.

Katherine was literate, which ranked her in a tiny percentage of women at the time.49

She

received her education from her time spent at her step-grandmother’s house, learning the

essentials of reading, writing, ornamental needle-work, and superficial musical training, but she

gained her education primarily through life experience.50

Katherine had been sent to live with her

step-grandmother when she was ten or twelve, which was an age at which society considered a

girl to be a woman at the time. Her step-grandmother, Agnes Howard, held the highest rank in

England outside of the royal family. She was the Dowager Duchess and widow of the second

Duke of Norfolk. Agnes Howard ran what would essentially be a boarding school for the woman

of noble birth in the Howard clan. Katherine’s time spent there was among many young women,

and she received very little supervision and quite a bit of fraternization among her male

counterparts. This lack of structured interaction with her male cohorts combined with budding


48 Fraser, page 317.

49 Ibid., page 317.


25

sexualities led to Katherine’s exposure to less-than-courtly interactions with men. She had

relationships beyond that of a courtly Lady by the time she caught the eye of the King. She was a

woman with quite a checkered past, having had relationships with her music teacher, Henry

Manox, and a gentleman named Francis Dereham, the latter of whom had carnal knowledge of

her.51

No doubt, this was a woman of worldly experience; Katherine was a teenager driven by

overwhelming hormones.

Soon before the arrival of Anne of Cleves and her marriage to Henry VIII, Katherine

Howard assumed the station of one of the Queen’s maidens. She left her step-grandmother’s

house with a desire for more important things than the attention of simple men. Her arrival at

Court was a seamless transition, and she adapted to Court life with no difficulty. Soon she made

the acquaintance of Thomas Culpepper, the former page of the King and a favorite of both men

and women. David Starkey describes the two as each other’s foils, and they were greatly attracted

to one another.52

Rumors spread that they had a pre-contract for marriage. Katherine would deny

this claim after a falling out with Culpepper.53

Her time at her step-grandmother’s estate and at

Court had taught her a few things that would lead to her demise: she possessed a seductive quality

men liked and the ambition to pursue greater prey than that of the King’s former page. She would

soon catch the eye and the heart of the King himself and ignite the fuse leading to her death.

She served as one of Anne of Cleves’ ladies in 1539. Katherine’s presence in court had

been noticed by the king, who had been in an unhappy relationship with his wife at the time.54

By

the time of Katherine’s imprisonment and execution, she had served about twenty months in

Court, including her time as a maiden to Anne of Cleves. She edged Jane Seymour out for the

duration of marriage only by a month or two. Her role as wife trod a thin line between spry

seductress and willing submissive, two things Henry VIII seemed to desire out of her that he had



53 Ibid.

54 Ibid.

26

not gotten from his prior wives. But Katherine Howard’s attractiveness and sprightly nature

played a most significant role in her demise due to her numerous dalliances. Her time spent in the

presence of young, virile men taught her how to use her feminine wiles to advance her station.

This time, though it helped her elevate herself to the highest station in the land, it also led to the

eventual questioning of her virtue, the accusation of infidelity, charges, and execution. But Karen

Lindsey poses an interesting assessment of Katherine Howard and the King himself: Katherine

Howard was just a reflection of who Henry VIII was. If she had been allotted her life and gone on

into older age, Katherine Howard herself might have tried to thwart the signs of old-age with the

attentions of some young courtier.55

So it is with this knowledge that I go forth with the analysis,

keeping in mind that Katherine Howard, like Henry VIII himself, was a creature of immense ego

with great naïveté.

Larsen uses the phrase “like a frightened child” at measure 4 as the first indication at the

onset of the voice. This is the first indication of what kind of person Katherine Howard was at the

scaffold: she was a young woman, barely in her twenties. Larsen uses a close cluster of

accidentals in the voice part to initiate the first three phrases of the piece, helping to set a

tremulous and hesitant quality to the character being musically described. The intervals within the

accompaniment that prelude the voice are all a matter of half steps with some major sevenths

intertwined. The piece gives a sense of uncertainty and trepidation as Katherine Howard marches

to her doom.

This piece begs the question: how do Katherine Howard’s last words differ from the final

words of the other wives? The lyrics for “Katherine Howard” are not the words of a woman

addressing her husband nor making a grand statement to her kingdom. They are the words of a

young girl of twenty or twenty-one, unsure of herself, how she made it to this point in life so


27

quickly.56

Her youth expresses uncertainty through the line repeated, “I have not wronged the

King.” She separates herself from her husband by not addressing him directly. This has

significance to how old Katherine Howard was but stood in stark opposition to the words of her

predecessors. She did not hold power and confidence like the other women Henry VIII had

married.

56 Katherine Howard’s birth year is not quite clear. Some sources say 1520, others 1521. Either way,

Katherine Howard is of a completely different generation than that of her husband Henry VIII.

28

MY ÁNTONIA Soprano and Piano

57 58

Figure 2.1 Willa Cather

Figure 2.2 Anna Pavelka

Every story I have ever written… has been the recollection of

some childhood experience, of something that touched me as a youngster.

-Willa Cather

The epistle is not as evident in Libby Larsen’s My Ántonia, but it aligns with Willa

Cather’s life. The excerpts of the novel of its namesake are set into a song cycle by Larsen. The

novel was the third installment to Willa Cather’s three-book series about life on the American

Great Plains. Like many of her literary works, Cather uses the people from her past to describe

the childhood and adolescence of Jim Burden, a transplant from Virginia, who goes to live with

his grandparents in Red Cloud, Nebraska. Jim encounters Ántonia, a young immigrant girl who

moved to the Great Plains with her family. Their friendship is the centerpiece of the story as it

57 Photographer: Aime Dupont Studio, New York Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational

Foundation. 58

Portrait photograph of Anna Pavelka, age 17. Willa Cather Pioneer Memorial and Educational

Foundation, Nebraska State Historical Society.

29

ebbs and flows with the fluctuations of life. Still, the basis to this story is taken from Willa

Cather’s real-life experiences from the big move by her own family from Virginia to Nebraska,

interactions with the townspeople of Black Hawk, the actual town being Red Cloud, Nebraska,

and both Cather’s and Jim’s educations in Lincoln, Nebraska. The novel and the song cycle are

glimpses of Cather’s life, scenes taken from her own experience and set to a life of another name.

Larsen uses her own American experience to illustrate the sounds and atmosphere that represent

the vast spaces and plains of Manifest Destiny’s Midwestern experience.

My Ántonia is considered American author Willa Cather’s most beloved novel and

markedly her most outstanding. It is implicitly an epistolary work; however, knowing the author’s

life gives insight into her formation as a human being. The result is a first-person account of

protagonist Jim Burden, childhood into adulthood. It features his time spent directly with Ántonia

Shimerda, a young immigrant girl and the namesake of both the novel and song cycle. She and

Jim grew up together. The novel begins with Willa Cather setting the scene on a train with her

childhood friend Jim Burden. Cather appears as herself in the introduction of the novel. After the

introduction, Cather assumes the voice of her train companion and writing partner, Jim Burden.

Therefore, the novel itself and the song cycle born from it could be seen as a memoir reflecting

days passed. It describes the landscape and lives of the people of the fictional town of Black

Hawk, Nebraska.

My Ántonia describes both a biographical and autobiographical account of the lives of

both Willa Cather and her real-life childhood friend Annie Sadilek Pavelka. Willa Cather

parallels much of Jim’s experiences in the novel to that of her life events. Drawing from

conversations Cather had with young men who were childhood friends with Anna Sadelik,

Cather’s choice of a male narrator of the novel was no surprise, as the more detailed accounts

were from men. “She had a fascination for them, and they used to be with her whenever they

30

could. They had to manage it on the sly because she was only a hired girl,” Willa Cather

explained to an interviewer.59

Jim’s observations of this fictional Black Hawk, Nebraska, the goings-on, even the

statements made about Ántonia, are taken from Cather’s real-life experiences and interactions in

Red Cloud, Nebraska.60

In essence, it reflects Cather’s feelings and observations of prairie life,

even though the narrative is delivered through Jim Burden. There is some speculation because of

social ambiguity: a description about a woman’s romantic ponderings of another female bordered

on taboo; therefore, Cather used the male voice of Jim to express her fondness of the very real

Annie Sadilek Pavelka. The mere fact that Libby Larsen decides to set her adaptation of the text

to a song cycle for high voice and piano, therefore, indicates an understanding of the author’s

voice within the novel.61

This is not a cycle to be seen as a pants-role, a woman posing as a male;

it is a delivery of poetry set by Larsen and taken from Cather’s life and remembrances. Larsen

reveals Willa Cather herself in the music through the simple device of voice type.

Seen as a writer adept at uncovering the human psyche, not through blatant prose

exposing the innermost thoughts and desires of her characters, Cather uses actions to show what

the characters feel.62

Cather uses simplicity in her observations. In the majority of the song cycle,

the machinations of the world do speak louder than the words spoken, and scenic factors imply

much more insight on what the characters are feeling than actual verbal utterance. What better

composer to express the surrounding world than Libby Larsen, who professes: “I think of all

59 Woodress, page 289.

60 Ibid.

61 The Larsen My Ántonia score actually indicates soprano for the cycle on the printed cover, however, the

title page indicates high voice. Gregory Zavracky’s article in the NATS Journal indicates Larsen prefers a

tenor voice for the cycle. But for the purposes of this document, I will assume that my ideal intended

performer would be a soprano, due to the fact that the original text was written by Willa Cather, a woman,

and for the fact that some of the tessitura is more suitable for a soprano. 62

Woodress, page 289.

31

music as existing in the substance of the air itself. It is the composer’s task to order and make

sense of sound, in time and space, to communicate something about being alive through music.63

Larsen takes the task of creating atmosphere and gives a wide-open place where memory

reverberates through the bare use of piano and voice. The simplicity of Cather’s writing is

reflected in Larsen’s employment of syllabic setting for the vocal line, only using melisma for

effect with great restraint. This use of recitative-like text delivery creates a conversational nature

to the music. In doing so, Larsen honors Cather’s literary identity and the types of people who

exist within the world of My Ántonia. Larsen begins to paint a new frontier through declarative

vocal stylings and judicious use of harmony and accompaniment- something most apropos to the

memory of Willa Cather, her characters, and the history of this region of the United States.

Above all, My Ántonia is a hymn to the past, to a Golden Age

whose heroes and heroines were immigrant men, women, and

children who together tamed the rebellious prairie into fertile

farmland, overcoming fierce storms and drought, poisonous

snakes, and hostile Indians.64

The novel is divided into sections referred to as books: I The Shimerdas, II The Hired

Girls, III Lena Lingard, IV The Pioneer Woman's Story, V Cuzak's Boys. Larsen’s song cycle

alludes to these books. I have attempted to source all the lyrical materials Larsen has set and to

indicate their chronology in the book and the words of the songs to better illustrate where in the

timeline of Cather’s life these things occur. The first song is the literal yet truncated iteration of

the book’s introduction: Cather uses the section to introduce Jim Burden. The cycle’s songs serve

as either transitions into or out of the past or songs that reflect memories. Each song serves as a

descriptor of the prairie life, the people, the seasons, and what the land had to offer. Her use of

recurring themes creates continuity. Larsen does not adhere to the original text from the novel nor

the order in which they appear in the book. Instead, she employs the most descriptive phrases and

uses them to create momentum to the cycle.

63 https://libbylarsen.com/as_about

64 Ann T Keene, Willa Cather, page 72.

32

Figure 2.3 Timeline of Willa Cather

\

Figure 2.4 Timeline of the character Jim Burden

“One of the truest artists I ever knew in the keenness and sensitiveness of her enjoyment, in her

love of people and in her willingness to take pains.”

- Cather said of her childhood acquaintance

33

1. Landscape I: From the Train

Tempo: ♪= 132

Time Signatures: 4/4 3/4

Range: E 4 to Ab 5

Duration: approximately 2:40

“Landscape I: From the Train” is the first song of the cycle. It is a transition song,

moving us into the pasts of Jim Burden and Willa Cather. The lyrical content comes from the

introduction of the novel. The accompaniment illustrates a train, and Larsen has set each section

with the train’s acceleration, a settled tempo for travel, and a silence in the accompaniment, to

signify the train stopping along the way at various stations. Larsen employs this theme of

reminiscence throughout her choice of poetry: always giving the distance between the narrator

and the actual scenes described. Larsen favors Willa Cather’s colorful descriptions of the

landscape for the song texts. Larsen emphasizes this distance narratively by keeping both hands

of the piano in the bass clef for most of the piece, only bringing it into the treble to echo the voice

in specific instances.

Remembrance begins with daydreaming on a train. The accompaniment illustrates the lull

of a train on the tracks. Larsen uses the middle range of the voice, creating a contour to the vocal

line that is conversational. The singer remains in the voice’s middle-range at the beginning, which

lends well to the dialogic quality. The singer is in a constant state of semi-somnolence. Larsen

creates a hypnotic suspension of resolution through the half-step relationship between C natural

and B natural, seen throughout measures 2 through 10. The melody meanders disjunctly but

always returns to this half step between C natural and B natural. This half-step relation creates

tension at the beginning of the song that needs resolution.

The accompaniment continues at a regular pace. Larsen alters the piano’s left hand in

measure 3 to create the sense that the train track is slightly different as the train crosses into a new

state. This irregularity also represents the audible memory of the train tracks that led back to

Nebraska. In measure 5, the piano reinforces the voice by doubling it in the same octave. A block

chord stops the momentum in measure 12 which immerses the singer in the past. This section is

34

marked freely, slowly, and this occasional silence creates a momentary detachment from waking

life.

At measure 12, Larsen foreshadows a formative memory for Jim Burden and Willa

Cather during the frozen Nebraska winters. The piano’s right-hand ventures into the treble clef at

measure 14. Larsen doubles the vocal line, but she staggers the piano an eighth later, creating an

echo between the two instruments and an echoing of the past. The daydreaming punctuates with

another half-step relationship between F sharp and G natural in the piano’s right-hand in measure

15.65

These memories draw a visceral and sensory experience. The singer should deliver them

with a secco-like pause to evoke the gravity of reacquainting with the past.

The train begins again at measure 16.66

The vocal line begins very much like the

beginning with, “as the train flashed, we were talking about…” in measure 18, as if the singer had

awoken from a daydream. The figure in the accompaniment is altered again in measure 20,

Larsen adds a scalar figure in the left hand at measure 21 to create the blustery winds of spring

and summer and the blowing leaves in fall. This scalar figure is accompanied by a crescendo in

both the voice and piano going to the word “fire.” There is a caesura at measure 23, which

punctuates the section. Measure 24 is marked “freely, recitative,” in which the singer states, “Oh,

I wish I could be a little boy again.” This moment marks the complete removal from the present.

When the train theme starts again in measure 25, the speaker immerses herself in reminiscence.

The following vocal entrance in measure 27 is more disjunct than previous iterations of this

melody. Larsen no longer relies on the half-step relationship between C natural and B natural in

this melodic iteration. At the introduction of the namesake theme of “My Ántonia,” the speaker

finds herself, most assuredly, whisked away into the past.

65 Larsen Score, page 3.

66 Ibid.

35

This Ántonia Theme appears throughout the cycle. This first iteration of the namesake

theme introduces how this theme is used for the majority of the cycle. Each time we see

“Ántonia” or “My Ántonia,” the melodic figure is an unaltered octave leap, signifying the

established affection the singer has for Ántonia. The use of an octave each time indicates the

pronunciation of “Ántonia” as well: the emphasis occurs on the penultimate syllable of the name.

The final three measures indicate a non ritardando securing travel into the past. This first

song is leads to the reflection, as is the entirety of the piece, on the fictional town and landscape

of Black Hawk, Nebraska. In 1883 at the age of nine, Willa Cather and her family boarded a train

in Back Creek Valley, Virginia, in pursuit of new lives out west in a farming community in Red

Cloud, Nebraska. Cather, along with her three siblings and her parents Charles Cather and Mary

Virginia Boak Cather, were going to join Charles' brother and wife. They moved out to Nebraska

a decade prior, being joined a few years later by Cather’s grandparents, William, her namesake,

and Caroline. Unlike Jim Burden’s narrative, he moves west to live with his grandparents after

the death of his parents in Virginia. It is these experiences that are not just Jim’s but Cather’s.

The particular loss that Cather experienced by leaving Virginia was the loss of her trusted canine

companion.

In April 1916, Willa Cather had grown tired of her life in New York City. In an attempt

to escape the drudgery of New York society, she took a train out west to revisit the place that

served as her formative influence. In the time leading up to her escape out west, Cather had begun

her writing of My Ántonia, very much like the narrator Jim Burden’s conversation had with

Cather on the train within the introduction of the novel.

Cather’s 1916 trip out west was not her first train ride. The indelible memory of her

family’s 1877 cross-country train ride served as the inspiration and basis for this story. Like her

literary counterpart, Cather traveled from Virginia to Nebraska, following her father’s brother and

wife, who had established a stake. Cather traveled across half the country, contemplating her past

to find her most treasured novel. Memories became more tangible the further from New York she

36

traveled. This accompaniment effectively sets the scene of the gentle lulling of a train ride, and

that of the sporadic stream of consciousness of our speaker, ever receding into the past.

2. Ántonia

Tempo: ♩= 96


Range: Eb 4 to Ab 5


The second song begins abruptly with just the singer. The piano joins after the two

declamatory notes and continues the pattern of four-note chords throughout the piece. This

illustrates the relationship between Jim and Ántonia in the novel. These four notes create the

sense of the four feet of two people moving in tandem. They are staccato, only breaking this

pattern when the eighths appear in a slurred diminution of the pattern in measure 3. This

diminution paints the picture of two children skipping together. Larsen uses the accompaniment

to create a lighter, more childlike character to the piece. The song lives in the past.

The vocal line is syllabic, seen throughout the cycle. Larsen uses the language to dictate

how the vocal line is delivered. Again, we see the casual and conversational use of language to

create recitative-like delivery. The beginning text is Jim repeating the words said to him when he

first met Ántonia. The conductor who is speaking to him describes the Shimerda family and the

girl Ántonia. The first two notes uttered by the voice without accompaniment are Jim’s memory

coming back to him as if rendering the singer dumbstruck momentarily. Once the voice has

settled into the scene, the accompaniment enters.

The accompaniment is just two notes in the right hand and two in the left with staccato

markings. The accompaniment figure is the footsteps, two pairs traveling together. It also

demonstrates the simplicity of friendship in childhood. The text, “and she is bright as a new

dollar,” at the pickup to measure 7, helps emphasize who Ántonia will eventually become to Jim,

and the song describes their first meeting. Ántonia was a bright light to Jim, and they were

destined to be friends exploring together. The second instance of the voice singing a cappella is at

measure 8 with the mention of Ántonia’s brown eyes. The inundation of memory emphasizes the

37

singer’s stupefaction of meeting such a wondrous young girl. The diminution of rhythm and slurs

in the accompaniment of measures 9-11, along with the way that Larson ties the notes together,

illustrates the forging and solidification of their friendship. Measures 9 through 11 are the most

extensive harmonic moment for the accompaniment as well. Filling the chordal structure with

more sonority helps show how fulfilling the friendship was. This moment in measures 9 to 11 is

the first utterance of the Ántonia motive, introduced in the previous song.

The name “Ántonia” is uttered again in measure 14. The slurred figure in the

accompaniment signals the fondness for their childhood bond. The subsequent ten measures show

Jim’s initial hesitancy to become friends with Ántonia, but that is soon thwarted as he takes her

hand and their friendship blossoms. The relationship between the voice and accompaniment

shows the difference between the outward appearance of Jim’s reactions and the excitement lying

just beneath the surface. The silence in the accompaniment in measures 21, 23, and 24 clears

everything else away except the singer and the subject of Ántonia. It makes the remembrance of

the words “My Ántonia” visceral. This is the first of two applications of melisma within this song

and an indication of a lingering feeling.

The footsteps begin again in measure 25 at the a tempo. The singer enters at the pickup to

measure 27. The vocal line remains syllabic, but the use of a slightly longer duration of notes and

a quarter note triplet indicates that the singer is relishing in the memories of a friend. At measure

33, the accompaniment stops abruptly to clear for the words of the character Ántonia: “Name?

What name?” The use of silence in this instance shows how indelible Ántonia’s voice is in the

singer’s mind. The footsteps in the accompaniment begin again in measure 34 at the a tempo as

the singer answers Ántonia’s question.

The third strophe of the song begins with a scene from the book, “one ev’ning we

climbed to the roof to watch the clouds of a storm.” The second instance of melisma is text

painting on the word “storm” at measures 40 and 41. Larsen also adds sixteenth notes into the top

voice of the right hand to signify lightning, which continues through the melisma of “storm.” The

38

subsequent measures of 42 to the end simultaneously echo a stark memory and an indication of

the wide-open space of their childhood.

This song is very much a reflection of Cather's time in Nebraska. During Cather’s

childhood in Red Cloud, she spent time meeting the immigrants within her area. These

interactions led to the inspiration for Cather’s stories. The setting could be an amalgamation of

many experiences she had. Cather took her time and listened to the people around her and then

used some of those as ideas for her novel, which we see in this song. The song recalls actual

conversations for the narrator. Jim’s and Ántonia’s travels back to Black Hawk, Nebraska, were

similar to nine-year-old Willa Cather. She arrived in Red Cloud, Nebraska, in 1883 with her

parents and her three siblings on a train. They all came to a land that was unfamiliar and not

entirely tamed. Cather’s early childhood centered around producing plays with her friends and

seeing opera troupes at the local opera house. During these times, Cather also befriended the

Miner family and became more acquainted with the immigrant culture of Red Cloud. Her best

friends, the Miner girls, had a mother who had emigrated from Norway. Cather’s time spent with

the Miner girls was also the opportunity to meet the future inspiration for the heroine of My

Ántonia Anna Sadelik, later Pavelka. Cather’s fascination with the immigrant population led to a

friendship with Anna Sadelik.

3. Landscape II: Winter

Tempo: ♩= 54

Time Signatures: 4/4

Range: C4 to F5


The third song of the cycle creates the soundscape of winter in Nebraska. The text that

Larsen has adapted for this song comes from two separate sections of the novel. The two sections

have the winter season in common. The first portion of the text comes from the second section of

the book “The Hired Girls.” The second portion of the text comes from the first section of the

39

book “The Shimerdas.”67

Larsen melds two moments in the novel into one: the winter of Mr.

Shimerda’s death and how Ántonia still carried this life-changing event with her. Each winter’s

savage beating of the land reminds the friends of Ántonia's father's death.

Larsen utilizes sparse accompaniment through the third song within the cycle. At the

beginning of this song, Larsen uses a tremolo of B♮3, C♮4 and 5, and D♭4 to create the twinge

of the cold wind on the prairie. The half step relationship harkens back to the first song of the

cycle, but it is now an indication of winter and the shivering cold. This trembling chord and

dissonance work to make a sparse and cold feeling for this song. The vocal delivery resembles

recitative, and it treads on recitativo secco. Most of the harmonic content alternates with the vocal

line delivery at Tempo I, measures 3 to 7. The dissonance of each arpeggiated chord interspersed

with the disjunct chromaticism of the voice sketches a soundscape of the hollowness and cold of

winter. Measure 8 is a new interpretation of winter in the accompaniment: still sparse, but more

so an indication of how long winter remains in small prairie towns. This change at measure 8

Tempo II is also a portion of text that occurs before the death of Mr. Shimerda. The sixteenth note

and eighth note tied to a quarter sound like the slow ticking of time. In measure 16, there is a

foreshadowing of Ántonia's father’s entrance with a quintuplet that sounds like the flourish of a

fiddle player. This quintuplet figure introduces Mr. Shimerda. He greets Ántonia on a minor third

in the lower range of the voice. Ántonia responds with a cheery major arpeggio. The major

arpeggio and the use of the lower voice for Mr. Shimerda help delineate the speakers throughout

the section by what range the singer delivers them.

The following section is new material in the accompaniment with the indication jaunty,

as a country dance. The pick-up to measure 19 is the first time there is more complicated rhythm

and activity for the accompaniment. This activity in the piano is the sound of Mr. Shimerda

playing his violin. The sixteenth note triplet turns in the right hand of the accompaniment.

67 Willa Cather, My Ántonia: A Norton Critical Edition. (New York: Norton, 2015), Kindle edition.

40

Beginning in measure 22, the appoggiatura harkens folk music, specifically played on fiddles.

The folk-like ornamentation is the theme for Mr. Shimerda as Ántonia sees him. It is Mr.

Shimerda who used to play his fiddle all the time in the old country. Larsen uses this

appoggiatura figure throughout the song to different effects. Larsen lessens the frequency,

signifying not only Mr. Shimerda’s descent into depression and eventual suicide but also

Ántonia’s fading image of her father.

The use of sparse descriptors in the accompaniment portrays this harsh wintry

stillness. Cather heard of the legend of poor Mr. Sadelik soon into her time in Red Cloud,

Nebraska. Mr. Sadelik was an immigrant who had brought his family to Red Cloud to settle and

make a new home. But the oppressive winters and the true hardships of forging a new frontier

were taxing, to say the least. His story was known among the townspeople, so Cather was

acquainted with her family’s tragedy by the time Cather had been introduced to Anna Sadelik.

Her father, Francis Sadelik, served as the inspiration for the more tragic story of Mr. Shimerda.

Francis Sadelik was one of the first stories Willa Cather heard upon her arrival to Red

Cloud. Having been a curious child, Cather had overheard the story during a discussion with the

adults. Mr. Sadelik, a violinist and Bohemian farmer, had emigrated from Prague with his family.

Still, he struggled to overcome the harsh living circumstances while trying to provide for his wife

and children. Francis Sadelik, in a moment of desperation, smashed his violin and shot himself,

leaving his family to fend without him. Having found herself without a father to provide for the

family, the alluring Anna Sadelik began working as a hired girl in town and also became a point

of interest for Willa Cather and her friend Carrie, one of the Miner girls. Cather and Carrie would

often discuss Anna Sadelik, who would send her wages home to her family and retell the tragedy

of her father, Francis. This story made a significant impression on Willa Cather and appeared in

multiple works of Cather’s, including the death of Ántonia’s father.

41

4. The Hired Girls

Tempo: ♩= 108

Time Signatures: 3/4

Range: D4 to G5


“The Hired Girls” serves as an anomaly within the cycle. It is a romping dance hall song,

and it is distantly related to the other pieces within the cycle, only by virtue that it is from the

same novel. This is the first song in the cycle that displays diatonicism. It is in G major, which is

a very apparent difference between the chromaticism of the previous songs. The vocal line is also

more melodically driven than text driven as the prior. The “crashing waltz” played in the novel

draws the hired girls momentarily from their work. This exuberance illustrates the youthful

excitement. The song’s introduction includes a portion of the “Valse Anders Sveen,” a famous

Norwegian tune, paying homage to the foreign descent of the hired girls.

The vocal line is also given a novel approach in the song. Larsen employs melisma to

illustrate dancing and the laughing of youth, sending the voice soaring. This dancing

melismatically can be seen from measure 26 to measure 32. The first melodic line repeats after it.

The waltz is interrupted in measure 40 by a cluster chord, as the singer takes a moment to reflect

on how the joy of romance brings beauty to the world. This moment returns to the previous song's

employment of space in the accompaniment for reflection. After this reflective moment, the piano

finishes the piece with the same harmonic material from the song’s beginning. This postlude is

only for four measures before it ends. This stark difference in the song’s form and tonality marks

the differentiation between an immigrant staking claim in the Wild West and an American’s.

The song represents Cather’s interactions with the large population of immigrants in Red

Cloud. The Cather family owned a piano, and Jennie Cather, her mother, hired a German

immigrant named Schindelmeisser to teach Willa. Though Willa Cather never learned how to

play, music served as an emotional release, not an intellectual exercise, as Mr. Schindermeisser

had initially intended for their lessons. Another influence immigrants inspired in the novel was

the character of Mrs. Harling, the Norwegian immigrant neighbor to the Burdens when they

42

moved to town. Mrs. Harling hired Ántonia as a housekeeper for her, her husband Christian, and

their children, Frances, Charley, Julia, Sally, and Nina: just the real-life Julia Miner, mother to

Willa Cather’s childhood best friends. The hired girls in this song and the novel serve as a

reminder of the beauty Cather saw in the diversity of the population of Red Cloud and the

musical education they offered her.

5. Landscape III: Prairie Spring

Tempo: ♩= 104

Time Signatures: 6/8 7/8 2/4

Range: Gb4 to Ab5

Duration: approximately 55 seconds

“Landscape III: Prairie Spring” is the penultimate landscape of the cycle; it portrays the

throbbing of spring. The song’s text is taken from the first section of the novel in two separate

chapters, after Mr. Shimerda’s death. In the case of the latter half of the text, the singer is

beginning to distance herself from the Bohemian family. The song’s purpose is remarkably

similar to the previous two landscapes: use the descriptive language from the book to show the

world in which these characters live. The song marks a transition that distances the singer from

Ántonia.

This is the first song of the cycle that does not mention Ántonia. There is no Ántonia

motive and no mention of her name in general. Instead, the music and text are strictly about

spring and the soundscape that it creates. The song is the most extended in range for the vocalist

as well. The use of an extended range, in this case, is illustrative of the larks that are mentioned in

the lyrics at measures 27 through 38. The higher tessitura for this song is easily accomplished, as

the singer has previously had to warm up.

This is also the first song in the cycle that has a key signature indicated. Larsen used

accidentals to indicate tonality but did not specifically indicate a key signature. This shows the

aging of Jim and the definitions imposed on adults. The use of Db major for the key is also a

juxtaposition to the previous key of G major. The diminished fifth relation widens the separation

43

between Jim and Ántonia. The subsequent text that does not appear in the song explains that Jim

has started going to a different school, which causes him to see Ántonia less.

The throbbing of spring comes from the accompaniment’s fluctuation of time signature

and the pulsing of eighths emphasizing the strong beats. Larsen writes eight changes in the time

signature in the song’s introduction, indeed a challenge for the singer to count. But this rhythmic

alteration gives the impression of the randomness of nature. “Rising suddenly, sinking suddenly,

impulsive and playful,” are the words that are in this excerpt as well not mentioned in the song.68

They describe how this changeability of nature in spring, life, and the song’s rhythm itself. The

vocal line specifically measures 33 to 38 offers a musical sigh of relief for the appearance of

spring, as the singer is in the high voice and singing on “ah.” This offers a wiping of the slate

from the past winter.

The winds whip in the descending left hand in the ⅞ of measure 2. This occasional

breaking of this throbbing pattern is exhilarating and sweeping. It also offers the singer an

audible cue to assist with keeping time. Larsen employs rich dissonances in block chords to help

describe the vastness of the landscape in spring, clear and far as the eye can see, along with the

pulse of nature and the changes in the wind.

The voice partners with the piano, breaking with the mostly syllabic and conversational

vocal lines of earlier songs; Larsen has set this simplistic yet florid vocal line as if it is about a

visceral response to the shedding of emotion and memory. As the vocal line ascends into the

upper voice, the singer is directed to decrescendo dramatically. The diminuendo gives the sense

of the fading of memory as the singer embodies the larks. Lyrically speaking, the song is about

creating an image, and the music lends well to creating that soundscape. But because of the vague

nature of time and place, it is hard to pinpoint the specific time in Cather’s life represented. In

1916 she began her trip out West to get away from her life in New York; the shedding of city life

68 My Ántonia, page 94.

44

could be this part of her life. It is certain that these excerpts from the novel could not have existed

without having lived life and seen the landscape through the elements. Larsen lends to this

description, enhancing it so vividly.

6. Ántonia in the Field

Tempo: ♩= 66


Range: Eb 4 to F5

No notated time signatures


In the penultimate song, Jim completes his train travel and has arrived back in Black

Hawk as an adult to visit Ántonia on the farm. She is with her multitude of children and her

husband. This is the first song in the cycle to be connected to a previous song. Larsen ties the

final note of “Landscape III: Prairie Spring.” The introduction to this song gives a sense of

maturity and nostalgia. Descending half notes illustrates a person walking into a familiar place

after many years: hesitant, but the knowledge and memories flood like a dam breaking. This

introduction helps set the scene of two friends reacclimating and remembering how close they

were. The vocal line is syllabic, but the longer duration of notes is different from the previous

pieces of the cycle.

The vocal line for this song presents some challenges. The singer must keep in mind that

this is the second to last song. They must save some voice for the last song, but this piece needs

more finesse, which will convey the aging of the character evident in the lyrics, “how much older

she was.” Larsen also uses the accompaniment to describe the maturation by creating low,

resonant, and broken chords with sustained legato. This sonority gives the sense that Jim now

sees Ántonia as his old friend and a part of the prairie. She is working in the field as Jim

approaches, which brings back the memory of what life was like in Red Cloud.

A descending scale ends with a minor third leap down to Eb, first introduced by the voice

at its entrance at measure 9. The scale gives a sense of the bitterness of aging but the comfort of

returning to where things began. The accompaniment’s hesitant tendency in the introduction

45

helps emphasize the gravity of aging. The voice abandons the descending scale after this iteration.

It continues to use portions of the scale to create the effect of oscillating memories in one’s head,

but never in the scale’s entirety. The accompaniment takes up the mantle of the scalar idea in

measures 27 to 32 in augmentation. It continues to use this descending scalar motion from this

point on until the end. It emphasizes the significance of returning home.

The song’s slow tempo emphasizes the nostalgic feelings, but it also gives the piece a

sense of longing and the vastness of space when returning to the prairie. The arpeggiated chords

beginning measure 3 create this space. The piece’s text comes from the first section of the book,

but it hints at the idea that Jim remembers exactly who Ántonia is to him. Ántonia represents the

tenderness and fallibility of humanity. The tenderness represented by the kind lyrics of the singer,

broken chords of the accompaniment, and harmonic dissonance that Larsen employs all combine

to offer a glimpse at the imperfections of this perfectly wild place of Jim’s childhood.

Larsen employs the Ántonia theme four times in this song. It is embedded in the vocal

line at the beginning in measures 13 and 14. This iteration is like previous times, but it is within

the structure of a statement instead of appearing alone as it usually does in previous statements.

The second appearance of the motive occurs in measures 34 through 38. The second appearance

of this motive is repeated twice within the five measures. Still, it is accompanied by the scalar

motive in the accompaniment bringing the idea of going home back to the forefront of the

singer’s mind. The two iterations of the Ántonia theme allude to a moment of remembrance and

the idea of reinterpreting what one might think of a person one has not seen in many years:

emphasizing this is the same person, just older. The second iteration also has the minor third at its

completion, which emphasizes the bitter pang of the toll that time takes. The final statement of

the Ántonia motive is the most simplistic presentation of the motive. The duration of each note

now is regular and longer than it was in previous songs in this cycle. There is no accompaniment

under it at this moment. It creates, again, the space of memories reverberating in mind. Larsen

marks this iteration with “holder her in his memory.” The longer duration of the theme, the a

46

cappella nature of the moment, and the simplicity gives the singer the idea of truly savoring the

memory of such a dear friend.

Larsen completes the song with descending scalar movement in the accompaniment. The

scale creates the effect of a final relaxation and the feeling of returning to something familiar.

There is contrary and parallel motion in the accompaniment, helping to signify that the singer

sees that the two lives converge and diverge, only to return to each other for friendship.

During the summer of 1916, after a year of loss and disappointment and well after her

childhood in Red Cloud, Cather found herself drawn back to the western frontier that had been

such a huge influence on her. In the fall of 1916, Cather found Red Cloud and the “Bohemian

country” calling, so she traveled back to where she found much of her inspiration and back to her

old friend Annie Sadelik Pavelka. Pavelka was now married and had ten children of her own.

Cather’s visit to the farm serves as the scene for the penultimate song in the cycle. Though the

excerpts Larsen adapted are that of the first chapter of the novel, it is a reminder of what this trip

represented to Cather’s life: the return back to the most inspiring place and people in her life.

The trip back to Bohemian country was the insight Cather needed to create her novel.

7. Landscape IV- Sunset Tempo: ♪= 132

Time Signatures: 4/4 3/4 7/4 5/4

Range: Db4 to A5

No notated time signatures


The final song finds the scene back on the train using the same accompaniment and

melodic material from the very first song of the cycle. This iteration of the train theme is

accompanied by melodic materials from the other songs of the piece, creating a recapitulation of

the memories discussed and their accompanying musical ideas. The song marks the moment

when the singer awakes from the somnolence of the cycle. The vocal line is again syllabic and is

set according to the accent of the language. As opposed to the first time the train theme has been

in the cycle, Larsen uses melisma for the voice to portray the sun’s setting.

47

The voice sings of remembrances. Each mentions a prior song from the cycle. The first

memory is of the train going to Nebraska. It is the original theme from the first piece in the cycle.

The text “we were talking about childhood in a little prairie town” is like to the first song of the

cycle. However, both texts are from the same section and the same sentence in the introduction of

the novel. Larsen has altered the text in both cases. The original text from the book is, “we were

talking about what it is like to spend one’s childhood in these little towns.” In both lyrical cases,

Larsen has chosen to alter the text for the singer’s sake and the melodic line. What remains the

same for both iterations of this is her reliance on the half-step relationship between C natural and

B natural at the end of the line to create tension.

The song’s following line is, “no clouds, the sun, a red disk, against the horizon.” The

line hints at Mr. Shimerda as a shadow on the horizon in the third song of the cycle. The

subsequent text comes from the ending section of the novel. It is a reconjuring of the memories

from childhood and all the moments that fostered Jim’s fondness for Ántonia. The subsequent

memories are diminutions of the musical representations of each song.

In measure 14, the text delivery is rapid and conversational like “Ántonia,”69

the second

song of the cycle. Then in measures 15 and 16, there is the name Ántonia sung slower than the

previous measure to mimic the durative nature of the third song in the cycle “Landscape II:

Winter.”70

Measure 17 returns back to the second song of the cycle with the mention of Ántonia

running.71

Measures 18 through 20 are a reinterpretation of “The Hired Girls.” Larsen uses a ¾

measure in measure 19 to recall the lilt of the waltz within the fourth song. 72

Cather soon returned to New York for Thanksgiving of 1916, returning by train, of

course. Upon her return, she began writing My Ántonia. Cather completed half of the first draft by

that spring. The visit with Annie Pavelka stirred memories, which she sorted through, examining

69 Larsen score, pages 6-10.

70 Ibid., pages 10-14

71 Ibid., measure 17, page 7.

72 Ibid., pages 15-17.

48

and recreating scenes for her novel. Red Cloud, its people, and Cather’s childhood, like the

quintessential image of the farming community she grew up in, stood in Cather’s mind, a picture

against the sun of inspiration, a shadow waiting to be defined and written.

49

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT:

A DRAMATIC CANTATA

73

Figure 3.1 Eleanor Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States of America

Eleanor Roosevelt: a dramatic cantata, the brainchild of New York Concert Singers'

director Judith Clurman, was written by Libby Larsen. It is based on the life of Eleanor Roosevelt

for a commission and premiered on May 5, 1996. Clurman's enthusiasm for the subject matter

and her admiration for American history show communicable and contagious vigor and helped

catapult the two-year creative process. Librettist Sally Gall created this work in fourteen sections

with a finale based on the words of Roosevelt. Larsen chooses texts written by women to

showcase the female experience most effectively, for example, the dramatic cantata Eleanor

Roosevelt (1996), based on her life and words. The words written within the piece reflect Eleanor

Roosevelt's character and the people's reactions to her.

Eleanor Roosevelt’s orchestration is a mezzo-soprano, an actor or a mezzo-soprano, who

can orate, a chorus of at least 8, some percussion played by the choir, a clarinet, a cello, and a

73 Photo copyrighted by Underwood & Underwood: Eleanor (Roosevelt) Roosevelt, 1884-1962. Library of

Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

50

piano. The cantata requires a mezzo-soprano who is more mature, with life experience and well-

developed technique. The curated story needs to be done with compassion and awareness.

Dialogue offers a challenge to a singer who chooses to deal with both singing and speaking. The

cycle is best suited for a singer who is knowledgeable about how to deliver text: both vocally and

dramatically.

The music of Eleanor Roosevelt is an amalgamation of soundscape, choral commentary,

and spoken and sung dialogue from Eleanor Roosevelt. Larsen uses sounds of the past to create

the piece, the synthesis of sounds of America's history. The intimate emotion of Eleanor

Roosevelt is what makes the work compelling. Larsen uses an Album Theme throughout to create

unity, and the music draws from the environment in which Eleanor Roosevelt existed. It is a

musical representation of a nation struggling within itself and in the world to find justice. The

music and lyrical content give a glimpse of how this First Lady contributed to the ongoing

experiment of democracy.

The cantata is a recounting of the life and accomplishments of Eleanor Roosevelt. The

piece is not in chronological order. It, instead, relies on the more notable moments in Roosevelt's

life to portray her character. Each moment drawn from her life is indeed a necessary and pivotal

moment. The effectiveness of the libretto relies mainly on how choruses appear in Aristotle's

tragedies, in which the protagonist overcomes villains, and choruses make commentary on such

acts. The chorus dramatizes the story to the extent of distortion in some moments. The

autobiographical and biographical materials point to Eleanor Roosevelt's life being great luck and

privilege. There are hardships throughout her lifetime, but the musical portrayal exaggerates some

moments in her life that were not congruent with the research. However, the work shows the

significant impact of Eleanor Roosevelt, and Larsen's setting of the prose builds drama, making

the piece more musically weighted. Larsen's use of recurring musical themes creates unity and

helps the listener remain engaged. This cantata brings Roosevelt's life and circumstances helping

to shape her as a woman, a wife, a public leader, and an untiring and courageous humanitarian.

51

This attention to Eleanor Roosevelt as a character is conveyed through speaking and

singing, which the chorus singers reinforce. "I believe that music springs from the language of the

people," Larsen says she is interested in music derived from the rhythms of spoken American

English. Kimball refers to Larsen's musical style as having "a keen sense of drama and strong

interest in American popular music." Larsen uses the format of a cantata for the piece, but instead

of using secco or accompagnato recitative, she requires an actor or the singer to speak instead of

sing where recitative would normally be. The use of spoken dialogue creates a hybrid, that of a

cantata and musical theatre. The speaker represents Eleanor Roosevelt, while singers from the

chorus further the story, while conveying the emotional content of the piece.

SECTION 1

The cantata begins with the brisk playing of the piano and a stage direction for the singers

and speaker of the piece:

The CHORUS and MEZZO SOPRANO enter and mount the

risers at one side of the stage. An empty podium is at the other

side, angled companionably towards the Chorus.

The Album Theme is used throughout the piece to mark the passage of time within

Roosevelt’s life. Eleanor Roosevelt has a photo album during the cantata. This album is used

throughout the piece as a prop for the Speaker as she reminisces. The piano introduces the Album

Theme, accompanied by the clarinet as a commentator. Each restatement is the turning of a page

in the album. The disjunct theme indicates time passed as if the photo album pages stuck

together. The Album Theme is iterated three times in this brief ritornello.

Box A is a choral interpretation of a trumpet voluntary giving pomp and spectacle.

Larsen composed this declamatory prelude introducing Eleanor Roosevelt. The processional

begins with a block chord played by the piano, quickly followed by the chorus as the speaker and

mezzo-soprano enter the stage. Larsen set this section very much like a fanfare by indicating the

chorus entrance as a fortissimo unison of the choir, creating the air of an eager people.

52

The piano supplies a clustered block chord on beat one, hinting at Bb diminished at

measure 14, but the choir’s entrance on beat two is fortissimo and in unison, declaiming their

adoration for Eleanor negates this by the unison E natural.74

The chorus finishes their first

statement in C major, followed by another restatement of the Album Theme. The Album Theme

signals a brief interruption from fanfare. Instead, we are immersed in Eleanor’s nostalgia and

another turning of a page.

The first choral section goes on with this alteration between statements made by the

chorus, followed by the Album Theme. Listening to the people’s words and reflecting on them

was integral to how Eleanor Roosevelt operated as First Lady. Roosevelt’s political duty and her

marital obligation to her husband were listening to the people and processing what she heard. He

used a wheelchair, starting in 1929 when Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected governor of

New York. She continued her service as the people’s ambassador through Franklin’s presidency

and two reelections. Hearing the people and offering solutions that were of significant impact is

the common theme in Roosevelt’s life.

The following section is a call and response between the chorus and piano with flourishes

by the clarinet and the speaker introducing the character of Eleanor. The clarinet entrance at

measure 21 reiterates this fanfare by its trills in the higher octave, then joining the soprano line at

measure twenty-two. From measures 21-23, an accelerando then creates momentum leading to

what seems like a continuation of the fanfare.75

Larsen detours slightly from fanfare at Box B. She expands the previous alleluias by

creating an intonation of a mass by the solo in the bass. The bass solo maintains the sense of

declamation with a forte statement of Eleanor Roosevelt’s position as “First lady of our modern

world.” The tenor solo continues this with the statement of “bright banners are for her unfurled,”

evoking the sense of an anthem to Roosevelt. Larsen then reprises the alleluia section from the

74 Larsen score, page 3.

75 Ibid., page 4.

53

first choral entrance, including the accelerando and clarinet trills. Larsen then deviates only

briefly by using a time signature change to ¾, which abruptly leads back into the women’s voices

singing, “O praise her,” and the chorus singing the “alleluia” again.76

This section establishes the

chorus as commentators of the cantata, like the Greek chorus role that Bach choruses assume in

his Passions.

The Album Theme returns at Box C. Then portions of it are taken up by the chorus. At

the accelerando at measure 37, there is stretto of just the first four notes of the Album Theme, as

the ensemble continues to sing, “alleluia.” At this accelerando, we also see the reentrance of the

clarinet on trills, creating more enthusiasm for the choral stretto. There is a caesura and an abrupt

grand pausa followed by a moment of silence at Box D.

SECTION 2

The silence is followed by Eleanor Roosevelt addressing her choral admirers, “I did what

needed to be done. You would have done as I did, you would have seen the way so clearly

marked.” The Speaker portrays the humanitarian side of Eleanor Roosevelt. She was a woman

who spent many years standing behind and going ahead for her husband, which made her into a

person who wanted to find ways to improve citizens’ lives.

Roosevelt served as Delegate to the United Nations General Assembly for the United

States from 1945 to 1952. Nevertheless, this was not her only service. She was a nurse during the

1918 Influenza and the Great War. She began to travel for her incapacitated husband in 1931,

going around the state of New York, witnessing and reporting back. Eleanor Roosevelt was a

seasoned traveler and governmental observer by the time of the election of her husband Franklin

Delano Roosevelt to the country’s presidency. Eleanor assumed her role with diligence.

The chorus serves as a Greek chorus of sorts. Their entrance at Box F is after an

abbreviated Album Theme. Singing homophonically and acapella, they speak directly with

76 Ibid., page 5-7.

54

Eleanor Roosevelt, as if conversing with the famous figure posthumously. The section is brief and

followed by a fermata. In the silence, the speaker says, “No matter. That is not why we are here.”

Box G begins with the Album Theme again on the piano; then, the clarinet tapers the sound with

a decrescendo to “niente” at the fermata at measure 49. The fermata is the space for the speaker

again. The chorus responds to Eleanor Roosevelt again at Box H. As a whole, the chorus in the

introduction of this piece continues to converse with Eleanor.

SECTION 3

Brief choral homophony at Box G1 leads to Larsen employing the choral ad libitum for

the Speaker’s dialogue at Box H1. The second section begins with a moment of silence, as

indicated in the score, and introduces Eleanor Roosevelt through the Speaker. The speaker and

chorus converse, with the chorus begging the Speaker to tell of her life. The chorus now assumes

homophony, which Larsen uses to show the chorus is one entity at this moment, one voice. It is

not until measure 60 that Larsen breaks the chorus’s unison. At measure 60, the chorus then

freely sings assigned figures according to the voice, which creates a blurred effect that continues

until measure 68. What is found above this blurring of the chorus’s voices is the Speaker

beginning to tell the story of Eleanor Roosevelt’s life and the start to a marriage that is not as

stress-free as one would expect. The Speaker’s tale morphs into the first entrance of the mezzo-

soprano, still representing Eleanor Roosevelt. This exchange of the voice of Eleanor Roosevelt

between Speaker and mezzo-soprano is found throughout the piece, reiterating Larsen’s use of

two or many voices representing one. The entrance of the mezzo-soprano at measure 63 starts the

section reflecting Eleanor’s personal life, and Larsen has set the vocal line with an abundance of

triplet figures to create a sentimentality and intimate feel to the line. Another musical pause

follows, in which the piano holds a decaying fermata over which the speaker transitions the story

into the tales of Eleanor Roosevelt’s two houses.

55

The line “First in someone’s heart” is taken from a letter Eleanor Roosevelt received

from her father. It is no surprise that this was used in the piece, as Eleanor’s relationship with her

father was greatly important to her. Both her parents died two years apart, leaving Roosevelt with

two younger brothers. Before his passing, Roosevelt’s father implored her to take care of her

younger brother Hall; she was only nine years old at the time, taking on the responsibility of

motherhood. Her service to her family led her to her community involvement and efforts to better

communities stricken with illness and poverty. The section ends on an octave of B0 and B1,

carried into a fermata at Box I. The Speaker has dialogue over the fermata. A brief and frantic

instrumental interlude at Box J follows.

SECTION 4

Early marriage and personal life

The story of her personal life begins at Box K with her life as a young wife in the home

of Sara Delano Roosevelt, mother of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. At measure 104, the

accompaniment is just cello and clarinet, creating a sense of tumult through trills and arpeggiated

ascents percussively punctuated by the piano. Larsen then uses contrary motion in the piano at

measure 115 to illustrate the contrast between mother-in-law and Eleanor. Then the arpeggiated

ascents are carried into the piano accompaniment to punctuate further Eleanor’s statement of

being out of place and judged by her mother-in-law and the chorus’s piteous ploys. The chorus

replies to Eleanor after the Speaker’s dialogue at Box L. The choir sings at staggered entrances

that culminate in homophony at measure 102. An instrumental interlude for the clarinet and cello

at Box M followed by the mezzo-soprano and chorus exchanges conversation at the a tempo at

measure 110.

Larsen then employs the Album Theme as accompaniment under the mezzo-soprano at

Box N, as she sings about the relational challenges between her and Sara Delano Roosevelt. The

chorus reenters with their commentary at measure 138.

56

SECTION 5

Time in her own house

A tumultuous cello initiates the section on a trill. The clarinet reinforces this with its

disjunctive arpeggiation, which never really outlines a resolution. The ear longs for the clarinet to

complete a full octave through this brief section, but instead, the clarinet meanders through major

sevens and does not resolve. It, in turn, creates a feeling of unease and displacement. Gall’s prose

reflects a poetic theme. The mezzo-soprano singing makes the first statement by Eleanor, “It’s

hard to live in someone else’s home, with a husband and five children in someone else’s home.”

The section is fervent and feverous with malcontent and discomfort. The chorus returns to their

one voice mode, assuming that the house that Eleanor speaks of is the White House, but Eleanor

is referring to her time at Springwood at Hyde Park.

Larsen then captures the same unhappy and unresolved feeling in the choral setting at

measure 97. The chorus seems to be singing in E major, but every resolution is on an EM7,

causing an unresolved moment. This section is furthered at measure 115 by Larsen’s use of the

piano.77

The piano begins with a dissonant Bb, B natural, and D closely together, but it augments

the distance very quickly, signifying the separation and distance Eleanor feels while at

Springwood. At measure 121, Larsen uses piano punctuation to support Eleanor’s statements of

Springwood being no home with four 16th notes into an 8th note block chord.78

The section

concludes with one more punctuation figure in the piano, and then there is silence.

Val-Kill contrasts her life with Mother Roosevelt, the home built for Eleanor. Larsen sets

the text for the soloist with her use again of the sentimental triplet. The section is very lyrical; it is

an aria set with the chorus assuming an accompaniment of ahs. The female choristers help the

77 Ibid., page 15.

78 Ibid.

57

mezzo-soprano to tell the story of Eleanor’s love for Val-kill, painting the pastoral image of a

cottage built “on a stream in the backwoods.”79

The description of Val-Kill is set as an arioso for mezzo-soprano with chorus

homophonically underlying it at Box P. The section marked as “quietly, warmly” describes

Eleanor Roosevelt’s sentiment for the small portion of the Roosevelt estate allotted to her. The

choir sings under the legato solo line with ahs or hums at first. Larsen adds the treble voices to the

mezzo-soprano at measures 158 and 159 to give more descriptors to the catalog of trees on the

estate.80

Throughout this section, Larsen employs triplets to create more lilt and whimsy. Larsen

takes away the texture of the mezzo-soprano and choir at 162 for a brief instrumental interlude.

At measure 163, the mezzo-soprano reenters alone for two bars, then is joined by the treble voices

again. The tenor and bass lines reenter at measure 167. They remain subservient to the treble

voices by singing on ah’s again. The section ends with an antiphonal moment from measures 169

to 174, representing the echoing of the past musically.

At box Q, a pausa breaks the pastoral moment, and the voice of a chorister says, “chasing

butterflies?!” The Album Theme immediately follows. At the a tempo in measure 179, there is a

moment of clearing the space as the choir ruminates on Eleanor Roosevelt’s mention of not

having a place in the work. Another two statements of the Album Theme follow. The choir

reenters at measure 188 homophonically in reaction to this. The chorus urges Eleanor to continue

the path of her life story.81

SECTION 6

White house and work across the nation

The following five sections represent Eleanor’s public presence. There is musical silence

as the Speaker has dialogue. This dialogue sets up the next section by mentioning the copious

79 Ibid., page 18-22.

80 Ibid., page 19.

81 Ibid., page 22-25.

58

amounts of train travel Eleanor Roosevelt took. The musical silence signifies the passage of time.

Starting at Box S, we see the first time within the piece that Larsen deviates from the metric

stability of quarter notes and uses the more complex meter of ⅝. The complex meter paints the

irregular but rhythmic pattern of a train’s tracks. The choir now personifies the train travel using

the ⅝ meter and nonsensical percussive syllables of “cha” and “la.” Larsen intersperses the

mezzo-soprano’s statements throughout the train theme that the chorus sings, creating simple,

speech-like statements.82

At measure 215, Larsen sets a meandering octave figure in the piano’s

right hand under the mezzo-soprano’s continuance of her travel and observances of the country

during the Great Depression.83

The choir then varies the train theme at measure 224, which is

now in 4/4. At Box U, Larsen returns to the time signature, again interrupted by a 4/4 and the

mezzo-soprano. This exchange of time signatures shows the travel and the stops Eleanor made on

her travels around the country, and the use of the triplet signifies the sentimentality or

remembrance of Eleanor.84

At Box V, Larsen varies the train theme a final time by returning to

the ⅝ time signature but having the choir sing on the more legato “la” syllable at a more subdued

pianissimo, which helps support the Speaker, now entering on behalf of the voice of Eleanor.85

The mezzo-soprano is left to do a secco recitative at Box W. The voice remains syllabic,

and the piano gives color commentary at measures 278 and 280 through 282. An interlude

performed by the clarinet follows.

SECTION 7

Humanitarian efforts

The chorus represents the American people, splitting between the working class and

minorities, men's chorus, and the D.A.R., women's chorus. The mezzo-soprano is the voice of

82 Ibid., page 25-26.

83 Ibid., page 26.

84 Ibid., page 26-30.

85 Ibid., page 30-32.

59

reason, singing against the ideas of segregation and hatred.86

The four sixteenth notes and eighth

note punctuation figure from the Springwood section reappears. This figure now shows the

dissent and struggle of class and race.87

The reentrance of the cello and clarinet creates the feeling

of things beginning to boil over and people's resistance to change.88

Larsen reprises the right-hand

octaves that meander, but now the piano's left hand is disjunctive and syncopated, creating an

unsettling feel. Men's chorus sings as the members of the Ku Klux Klan and the women as the

Daughters of the American Revolution. The two chorus parts create a sense of bitonality, giving

the feel of shouting over one another.89

This section at Box X crescendos to the boiling point, but

it is interrupted by Eleanor's voice of reason via the mezzo-soprano. She addresses the people

directly, shunning them for their prejudice and hatred, calling them "inhuman."90

An

unaccompanied dialogue follows the section in which the speaker and chorus members introduce

the New Deal, instated by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Larsen maintains the unsettled feel of

the previous section by having the chorus speak under the speaker at sporadic intervals.91

SECTION 8

The merits of humanitarian work

The section finally meets its resolve in one of the most beautiful moments of the piece.

The chorus sings at Box BB in a beautifully rich chorale set to these words: "You must believe

with all your heart and soul that we cannot live for ourselves alone. We live for others, we live for

all races and creeds and colors. While we are on earth, we are all brothers, we are all brothers,

brothers."92

86 Ibid., page 33-35.

87 Ibid., page 32.

88 Ibid.

89 Ibid., page 33-35.

90 Ibid., page 35.

91 Ibid., page 36-37.

92 Ibid., page 37-40.

60

This chorale continues under the Speaker, now telling of Eleanor's many friends of other

races and creeds who were not seen as acceptable. Larsen sets this whole section varying between

a 3/2 and 4/4 time signature.93

The 3/2 glances back at the triplet figures used in previous areas to

signify sentiment and remembering, but Larsen now uses this triple feel to pull at the audience's

heartstrings while showing Eleanor's eternal desire to unite people of so many backgrounds

together. It also serves as a transition into Eleanor's reflection on her relationships. At Box CC, a

brief instrumental interlude follows, and then the chorus enters at Box DD with dialogue from the

Speaker. A reprisal of the ad libitum section at Box EE is material taken from Box H1.

Personal Relationships

In each of the next six sections, Eleanor reveals her relationships and struggles as a wife

to an unfaithful man. Larsen creates symmetry in the piece by reusing the material she introduced

at Box H1.94

Like the material at measure 60, the chorus freely sings assigned figures according

to the voice, which again creates a blurred effect.95

These are difficult thoughts for Eleanor in

which to delve. This blurring of sections leads the way into an aria. The mezzo-soprano tells how

Franklin D. Roosevelt started an affair with Lucy Mercer, Eleanor’s secretary and friend. Now

those triplet figures in the voice no longer signify a fond sentiment. They seem to show the bitter

failure of Eleanor achieving the perfect marriage while stirring up the feelings of ugliness and a

lack of self-worth. Each time the mezzo-soprano sings the word, "betrayed," the voice

crescendos, both with the dynamic level and with raw emotion. A final reprise of the material

from measure 60 helps blur the memories of betrayal and hopelessness; those emotions resolve

with acceptance of the fallibility of man and failures.

93 Ibid.

94 Ibid., page 9-10.

95 Ibid., page 40-41.

61

SECTION 9

The mezzo-soprano sings a section that is not an aria but an arioso. The section is

historically out of context. It mentions two events in Eleanor Roosevelt’s life that were separated

by almost forty years. The first event occurred in 1918, when Roosevelt found letters that her

husband had stashed away, written to Lucy Mercer, his social secretary. The letters were love

letters, exposing the affair Roosevelt’s husband had with another woman. This event occurred

very early in their marriage, and it helped color the relationship the two had: Roosevelt decided to

commit to being a political proxy for her husband, who had ambitious political aspirations, which

Roosevelt understood as an opportunity for her own activism and humanitarian efforts. With the

threat of being disinherited by Sara Delano Roosevelt and encouragement by his political advisor

Louis Howe to not sully his political career with a divorce, Franklin D. Roosevelt remained in the

marriage. After the discovery of the affair, Eleanor Roosevelt chose to remain in the marriage as a

political calculation and absolved herself of any duty of wife from then on.

The second event mentioned in this section is that of the death of Franklin Delano

Roosevelt. He died in 1945, and indeed, Mercer was there by his side. Though these events are in

congruence with the narrative of the cantata, there is not much indication within the historical

account that Eleanor Roosevelt was as affected by Mercer’s presence at the passing of

Roosevelt’s husband. It would be more accurate to portray the narrative as a time when Roosevelt

lost not a husband but a political partner and friend.

This absolution of guilt is not evident in the music. The vocal line and the lyrical content

show a woman who is emotional and still living in a pool of self-pity. However, Eleanor writes in

her autobiography of her reaction to these events:

Though this was a terrible blow, somehow one had no chance to

think of it as a personal sorrow. It was the sorrow of all those to

whom this man who now lay dead, and who happened to be my

husband, had been a symbol of strength and fortitude.96

96 Roosevelt,The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt, page 177-178.

62

Eleanor Roosevelt mourned the loss of her husband, not as a wife, but as a patriot of this

country, and saw to her children's reaction to his death by sending word to them, “Father slept

away. He would expect you to carry on and finish your jobs.”97

The emotion that wrenches the

singer's narrative does not come from the actual history of these events. It concludes that this was

the creative license of Gall and Larsen.

SECTION 10

The following section has the chorus encouraging Eleanor to remember that she, too,

found love elsewhere in the people she became friends with and the people she helped and, in

turn, helped her. A chorus soprano initiates the chorus singing homophonically. This is then

interrupted by another pausa in which the Speaker delivers dialogue. The mezzo-soprano then

sings, interrupting an incomplete iteration of the Album Theme. The chorus sings

homophonically again on the word “remember,” and there is another pausa for the Speaker’s

dialogue.

SECTION 11

Though she is not the original author of the prayer itself. Gall abbreviates the prayer:

Our Father who has set a restlessness in our hearts and made us

all seekers after that which we can never fully find, forbid us to

be satisfied with what we make of life, draw us from base

content, and set our eyes on far off goals. Keep us at tasks too

hard for us, keep us at tasks too hard for us, that we may be

driven to thee for strength.98

This prayerful aria is the culmination of the whole cantata itself. It is a prayer that was

said in service on March 6, 1940, at St. John’s Church: the church across Lafayette Square

attended by most Presidents and their families while in their office tenure. Simple but a challenge

to the psyche of the First Lady, the prayer is the epitome of all that Roosevelt had done up until

this point and time and inspired the next challenges for her. Here is the prayer in its entirety:

97 Ibib., page 177.

98 Ibid., page 48-49.

63

Our Father, who has set a restlessness in our hearts, and made us

all seekers after that which we can never fully find; forbid us to

be satisfied with what we make of life. Draw us from base

content, and set our eyes on far-off goals. Keep us at tasks too

hard for us, that we may be driven to Thee for strength. Deliver

us from fretfulness and self-pity; make us sure of the goal we

cannot see, and of the hidden good in the world. Open our eyes to

simple beauty all around us, and our hearts to the loveliness men

hide from us because we do not try enough to understand them.

Save us from ourselves, and show us a vision of a world made

new. May Thy spirit of peace and illumination so enlighten our

minds that all life shall glow with new meaning and new purpose;

through Jesus Christ Our Lord.99

The melodic content of this aria is the culmination of the Album Theme heard

throughout the piece. This signifies a moment in the cantata that must be worked out to show

more depth in the character of Eleanor Roosevelt. Though there has been dramatic delivery up to

this point, this aria seems different from other passages in which the mezzo-soprano sings.

Up until this point in Roosevelt’s life, she had served at the pleasure of her family, her

husband and children, and her mother-in-law Sara Delano Roosevelt. This aria is amid the Second

World War and America’s emergence from the Great Depression. The Roosevelt administration

and Eleanor Roosevelt’s efforts were to see to the health and happiness of the nation’s people.

The prayer from March 6, 1940, strikes at the core restlessness in the narrative of Eleanor

Roosevelt. The prayer made a deep impression on Roosevelt in real life, as it echoes the ideals

and impulse for public action and care. It also illustrates a life-long pursuit of faithfulness to the

Lord as well as humanity.

Service was instilled in Eleanor Roosevelt from a noticeably early age. She served as a

nurse during the First World War, and she continued her service during the Spanish Flu epidemic

as a nurse. She showed a willingness to become the surrogate political observer for her husband

beginning in 1921: Franklin D. Roosevelt had started using a wheelchair during his New York

99 Eleanor Roosevelt, “My Day: March 6, 1940”

https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1940&_f=md055520

https://www2.gwu.edu/~erpapers/myday/displaydoc.cfm?_y=1940&_f=md055520

64

gubernatorial tenure. She was hyper-aware of her station in society and in the country. The chorus

sings response to the prayer with material very reminiscent of that at Box H.100

SECTION 12

This is then followed by dialogue by the Speaker starting with, “the hardest blows of fate,

met with courage, somehow are bearable, and my life was lucky in so many ways. All my sons

came back to me from the war.”101

The Speaker is accompanied by a vamp that is the ending bars

of the previous aria.

SECTION 13

The chorus sings in unison at Box NN. They deviate from the unison and expand the

harmony while remaining in homophonic rhythm. As the section progresses, the unisons become

more evident and frequent, marking Eleanor’s desire for unity and peace. As is the case for many

of the resolutions in the piece, the chorus ends this section on an FM7 chord, not fully resolving

but illustrating the never-ending quest to need to work and strive for something better

constantly.102

The area is concluded with another unaccompanied dialogue between the speaker

and speakers of the chorus, discussing Eleanor’s work for the United Nations to establish the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This dialogue helps transition into the Finale of the

piece.103

The lyrics of the Box OO section are an adaptation of three texts from the Bible:

Alas! we are bound in fetters, we are caught in the cords of

affliction. Our souls draw near the pit and our lives to those who

bring death. Let there be for us an angel, a mediator, one in ten

millions, to declare for us what is right for us. Let her bring back

our souls from the pit, that our lives shall see the light. 104

100 Ibid., page 48.

101 Ibid., page 50.

102 Ibid., page 53.

103 Ibid.

104 Ibid., page 50-53.

65

The lyrics come from two books in the Old Testament, Job and Psalms, and one

book of the New Testament, Luke. None of the chosen verses are epistolary, but they do

harken back to Roosevelt’s Episcopalian faith that she upheld throughout her life.

The first portion of lyrics in Box OO comes from Job 36:8, “ or if they are bound

with fetters and held fast by bonds of affliction.” The use of texts from Job is not by

accident. There seems to be a comparison between Job, a wealthy flock owner, and

Eleanor Roosevelt, who was born into wealth. Both figures are faced with their suffering,

and with the grief of family and the world. In the case of Roosevelt, like Job, she

maintains her faith in God, and in fact, leans into it in an effort to endure.

The next portion of lyrics is an adaptation of Job 33:22, “ His soul draws near to

the pit, his life to the place of the dead.” These chapters within Job are speeches made by

a friend of Job, Elihu. Elihu is younger and is discussing the questions of human

suffering, as referenced in earlier chapters of the Old Testament book. 105

The third and final portion of this excerpt is an adaptation from both Psalms or

Luke. Psalms 107:10-14 says,

They dwelt in darkness and gloom, bondsmen in want and in

chains, because they had rebelled against the words of God and

scorned the counsel of the Most High. And he humbled their

hearts with trouble; when they stumbled, there was no one to help

them. They cried to the Lord in their distress; from their straits he

rescued them. And he led them forth from darkness and gloom

and broke their bonds asunder.106

Perhaps this portion of the lyrics could also be an adaptation of Luke 1:78-

79, “because of the tender mercy of our God by which the daybreak from on high will

visit us to shine on those who sit in darkness and death’s shadow to guide our feet into

the path of peace.”107

The chorus then sings at Box PP in unison octaves for measures

105 Simundson http://www.enterthebible.org/oldtestament.aspx?rid=38

106 Pss. 107:10-14.

107 Lk 1:78-79.

http://www.enterthebible.org/oldtestament.aspx?rid=38

66

479 and 480. They then sing in a homophonic rhythm but split harmonically from

measures 481 to 485.108

SECTION 14

Box QQ is another moment of unaccompanied dialogue for the Speaker, a female and

male Chorister for measure 486. This leads to another restatement of the Album Theme.

The section’s lyrics are taken straight from Eleanor Roosevelt’s daily editorial My Day. These are

the actual words Eleanor Roosevelt wrote about the death of her husband. Some instances within

the cantata allude to Roosevelt’s torment over the thought of her husband’s affair, but the

historical accounts of her reactions seem to beg to differ. By the time of Franklin D Roosevelt’s

death, this marriage was a marriage of political, social, and diplomatic conception. The title of a

wife had served Eleanor Roosevelt in her humanitarian pursuits. It had afforded her the visage of

mother and wife but better fulfilled her ambitions by the status her husband had. The words she

wrote about her husband’s death do not simply distance her from him. They give us an indication

of a person who had acknowledged her role and purpose: she was Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proxy

in the world, which gave her more incentive and fodder for the social change she sought.

108 Larsen score, page 53.

67

CONCLUSION

The application of themes is an effective tool for illustrating the past through music.

Larsen takes the idea of a woman and creates a world around her. Each woman’s musical

portrayal gives clues to their motivations and reactions. Careful attention to details of tempi,

indications, dynamics, and vocal perimeters provides a singer with various tools to portray these

women.

Libby Larsen understands the female narrative and creates music that is compelling and

sensitive. The soundscapes portraying these lives transport the listener throughout history. Libby

Larsen understands the female experience and creates music that is compelling and sensitive. The

soundscapes she creates transport the listener to the narrator's time in history. This music pays

homage to the female narrative, spanning from the sixteenth century to the twentieth century: a

record for these women so that they live on through music.

They spoke their minds in public, raised families, or held professional careers nationally

and internationally. The women who appear in the works discussed all had the strength to

transcend their circumstances and utilized their words to express their emotions regarding their

circumstances. Larsen has an innate ability to draw forth her female subjects’ exceptional yet

humanistic quality. At each turn, she draws our attention to their extraordinary feats while

reminding us of the fallibility in humanity. This is the female narrative through the eyes, ears, and

mind of Libby Larsen.

68

APPENDIX A: SONG TEXT COMPARISON

Katherine of Aragon

Song Text Original Text

My most dear lord, king, and husband,

The hour of my death now drawing on,

The tender love I owe you forces me

To commend myself unto you

And to put you in remembrance

Of the health and welfare of your soul.

[My most dear lord, king, and husband,]

You have cast me into many calamities

And yourself into many troubles.

For my part, I pardon you everything

And I wish to devoutly pray God

That He will pardon you also.

For the rest I commend unto you

Our daughter, Mary,

Beseeching you to be a good father unto

her.

Lastly I make this vow, That my eyes desire

you above all things,

Above all things.

My most dear lord, king and husband,

The hour of my death now drawing on, the

tender love I owe you forceth me, my case being

such, to commend myself to you, and to put you

in remembrance with a few words of the health

and safeguard of your soul [which you ought to

prefer before all worldly matters, and before the

care and pampering of your body, for the which]

you have cast me into many calamities and

yourself into many troubles. For my part, I

pardon you everything, and I wish to devoutly

pray God that He will pardon you also. For the

rest, I commend unto you our daughter Mary,

beseeching you to be a good father unto her,

[as I have heretofore desired. I entreat you also,

on behalf of my maids, to give them marriage

portions, which is not much, they being but

three. For all my other servants I solicit the

wages due them, and a year more, lest they be

unprovided for.] Lastly, I make this vow, that

mine eyes desire you above all things.

Katharine the Quene.

69

Anne Boleyn

Song Text: Original Text:

Try me, good king,

Let me have a lawful trial

And let not my enemies sit as my accusers

and judges.

Try me, good king,

Let me receive an open trial

For my truth shall fear no open shame.

Never a prince had a wife more loyal,

More loyal in all duty,

Never a prince had a wife more loyal,

More loyal in all true affection,

[Never a prince had a wife more loyal]

Than you have found in Anne Boleyn.

You have chosen me from low estate

To be your wife and companion.

Do you not remember the words of your

own true hand?

Letter By Queen Anne Boleyn to her

husband, King Henry VIII 6 May 1536

[Your grace’s displeasure and my imprisonment

are things so strange to me, that what to write,

or what to excuse, I am altogether ignorant.

Whereas you send to me (willing me to confess

a truth and so obtain your favor), by such a one,

whom you know to be mine ancient professed

enemy, I no sooner received this message by

him, than I rightly conceived your meaning; and

if, as you say, confessing a truth indeed may

procure my safety, I shall with all willingness

and duty, perform your duty. But let not your

grace ever imagine that your poor wife will be

brought to acknowledge a fault, where not so

much as a thought ever proceeded. And to speak

a truth,] never a prince had wife more loyal in

all duty, and in all true affection, than you have

ever found in Anne Bulen

[– with which name and place I could willingly

have contented myself, if God and your grace’s

pleasure had been so pleased. Neither did I at

any time so far forget myself in my exaltation or

received queenship, but that I always looked for

such alteration as I now find; for the ground of

my preferment being on no surer foundation

than your grace’s fancy, the least alteration was

fit and sufficient (I knew) to draw that fancy to

some other subject.] You have chosen me from

70

“My own darling,

I would you were in my arms

For I think it long since I kissed you,

My mistress and my friend.”

Do you not remember the words of your

own true hand?

Try me, good king,

Try me.

Try me, good king,

Try me.

low estate to be your queen and companion, [far

beyond my desert or desire; if, then, you found

me worthy of such honor, good your grace, let

not any light fancy or bad counsel of my

enemies withdraw your princely favor from me;

neither let that stain – that unworthy stain – of a

disloyal heart towards your good grace ever cast

so foul a blot on me, and on the infant princess

your daughter.]

Try me, good king, but let me have a lawful

trial, and let not my sworn enemies sit as my

accusers and as my judges; [yea, let me receive

an open trial, for my truth shall fear no open

shame. Then you shall see either my innocency

cleared, your suspicions and conscience

satisfied, the ignominy and slander of the world

stopped, or my guilt openly declared. So that,

whatever God and you may determine of, your

grace may be freed from an open censure; and

my offense being so lawfully proved, your grace

may be at liberty, both before God and man, not

only to execute worthy punishment on me as an

unfaithful wife but to follow your affection

already settled on that party for whose sake I am

now as I am, whose name I could some while

since have pointed unto – your grace being not

ignorant of my suspicions therein. But if you

have already determined of me, and that not

only my death, but an infamous slander must

bring your the joying of your desired happiness,

then I desire of God that he will pardon your

great sin herein, and likewise my enemies, the

instruments thereof; and that he will not call you

71

If ever I have found favor in your sight,

If ever the name of Anne Bulen has been

pleasing to your ears,

If ever I have found favor in your sight,

If ever the name of Anne Bulen has been

pleasing to your ears,

I pray God save the King.

I hear the executioner’s good,

And my neck is so little.

And my innocence shall be known.

Let me obtain this request

And my innocence shall be cleared.

Try me.

Try me.

Try me.

Good Christian people,

I come hither to die

And by the law I am judged to die.

I pray God save the King. I hear the

executioner’s good, and my neck is so little.

to a strait account for your unprincely and cruel

usage of me at his general judgment-seat, where

both you and myself must shortly appear; and in

whose just judgment, I doubt not (whatsoever

the world may think of me), mine innocency

shall be openly known and sufficiently cleared.

My last and only request shall be, that myself

only bear the burden of your grace’s

displeasure, and that it may not touch the

innocent souls of those poor gentlemen, whom,

as I understand, are likewise in strait

imprisonment for my sake.]

If ever I have found favor in your sight – if ever

the name of Anne Bulen have been pleasing in

your ears

[ – then let] Let me obtain this request

me obtain this request; [and so I will leave to

trouble your grace any further, with mine

earnest prayer to the Trinity to have your grace

in his good keeping, and to direct you in all your

actions.]

From my doleful prison in the Tower, the 6th

May. Anne Boleyn’s Speech At Her

Execution

Good Christian people,

I am come hither to die,[for according to the

law, and by the law I am judged to die, and

therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am

come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak

72

anything of that, whereof I am accused and

condemned to die, but]

I pray God save the king [and send him long to

reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful

prince was there never: and to me he was ever a

good, a gentle and sovereign lord. And if any

person will meddle of my cause, I require them

to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of

the world and of you all, and I heartily desire

you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on

me, to God I commend my soul.

After being blindfolded and kneeling at the

block, she repeated several times:

‘To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesu

receive my soul.’]

Letter 6, The Love Letters of Henry VIII to

Anne Boleyn

[The reasonable request of your last letter, with

the pleasure I also take to know them, causes me

to send you now this news. The legat, which we

most desire, arrived at Paris on Sunday or

Monday last past; so that I trust, by the next

within a while after, to enjoy that which I have

so longed for, to God’s pleasure, and our both

comforts. No more to you, at this present,] mine

awne darling, for lake of time; but that I would

you were in myne arms, or I in yours; for I think

it long since I kyset you. [Written after the

killing of an hart, at XI of the clock; minding

with God’s grace tomorrow, mightily tymely to

kill another, by the hand of him, which I trust

73

shortly shall be yours.

Henry R.]

Letter 1, The Love Letters of Henry VIII to

Anne Boleyn

My mistress and friend, [I and my heart put

ourselves in your hands, begging you to

recommend us to your favor, and not to let

absence lessen your affection to us. For it were a

great pity to increase our pain, which absence

alone does sufficiently, and more than I could

ever have thought; bringing to my mind a point

of astronomy, which is, that sun, and yet his

heat is the more scorching; so it is with our love,

we are at a distance from one another, and yet it

keeps its fervency, at least on my side. I hope

the like on your part, assuring you that the

uneasiness of absence is already too severe for

me; and when I think of the continuance of that

which I must of necessity suffer, it would seem

intolerable to me, were it not for the firm hope I

have of your unchangeable affection for me; and

now, to put you sometimes in mind of it, and

seeing I cannot be present in person with you, I

send you the nearest thing to that possible, that

is, my picture set in bracelets, with the whole

device, which you know already, wishing

myself in their place, when it shall please you.

This from the hand of

Your servant and friend H. Rex]

74

Jane Seymour


Right, trusty, and Well Beloved,

We greet you well,

for as much as be the inestimable goodness

of Almighty God

We be delivered of a prince, a prince.

I love the rose both red and white,

to hear them is my delight,

joyed may we be,

our prince to see,

and roses three.

(Hum)

Letter of Queen Jane Seymour to the Privy

Council of England 12 October 1537

The full text of her letter in modern English:

Trust and well beloved, we greet you well. And

forasmuch as by the inestimable goodness and

grace of Almighty God, we have been delivered

and brought to child-bed of a Prince [conceived

in most lawful matrimony between my lord, the

King’s Majesty, and us, doubting not but that

for the love and affection which you bear unto

us and the commonwealth of this realm the

knowledge of which you should be joyous and

glad tidings unto you, we have thought good to

certify you of the same, to the intent that you

might not only render unto God condign thanks

and praise for so great benefit, but also pray for

the long continuance and preservation of the

same here in this life to the honour of God, joy

and pleasure of my lord the King and us, and the

universal peace, quiet and tranquility of this

whole realm. Given under our Signet at my

lord’s manor of Hampton Court, the 12th day of

October.]

THE TUDOR ROSE-- Anonymous

I loue the rose both red & white.

[Is that your pure perfite appetite?]

To her talke of them is my delite!

Ioyed may we be,

our prince to se,

75

& rosys thre!

Anne of Cleves


I have been informed by certain lords of the

doubts and questions which have been

doing in our marriage.

It may please your majesty to know that

though this case be most hard and

sorrowful

I have and do accept the clergy for my

judges.

So now the clergy hath given their sentence,

hath given their sentence, I approve

I neither can nor will repute myself for your

grace’s wife,

yet it may please

[Pleaseth your most excellent majesty to

understand that, whereas, at sundry times

heretofore,] I have been informed and perceived

by certain lords [and others your grace’s

council,] of the doubts and questions which

have been moved and found in our marriage;

[and how hath petition thereupon been made to

your highness by your nobles and commons,

that the same might be examined and

determined by the holy clergy of this realm; to

testify to your highness by my writing, that

which I have before promised by my word and

will, that is to say, that the matter should be

examined and determined by the said clergy;] it

may please your majesty to know that, though

this case must needs be most hard and sorrowful

unto me, [for the great love which I bear to your

most noble person, yet, having more regard to

God and his truth than to any worldly affection,

as it beseemed me, at the beginning, to submit

me to such examination and determination of

the said clergy, whom] I have and do accept for

judges competent in that behalf. So now [being

ascertained how the same] clergy hath therein

given their judgment and sentence, I

acknowledge myself hereby to accept and

approve [the same, wholly and entirely putting

76

your highness to take me for your sister,

your sister, for which I most humbly thank

you.

Your majesty’s most humble sister,

Anne, daughter of Cleves.

myself, for my state and condition, to your

highness’ goodness and pleasure; most humbly

beseeching your majesty that, though it be

determined that the pretended matrimony

between us is void and of none effect, whereby]

I neither can nor will repute myself for your

grace’s wife, [considering this sentence

(whereunto I stand) and your majesty’s clean

and pure living with me,] yet it will please [you

to take me for one of your humble servants, and

so determine of me, as I may sometimes have

the fruition of your most noble presence; which

as I shall esteem for a great benefit, so, my lords

and others of your majesty’s council, now being

with me, have put me in comfort thereof; and

that] your highness will take me for your sister;

for the which I most humbly thank you

accordingly.

[Thus, most gracious prince, I beseech our Lord

God to send your majesty long life and good

health, to God’s glory, your own honor, and the

wealth of this noble realm.

From Richmond, the 11th day of July, the 32nd

year of your majesty’s most noble reign.]

Your majesty’s most humble sister and servant,

Anne the daughter of Cleves.

Katherine Howard


[As the Council decided that the Queen

deserved death, the King went twenty miles

77

God have mercy on my soul. Good people,

I beg you pray for me. By the journey upon

which I am bound, I have not wronged the

King. Brothers, I have not wronged the

King, I have not wronged the King. But it is

true that long before the King took me, I

loved Thomas Culpepper. I wish to God I

had done as Culpepper wished me, for at

the time the King wanted me, Culpepper

urged me to say that I was pledged to him.

Brothers, I wish to God I had done as he

wished me, for at the time the King wanted

me, Culpepper urged me to say that I was

pledged to him. If I had done as he wished

me, I should not die this death, nor would

he. God have mercy on my soul. Ah…

Good people, I beg you pray for me. Ah…

I die a queen but I would rather die the wife

of Culpepper.

away, and the gentlemen sent to Calais for the

headsman from there. The night she made her

peace with God, and the next day in the morning

they brought her out to the same place where

Anne was beheaded, and they let anybody who

liked come in and see.

When she mounted the scaffold she turned to

the people, who were numerous, and said,]

“Brothers, by the journey upon which I am

bound I have not wronged the King, but it is true

that long before the King took me I loved

Culpepper, and I wish to God I had done as he

wished me, for at the time the King wanted to

take me he urged me to say that I was pledged to

him. If I had done as he advised me I should not

die this death, nor would he. I would reathr have

him for a husband than be mistress of the world,

[but sin blinded me and greed of grandeur, and

since mine is the fault mine also is the suffering,

and my great sorrow is that Culpepper should

have to die through me.” Then she turned to the

headsman and said,] “I die a Queen, but I would

rather die the wife of Culpepper. God have

mercy on my soul. Good people, I beg you pray

for me.” [And then, falling on her knees, she

said certain prayers, and the headsman

performed his office, striking off her head when

she was not expecting it. She was carried to the

Tower Church, and buried near Queen Anne.

The next day they brought Culpepper outside

the Tower, and when he got on to the scaffold

78

he turned to the people and only said he hoped

they would pray to God for him, and nothing

more. He was then beheaded, and his head

placed on London Bridge, and his body buried

in Barking’ (el barquin); and so ended these two

lovers.]

Lanscape I: From the Train

Song text: Original text:

We were talking about what it was like to

be a child in a

little prairie town

buried in wheat

in burning summers

beneath a brilliant sky.

As the train flashed,

We were talking about childhood in a little

prairie town

blustery winters

nothing but snow

and the feeling that the world was left

behind.


We were talking

of windy springs

and blazing summers

and fall afternoons when the prairie was

like the bush

that burned with fire.

[Oh, I wish I could be a little boy again.]

Last summer I happened to be crossing the

plains of Iowa in a season of intense heat, and it

was my good fortune to have for a traveling

companion James Quayle Burden----Jim

Burden, as we still call in the West. He and I are

old friends---we grew up together in the same

Nebraska town---and we had much to say to

each other. While the train flashed through

never-ending miles of ripe wheat, by country

towns and bright-flowered pastures and oak

groves wilting in the sun, we sat in the

observation car, where the woodwork was hot to

the touch and red dust lay deep over everything.

The dust and heat, the burning wind reminded

us of many things. We were talking about what

it is like to spend one’s childhood in little towns

like these, buried in wheat and corn, under

stimulating extremes of climate: burning

summers when the world lies green and billowy

beneath a brilliant sky, when one is fairly stifled

in vegetation, in the color and smell of strong

79


We were talking

about prairie towns

and [boyhood]

and Ántonia! My Ántonia!

weeds and heavy harvests; blustery winters with

little snow; when the whole country is stripped

bare and gray as sheet-iron. We agreed that no

one who had not grown up in a little prairie

town could know anything about it. It was a

kind of freemasonry, we said.

I tried to go to sleep, but the jolting made me

bite my tongue, and I soon began to ache all

over. When the straw settled down, I had a hard

be. Cautiously I slipped from under the buffalo

hide, got up on my knees and peered over the

side of the wagon. There seemed to be nothing

to see, no creeks or trees, no hills or fields. If

there was a road, I could not make i out in the

faint starlight. There was nothing but land: not a

country at all, but all material out of which

countries are made. No, there was nothing but

land---slightly undulating. I knew, because often

our wheels ground against the brake as we went

down into a hollow and lurched up again on the

other side. I had the feeling that the world was

left behind, that we had got over the edge of it,

and were outside man’s jurisdiction. I had never

before looked up at the sky when there was not

a familiar mountain ridge against it. But this was

the complete dome of heaven, all there was of it.

I did not believe that my dead father and mother

were watching me from up there; they would

still be looking for me at the sheep-fold down by

the creek, or along the white road that led to the

mountain pastures. I had left even their spirits

behind me. The wagon jolted on, carrying me I

80

knew not whither. I don’t think I was homesick.

If we never arrived, anywhere, it did not matter.

Between the earth and the sky I felt erased,

blotted out. I did not say my prayers that night.

Here, I felt, what would be would be.

“Here is the thing about Ántonia. Do you still

want to read it? I finished it last night. I didn’t

take time to arrange it; I simply wrote down

pretty much all that her name recalls to me. I

suppose it hasn’t any form. It hasn’t any title,

either.” He went into the next room, sat down at

my desk and wrote across the face of the

portfolio “Ántonia.” He frowned at this moment,

then prefixed another word, making it “My

Ántonia.” That seemed to satisfy him.

2. Ántonia


“They can’t any of them speak English,”

[Said the train conductor to me, the boy

Jim.]

“Except the little girl

Not much older than you, Jim,

Not much older than you

And she’s bright as a new dollar.

She’s got pretty brown eyes too!”

And she did, my Ántonia!

When I first saw her,

Ántonia came up to me

“They can’t any of them speak English, except

one little girl, and all she can say is ‘We go

Black Hawk, Nebraska.’ She’s not much older

than you, twelve or thirteen, maybe, and she’s as

bright as a new dollar. Don’t you want to go

ahead and see her, Jimmy? She got the pretty

brown eyes, too!”

At that moment the father came out of the hole

in the bank. He wore no hat, and his thick iron-

grey hair was brushed straight back from his

81

And held her hand out coaxingly

Soon we were running together

through the fields, laughing.

Ántonia! My Ántonia!

How many an afternoon

[We] trailed along the prairie.

Laughing, she would point to a tree.

“Name? What name?”

“Tree!” I answered.

One evening we climbed to the roof

To watch the clouds of a storm,

One black cloud no bigger than a little boat

Drifted out [alone. ]

Grandmother called to use to come down,

“In a minute we come!” Ántonia called

back,

[“In a minute!” ]

forehead. It was so long that it bushed out

behind his ears, and made him look like the old

portraits I remembered in Virginia. He was tall

and slender, and his thin shoulders stooped. He

looked at us understandingly, then took

grandmother’s hand and bent over it. I noticed

how white and well-shaped his own hands were.

They looked calm, somehow, and skilled. His

eyes were melancholy, and were set back deep

under his brow. His face was ruggedly formed,

but it looked like ashes----like something from

which all the warmth and light had died out.

Everything about this old man was in keeping

with his dignified manner. He was nearly

dressed. Under his coat he wore a knitted grey

vest, and, instead of a collar, a silk scarf of a

dark bronze-green, carefully crossed and held

together by a red coral pin. While Krajiek was

translating for Mr. Shimerda, Ántonia came up

to me and held out her hand coaxingly. In a

moment we were running up the steep drawside

together, Yulka trotting after us.

How many an afternoon Ántonia and I have

trailed along the prairie under that magnificence!

And always two long black shadows flitted

before us or followed after, dark spots on the

ruddy grass.

“Name? What name?” she asked, touching e on

the shoulder. I told her my name, and she

repeated it after me and made Yulka say it. She

pointed into the gold cottonwood tree behind

82

whose top we stood and said again, “What

name?”

All the nights were close and hot during that

harvest season. The harvesters slept in the

hayloft because it was cooler there than in the

house. I used to lie in my bed by the open

window, watching the heat lightning play softly

along the horizon, or looking up at the gaunt

frame of the windmill against the blue night sky.

One night there was a beautiful electric storm,

though not enough rain fell to damage the cut

grain. The men went down to the barn

immediately after supper, and when the dishes

were washed, Ántonia and I climbed up on the

slanting roof of the chicken-house to watch the

clouds. The thunder was loud and metallic like

the rattle of sheet iron and the lightning broke in

great zigzags across the heavens, making

everything stand out and come close to us for a

moment. Half the sky was checkered with black

thunderclouds, but all the west was luminous

and clear in the lightning-flashes it looked like

deep blue water, with the sheen of moonlight on

it; and the mottled part of the sky was like

marble pavement, like the quay of some

splendid sea-cost city, doomed to

destruction.reat warm splashes of rain fell on our

upturned faces. One black cloud, no bigger than

a little boat, drifted out into the clear space

unattended, and kept moving westward. All

about us we could hear the felty beat of the

raindrops on the soft dust of the farmyard.

83

Grandmother came to the door and said it was

late, and we could get wet out there.

“In a minute we come,” Ántonia called back to

her. “I like your grandmother, and all things

here,” she sighed. “I wish my papa live to see

this summer. I wish no winter ever come again.”

3. Landscape II: Winter


Winter comes down savagely on little

towns on the prairie.

Winter lies too long in country towns;

We had been silent a long time.

The edge of the sun sunk nearer and nearer

the

prairie floor

when we saw a figure moving on the edge

of the upland.

“Ántonia!” [called her father,]

“Tatinek!” and we ran to meet [him.]

Ántonia took his hand and kissed it.

[As the sun set

they went off hand in hand.]

Winter comes down savagely

Like the light of truth itself!

“My Papa, sad for old country,

He never make music anymore.

At home he play violin all the time.

Here never.”

Winter comes down savagely over a little town

on the prairie. The wind sweeps in from the

open country strips away all the leafy screens

that hide one yard from another in summer, and

the houses seem to draw closer together. The

roofs, that looked so far away across the green

tree-tops, now stare you in the face, and they are

so much uglier than when their angles were

softened by vines and shrubs.

Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on

until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen. On

the farm the weather was the great fact, and

men’s affairs went on underneath it, as the

streams creep under the ice. But in Black Hawk

the scene of human life was spread out shrunken

and pinched, frozen down to the bare stalk.

We had been silent a long time, and the edge of

the sun sank nearer and nearer the prairie floor,

84

[When he took his life,]

Ántonia threw her arms around me.

“Oh Jimmy! What you think my lovely

Papa.”

I could feel her heart breaking as she clung

to me.

Winter comes down savagely with a bitter

song.

when we saw a figure moving on the edge of the

upland, a gun over his shoulder. He was walking

slowly, dragging his feet along as if he had no

purpose. We broke into a run to overtake him.

While we were disputing about the ring, I heard

a mournful voice calling, “Án-tonia, Án-tonia!”

She sprang up like a hare. “Tatinek! Tatinek!”

she shouted, and we ran to meet the old man

who was coming toward us. Ántonia reached

hm first, took his hand and kissed it. When I

came up, he touched my shoulder and looked

searchingly down into my face for several

seconds. I became somewhat embarrassed, for I

was used to being taken for granted by my

elders.

Winter comes down savagely over a little town

on the prairie. The wind that sweeps in from the

open country strips away all the leafy screens

that hide one yard from another in summer, and

the houses seem to draw closer together The

roods, that looked so far away across the green

tree-tops, now stare you in the face, and they are

so much uglier than when their angles were

softened by vines and shrubs.

In the morning, when I was fighting my way to

school against the wind, I couldn’t see anything

but the road in front of me; but in the late

afternoon, when I was coming home, the town

looked bleak and desolate to me. The pale, cold

light of the winter sunset did not beautify---it

was like the light of truth itself. When the

85

smoky clouds hung low in the west and red sun

went down behind them, leaving a pink flush on

the snowy roofs and the blue drifts, then the

wind sprang up afresh, with a kind of bitter

song, as if it said: “This is reality, whether you

like it or not. All those frivolities of summer, the

light and shadow, the living mask of green that

trembled over everything, he were lies, and this

is what was underneath. This is the truth.” It was

as if we were being punished for loving the

loveliness of summer.

“My papa sad for the old country. He not look

good. He never make music any more. At home

he play violin all the time; for weddings and for

dance. Here never. When I beg him for play, he

shake his head no. Some days he take his violin

out of his box and make with his fingers on the

strings, like this, but never he make the music.

He don’t like this kawn-tree.”

When grandmother and I went into the

Shimerdas’ house, we found the women-folk

alone; Ambrosch and Marek were at the barn.

Mrs. Shimerda sat crouching by the stove,

Ántonia was washing dishes. When she saw me,

she ran out of her dark corner and threw her

arms around me. “Oh, Jimmy,” she sobbed,

“what you tink for my lovely papa!” It seemed

to me that I could feel her heart breaking as she

clung to me.

86

4. The Hired Girls


“Now, you’re Lena, are you?

And you’re Tony and you’re Mary!

Have I got it straight?”

There were handsome girls, the hired girls,

Tony and Lena, three Marys,

The four Danish girls,

And Lena and Tiny.

How they loved to dance!

Ah They were handsome girls, the hired

girls,

Lena, Tiny, and Tony, three Marys, four

Danish girls.

I thought, if not for girls like these in the

world

There would be no poetry.

“You are Lena Lingard, aren’t you? I’ve been to

see your mother, but you were off herding cattle

that day. Mama, this is Chris Lingard’s oldest

girl.”

Ántonia seemed frightened at first, and kept

looking questioningly at Lena and Tiny over

Will O’Reilly’s shoulder. Tiny Soderhall was

trim and slender, with lively little feet and pretty

ankles---she wore her dresses very short. She

was quicker in speech, lighter in movement and

manner than the other girls. Mary Dusak was

broad and brown of countenance, slightly

marked by smallpox, but handsome for all that.

She had beautiful chestnut hair, coils of it; her

forehead was low and smooth, and her

commanding dark eyes regarded the world

indifferently and fearlessly. She looked bold

and resourceful and unscrupulous, and she was

all of these. They were handsome girls, had the

fresh colour of their country upbringing, and in

their eyes that brilliancy which is called---by no

metaphor, alas!---”the light of youth.”

Our young man of position was like the son of a

royal house; the boy who swept out his office or

drove his delivery wagon might frolic with the

jolly country girls, but he himself must sit all

evening in a plush parlour where conversation

dragged so perceptibly that the father often

87

came in and made blundering efforts to warm

up the atmosphere. On his way home from his

dull call, he would perhaps meet Tony and

Lena, coming along the sidewalk whispering to

each other, or the three Bohemian Marys in

their long plush coats and caps, comporting

themselves with a dignity that only made their

eventful histories the more piquant. If he went

to the hotel to see a travelling man on business,

there was Tiny, arching her shoulders at him

like a kitten. If he went into the laundry to get

his collars, there were the four Danish girls,

smiling up from their ironing-boards, with their

white throats and their pink cheeks.

The three Marys were the heroines of a cycle of

scandalous stories, which the old men were fond

of relating as they sat about the cigar-stand in

the drugtore. Mary Dusak had been housekeeper

for a bachelor rancher from Boston, and after

several years in his service she was forced to

retire from the world for a short time. Later she

came back to town to take the place of her

friend, Mary Svoboda, who was similarly

embarrassed. The three Marys were considered

as dangerous as high explosives to have about

the kitchen, yet they were such good cooks and

such admirable housekeepers that they never

had to look for a place.

When I turned back to my room the place

seemed much pleasanter than before. Lena had

left something warm and friendly in the

lamplight. How I loved to hear her laugh again!

88

It was so soft and unexcited and appreciative---

gave me a favourable interpretation to

everything. When I closed my eyes I could hear

them all laughing---the Danish laundry girls and

the three Bohemian Marys. Lena had brought

them all back to me. It came over me, and the

poetry of Virgil. If there were no girls like them

in the world, there would be no poetry. I

understood that clearly, for the first time. This

revelation seemed to me inestimably precious. I

clung to it as if it might suddenly vanish.

5. Landscape III: Prairie Spring


Spring came on the prairie, Spring.

The throb of it.

Everywhere, in the sky, in the clouds,

In the warm high wind.

The larks, the larks singing straight

At the sun. Ah Ah!

When spring came, after that hard winter, one

could not get enough of the nimble air. Every

morning I wakened with a with a fresh

consciousness that winter was over. There were

none of the signs of spring for which I used to

watch in Virginia, no budding woods or

blooming gardens. There was only---spring

itself; the throb of it, the light restlessness, the

vital essence of it everywhere in the sky, in the

swift clouds, in the pale sunshine, and in the

warm, high wind---rising suddenly, sinking

suddenly, impulsive and playful like a big

puppy that pawed you and then lay down to be

petted. If I had been tossed down blindfold on

that red prairie, I should have known that it was

spring.

89

One Sunday, I rode over there with Jake to get a

horse-collar which Ambrosch had borrowed

from him and had not returned. It was a

beautiful blue morning. The buffalo-peas were

blooming in pink and purple masses along the

roadside, and the larks, perched on last year’s

dried sunflower stalks, were singing straight at

the sun, their heads thrown back and their

yellow breasts aquiver, The wind blew about us

in warm, sweet gusts. We rode slowly, with a

pleasant sense of Sunday indolence.

6. Ántonia in the Field


When the sun was dropping low

Ántonia came up from the fields

How much older she was,

A tall girl, a strong girl.

“Jim!” she greeted me.

We chatter a moment,

Oh, she was beautiful

Sunburned, with her blouse open at the

neck

And throat plastered with dust.

Ántonia! My Ántonia! My Ántonia!

When the sun was dropping low, Ántonia came

up the big draw with her team. How much older

she had grown in eight months! She had come to

us a child and now she was a tall, strong young

girl, although her fifteenth birthday had just

slipped by, I ran out and met her as she brought

her horses up to the windmill to water them. She

wore the bots her father had so thoughtfully

taken off before he shot himself, and his old fur

cap. Her outgrown cotton dress switched about

er alves, over the boot-tops. She kept her sleeves

rolled up all day, and her arms and throat were

burned as brown as a sailor’s. Her neck came up

strongly out of her shoulders, like the bole of a

tree out of the turf. One sees that draft-horse

90

neck among the peasant women in all old

countries.

Nowadays Tony could talk of nothing but the

prices of things, or how much she could lift and

endure. She was too proud of her strength. I

knew, too, that Ambrosch put upon her some

chores a girl ought not to do, and that the

farmlands around the country joked in a nasty

way about it. Whenever I saw her come up the

furrow, shouting to her beasts, sunburned,

sweaty, her dress open at the neck, and her

throat and chest dust-plastered, I used to think of

the tone in which poor Mr. Shimerda, who could

say so little, yet managed to say so much when

he exclaimed, “My Án-tonia!”

7. Landscape IV- Sunset


We were talking about childhood in a little

prairie town.

No clouds, the sun, a red disk against the

horizon.

In my memory, pictures, pictures, in my

memory;

Ántonia kicking her bare legs against the

side of my pony;

Ántonia as she stood by her father’s grave;

Ántonia running, Ántonia dancing,

Ántonia coming in from her work

Last summer I happened to be crossing the

plains of Iowa in a season of intense heat, and it

was my good fortune to have for a traveling

companion James Quayle Burden----Jim

Burden, as we still call in the West. He and I are

old friends---we grew up together in the same

Nebraska town---and we had much to say to

each other. While the train flashed through

never-ending miles of ripe wheat, by country

towns and bright-flowered pastures and oak

groves wilting in the sun, we sat in the

91

Against the evening sky

Standing out against the horizon,

A picture, writing on the sun.

observation car, where the woodwork was hot to

the touch and red dust lay deep over everything.

The dust and heat, the burning wind reminded us

of many things. We were talking about what it is

like to spend one’s childhood in little towns like

these, buried in wheat and corn, under

stimulating extremes of climate: burning

summers when the world lies green and billowy

beneath a brilliant sky, when one is fairly stifled

in vegetation, in the color and smell of strong

weeds and heavy harvests; blustery winters with

little snow; when the whole country is stripped

bare and gray as sheet-iron. We agreed that no

one who had not grown up in a little prairie town

could know anything about it. It was a kind of

freemasonry, we said.

Presently we saw a curious thing: There were no

clouds, the sun was going down in a limpid,

gold-washed sky. Just as the lower edge of the

red disc rested on the high fields against the

horizon, a great black figure suddenly appeared

on the face of the sun. We sprang to our feet,

staining our eyes toward it. In a moment we

realized what it was. On some upland farm, a

plough had been left standing in the field. The

sun was singing just behind it. Magnified across

the distance by the horizontal light, it stood out

against the sun, was exactly contained within the

circle of the disc; the handles, the tongue, the

share----black against the molten red. There it

was, heroic in size, a picture writing on the sun.

92

I lay awake for a long while, until the slow-

moving moon passed my window on its way up

the heavens. I was thinking about Antonia and

her children; about Anna’s solicitude for her,

Ambrosch’s grave affection, Leo’s jealous,

animal little love. That moment, when they all

came tumbling out of the cave into the light, was

a sight any man might have come far to see.

Antonia had always been one to leave images in

the mind that did not fade---that grew stronger

with time. In my memory there was a succession

of such pictures, fixed there like the old

woodcuts of one’s first primer: Antonia kicking

her bare legs against the sides of my pony when

we came home in triumph with our snake;

Antonia in her black shawl and fur cap, as she

stood by her father’s grave in the snowstorm;

Antonia coming in with her work-team along the

evening sky-line. She lent herself to immemorial

human attitudes which we recognize by instinct

as universal and true. I had not been mistaken.

She was a battered woman now, not a lovely

girl; but she still had that something which fires

the imagination, could still stop one’s breath for

a moment by a look or gesture that somehow

revealed the meaning in common things. She

had only to stand in the orchard , to put her hand

on a little crab tree and look up at the apples, to

make you feel the goodness of planting and

tending and harvesting at last. All the strong

things of her heart came out in her body, that

had been so tireless in serving generous

emotions.

93

APPENDIX B: Libby Larsen works:

Work Voicing Epistolary? Author/Poet Year

The Ant and The

Grasshopper

Soprano, Piano Jeanne Shepard 1998

The Apple’s Song Mezzo-soprano, Piano Edwin Morgan 2001

Battle Report Tenor, Piano Bob Kaufman 2018

Before Winter Baritone, Organ Arthur Mampel 1982

Beloved, thou hast

brought me many

flowers

Mezzo-soprano, cello,

organ

Elizabeth Barrett

Browning, Hilde

Doolittle, Rainer Maria

Rilke, and Percy

Bysshe Shelley

1994

The Birth Project Soprano, Piano A. E. Stallings, Cheryl

Strayed, Lauren Groff,

Akiko Yosano, Gina

Zucker, Phoebe

Damrosch, Heidi Pitlor

2015

Buffalo Bill’s Baritone, Piano e.e. cummings 2012

Center Field Girl Soprano, Flute, Piano Epistolary Michele Antonello

Frisch

2007

Chain of Hope SATB chorus,

baritone, actress,

piano

Epistolary various letters and

writings regarding

Frederick Douglass

2010

Chanting to

Paradise

Soprano, Piano Emily Dickinson 1997

Cowboy Songs Soprano,

Piano/Orchestra

Anonymous, Belle

Star, Robert Creeley

1979

De Toda la

Eternidad

Soprano, piano (or

wind ensemble)

Sor Juana Inez de la

Cruz

2003

(2005)

Donal Oge Soprano, Piano Anonymous translated

by Lady Augusta

Gregory

2011

94

Eleanor Roosevelt SATB chorus, mezzo-

soprano, speaker,

clarinet, violoncello,

piano, percussion

played by chorus

Epistolary Sally M. Gall 1996

Far in a Western

Brookland

Tenor, Piano A.E. Housman 2008

Fern Hill Solo Tenor Dylan Thomas 2004

The Flower Baritone, Piano George Herbert 2009

Forget-Me-Not Duet: soprano, tenor,

piano

anonymous author

from Cupples & Leon

Given book of poems

2008

Hestene Staar I

Regnet

Voice, Hardanger

Fiddle, and Piano

2015

How Lovely Are

Thy Holy Groves

Soprano, Piano Chinook Psalter 1998

I Cried Unto God Tenor, Piano Psalms 77:1, 67, 28:7 2011

I Love You

Through The

Daytime

Baritone, Piano ancient Egyptian 2003

An Irish Airman

Forsees His Death

Baritone, Piano W.B. Yeats 2017

Jazz At The

intergalactic

Nightclub

Tenor or Mezzo-

Soprano, piano

Thomas McGrath 2001

Late In The Day Soprano, Pieno Jeanne Shepard 1998

Lewis Caroll

Songs

Soprano, mezzo-

soprano, baritone, and

piano

Lewis Carroll 2014

Lord, Make Me An

Instrument

Tenor, Piano St. Francis of Assisi 1997

Love After 1950 Mezzo-soprano, Piano Rita Dove, Julie Kane,

Kathryn Daniels, Liz

Lochhead, and Muriel

2000

95

Rukeyser

Love Doctor Mezzo-soprano, tenor,

baritone, piano,

animated comic book

Doug Wildey 2017

Lullay Of The

Nativity

High Voice anonymous 15th

century author

2012

The Magdalene Soprano, piano Pistis Sophia 2013

The Margaret

Song

Soprano, Piano Willa Cather and Libby

Larsen

1996

Mary Cassatt Mezzo-soprano,

trombone, orchestra,

and slides

Epistolary historical narrative and

letters of Mary Cassatt

1994

Me (Brenda

Ueland)

Soprano, Piano Brenda Ueland 1987

The Moabit

Sonnets

2 sopranos, tenor,

bass, chamber

orchestra

Albrecht Haushofer,

text; translated by M.D.

Herter Norton

2011

My Àntonia High Voice, Piano Epistolary Willa Cather 2000

My Candle Burns High Voice, Piano Edna St. Vincent

Millay

2012

Notes Slipped

Under The Door

Soprano, flute,

orchestra

Epistolary Eugenia Zukerman 2001

The Peculiar Case

of Dr. H. H.

Holmes

Baritone, Prepared

Piano

Epistolary H.H. Holmes, aka

Herman Mudgett

2010

Perineo Baritone, Piano Roberto Echavarren 1993

Pharaoh Songs Baritone, Piano John L. Foster,

translation, ancient

Egyptian

2017

A Pig In The

House

Tenor, Piano Alvin Greenberg 2004

A Quiet Song Baritone, Piano Brenda Ueland 2007

96

Raspberry Island

Dreaming

Mezzo-soprano,

orchestra/Piano

Joyce Sutphen and

Patricia Hampl

2002

Recuerdo Baritone, Piano Edna St. Vincent

Millay

2017

Righty, 1966 Soprano, flute, piano Epistolary Michele Antonello

Frisch

2007

Saints Without

Tears

Soprano, flute,

bassoon

Phyllis McGinley 1976

Scott Joplin Baritone, Piano Bill Holm 2018

Selected Poems of

Rainer Maria

Rilke

Soprano, flute, guitar,

harp

Rainer Maria Rilke 2005

Sifting Through

The Ruins

Mezzo-soprano, viola,

and piano

Epistolary anon., Alicia Vasquez,

Martha Cooper, and

Ted Berrigan

2005

Song Solo Soprano e.e. cummings 2009

Songs From

Letters

Soprano, piano (or

chamber ensemble)

Epistolary Calamity Jane 1989

Songs Of Light

and Love

Soprano, chamber

ensemble

May Sarton 1998

Sonnets From the

Portuguese

Soprano, chamber

ensemble (or piano)

Elizabeth Barrett

Browning

1991

Take Soprano, Piano Margaret Atwood 2005

The Fantom Of

The Fair

Male voice, female

voice, violin, cello,

animated comic book

Paul Gustavson 2014

The Unbearable

Stillness: Songs

From The Balcony

Soprano, string

quartet

Dima Hilal and

Sekeena Shaben

2003

The Unbearable

Stillness: Songs

From The Balcony

Soprano, percussion,

celeste, and string

orchestra

Dima Hilal and

Sekeena Shaben

2008

Three Love Songs Baritone, Piano Pablo Neruda 2011

97

Try Me, Good

King: Last Words

Of The Wives Of

Henry VIII

Soprano, Piano Epistolary Katherine of Aragon,

Anne Boleyn, Jane

Seymour, Anne of

Cleves, Katherine

Howard

2000

Turn, Turn Baritone, Piano Bethany Ringdal 2011

A Verse Record Of

My Peonies, 1980

Tenor, tape,

percussion

Masaoka Shiki 1980

When I Am An Old

Woman

Soprano, Piano Jenny Joseph 1990

Within The Circles

Of Our Lives

Soprano, baritone,

wind ensemble

Wendell Berry 2007

Wolf Song In Los

Angeles

Adapted from Tenor

Version. For Mezzo-

Soprano and Piano

Bill Holm 2017

98

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RECORDINGS

Adolphe, Bruce, Composer, Libby Larsen, Composer, Stephen Paulus, Composer, Ronald Perera,

Composer, Bruce Adolphe, Lyricist, Anne of Cleves, Lyricist, and Arlene Shrut, Artist, et

al. n.d. PERERA: Sleep Now / LARSEN, L.: Try Me, Good King / PAULUS: Songs of

Love and Longing / ADOLPHE: A Thousand Years of Love (Emerson). n.p.: Albany,

n.d. Naxos Music Library, EBSCOhost (accessed July 31, 2018).

Cipullo, Tom, Composer, Daron Aric Hagen, Composer, Libby Larsen, Composer, Paul

Moravec, Composer, James Agee, Lyricist, Dante Alighieri, Lyricist and Paul Sperry,

Artist, et al. n.d. LARSEN, L.: My Antonia / HAGEN, D.: Figments / MORAVEC: Vita

Brevis / CIPULLO: Another Reason Why I Don't Keep a Gun in the House. n.p.: Albany,

n.d. Naxos Music Library, EBSCOhost (accessed July 31, 2018).

Cipullo, Tom, Composer, Lori Laitman, Composer, Libby Larsen, Composer, Richard Pearson,

Composer, Thomas, Lyricist, Anonymous, Willa Cather, Lyricist, Dana Gioia, Lyricist,

William Heyen, Lyricist, Amanda Asplund Hopson, Artist, and Kerry Jennings, Artist, et.

al. n.d. Vocal Recital: Jennings, Kerry - LARSEN, L. / CIPULLO, T. / LAITMAN, L. /

THOMAS, R.P. (In My Memory: American Songs and Song Cycles). n.p.: Centaur, n.d.

Naxos Music Library, EBSCOhost (accessed July 31, 2018).

104

Larsen, Libby, Composer, Lyricist Anonymous, Ted Berrigan, Lyricist, Martha Cooper, Lyricist,

Alicia Vasquez, Lyricist, Deborah Dunham, Artist, and Craig Rutenberg, Artist, et al. n.d.

LARSEN, L.: Chamber Music (Circle of Friends) (Macomber, N. Fischer, Kierman,

Mentzer, J. and D. Dunham, Rutenberg). n.p.: Navona, n.d. Naxos Music Library,

EBSCOhost (accessed July 31, 2018).

Larsen, Libby, Terry, soprano Rhodes, Ellen, mezzo-soprano Williams, Benton Hess, Stephen

Reis, Libby Larsen, Libby Larsen, Libby Larsen, and Libby Larsen. 2008. Grand Larsen-

y. [electronic resource] : vocal music. n.p.: New York, N.Y. : DRAM, [2008], 2008.

IUCAT (library catalog), EBSCOhost (accessed July 31, 2018).

Urias, Marcelo, et al. [Program, 2003-2004, no. 190] [sound recording]. n.p.: 2003., 2003.

IUCAT (library catalog), EBSCOhost (accessed February 27, 2017).

SCORES

Larsen, Libby, and Sally M. Gall. Eleanor Roosevelt : a dramatic cantata based on her life and

words : for speaker, mezzo-soprano solo, SATB chorus, clarinet, cello, piano, and

percussion. n.p. New York : Oxford University Press, 2000.

Larsen, Libby. Love After 1950: A Song Cycle for Mezzo-soprano and Piano. New York: Oxford

University Press, 2010.

Larsen, Libby. Margaret Songs: Three Songs from Willa Cather for Soprano Solo and Piano.

New York: Oxford University Press, 1998.

Larsen, Libby. My Ántonia: Seven Songs for High Voice and Piano, Based on the Novel by Will

Cather. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

Larsen, Libby, and Jane Calamity. 1989. Songs from letters : Calamity Jane to her daughter

Janey, 1880-1902 : for soprano and piano. n.p.: New York : Oxford University Press,

1989.

Larsen, Libby. Try Me, Good King: Last Words of the Wives of Henry VIII, for Solo Soprano

and Piano. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.