Music, Glenn Korff School of
Randall Snyder Compositions
Document Type
Manuscript
Date of this Version
1991
Citation
Manuscript, 1991
Recorded by North/South Consonance, Max Lifchitz, director: Traveling West recording
Published by Universal Editions, 2024
Abstract
This paper is a consideration of the art song as a unique collaboration of poet and composer, the result of which, rarely achieving a balance between the two, often resulting in a creation that comprises the predominant artistic vision of one or the other, with poetry usually getting short shrift. This discussion will examine how dfferent methods of text setting can affect the intended meaning of the poem, citing examples of poet-composer relationships. Then I will discuss how these concepts are utilized in my song cycle, Traveling West, settings of poems by Susan Strayer Deal, Marjorie Saiser, Hilda Raz, and Kathleene West. Emphasis will be placed on how the texts dictated much of the musical organization as well as overall mood and ethos, hopefully suggesting a context for creating a synergy in which words and music are joined as equal partners, resulting in a true multimedia artifact, exhibiting a quality not found in each alone.
Comments
Copyright 1991, Randall Snyder. Used by permission