Composer in the world of today; The solo song

The Huh uh. Huh we're. The composer in the world of today. The School of Music and the radio service of the University of Illinois invite you to listen to another program in the series. The composer in the world of today comment and illustrations on 20th century American music by an American composer. Conducting the series is Beryl Phillips Professor of Music at the University of Illinois. And an internationally famous composer. The composer in the world of today is produced and recorded by W I L L University of Illinois radio service under a grant from the Educational Television and Radio Center in cooperation with the National Association of education All right. Today Mr. Phillips will discuss.

The solo song. And now the composer in the world of today. And here is Beryl Philips. What a composer does when he writes a song is a good deal more difficult to describe than what he does when he writes a sonata or some other complicated articulated form. Perhaps this is due to the fact that many other things than setting the proper notes down on paper are involved. The creative act in the writing of a song begins much earlier than in other kinds of music. Indeed it may be said to begin with something quite nonmusical the selection of the words to be set for the choice a composer makes of these words is almost as indicative of his musical personality as the way he writes a melody or the characteristics of his harmonic style. The poets he associates with so to speak may tell us as much about how he works as any single musical item we can isolate and analyze. There are of course many truly musical points of reference in discussing the composition of the modern soul song.

One general statement is that by and large the literature in this kind of music is extensive and mostly more conservative than an instrumental editor. Also it seems that composers of songs are likely to specialize in this area and these specialists are not so often found to be symphonic composers as well. But when a composer has written songs as well as a great deal of other kinds of music it will be found that his style and manner in the writing of the songs is perhaps more like what could be called a contemporary song style in general than it is like his own style in his other music. For example in all but one of the solo songs to be heard today the composers have used traditional key signatures. This means that they all have a common viewpoint about the harmonic content of their songs. In this instance only whereas in their separate and different music for other media they will not usually use key signatures. Another curious phenomenon is that almost all of the songs to be heard later are about the same length a minute and a half

or thereabouts. This similarity is to link the extends to fast songs and slow songs equally. But of course each of the composers will have ways of thinking musically that mark him off sharply from his contemporaries. Here is a first song a psalm of praise. The setting of the hundredth Psalm by the contemporary American composer Ned Rooum. As is the case with all the music today it will be performed by Dorothy Clarke contralto accompanied by Clare Richards at the piano. Really.

There's. After the ned Rooum song comes a series of three songs by Samuel Barber the first called. Sure on this shining night two words by James again. Here's a song with what might be called old fashioned lyricism. The second called none takes the veil is harmonically simple and logically pure. The third call I hear an army. Two words by James Joyce. Rounds out the effect of conservatism by its 19th century romantic and

swashbuckling air. Here are three songs by Samuel Barber. Red Hood. The roof. Man.

A.

To. Me.

The next song jabberwacky set to the Lewis Carroll words by John

Soco means practically no comment except to say that the composer proves how possible is music to create an inherently funny song. In this case it is a fast figure given to the piano. Here is Jabberwocky by John SOCO. Why.

Hannu. Nuke. Anything. To eat. It's going.

To close a program we will hear next a group of songs called Eight epitaphs by the American composer Theodore Chandler. They are settings of short poems by Walter de la Mare and they are intended to be real epitaphs carved on tombstones of people as real as a poet can make them. They are not all melancholy. They range from the touching words on the two of a child very quiet now to the hilarious notice about Thomas log a rascally dog. There are also the three spinster sisters sprightly Becca Anne and Adelaide who believe all evil started with that creature man. And the description of a perfect being in miniature the midget Chandler has a style that may be called nostalgic but it is never sentimental. It is clean and without

wasted motion. Here are eight epitaphs by Theodore Chandler. Oh.

Man.

Being a. Being. Mine isn't.

My. Thing. You.

Are. No.

It's. True. Oh.

On. On. Those were eight epitaphs by Theodore Chandler sung by Dorothy Clark contralto

accompanied at the piano by Clara Richards. Earlier music was heard by Ned Rooum Samuel Barber and John SOCO. You have just heard the solo song another program in the series the composer in the world of today conducting the series is Berle Phillips Professor of Music at the University of Illinois and an internationally famed composer. We cordially invite you to join us again next week at the same time for the next program in the series the composer in the world of today. The composer in the world today was produced and recorded by Kenneth Kuttner music supervisor of the radio service of the University of Illinois under a grant from the Educational Television and Radio Center and is being distributed by the National Association of educational broadcasters.

This is the end E.B. Radio Network.