The Voice of Children in Art Song:

A Study of Six Cycles Involving a Childs Perspective

A document submitted to the

Graduate Thesis and Research Committee
of the University of Cincinnati

in partial fulfillment of the degree

requirements for the degree of

DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS

in VOICE

in the Performance Studies Division

of the College-Conservatory of Music

by

Rachelle M. Woolston

BA, Brigham Young University, 2002

MM, University of Cincinnati, 2004

Committee Chair: Dr. Stephanie Schlagel, PhD

 Abstract

This document explores the often overlooked and undervalued song cycle repertory

containing childrens themes. This genre includes music written and performed by adults that

offers elements of a childs world within the poetry. Various modes of communication are

possible in songs with childrens themes, depending on whether the poet is an adult or child,

whether the poet acts as an adult or child, and whether the intended audience consists of adults or

children. The document compares six song cycles using each of these modes of communication.

Poems written by children are set in A Garland for Marjory Fleming by Richard Rodney Bennett

and Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104 by Robert Schumann, while adult poets act

as children in Theodore Chanlers The Children and Leonard Bernsteins I Hate Music! A Cycle

of Five Kid Songs for Soprano, and children are the poetic audience in La courte paille by

Francis Poulenc and A Charm of Lullabies by Benjamin Britten. This document uses these three

modes of communication as an analytical lens through which to view the poetic and musical

techniques used in creating a childs world in song. The analysis searches for specific messages

conveyed by the poets and composers and gives suggestions to performers in highlighting these

childlike aspects on stage.

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 Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the incredible faculty and family members who made this document

possible. First and foremost, my advisor Dr. Stephanie Schlagel has seen me through this process

from the very beginning. She helped me to develop this project from its origins as a lecture

recital in Cincinnati, and patiently worked with me through a cross-country move and the birth of

my second, third, and fourth children. She has been an invaluable resource, guiding my research,

helping me to organize and present my thoughts in a meaningful way, and providing excellent

feedback on numerous drafts. I am extremely grateful for her expertise, encouragement, and

support. I am also indebted to my readers, Professors Mary Henderson Stucky and Barbara Paver

for their time they spent reviewing my document and their willingness to provide suggestions for

how to improve it.

I am also thankful to my wonderful family for their unwavering support. My husband

helped me find the motivation to see this project through to its completion, and spent countless

hours fulfilling the household responsibilities and care of our growing family so I could make the

time to research and write. I want to acknowledge my four children for serving as the inspiration

for this topic of study, and for challenging me to become a better person every day. They give

my life fullness and richness that I never before dreamed of obtaining. I hope to be an example to

them of finishing what you start, no matter how long or difficult the process.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ............................................................................................................................1

Purpose.......................................................................................................................3

Literature Review.......................................................................................................4

Methodology ..............................................................................................................7

Scope ..........................................................................................................................10

Chapter 1: Child Poets ...........................................................................................................12

A Garland for Marjory Fleming ................................................................................12

Marjory Fleming ............................................................................................13

Richard Rodney Bennett ................................................................................17

Analysis of A Garland for Marjory Fleming .................................................19

For Performers ...............................................................................................31

Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104 ........................................................31

Elisabeth Kulmann .........................................................................................32

Robert Schumann ...........................................................................................36

Analysis of Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104.........................43

For Performers ...............................................................................................58

Conclusions ................................................................................................................58

Chapter 2: Adult Poet Acting as a Child ................................................................................60

The Children ..............................................................................................................60

Leonard Feeney..............................................................................................61

Theodore Chanler...........................................................................................65

Analysis of The Children ...............................................................................71

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 For Performers ...............................................................................................90

I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano ..............................................91

Leonard Bernstein ..........................................................................................91

Analysis of I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano ...............97

For Performers ...............................................................................................107

Conclusions ................................................................................................................108

Chapter 3: Adult Poet Addressing a Child .............................................................................110

La courte paille ..........................................................................................................110

Maurice Carme .............................................................................................111

Francis Poulenc ..............................................................................................113

Analysis of La courte paille...........................................................................119

For Performers ...............................................................................................130

A Charm of Lullabies .................................................................................................131

Benjamin Britten ............................................................................................132

Analysis of A Charm of Lullabies..................................................................138

For Performers ...............................................................................................154

Conclusions ................................................................................................................154

Conclusion .............................................................................................................................156

Textual Characteristics...............................................................................................156

Musical Characteristics ..............................................................................................158

Modes of Communication..........................................................................................160

Messages ....................................................................................................................161

Legitimacy .................................................................................................................165

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 Summary ....................................................................................................................166

Bibliography ..........................................................................................................................168

Secondary Literature ..................................................................................................168

Poetry and Scores .......................................................................................................175

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 Introduction: Childrens Themes in Art Song

Most scholarly criticism of song cycles focuses on serious works that are usually

earnest in nature, meriting the label of art music. According to Shirlee Emmons and Stanley

Sonntag, authors of the standard singers reference book, The Art of the Song Recital, Musicians

tend to view the song cycle as possessing certain requisite attributeslengthiness, solemnity,

and gravity.1 However, every performing musician understands the need for music of a

humorous or fun-loving nature, particularly when constructing a recital. Performers often seek

for a contrasting set of art songs to balance a recital program, and music with brevity,

lightheartedness, and wit fills that requirement perfectly. One such example of cheery, witty

repertoire worthy of study and programming is song cycles with themes of children.

Writing music containing childrens themes is not a new phenomenon. Several

composers have found childhood to be an inspiration for works involving the voice as well as all

combinations of instruments. As musicologist Keith Clifton notes, Musical depictions of the

childhood experience have attracted a wide spectrum of composers, reaching an apex in the

nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Since such music generally makes limited technical demands

and features accessible melodies, diatonic harmonies, and periodic (often ternary) formal

structures, the appeal is logical.2 Examples of such compositions include music illustrating

childrens stories or nursery rhymes, such as Maurice Ravels Ma mere loye, Engelbert

Humperdincks Hnsel und Gretel, and Sergei Prokofievs Peter and the Wolf. Some large-scale

works with an adult cast include parts for children to perform, such as Benjamin Brittens War

Requiem or Alban Bergs Wozzeck. Other compositions were written with the intent of furthering

childrens education, either for childrens recital performance, as in Robert Schumanns

1
Shirlee Emmons and Stanley Sonntag, The Art of the Song Recital (New York: Schirmer, 1979), 269.
2
Keith E. Clifton, Beyond Childhood: Poulenc, La courte paille, and the Aural Envelope, College Music
Symposium 49 (2009): 333.

1
Liederalbum fr die Jugend, or for adult performance, like Brittens The Young Persons Guide

to the Orchestra. This document focuses on examples of art songs for voice and piano that are

performed by adults.

Song cycles with childrens themes are defined primarily by their childlike topics, often

overtly stated in their titles, such as Modest Mussorgskys The Nursery or Theodore Chanlers

The Children. Subject material for these art songs may include holiday songs, songs about the

outdoors, lullabies, songs about animals and birds, songs about people and their activities, songs

of greeting, chants and games, nonsense songs, Mother Goose rhymes, hymns, nursery songs,

and fairy tales.3 Most importantly, these songs express childrens experiences and emotions.

Though labeling this subject material as light may insinuate simple, unrefined music, many art

songs involving childrens themes are not merely fluff. In the hands of capable poets and

composers, quite complex, intricate, and delightful creations often result. These sophisticated

songs are best suited for adult audiences, appealing to their nostalgia of youth and childhood,

combined with their appreciation for musical subtlety and sophistication.

Crucial to the study of songs with childrens themes is the manner in which the

perspectives of children are conveyed by the poet, the composer, and the performer. The poet

plays a fundamental role in determining the poetic voice, choosing to write from either the

perspective of a child or of an adult. This choice of perspective can be described as a mode of

communication. The mode of communication depends on 1) whether the poet is an adult or a

child, 2) whether the poet is acting as an adult or a child, and 3) whether the intended audience is

made up of adults or children. Musicologist Ian Sharp categorizes these various modes of

communication into eight Routes of Musical Experience. They are:

3
Alice G. Thorn, Music for Young Children (New York: C. Scribners Sons, 1929), 1213.

2
 1. Adults assume a mode of childhood to relate to children.
2. Adults retain a mode of adulthood to relate to children.
3. Adults assume a mode of childhood to relate to adults.
4. Adults retain a mode of adulthood.
5. Children retain a mode of childhood to relate to adults.
6. Children assume a mode of adulthood to relate to adults.
7. Children retain a mode of childhood to relate to children.
8. Children assume a mode of adulthood to relate to children.4

Upon determining a poems mode of communication, whether adult, child, or adult acting as a

child, the composer shapes the work by responding to its point of view with his musical setting.

He establishes the musical tone and creates specific sounds to effectively illustrate the childlike

qualities of the text. The performers then interpret the intentions of both the poet and composer

in bringing the literature to life on the stage.

Purpose

There is relatively little research on the topic of childrens themes in art song, and the

subject matter deserves further exploration. The purpose of this document is to study three pairs

of song cycles involving a childs perspective, whether real or manufactured. Each pair uses a

different mode of communication. The cycles studied in chapter one, A Garland for Marjory

Fleming by Richard Rodney Bennett and Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104, by

Robert Schumann, have poetry written by children. Chapter two analyzes Theodore Chanlers

The Children and Leonard Bernsteins I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano,

with poetry written by adults acting as children. Songs in which adults address children appear in

chapter threes discussion of La courte paille by Francis Poulenc and A Charm of Lullabies by

Benjamin Britten. This document utilizes these three modes of communication as an analytical

lens through which to view the poetic and musical techniques used in creating a childs world in

4
Ian Sharp, Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press,
2000), 31.

3
song. These observations generate suggestions to performers of ways to in feature these childlike

aspects on stage. Examining these cycles through the mode of communication reveals common

themes and subtle aspects of the poetry and music, with more richness achieved by comparing

pairs in the same modes of communication. By bringing attention to some works that are not

widely performed, this document also hopes to benefit fellow musicians in their performing and

teaching careers.

Literature Review

Musicological reference materials guided the choice of song cycles to include in this

document. The Art of the Song Recital by Emmons and Sonntag contains a representative list of

songs having in common thoughts by and about children, 5 in a section of the book devoted to

programming song cycles. The vocal literature reference book Song: A Guide to Style and

Literature by Carol Kimball has a large section with lengthy discussions of selected works by

several composers organized by nationality, as well as an index of composers and selected works

at the end of the book.6 Sergius Kagens Music for the Voice lists selected works of significant

composers, organized by pre-nineteenth-century and post-nineteenth-century songs of different

nationalities. The lists include vocal range and appropriate voice type, with minimal remarks.7

Both Kimball and Kagen catalog the childrens songs of prominent composers along with their

more serious output. These reference materials, designed to further familiarity with various

composers works, served as invaluable resources in choosing repertoire for this study.

5
Emmons and Sonntag, 267.
6
Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Style and Literature (Seattle: Pst, 2000).
7
Sergius Kagen, Music for the Voice: A Descriptive List of Concert and Teaching Material rev. ed.
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968).

4
 Few musicological sources address specific poetic or musical criteria by which the

childlike nature of text and music can be analyzed. The most comprehensive analyses exist in

Gloria Shafers book Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle8 and Ian Sharps Classical Musics

Evocation of the Myth of Childhood.9 Shafer examines and describes the childrens song cycle

repertoire, considering the textual and musical features distinctive in the genre. She concludes

that the primary factor distinguishing childrens song cycles is the subject matter chosen, a

statement based on Dwight E. Nofzingers dissertation, A Study of Selected Song Literature for

Children.10 In an article for Music Educators Journal, Shafer states that instead of formulating

their childlike conceptions from underlying psychological approaches, composers work from

their intuitive perception of a childs world.11 She concludes that childrens song cycles tend to

display similar rhythms and melodies, repeated phrases, extensive musical coloring, are about

subjects that employ textual imagery relevant to the childs world and evocative of a childs

interest. These employ textual coloring such as alliteration and onomatopoeia as well. 12 Her

findings aided the search for common poetic and compositional techniques among the chosen

repertoire. The present study goes beyond her work by considering the cycles in light of a childs

perspective, and by entertaining the question of what messages about children these songs

convey.

Ian Sharps book Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood explores musical

images of the phenomenon of childhood, analyzing both vocal and instrumental music. He

divides childrens music into categories involving sources of creation and performance (children

8
Gloria Shafer, Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle as a Musical Genre with Four Case Studies and an
Original Cycle (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989).
9
Sharp.
10
Dwight E. Nofzinger, A Study of Song Literature for Children (EdD diss., University of Northern
Colorado, 1967).
11
Gloria Shafer, Childrens Song Cycles Are for Everyone, Music Educators Journal 67, no. 9 (May
1981): 33.
12
Shafer, Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle, 71.

5
or adults), character (childlike or adult like), and intended audience (children or adults).13 His

discussion of modes of communication serves as a foundation for this analysis, as I apply his

theories to repertory he did not consider.

Biographical details concerning the poets and composers included in this study

contextualize these song cycles within their lives and output. Among the biographical sources

consulted were Lachlan Macbeans Marjorie Fleming: The Story of Pet Marjorie Together With

Her Journals and Her Letters,14 John Daverios Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic

Age,15 and Pierre Bernacs Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs.16 These biographies

pointed out relevant details in the poets and composers lives that informed their works.

Including biographical elements such as Schumanns interest in the musical education of

children, Feeneys radio addresses regarding children and God, Bernsteins Young Peoples

Concerts, and Brittens fascination with the corruption of innocence brings added meaning to

the song cycles considered in this document.

Explorations of poetic and musical collections, such as Mother Raspberry by Maurice

Carme,17 We Are the Children of God by Leonard Feeney,18 and The Collected Songs of

Theodore Chanler19 aided in gaining familiarity with the poets and composers style and output.

Mention of other vocal repertoire such as Chanlers Four Rhymes from Peacock Pie20 and

13
Sharp, 31.
14
Lachlan Macbean, Marjorie Fleming: The Story of Pet Marjorie Together With Her Journals and Her
Letters (New York: G. P. Putnams, 1904).
15
John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age (New York: Oxford University Press,
1997).
16
Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs trans. Winifred Radford (New York: W. W.
Norton, 1977).
17
Maurice Carme, Mother Raspberry (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969).
18
Leonard Feeney, We Are the Children of God (Huntington, IN.: Our Sunday Visitor, 1942).
19
Theodore Chanler, The Collected Songs of Theodore Chanler: Medium/High Voice and Piano (New
York: G. Schirmer, 1994).
20
Chanler, The Collected Songs.

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Schumanns Mdchenlieder,21 a setting of additional poetry by Elisabeth Kulmann, reveals these

composers continuing interests in childrens themes.

Musicological sources examining these song cycles melodic, harmonic, rhythmic,

textural, dynamic, and formal structural content or discussing their place in the development of

art song aided in the analyses. Among these sources are Rebecca Scharlene Ringers dissertation

Beyond the Year of Song, Text and Music in the Song Cycles of Robert Schumann After

1848,22 as well as Yugo Sava Ikachs document A Study of Selected Songs by Leonard

Bernstein Which Reflect His Contribution to the Evolution of Art Song in America,23 and

Annette Nicolais thesis Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies: Historical Survey,

Analysis and Performance.24

Methodology

This document examines the poetry and music of six song cycles from the nineteenth and

twentieth century that incorporate a childs perspective. Each chapter discusses of a pair of

cycles that share the same mode of communication, searching for nuances that emerge from

analyzing them together. The poetic analysis focuses on such aspects as word choice, sentence

structure, and recurring images or themes that contribute to the childlike quality of text. Musical

techniques such as sing-song melodies or syllabic text setting are considered with reference to

the composers individual styles to determine how they illuminate the childlike traits in the text.

Where applicable, the document includes an investigation of any personal beliefs or values about

21
Robert Schumann, Neue Ausgabe smtlicher Werke. Serie VI: Lieder (Mainz: Schott, 2009).
22
Rebecca Scharlene Ringer, Beyond the Year of Song, Text and Music in the Song Cycles of Robert
Schumann After 1848 (PhD diss., University of North Texas, 2007).
23
Yugo Sava Ikach, A Study of Selected Songs by Leonard Bernstein Which Reflect His Contribution to
the Evolution of Art Song in America (DMA doc., West Virginia University, 2003).
24
Annette Nicolai, Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies: Historical Survey, Analysis and
Performance (MA thesis, California State University, Long Beach, 1992).

7
children that the poets and composers instill in their works. Each cycle receives an interpretation

regarding how the specific mode of communication affects their musical development as well as

their resulting themes or teachings. The document also offers suggestions as to what performers

might do to enhance these childlike qualities and intended messages.

Chapter one considers song cycles with poetry written by children. They fit Sharps fifth

and sixth Routes of Musical Experience because children either retain a mode of childhood or

assume a mode of adulthood to relate to adults. Richard Rodney Bennett (b. 1936) composed A

Garland for Marjory Fleming in 1969. Marjory Fleming (18031811) wrote these texts between

the ages of six and eight in 18091811. In them she relates her observations about various family

members, friends and animals, all with a sense of youth and innocence. Robert Schumann

(18101856) composed Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104 in 1851, setting selected

texts of child poet Elisabeth Kulmann (18081825), published in 1835. Elisabeth describes her

lifes circumstances, complete with her childhood joys and hardships, culminating in the

anticipation of her imminent death.

Both cycles texts come from a true childs perspective, but at times the child poets

behave in an adult manner, thus altering the mode of communication to a child acting as an adult

and instigating a shift in the composers and performers responses. At times, Marjory imitates

the adults surrounding her, but the bulk of her poetry remains youthful, nave and simple, due to

her death at such an early age. Bennetts musical setting consequently focuses on illustrating her

immaturity and genuine childlike nature. Elisabeth lived nearly a decade longer than Marjory,

and her poetry reflects the maturation process she underwent during those formative years. A

comparison of these two cycles reveals how Schumanns setting enhances the idea of Elisabeths

8
growth and development, as he deliberately creates a musical portrait intended to describe this

idyllic woman.

Chapter two analyzes song cycles with poetry by an adult who assumes a childs identity,

corresponding to Sharps third Route of Musical Experience. American composer Theodore

Chanler (19021961) collaborated with the American Jesuit priest Leonard Feeney (18971978)

to create a cycle of childlike songs entitled The Children in 1945. Feeneys poems use children

as the collective narrator, describing their observations and feelings, but also including a didactic

element in which the children instruct adults regarding the proper way to treat them. The cycle

results in a symbolic or archetypal figure of childhood that serves to teach or set an example as

opposed to imitating genuine children. American composer, conductor, and pedagogue Leonard

Bernstein (19181990) wrote both the text and music for I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid

Songs for Soprano in 1943. These songs are written from the point of view of a ten-year-old

child named Barbara, relating her musings and opinions about science, music, and life in general.

Bernsteins set creates a more realistic child narrator and presents a less overt agenda than

Feeneys. Remaining much more playful and fun-loving in approach, Bernstein still includes the

subtle teaching that children are people too, a yearning for legitimacy echoed in Bernsteins

personal life. Examining the two cycles together provides the opportunity to compare the

different methods the poets and composers use to convey a childs perspective, as well as the

different messages presented by their songs.

Two cycles in chapter three with children as a poetic audience conclude this discussion of

childrens themes in art song based on modes of communication. These cycles match Sharps

first and second Route of Musical Experience, in which adults either assume a mode of

childhood or retain a mode of adulthood to relate to children. French composer Francis Poulenc

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(18991963) wrote the cycle La courte paille setting texts by Belgian poet Maurice Carme

(18991978) in 1960. The poetry can be analyzed from the point of view of an adult talking to a

child, addressing him either in a direct way or through telling him silly or magical stories. The

cycle begins with a mother keeping a nighttime vigil at her ill childs bedside as he struggles to

fall asleep. She retains a mode of adulthood in this first song, as well as the rest of the odd-

numbered songs, as she calms and soothes her child with magical stories, or reflects on the world

she envisions for his future. She alters her mode of communication in the even-numbered songs

as she assumes a more childlike mode of communication to tell silly, nonsensical fairy tales and

stories. Englishman Benjamin Britten (19131976) selected a diverse group of five texts each by

a different British poet to create the cycle A Charm of Lullabies in 1947. Each poem is a lullaby

of one sort or another, and as such, has the perspective of an adult addressing a child. The adults

in the cycle always retain a mode of adulthood in their lullabies. Their themes include soothing

and rocking a child to sleep, threatening a child with punishments for disobedience, and

envisioning the childs bright future. Exploring the various themes and images that the adults use

in addressing children throughout both cycles illuminates how these two modes of

communication evoke a consistent combination of love and tenderness, frustration, and

anticipation of the future.

Scope

This document does not attempt to provide an exhaustive formal or harmonic, stylistic, or

literary analysis of these song cycles. The focus remains examining childlike qualities of the

texts and music, while incorporating relevant biographical details from the poets and

composers lives that may have shaped their works. Though related to the topic of childrens

10
themes, this document also does not pursue any investigation of child psychology that existed

during the different time periods in which these works were composed. Too broad and

impractical for a study of this size, such research would nevertheless benefit the topic of art

songs with childrens themes by exposing any reason or potential bias behind the messages

conveyed.

Ideas for subsequent researchers who may be interested in analyzing these cycles in a

psychological context might involve comparing the Bernstein and Chanler cycles, two

contemporary American works created at the height of World War II, investigating how children

were regarded during this Post-Freudian environment. Other avenues for study include detailed

stylistic analyses of various composers lighter music (encompassing songs with childrens

themes) in comparison with their more serious works, with an eye toward identifying

compositional inconsistencies or alterations that correspond with their subject material and mode

of communication.

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 Chapter 1: Child Poets

Reading a childs own writings gives unrestricted access to their thoughts and feelings.

Such is the case in two song cycles each with poetry written by a child, Richard Rodney

Bennetts A Garland for Marjory Fleming and Robert Schumanns Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth

Kulmann, Op. 104. Marjory Fleming and Elisabeth Kulmann, both highly accomplished young

poets, utilize their skill with words to describe their childhood experiences, ranging from family

relationships to interactions with animals and thoughts on death. Composers Richard Rodney

Bennett and Robert Schumann set these childrens words to music, creating vivid portraits of

their subjects. The Fleming cycle produces a snapshot of a sweet, pure pre-adolescent girl who

tries to emulate her elders, often with comic results. Schumanns setting of Kulmanns poetry

reveals an imaginative child who grows through adversity into a thoughtful, mature young

woman. Using the mode of communication of a childs perspective allows composers to

emphasize the unique perceptions offered, resulting in a sense of gentle wistfulness, humor, or

admiration and esteem.

A Garland for Marjory Fleming

This short cycle of five songs contains the poetry of a young girl named Marjory

Fleming, penned between her sixth and ninth birthdays. Most of Flemings writings reveal her

innocent, precocious, fun-loving personality, as she describes the people and animals

surrounding her. This quality of her narration corresponds to Ian Sharps fifth Route of Musical

Experience, wherein a child retains a mode of childhood to relate to adults.1 At times Fleming

alters her mode of communication by acting in a more grown-up manner, imitating the adults

1
Ian Sharp, Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press,
2000), 31.

12
around her. When this occurs, her poetry fits Sharps sixth Route of Musical Experience because

she assumes a mode of adulthood to relate to adults. Bennetts setting exposes Flemings

youthful nature, emphasizing her affectionate, exuberant personality, while illuminating the

moments where she attempts to act with maturity beyond her age. The result is a realistic

portrayal of this captivating young girl.

Marjory Fleming

Marjory (sometimes mistakenly spelled Marjorie) Fleming was a child writer and poet,

born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland in 1803. She died at the age of eight of meningitis, which had

developed from the measles, and is best remembered for her diaries that she kept for the last few

years of her life. As her third editor, Lachlan Macbean, put it,

her little span of life covered barely nine years. It was a brief career, and yet in
those few seasons Marjorie became The Immortal Child of all literature. . . .
Her artless writings have been classed with the wonders of the world, though
indeed she was often but a merry, inconsequent babbler, as every real child must
be.2

Though she did not travel more than thirty miles from home during her lifetime, Flemings

published journals have transported her thoughts and personality to readers across the world.

Fleming lived her short life surrounded by educated, literate people who fostered her

early schooling and hearty appetite for reading. Marjorys father, James Fleming, descended

from a family of ministers and worked as a successful accountant. Her mothers family included

many prominent surgeons who moved in the cultured circles of Edinburgh.3 The Flemings lived

in a three-story building above a book-sellers shop. Her parents loved books, and instilled the

2
Lachlan Macbean, Marjorie Fleming: The Story of Pet Marjorie Together with Her Journals and Her
Letters (New York: G. P. Putnams Sons, 1904), 12.
3
Frank Sidgwick, ed., introduction to The Complete Marjory Fleming: Her Journals, Letters & Verses, by
Marjory Fleming (New York: Oxford University Press, 1935), xiii.

13
same love in their children. Mr. Fleming had a well-stocked library, and when the children

performed their daily chores well, he rewarded them by reading aloud extracts from the best

authors. Marjory was given free access to any books she wanted to read, and she not only read

them, but often memorized many long passages.4 Marjory would often sit in the drawing room

and read, even before turning five years old. A hundred years after her death, Mark Twain

commented on Marjorys love of reading, saying, this wee little child has a marvelous range of

interests. She reads philosophies, novels, baby books, histories, the mighty poetsreads them

with burning interest, and frankly and freely criticizes them all. . . .5 This familiarity with a wide

range of literature finds expression in her journals, as she includes various historical and literary

anecdotes in her prose and poetry.

The highlight of Marjorys short life occurred when her cousin, Isabella Keith, visited

from Edinburgh in the summer of 1808 when Marjory was just five-and-a-half years old. Isabella

was extremely fond of Marjory, who, in turn, practically worshipped her cousin. This warm

relationship between the two girls resulted in Marjory spending most of her sixth, seventh, and

eighth years away from her home, under the care of her aunt, Marianne Keith, and the tutelage of

her seventeen-year-old cousin Isabella.6 Working together, Isabella instructed Marjory in a

variety of subjects including French, math, history, and the Bible.7 As part of Marjorys

education, Isabella encouraged her young pupil to take more care with her handwriting, and with

this in mind gave her the first of several journals in which to write whatever thoughts came into

4
Macbean, 15.
5
Mark Twain, Marjorie Fleming, The Wonder Child, in The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ed.
Charles Neider (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2000), 460.
6
Sidgwick, xv.
7
Alexandra Johnson, The Drama of Imagination: Marjory Fleming and Her Diaries, in Infant Tongues:
The Voice of the Child in Literature, eds. Elisabeth Goodenough, Mark A. Heberle, and Naomi Sokoloff (Detroit:
Wayne State University Press, 1994), 87.

14
her wise little head.8 These journals cover nearly three years of her life, from the winter of

180809 to mid-summer 1811. They reveal her thoughts and reading habits, and quite often, her

misbehaving. As Macbean summarizes, all her writings reveal a fond, impulsive, affectionate

creature; frank and artless in her innocence, yet unconsciously showing signs of a generous

richness of nature.9 With the unguarded nature of a child, Marjory candidly writes about her

community and gives her opinions and judgments on all aspects of her life.

Marjory discloses her childlike nature through her choices of subject matter and her

guileless manner of expression. She devotes numerous pages of her journal to her idol, her

beloved cousin Isabell, praising her beauty and good nature. She also makes human-like

descriptions of the animals in her midst, finding joy in their silly antics and sorrow in their

tragedies. Void of any hidden agenda or underlying purpose in her writings, Marjory merely

describes her experiences and surroundings, as one would only expect from such a young author.

She often strings together ideas in amusingly random ways,10 as evidenced in an excerpt from

her first journal: Miss Potune is very fat she pretends to be very learned she says she saw a

stone that dropt from the skies, but she is a good christian.11 Making such judgments without

regard for social improprieties reveals her innocent obliviousness to tact and discretion. Her

comments do not seem critical or mean-spirited, however, for she habitually describes people as

fair or good Christians. She simply has not learned to refine her observations through a

socially acceptable filter.

From a technical standpoint, Marjorys writings also reveal her immaturity, especially in

her childish forced rhymes and inconsistent phrasing. The poetry of the entire cycle (and the

8
Macbean, 20.
9
Ibid., 13435.
10
Christine Heppermann, Training Wheels, The Horn Book Magazine 80, no. 5 (2004): 536.
11
Marjory Fleming, The Complete Marjory Fleming: Her Journals, Letters & Verses, 98.

15
majority of her poetic output) consists of groupings of rhyming couplets, with no variation. Her

common references to people as being fair and having good hair most likely results from a

desire to find an appropriate rhyme, rather than stemming from a true observation. Multiple

spelling mistakes and grammatical inconsistencies add to the mechanical flaws that indicate her

youth.

There are times, however, when all children aspire to be adults, and Marjory does this in

a few of her poems. Macbean describes this phenomenon, noting, It is always interesting to

watch children trying to wield the words of the adult world, much as a new apprentice wields the

tradesmans tools with a kind of amateur originality. But no one ever produced quainter effects

with common English words than does our Marjorie.12 She often includes religious terminology

more suited to adult expression than that of a young child. This habit probably reflects Marjorys

strong spiritual upbringing, stimulated by the stern Calvinistic Puritanism of Scottish theology of

that period.13 Marjory parrots moral lessons from her elders, such as in her journal entry stating

if people do not check their passion when they are young it will grow worse and worse when

they are old so that nobody will love them or obey them.14 Such instances of moralizing and

acting in an adult manner can be found in the song cycle as well.

Shortly after Marjorys death, Isabella Keith delivered Marjorys manuscripts to her

mother, but they remained unknown for nearly half a century. Then in 1858, a London journalist

and opera librettist named H. B. Farnie published the first booklet about the young author

entitled Pet Marjorie: A Story of Child Life Fifty Years Ago, and quoted approximately an

eighth of her prose and a quarter of her poetry.15 Thus began a series of more complete

12
Macbean, 42.
13
Ibid., 12.
14
Fleming, 129.
15
Sidgwick, xvii.

16
publications of Marjorys words, several with misspellings and omissions, along with the

growing legend of her close friendship with Sir Walter Scott, detailing how she would recite

Shakespeare on his knee. Her second editor, Dr. John Brown, included as a preface to her

writings a vivid sketch of Scott coming to the Fleming household nearly every day, shouting for

his friend Marjory. Brown recounts, In a moment a bright, eager child of seven was in his arms,

and he was kissing her all over.16 This delightful story brought fame to Marjorys name, but

their distant family connection (Scott was Marjorys aunts husbands first cousins son)17 as

well as a lack of mentioning each other in their journals, suggests more likely a mere possible

meeting at a family gathering.

Regardless of whether she had strong associations with fame during her lifetime, little

Marjory Fleming has captivated the hearts and minds of men and women over the past two

hundred years who revel in witnessing a child literally and figuratively finding her voice

through her words.18 Her words clearly affected Bennett enough to choose to set them in this

song cycle, providing another avenue for audiences to come to know and love this remarkable

young girl.

Richard Rodney Bennett

Knighted in 1998 for his services to music, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett is a versatile

modern musician, equally well-known for his classical and popular styles of composition. His

talents and accomplishments had their origins in the musical atmosphere of his home. Bennetts

father wrote childrens books and lyrics for songs, some of which were set by English composer

Eric Coates. Bennetts mother studied composition with Gustav Holst as a young woman, and

16
John Brown, Rab and His Friends (Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1863), 55.
17
Sidgwick, xviii.
18
Johnson, 91.

17
specialized in composing lyrical chamber music influenced by Claude Debussy and Maurice

Ravel in the early 1920s. After marrying Bennetts father she worked as a music reviewer and

accompanist.19 With such an artistically talented family, Bennetts musical skills were naturally

cultivated at a young age, and he began composing as a child. He grew up listening to

contemporary early twentieth-century English music as well as popular show tunes, eventually

becoming interested in avant-garde music. After studying at the Royal Academy of Music for

three years, Bennett received a scholarship from the French government to study with Pierre

Boulez from 1957 to 1959 in Paris.20 His compositional style never quite took on the complex

manner of that of Boulez, but according to commentator Anthony Burton, Bennett retained

elements of a neo-Romantic serialism closer to Berg than Webern.21

Bennett used this distinctive compositional style in his most famous opera, The Mines of

Sulphur, in 1963. Though he abandoned writing opera after 1970, Bennett continues to compose

in many other genres, including orchestral and choral works, instrumental solos, song cycles, and

film scores, bringing his melodic gift and ability to powerfully create a mood to them all.22 His

most famous film score, Murder on the Orient Express earned him an Academy Award

nomination in 1974.

Throughout his career Bennetts style evolved from serialist to more of a crossover or

jazz style. Beginning in the 1990s he developed a solo cabaret-style show with himself as pianist

and singer.23 Earlier in his career he favored French coloristic harmonies, but now he writes

19
Stewart Craggs, Richard Rodney Bennett: A Bio-bibliography, Bio-bibliographies in Music (New York:
Greenwood Press, 2002), 3.
20
Susan Bradshaw, Bennett, Sir Richard Rodney, Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/02705 (accessed March 26, 2012).
21
Anthony Burton, Richard Rodney Bennett, Chester Music Novello Co, 44 (2005),
http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=2&composerId_2905=100# (accessed
March 31, 2012).
22
Ibid.
23
Bradshaw.

18
freely tonal works, characterized by extensive chromaticism, sophisticated simplicity, or soaring

lyricism, appealing more to the general public.24 His Garland for Marjory Fleming cycle, written

in 1969, fits chronologically into his serialist compositional time, but stylistically it belongs to

his later, tonal style, while still retaining elements of rhythmic complexity and extensive use of

chromaticism.

Perhaps because of his fathers vocation as a childrens author, Bennett has chosen the

subject of children for several of his compositions. He has written at least fifteen works intended

for children to perform. Among these are an opera for young people entitled All the Kings Men

in 1968, many songs, solo piano works, as well as solo instrumental, chamber and orchestral

compositions. Bennett wrote a group of songs for childrens performance to accompany the

narrated story The Midnight Thief, for the televised BBC series Making Music. He also

arranged several nursery songs for the Oxford Nursery Song Book in 1963.25 Most recently, his

song cycle of nursery rhymes, Songs Before Sleep, composed for baritone and piano in 2002,

resembles the Marjory Fleming cycle as it is a sophisticated piece intended for adults to perform.

Analysis of A Garland for Marjory Fleming

A Garland for Marjory Fleming consists of five short songs recounting Marjorys family

and childhood surroundings, and lasts approximately nine minutes in performance. In Isas Bed

begins the set, depicting Marjorys admiration for her favorite cousin Isabella. A Melancholy

Lay follows, in which Marjory describes the death of three turkeys, presumably killed for the

familys food. The third song, On Jessy Watsons Elopement expresses Marjorys astonishment

and dismay at the folly of such an improper deed. Sweet Isabell follows, with Marjory

24
Burton.
25
Craggs, 96104.

19
extolling her cousins virtues in contrast to the flawed Jessy Watson. Sonnet on a Monkey

finishes the cycle with a rousing poetic depiction of her aunts pet.

From the collection of poems at his disposal, Bennett chose five that clearly outlined

Marjorys personality: her love for her cousin, her humorous observations of animals, and her

attempts at putting on adult airs in chastising an older girls choice of marriage. Bennett includes

a note in the title page of the cycle, stating that the original spelling has been retained except

where it would affect the correct pronunciation of the words: christain, Etenity, etc.26

Preserving her childlike misspellings demonstrates his desire to allow Marjory to present her

authentic self with minimal alterations. Bennett recognized that the power of her diaries lay in

witnessing a child in the process of self-expression, while resisting the stuttering corrections of

self-consciousness.27 Clearly, Bennetts interests lay in creating a true rendering of this gifted

and unintentionally funny young girl. As a whole, the poems create a sketch of an innocent,

precocious child making observations about her world.

In the first song, In Isas Bed, Marjory outlines their sleeping arrangements, describing

how she lay at the foot of the bed in order to read Arabian Nights, consequently disturbing Isas

rest. As Marjory herself observed, . . . I disturbed her repose at night by contunial [sic] figting

and kicking but I was very contunialy [sic] at work reading the Arabin Nights entertainments

which I could not have done had I slept at the top.28 Marjory knows she should not bother her

cousin, and says of my follies [I] am repented. The obviously strained rhyme of lilys with

pillies (pillows) and lie with luxury create a humorous effect, exposing this young poets

unintentional wit.

26
Richard Rodney Bennett, A Garland for Marjory Fleming: Five Songs for Soprano and Piano, (London:
Novello, 1986), i.
27
Johnson, 85.
28
Fleming, 24.

20
 I love in Isas bed to lie
O such a joy and luxury
The bottom of the bed I sleep
And with great care I myself keep
Oft I embrace her feet of lillys
But she has gotton all the pillies.

Her neck I never can embrace

But I do hug her feet in place
But I am sure I am contented
And of my follies am repented
I am sure Id rather be
In a small bed at liberty

Bennett uses clear melodic contours and mischievously unpredictable piano writing to

skillfully accentuate the childlike aspects of the text. He highlights Marjorys youthful

exuberance for her beloved cousin with the opening octave jump in the vocal line with its

unrestrained declaration I love in Isas bed to lie, combined with the merry, jaunty F Major

piano accompaniment in a dotted sing-song rhythm. These lively staccato rhythms, marked

mezzo forte and forte depict Marjorys fidgeting and squirming in bed, as well as her fun-loving,

capricious personality. The next section (mm. 711) changes to a secco, even eighth-note pattern

at a piano dynamic and much lower register as Marjory attempts to remain quiet to avoid waking

her cousin. She cannot stay quiet for long as she forcefully complains about Isabella having all of

the pillies (pillows). The opening motives return in the piano and vocal part, beginning in m.

12, as Marjory describes enthusiastically hugging Isabellas feet instead of her neck, then

suddenly repents of this outburst at m. 18 in the same soft, eighth-note pattern in the low register

as before. She finishes her song with an espressivo statement (m. 21) about her desire to be in her

own bed, at liberty to do as she wishes. The musical setting, with its sudden shifts from

unreserved expressions of love or frustration to the quiet, restrained fervor of trying to control

21
herself for Isabellas sake, clearly demonstrate the impulsive personality of this young, energetic

child.

Marjory has a knack for creating an almost human description of animals. In the second

song, A Melancholy Lay, she chronicles the death of three turkeys, while in the final song,

Sonnet on a Monkey, she recounts the antics of her aunts pet. Marjory characterizes all her

subjects as fair, whether they are men or women or turkeys. Twain notes that, she adores

animals, adores them all; none is too forlorn to fail of favor in her friendly eyes, no creature so

humble that she cannot find something in it on which to lavish her caressing worship.29 Animals

become equals as friends and companions in Marjorys view, and she treats them as such through

her poems.

A Melancholy Lay expresses Marjorys belief that animals are all swayed by the same

feelings as her readers by including the statement, they sigh and weep as well as you. Marjory

creates human-like relationships between the turkeys, imagining the parents mourning for their

beloved offspring, and the turkeys peers not despising their grace and beauty. She seems taken

aback that the departed turkeys mother emitted no sigh or let a single tear roll down her beak at

their death, and considers this callousness one of the saddest parts of the tragedy.30

Three Turkeys fair their last have breathed

And now this worled [sic] for ever leaved
Their father and their mother too
Will sigh and weep as well as you

Mourning for their offspring fair

Whom they did nurse with tender care
Indeed the rats their bones have cranchd
To Eternity are they launched

Their graceful form and pretty eyes

Their fellow fowls did not despise

29
Twain, 460.
30
Macbean, 113.

22
 A direful death indeed they had
That would put any parent mad

But she was more than usual calm

She did not give a single dam
Here ends this melancholy lay
Farewell poor turkeys I must say.

Marjory maintains a childlike mode of expression through the majority of the poem. Her

fascination with animals and habit of treating them like people exposes her youth. Surely she had

encountered many fables and stories where animals speak, live in houses, wear clothes, and

generally act like humans. Marjorys childlike imagination would easily extend to the real

animals in her own environment, giving such storybook-like characteristics to their descriptions.

Her immature writing style appears with the rhymes breathed/leaved, and

launched/cranchd (crunched). Marjory briefly adopts an adult-like manner of expression

when she makes a religious reference in her description of the three turkeys fate with to

Eternity are they launched. Using such religious terminology in dealing with simple matters

demonstrates her propensity for mimicking the conversation of the adult world surrounding her.

Bennett creates an appropriately morose musical setting for the three turkeys in A

Melancholy Lay with its minor key and slow tempo. The sustained and harmonically static

piano accompaniment with dissonant tone clusters at the beginning sets the somber tone, fitting

the allegretto con dolore marking. The piano clearly establishes G Minor as the key, but the

lyrical vocal line floats above on the dominant, ultimately arriving on tonic at m. 15 at the final

note of the downward portamento on the word mourning. This hovering vocal line creates a

hushed, mournful, almost reverential tone, illustrating Marjorys sincere pain at the death of

these three creatures. Marked mf and solenne, the line Indeed the rats their bones have cranchd

/ To Eternity are they launched shifts down to a low register, setting off this unintentionally

23
humorous statement. Rests appearing in the vocal line, and (for the first time) in the piano part,

between the words are they launched give the text added emphasis without mocking their

sentiment.

The song returns to the original harmonically stationary piano motive with hovering

vocal line at m. 27, growing in intensity and volume (mm. 3438) as Marjory discusses the

turkeys parents feelings of anger. The piano becomes molto espressivo as the poetry reaches its

climax at m. 42, observing the mother turkey refraining from uttering a single dam (damn) for

her dead offspring. The tonality shifts to D Minor, which originally served as the dominant of G

Minor, for the post-script Here ends this melancholy lay / Farewell poor turkeys I must say.

The piano postlude concludes in D Minor, giving an open-ended quality to the song, perhaps

sending the turkeys off to another world. Throughout this sincere tribute, Bennett does not

ridicule the child and her earnest expressions of sadness, but rather gives them a fitting musical

voice.

Isa had given Marjory her journals for the purposes of improving her penmanship as well

as writing down the moral guidelines that a well-mannered girl should follow.31 Perhaps this

instruction explains why Marjory chooses to voice her scorn at the elopement of a servant girl in

the poem On Jessy Watsons Elopement. Marjory depicts Jessy, with her rash and unwise

decisions, as the antithesis of saintly Isabella. Even amidst this criticism, the guileless child

Marjory cannot help but positively illustrate Jessys physical characteristics as well, revealing

her youthful priorities by including praise for Jessys sparkling eyes and good hair.

Run of[f] is Jessy Watson fair

Her eyes do sparkle shes good hair
But Mrs Leath you now shal be
Now and for all Eternity

31
Ibid., 37.

24
 Such merry spirits I do hate
But now its over and to late
For to retract such vows you cant
And you must now love your gallant
But I am sure you will repent
And your poor heart will then relent

Your poor poor father will repine

And so would I if you were mine
But now be good for this time past
And let this folly be your last

This seven-year-old girl certainly changes her mode of communication as she puts on a

mature persona to reprove Jessy Watson of her elopement. One can almost hear her echoing

adult criticisms and opinions as she lectures, Your poor poor father will repine, and so would I

if you were mine. She uses a somewhat condescending tone with the reprimand, I am sure you

will repent. Marjory ultimately instructs Jessy to go and sin no more, bestowing forgiveness

by concluding, be good for this time past, and let this folly be your last. In so doing, Marjory

takes on the role of a spiritual advisor or confessor by counseling Jenny to not repeat her sins.

This image of a young girl acting as an adult, believing she possesses the ability to forgive sins,

creates a delightfully comical moment for those observing her behavior.

The sharp rhythmic structure of this setting contrasts markedly from the other songs,

perhaps to convey how Marjory tries to act adult-like in shaming a transgression, instead of

merely behaving as her happy childish self. The song opens with brusque, accented, angular

dotted rhythms, showing Marjorys contempt for Jenny running off to get married. The second

line describing her sparkling eyes and good hair seem to function as an aside in this musical

surrounding, as if Marjory needed a rhyme for the first line, even though the text feels out of

character for her emotional outburst. The generally E Minor key shifts every few measures, and

contains so many chromatic alterations that it almost gives the impression that Marjory cannot

25
find her bearings in this adult world. She continually modulates freely through a series of

unrelated keys as she searches for a suitable way to express herself.

A contrasting middle section begins with a mezzo piano rising sequential passage made

up of even rhythms in the vocal line over a repeated tone cluster centering on C-sharp in the

piano. The soft dynamic level and tension grow with Marjorys mounting advice, describing how

Jenny cannot retract such vows and must love her husband, though she will surely repent of

her actions. Her lecture builds to an unexpectedly soft, high lyrical moment where she sorrows

for Jennys poor father with a portamento, much like the one highlighting the sadness of the

parent turkey in A Melancholy Lay. A subito forte statement marked con fuoco immediately

follows, in which Marjory declares she would treat Jenny the same way if she were her own

daughter, returning to the harsh, accented, dotted rhythms from the opening.

The final admonition to be good from now own musically depicts forgiveness as

Marjorys wrath subsides to a lower tessitura, with a gradual fading in the piano postlude to

repeated low, soft final chords evocative of the opening measures. This song distinctly shows

Bennetts musical tools used to shift the mode of communication to a child acting as an adult.

She self-righteously stomps through multiple keys, quietly deigns to give advice, lyrically

imitates the sorrow of a parent, followed by more dotted-rhythm indignation, and finally offers a

stern reproach with ultimate forgiveness through the piano conclusion.

Love for Isa, the one changeless theme of Marjorys thoughts, returns in the fourth song,

Sweet Isabell. As Mcbean describes, Isa is always the beloved, the learned witty and

sensible, . . . the benefactress whose services can never be repaid, the Venus de Medici, fair as a

Greek statue.32 In this poem, Marjory exalts Isabellas physical and emotional characteristics,

including her soft skin, fair face, pretty hair, neat nails, white teeth, and bright eyes. This pure
32
Ibid., 107.

26
and unabashed love for Isabella truly epitomizes Marjorys youth and wholesomeness. She has

not yet learned how to cloak her feelings or sense any sort of embarrassment or shame in making

such effusive statements about her cousin.

Here lies sweet Isabell in bed

Wearing a nightcap on her head
Her skin is soft her face is fair
And she has very pretty hair

She and I in bed lie nice

And undisturbed by rats or mice
She is disgusted by Mister Worgan
Although he plays upon the organ

A not of ribans [ribbons] on her head

Her cheak is tinged with concious red
Her nails are neat her teeth are white
Her eyes are very very bright

In a conspicuos town she lives

And to the poor her money gives
Here ends sweet Isabellas story
And may it be much to her glory

A post-script to the poem appears in Marjorys journal, stating all this is true and a full

description.33 This detail shows that Marjory was not trying to create an artistic treatment of her

subject as much as to do it complete justice, omitting nothing from the picture.34 She does not

attempt to embellish or persuade others to her point of view as an adult might do, but rather

merely observes and reports.

Bennett contrasts Marjorys negative portrayal of Jessy with her saintly cousin Isabell by

setting the poem with an almost music-box-like accompaniment in a high register, made up of

even quarter-notes, marked dolce semplice. This musical setting could also suggest a return to

the wide-eyed, adoring, innocent, childlike nature that Marjory resumes after putting on airs as a

33
Fleming, 103.
34
Macbean, 39.

27
scornful adult. Unlike the flighty, impulsive, ungrounded Jessy Watson who cannot remain in a

single key for more than two measures, Isabells music begins firmly rooted in F Major, clearly

outlining the tonic, where it remains for ten measures. The sequentially rising vocal line

enumerating Isabells desirable soft skin and pretty hair modulates to D Major. Some

chromaticism creeps into Marjorys description of Isabells disgust for Mr. Worgan who plays

upon the organ. The plagal cadence inserted here wittily mimics the church organ player, while

simultaneously reinforcing the saintly nature of Marjorys idol.

The middle section repeats similar melodic and structural ideas of the first section,

though now in E Major, finally cadencing back in F Major in m. 49 as Marjory finishes her

praise for Isabells charity in giving to the poor. Her final two lines, Here ends sweet Isabellas

story / And may it be much to her glory finish with the same music-box like accompaniment

from the introduction. Bennetts starkly contrasting accompaniment between this song and the

previous one shows Marjorys true nature as she happily and simply describes her idol, using

childlike rhythms, easily discerned rising sequential patterns, and clear harmonies. Sweetness,

purity, and a desire to emulate her cousin come through the musical setting of Marjorys words.

The final song, Sonnet on a Monkey, revisits Marjorys childlike fascination with

animals. The monkey receives eloquent and human-like descriptions such as lovely,

charming, graceful, and divine. He is a great buck and a bow [beau] with teeth whiter

than the snow, cheeks like the roses bloom and hair like the ravens plume, as well as

having a classically Roman nose and eyes that are more like a Christians than an ape.

O lovely O most charming pug

Thy graceful air and heavnly mug
The beauties of his mind do shine
And evry bit is shaped so fine
Your very tail is most devine

28
 Your teeth is whiter than the snow
You are a great buck and a bow [beau]
Your eyes are of so fine a shape
More like a christians than an ape

His cheeks is like the roses blume

Your hair is like the ravens plume
His noses cast is of the roman
He is a very pretty weoman

I could not get a rhyme for roman

And was oblidged to call it weoman

Marjorys immature writing style appears again in this poem. She admits in the final

couplet of the poem that she could not get a rhyme for roman, and was oblidged to call it

weoman. Apparently Marjory thinks the joke is a good one, because she uses it again in another

poem (not included in this cycle). An additional instance of convenient rhyming such as this

occurs in her journals when describing James II of England being killed at Roxburgh. She says,

He was killed by a cannon splinter / Quite in the middle of the winter. Perhaps it was not at that

time / But I can get no other rhyme!35 Marjory seems to care more about preserving her rhyme

scheme than the historical account of James IIs death. Inconsistencies in narrative perspective,

such as referring to the monkey alternately as you and he, demonstrate her childish lack of

editorial skills, while simultaneously creating a thorny task of memorization for the performer!

Bennetts musical setting of Sonnet on a Monkey heightens Marjorys young,

impulsive nature. The constantly changing compound meter from 7/8 to 2/4 to 5/8 and 3/8

highlights Marjorys breathless enthusiasm at describing such an energetic and captivating

creature, while simultaneously conveying the unpredictable antics of the animal under her

scrutiny. Marked allegro giocoso like the opening song, Marjorys true nature appears once

again. She has tried on different emotions, such as sorrow/grief, righteous indignation and

35
Fleming, 151.

29
scholarly observer, but returns to her most natural statea happy, excited child full of wonder

and awe.

The song begins in G Major for the introduction and first four measures of the vocal line,

and then modulates approximately every four measures, returning again to tonic at the beginning

of every section. The changing keys serve to heighten Marjorys excitement at describing this

amazing animal, while providing a constancy of character as it returns to tonic over and over.

The ending admission that Marjory chose to describe the monkey as a weoman because she

could not find another rhyme for roman is highlighted by the accompaniment changing to

long, sustained chords for the first time in this song. The final word is set off by a rest on the

downbeat, bringing emphasis to this sweet, funny childish confession: a subtle yet effective way

of capping the entire cycle.

A Garland for Marjory Fleming aptly gives musical life to the imaginative writings of

this remarkable child poet. Through this cycle, listeners come to know Marjory as a smart,

sensitive, witty, precocious child who loves life and struggles with obedience. Due to the

relatively brief time that her writings span, she remains the same through the cycle, with little

apparent growth or maturity. She comes across as a unique child whose most notable

characteristic may not be that what she said was particularly profound, but that she recorded

these typically childish pronouncements.36 Reading her journals prompted Twain to describe her

as an intensely human little creature, exclaiming,

how vividly she lived her small life; how impulsive she was; how sudden, how
tempestuous, how tender, how loving, how sweet, how loyal, how rebellious, how
repentant, how wise, how unwise, how bursting with fun, how frank, how free,
how honest, how innocently bad, how natively good, how charged with quaint
philosophies, how winning, how precious, how adorableand how perennially
and indestructibly interesting!37

36
Heppermann, 536.
37
Twain, 455.

30
Such a powerful response can result from experiencing a childs perspective; and when paired

with a fitting musical setting, there exists the potential to produce compelling feelings of sweet

nostalgia, comic relief, and evocative wonderment.

For Performers

In performing these songs, the singer and pianist should try to enter the mind of this

young poet and express themselves as honestly as she does, attempting to encapsulate the wide-

eyed, unabashed love so characteristic of Marjory. The performers should certainly not mock or

poke fun at this little child genius, but they should show proper concern at the fate of the turkeys,

and treat the grown up parts with sincerity, no matter how funny they may seem to an adult

audience. In the final two lines of the cycle, however, the performers might indulge in laughing

at the rhyming joke in a self-satisfying manner.

Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104

Music with poetry from a childs perspective can serve to teach lessons gleaned from the

childs life. Robert Schumann accomplishes this in his setting of seven poems by Elisabeth

Kulmann, a young poetess of German and Russian descent who died at the age of seventeen.

Unlike the Fleming cycle where the poetry remains simple and nave because of the poets youth,

Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann grows in maturity as the poet ages. With texts written by a

child who at times acts youthful and carefree, then subsequently expresses herself as the mature

young woman she has become, the cycle correlates with Sharps fifth and sixth Routes of

Musical Experience. Where Bennetts musical setting of Flemings words creates a humorous,

candid snapshot of a sweet and innocent child, Schumanns portrait of Kulmann highlights the

31
young girls admirable qualities, demonstrating her wisdom and emotional progression from the

first to the last song.

Elisabeth Kulmann

Elisabeth Kulmann lived a fairly quiet life of obscurity. She was born in St. Petersburg,

Russia, on the July 17, 1808. Her father served as an officer in the Russian army, and her seven

brothers all followed in his career path. 38 The youngest brother died in battle when Elisabeth was

five years old, and her father and six other brothers all succumbed to tuberculosis at some point,

including three brothers who died before she was born.39 As her remaining brothers and only

sister had already left home when Elisabeth was a child, her German mother remained her closest

companion. They lived together in poverty on Vasilevskii Island in a dilapidated house which

had been rented for them by a relative.40 Elisabeths mother taught her accurate German along

with Russian, and helped her to maintain a cheerful outlook on life, regardless of their severe

financial hardships and other difficulties.41

At an early age, Elisabeths linguistic talents attracted the attention of a kindly, idealistic

tutor named Dr. Karl Friedrich von Grossheinrich, a young lawyer who had been brought to

Russia from Germany to teach the children of a local Count. He gave Elisabeth her first book,

Baumgartens World of Animals when she was five, encouraging her to learn all of the animals

names in five languages. At the age of six she mastered German grammar and began writing at

38
E. Andrews, Elisabeth Kulmann: Poet and Linguist, in Good Words for 1883, ed. Donald Macleod
(London: Ibister, 1883), 465.
39
Thomas Dormandy, The White Death: A History of Tuberculosis (London: Hambledon, 1999), 88.
40
Bonnie Marshall, Kulmann, Elizaveta Borisovna, in Dictionary of Russian Women Writers (Westport:
Greenwood Press, 1994), 344.
41
Andrews, 465.

32
seven.42 Elisabeth had made good progress in French and Italian before the age of ten, following

Grossheinrichs unique teaching methods, described as follows:

He gave her a short manuscript grammar containing only the outlines of the
declensions and conjugations. When she had leaned these thoroughly, he read to
her a translation of some work with the contents of which she was already
familiar, making her repeat the words after him. After she had acquired the
pronunciation of the language, he encouraged her to discover the meaning of as
many words as possible by their resemblance to those in a kindred language.
Where she failed, he translated the passage, rarely allowing the use of a
dictionary, but explaining carefully the grammatical construction. He made his
pupil modify the sentences by varying the moods and tenses of the verbs, and
changing the prepositions and pronouns.43

Following these techniques, Kulmann was usually able to converse in a modern language after

three months study, though the grammatical difficulties of Latin and Greek required more time

to master. She enjoyed studying English, acquiring it with ease, and translating portions of

Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained into German. She added Spanish and Portuguese to her

repertory at the age of fourteen.44

When the relative who had been paying their rent died, family friend Petr Meder, the

director of the local mining college, came to their rescue. With Meders blessing, Father

Abramov, the colleges military chaplain, allowed Elisabeth and her mother to move into an

empty room in his house at the school. There, Elisabeth had access to Meders extensive library

and joined his two daughters in studying music and dance, as well as physics, drawing,

astronomy, botany, mineralogy and mathematics.45

Kulmann familiarized herself with the best German authors and set her mind to becoming

a poet after writing her first German verses at age ten. She intended to use her poetry to describe

the world and mankind, adding that my world consists of the sky overhead, my own and our

42
Marshall, 344.
43
Andrews, 465.
44
Ibid., 46566.
45
Marshall, 345.

33
landlords garden, the courtyard, and the road, while of mankind, I hardly know thirty people.

Now, may I not give speech and life to the objects around me, and make birds, trees, flowers,

and stones talk, each of course after its own fashion?46 Her poetry reflects this view, not

attempting to create moral fables, but rather literally delivering her own simple thoughts about

her humble living situation as well as meditations on God and the afterlife. Kulmanns poetry

contains incredible accuracy and beauty, as well as purity and depth of thought. Purity, industry,

and prayer could be considered the motto of her life. She excelled at creating poetical

descriptions of scenery in every part of the world, though she did not physically travel to these

exotic locations. European and Russian folk tales, Greek myths and legends, and poetry on

scriptural subjects rounded out her extensive output.47

Though Kulmann is little-known today, her poetry did gain the attention and admiration

of important figures during her lifetime. Dr. Grossheinrich made a selection of thirty of

Elisabeths German poems, along with several in French and Italian, and sent them to the great

German masters Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Jean Paul Richter in order to obtain their

opinions of her works. These poems met with great praise from both men. Goethe even ventured

to prophesy for her an honorable rank in literature, in whichever of the languages known to her

she chooses to write.48 Her poetry also gained recognition from the court. At age thirteen,

Kulmann sent translations of several odes of Anacreon into five and then eight languages to the

Empress Elisabeth, for which she received a diamond necklace and a yearly pension of two

hundred rubles for her incredible achievements.49 Unfortunately, Kulmanns fame did not last

46
Kulmann, quoted in Andrews, 466.
47
Marshall, 345.
48
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quoted in Marshall, 345.
49
Hendrik Clemens Muller, Lectures on the Science of Literature: Partly Delivered in Edinburgh (Summer
Meeting, 1898) (Haarlem: Vincent Loosjes, 1904), 186.

34
long after her lifetime. In reference to her current underrated value as a poet, Bonnie Marshall

states

Kulmanns dedication to classical perfection of form and content earns her an

honorable place in the history of Russian literature. After her death, her work was
published in Russia and Germany, thanks to the tireless efforts of her mentor
Grossheinrich. She captured the attention of Russia mainly as a rare child genius
and was actually better received in Germany. . . . It cannot be denied that both the
quantity and quality of her writings were amazing for her years, that she was
clearly a genius, and that she has been sadly underrated in her native land.50

Kulmanns current lack of popularity does not result from poor quality in her work, as evidenced

by the acclaim she received from literary and political figures during her life.

Having experienced so much death in her young life, Kulmann was intimately familiar

with the concept of her own mortality. She maintained a positive attitude even after falling ill,

making the most of every minute she had. Her fatal battle with consumption resulted from cold

and exposure occurring during the extensive flooding of the Neva River in St. Petersburg on

November 7, 1824. By the end of the year, physicians feared for her life. Even in her weakened

state she produced an epic work, The Magic Lamp, set in Persia and loosely based on Arabian

Nights.

Kulmann had aspirations to shed new luster on her native land and sing the deeds of its

mightiest heroes and desired to complete her unfinished work and achieve her dreams of

fame.51 She hoped to travel to Italy to improve her health, but she did not have enough money for

the journey, even with her stipend from the court.52 With difficulty, she put aside future

ambitions and made peace with leaving the friends and mother she loved, succumbing to her

early death, requesting let no murmuring, no ungrateful thought disquiet my last hour.53

50
Marshall, 34546.
51
Andrews, 468.
52
Marshall, 345.
53
Kulmann, quoted in Andrews, 468.

35
 Kulmann died on November 19, 1825 at the age of seventeen. The Empress Alexandra

Fedorovna and the Grand Duchess Helena Pavlovna had an impressive marble monument

erected at her grave in Smolensk Cemetery in St. Petersburg, with an inscription in ten languages

stating, The first Russian female to learn Greek, know eleven languages, and speak eight of

them, and though but a young girl, was nevertheless an excellent poetess.54 These impressive

qualities attracted Schumann not only to her writings, but to her life. His song cycle illuminates

her desirable attributes and strives to teach others to emulate her character.

Robert Schumann

Schumanns life and work epitomize the aesthetics of Romanticism. Among the

Romantic ideals was the concept of childhood, viewed as a symbolic return to the natural, poetic,

and sublime soul of man. This idolization of childhood permeated Schumanns personal life and

artistic inspiration. His own childhood, his interest in childrens literature, his close relationship

with his children, and his desires to create music both for childrens musical instruction as well

as for adults nostalgia all contributed to Schumanns output of music with childrens themes. As

Dong Xu observes,

[Schumann] ventured repeatedly into the world of childhood as a source of

inspiration, demonstrating his delight in fantasy and sympathy with childlike
imagination. Schumanns compositions for and about children, both musical and
literary, are examples of his inner reflections of his personal life, and they are
Schumanns personality that animates them. By depicting the childhood emotions
musically Schumann must have recognized himself after all still a child at heart.55

Exploring the sources of inspiration in Schumanns personal life helps to better understand his

compositions involving childhood.

54
Gerhard Dietel, liner notes from Schumann: Frauenliebe und leben; Gedichte der Knigin Maria
Stuart, trans. Neil Coleman, Sibylla Rubens, Soprano, Uta Hielscher, Piano, Naxos CD, 2008.
55
Dong Xu, Themes of Childhood: A Study of Robert Schumanns Piano Music for Children (DMA
doc., University of Cincinnati, 2006), 19.

36
 Memories of Schumanns happy youth served as a motivation for including childhood

themes in his music. Born on June 8, 1810 in beautiful and tranquil Zwickau, Germany,

Schumann enjoyed a comfortable upbringing as the youngest of five children. His bookseller

father, August Schumann, encouraged Roberts musical and literary talents and carefully

watched over the development of his favorite son.56 His mother, Johanne Christiane, devoted

herself with tenderness to him. She loved to sing, and when she realized that music would calm

her son, she would persuade young Robert to sing back to her, which he did with remarkably

accurate pitch and rhythm.57 When his mother became ill with typhus, Schumann had to leave

home and live with the Ruppius family between the ages of three and five. He held great

affection for Elenore Ruppius, whom he later described warmly as a second mother.58 Later in

life, Schumann described his childhood in idyllic terms, remembering how happy he was then,

playing the piano, picking flowers, and writing poetry and prayers.59

The fascination with childhood in German Romanticism gained strength through a

revival of childrens literature. Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of old German folk songs

and verses, as well as many childrens songs written by the editors Achim von Arnim and

Clemens Brentano, became quite popular during the Romantic Era. These collections helped to

renew Germanys rich folk heritage and stimulated compositions by many German Romantic

musicians.60 Fairy tales, or Mrchen, with their imaginative character and supernatural

atmosphere matching the philosophies of the Romantic age, also developed and flourished in

56
John Worthen, Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musician (New Haven: Yale University Press,
2007), 8.
57
Peter Otswald, Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius (Boston: Northeastern University Press,
1985), 1516.
58
John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age (New York: Oxford University Press,
1997), 21.
59
Otswald, 137.
60
Clayton Koelb and Eric Downing, eds., German Literature of the Nineteenth Century, 18321899 The
Camden House History of German Literature, vol. 9 (Rochester: Camden House, 2005), 5253.

37
Germany during Schumanns lifetime.61 German Romantics often turned to Mrchen as a way to

immerse themselves in the childs simplicity and refresh themselves at the source of the childs

primitive innocence.62 They sought to bring poetry and song together into one art form as had

existed in Greek and medieval cultures, inspiring the use of the term poet-musician for song

composers.63

Schumanns extensive familiarity with literature certainly qualified him as a poet-

musician, and his love of childrens literature influenced compositions incorporating their

stories and themes. Given Schumanns fathers profession, literary pursuits were strongly

encouraged at home. Schumann enjoyed reading the classics, lives of poets, dramatic works, and

contemporary poetry and fairy tales. He read the tales of the Grimm brothers, Hans Christian

Andersen, Ludwig Tieck, Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg), E. T. A. Hoffmann, and von

Arnim, both for his own enjoyment and later to entertain his children. These stories inspired him

to produce many musical counterparts, such as the Mrchenbilder for viola and piano, Op. 113;

Mrchenerzahlungen, Op. 132, for clarinet, viola, and piano; and Waldszenen, Op. 82, a series of

eerie forest pictures for piano, recreating in music their enchanted, fairy-tale mood.64

Another source of inspiration for Schumanns music with childrens themes came from

his experiences raising his own children. Robert and Clara Schumann had eight children in their

nearly fourteen years together, and he was a loving and devoted father. As biographer Eric

Jensen describes,

Schumann enjoyed spending time with his children. He read to them, went on
walks with them, picked flowers with them, and accompanied them on sledding

61
Gillian Rodger, The Lyric, in The Romantic Period in Germany, ed. Siegbert Prawer (New York:
Schocken Books, 1970), 147.
62
Xu, 1516.
63
Linda Siegel, trans. Music in German Romantic Literature: A Collection of Essays, Reviews and Stories
(Novato, CA: Elra, 1983), 4041.
64
Eric Frederick Jensen, Schumann (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 324.

38
 expeditions. While this may not seem all that unusual by modern standards, it
would not have been common for fathers in the Germany of Schumanns day to
participate so actively in their childrens lives.65

When their eldest child, Marie, celebrated her first birthday, Schumann gave her a booklet in

which he had documented the events of her life. A few years later he created one collective

album for all of his children, entitled A Little Book of Memories for Our Children, wherein he

recorded their births, characteristics at various ages, as well as their childlike thoughts and

experiences. This booklet describes Schumanns life with his children and his immersion in their

world, demonstrating an intuitive understanding of their minds. Through observing his children,

Schumann was able to relive his own happy childhood, recapturing and retaining for himself the

essence of an idealized childhood that served as a source of inspiration for his music.66

Several of Schumanns compositions involving childhood themes were written with the

intent of teaching musical skills. A gifted pedagogue, in 1848 Schumann recognized the critical

need for well-written, entertaining piano music for children to play.67 Motivated by his oldest

daughter, Marie, who was seven at the time, Schumann composed a group of forty-three short

piano pieces titled Album fr die Jugend, Op. 68, with each piece addressing a problem of

technique or musical expression. Encouraged by the success of the Album, Schumann composed

a vocal counterpart the next year, called Liederalbum fr die Jugend, Op. 79. Other music

Schumann composed for childrens instruction include the solo piano pieces, Drei Klavier-

Sonaten fr die Jugend, Op. 118, and the three sets of piano duets: Zwlf vierhndige

Klavierstcke, Op. 85, Ballszenen, Op. 109, and Kinderball, Op. 130.

Though clearly associated with childhood, Schumanns Kinderszenen, Op. 15 for piano,

are poetic and retrospective views of childhood by a grown-up person, but by no means pieces

65
Ibid., 318.
66
Ibid., 320.
67
Ibid., 221.

39
for children.68 Schumann created musical tone pictures to depict events and occurrences in the

world of children in a simple, unpretentious manner. In the Kinderszenen, he nostalgically

produced a loving and insightful representation of childhood for adults.69 Using his ability to

place himself in a childs mind, Schumann expressed his yearning for childhood through his

music.70

Schumann once again delved into the world of a child in his song cycle Sieben Lieder von

Elisabeth Kulmann, Op 104, in which he attempted to musically convey the life and admirable

qualities of this young poetess. The trajectory of outlining a womans life through song can be

found in two other Schumann cycles, namely Frauenlieben und leben, Op. 42 and Gedichte der

Knigin Maria Stuart, Op. 135. The Kulmann songs are similar to Schumanns Kinderszenen in

that they convey an adults sentimental portrayal of a child and almost all require accomplished

and artistic performers.

In 1851, Schumann discovered the poetry of Elisabeth Kulmann through Grossheinrichs

publication of 1835, and became completely absorbed by her works.71 He urged his friends and

colleagues to discover her talents and share in his enthusiasm.72 Not only was Schumann

attracted to Kulmanns poetry, but he was also so fascinated by her life that he kept a portrait of

her in a special place by the desk in his home in Dsseldorf. 73 Part of his interest in Kulmann

stemmed from a cultural fascination with the death of children or young women that extended

68
Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski, Life of Robert Schumann, trans. A. L. Alger (Detroit: Information
Coordinators, 1975), 123.
69
Jensen, 162.
70
Daverio, 166.
71
Olga Lossewa, who has studied the life and works of Elisabeth Kulmann extensively, questioned how
much of the poetry had been heavily edited, completed, or simply fabricated by Grossheinrich. See Olga Lossewa,
Neues ber Elisabeth Kulmann, in Schumann und seine Dichter, Schumann Forschungen, ed. Mathias Wendt
(Mainz: Schott, 1993), 4:78. While this controversy may be important to acknowledge, Schumann had no reason to
doubt the veracity of Kulmanns poetry or of her lifes story when he set her words to music in 1851.
72
von Wasielewski, 170.
73
Jensen, 326.

40
from the Romantic era into the early twentieth century, as evidenced by Gustav Mahlers settings

of Friedrich Rckerts poetry in his Kindertotenlieder.74 Schumann considered Kulmann a

wonder child whose appeal was even more compelling because of her premature death and her

significant output.75 She embodied the Romantic ideals of prodigy combined with tragedy, and

personified a private ideal of Schumanns: a child acting as poet.76 He published a total of eleven

songs on her texts: four duets as the Mdchenlieder, Op. 103; and seven songs for solo voice as

Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104. Schumanns intention for his cycle to teach

values delivered by the mouth of a child while chronicling her growth and maturation motivated

him to include epigraphic inscriptions and dedications about Kulmann before each of the seven

songs of Op. 104.

Some critics have claimed that Schumanns later compositions, including the Elisabeth

Kulmann songs, are not up to par with his earlier works because of Schumanns declining mental

state. They cite his interest in Kulmanns poetry as the result of failing powers of judgment,77

and consider his musical stylistic shifts as evidence of deteriorating creative capabilities. This

criticism reflects a stigmatization of mental illness as well as misunderstanding of Schumanns

intentions during this later period of his life. More recently, however, biographers and

musicologists have attempted to change this perception. Lindsay Ann Moore defends his choice

of setting obscure poets such as Kulmann by asserting:

Schumanns choice to showcase the work of lesser-known poets cannot be

attributed to the failing of his faculties. Perhaps Schumann felt he had exhausted
the work of the major poets in his younger days, and sought inspirational verse
from minor poets. Whatever the reason, Schumann cannot be faulted for
74
Jon Finson, Robert Schumann: The Book of Songs (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007),
21516.
75
Rebecca Scharlene Ringer, Beyond the Year of Song, Text and Music in the Song Cycles of Robert
Schumann After 1848 (PhD diss., University of North Texas, 2007), 125.
76
Jensen, 327.
77
Martin Cooper, The Songs, in Schumann: A Symposium, ed. Gerald Abraham (London: Oxford
University Press, 1952), 118.

41
 exhibiting the works of these poets. He had been successful earlier in his life at
revealing the works of unknown composers to the music-loving population
through the Neue Zeitschrift fer Musik; the same principle also applies to his
choice to set the poems of lesser-known poets in his late Lieder.78

Refuting the claim that Schumanns creative powers were failing, Rebecca Scharlene Ringer

examines Schumanns songs across all periods of his life that demonstrates a consistent level of

compositional skill, noting a conscious shift in the musical style of his latter works.79 Schumann

composed for a specific audience of amateur singers and pianists during this final stage of his

life, and deliberately created accessible music that made it possible for him to communicate his

desired messages.80 Singer and pedagogue Richard Miller argues that this late Schumann cycle

deserves more attention, stating:

His Kulmann settings have simplicity and childlike grace many removes from the
expansive Mignon Lieder of the same period. These gentle Lieder prove that in
his last creative years the composer flexibly bent an always intense sensibility to
poetic sources by devising an aptly diverse compositional mode for each.
Classification of these Lieder as the product of a mind in deterioration is
unacceptable.81

Understanding the purposes Schumann had in setting Kulmanns poetry can help audiences

enjoy the simple, childlike words of the narrator. Through following the mode of communication

of a child, they can participate in her journey to maturity, while learning from her experiences

along the way.

78
Lindsay Ann Moore, Robert Schumanns Illnesses and the Stylistic Shifts in his Lieder (MA thesis,
University of Victoria, 2002), 4041.
79
See Moore, Robert Schumanns Illnesses, for a thorough discussion of stylistic musical analysis from
Schumanns early, middle, and late Lieder.
80
Rufus Hallmark, German Lieder in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Schirmer, 1996), 103.
81
Richard Miller, Singing Schumann: An Interpretive Guide for Performers (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1999), 198.

42
 Analysis of Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104

Schumann selected seven poems spanning Kulmanns life to comprise his cycle,

outlining her growth and development. He includes a written dedication at the beginning, and

intersperses texts between each song delineating his purposes in choosing each poem. Such a

detailed written program, specifically designed to accompany a song cycle, was atypical for

Schumann. Including these texts demonstrates his strong desire to convey specific concepts to

his audience. The seven songs create a sketch of Kulmanns personal trajectory from innocence

to maturity, and their musical settings follow suit by beginning conservatively and simply,

growing more intricate and complex as she ages.

The cycle begins with Schumanns dedication, the English translation appearing in the

score as follows:

These unpretentious songs are dedicated to the memory of a girl who departed
from us long ago, and whom very few know by name. And yet she was perhaps
one of those wondrously gifted beings who appear only very rarely on earth. The
most sublime teachings of wisdom, expressed here with the utmost poetic
perfection, are found here coming from the mouth of a child; and it is in her
poetry that we read how her life, spent in quiet obscurity and the greatest poverty,
became richly happy. These few small songs, chosen from several thousand, of
which only a few lend themselves to composition, cannot give even an
approximate notion of her character. I have been able to select only a few
individual moments from this rich existencean entire life that was poetry.
If these songs could help introduce the poetess to some circles where she
is still unknown, their purpose will have been fulfilled. Sooner or later she will
certainly be greeted in Germany too, as she was thirty years ago by some in the
north, as the bright star that will eventually shine forth across every country.
Dsseldorf, June 7, 185182

Schumann clearly sets forth his intentions to use poetry coming from the mouth of a child, as a

mode of communication to teach valuable lessons from her life. He also displays his admiration

for Elisabeth Kulmann as a person, someone whose entire life . . . was poetry. This desire to

82
The translations of all the added texts and the poetry are found in the score, Robert Schumann, Neue
Ausgabe smtlicher Werke. Serie VI: Lieder (Mainz: Schott, 2009).

43
examine her personal life fits with biographer John Daverios description of Schumann as a

lyric poet who focuses on the inner life of his subject instead of merely the words she has

written.83

The first song, Mond, meiner Seele Liebling (Moon, My Souls Beloved), describes

an episode in which young Kulmann steps outside to pause from caring for her sick mother,

seeking comfort by pouring her heart out to the moon. Schumanns text preceding the song

describes her close relationship with her mother in the context of her experiences involving the

death of many family members.

The poetess, who was born on 17 July, 1808, in St. Petersburg, lost her father
and six of her seven brothers at an early age, the latter on the battlefield during
the wars of 181214. Only her mother, whom she revered and loved until she
died, survived. The following poem has been selected from the many that were
addressed to her mother.

Beginning Kulmanns life story with a poem about sorrow and concern for her mother

foreshadows the cycles sad ending, culminating in Kulmanns angst at leaving her mother

behind upon her own imminent death. The similar themes of the first and last songs create the

opportunity to observe Kulmanns evolving response to the topic of death and suffering. At the

beginning of the cycle she mournfully looks to her companion, the moon, for comfort. By the

end, she stoically accepts her fate and focuses her attention on her mother whom she leaves

behind.

This poem belongs to Kulmanns early youth, as evidenced by her childlike friendship

with the nature. This relationship with nature flourishes throughout the cycle, developing along

with her poetry. Dedication to family relationships is of central importance in this young girls

life, and she projects this value onto heavenly bodies as well. She speaks to the moon, asking

why she looks so pale today. Has one of her children fallen ill? The lonely child gives the moon
83
Daverio, 463.

44
human qualities as she addresses it as a sympathetic friend. She uses a rather nave poetic image

of the moons pale countenance resulting from sadness and suggests a human relationship with

the sun as the moons spouse.84 She derives comfort in her own struggles with caring for her sick

mother by recognizing that even one of the worlds rulers cannot always be happy.

Mond, meiner Seele Liebling Moon, darling of my soul

Wie schaust du heut so blass? Why do you look so pale today?
Ist eines deiner Kinder, Is one of your children,
O Mond, vielleicht unpass? O moon, perhaps unwell?

Kam dein Gemahl, die Sonne, Did your husband, the sun, come
Vielleicht dir krank nach Haus? Perhaps ill to you at home?
Und du trittst aus der Wohnung, And you stepped out of your house,
Weinst deinen Schmerz hieraus? Weeping your pain out here?

Ach guter Mond, ein gleiches Oh good moon, one similar

Geschick befiel auch mich. Fate also befell me.
Drin liegt mir krank die Mutter, Indoors lies my mother ill,
Hat mich nur jetzt um sich! Has only me around her!

So eben schloss ihr Schlummer Just now in slumber she closes

Das Aug ein Weilchen zu; Her eyes for a short while;
Da wich, mein Herz zu strken, I left to strengthen my heart,
Vom Ort ich ihrer Ruh. The place of her rest.

Trost sei mir, Mond, dein Anblick, Console me, Moon, by your sight,
Ich leide nicht allein: I suffer not alone:
du bist der Welt Mitherrscher, Youre one of the worlds rulers.
Und kannst nicht stets dich freun! And cant always be happy!

Schumanns conservative musical treatment sets this tender, poignant text in G Minor,

with a simple 2/4 meter. To reinforce this aura of simplicity, the voice enters without

introduction, with the syllabic text setting using straight-forward rhythms and minimal

syncopations. The accompaniment remains economical and bare, rarely calling attention to itself

with a steady chordal pattern comprised nearly entirely of quarter notes and eighth notes. As the

child describes her mother lying ill with only herself as nurse, Schumann adds a series of

84
Miller, 199.

45
diminished chords (mm. 1215) within the G Minor context, outlining her grief. A brief move to

D Major occurs when Kulmann describes the moment of peace she experienced as her mother

closed her eyes for a short while. The song ultimately moves to the parallel G Major at m. 25 as

she finds comfort from her conversation with the moon upon realizing she is not alone in her

suffering. These key changes show how this young child is not prone to wallow in melancholy.

With youthful resilience, she cheers herself up and moves forward with renewed energy, buoyed

by her invented relationship with nature.

Kulmann again reveals her childlike, imaginative relationship with nature in the second

song: Viel Glck zur Reise, Schwalben! (Good Luck On Your Journey, Swallows!). She

addresses a flock of migrating swallows as friends who are about to embark on an exciting

journey, bidding them farewell with wishes of good luck on their travels. Kulmann feels a strong

sense of wanderlust, as she longs to accompany them to the warm south. As evidenced by her

other poetry vividly describing the wonders of the world such as Africa or the Middle East, the

poetess dreams of traveling abroad someday, yearning to see with her own eyes the incredible

places she has read about in books.85

Along with this desire to travel comes a strong sense of home, as Kulmann concludes that

no matter how far she might roam, she would always return home to the fatherland she knows

and loves. Schumann chooses to highlight this value of patriotism in the paragraph preceding the

song by writing, Although she was of German origin and wrote in German as well as her

mother tongue, the poetess remained an ardent patriot; many passages in her writings praise the

beauty of the northern skies, as the following poem illustrates.

85
Andrews, 467.

46
 Viel Glck zur Reise, Schwalben! Good luck on your trip, swallows!
Ihr eilt, ein langer Zug, You hurry, a long train,
Zum schnen warmen Sden To the beautiful warm south
In frohem, khnen Flug. In bold, cheerful flight.

Gern mchte wohl die Reise Gladly would I undertake

Ich einmal thun mit euch, The trip with you one time,
Zu sehn die tausend Wunder, To see the thousand workers,
Die darbeut jedes Reich. Present there in each realm.

Doch immerkam ich wieder, Still Id ever come again,

Wie schn auch jedes Land However fair each land,
Und reich an Wundern wre, And rich in wonders may be,
Zurck ins Vaterland! Back to the fatherland!

Here Schumann uses similar compositional techniques to Viel Glck zur Reise,

Schwalben (no. 1) in portraying Kulmanns youthful exuberance. He chooses a simple 2/4

meter in the relative B-flat Major, and includes many staccato notes in the simple, direct vocal

line and piano accompaniment. The uncomplicated nature of the accompaniment is reminiscent

of Schuberts Die Forelle, characterizing the lighthearted, cheery tone of the poetry. Schumann

creates a depiction of the flying birds with a jolly, upward-reaching thirty-second note flourish in

the piano that recurs throughout the song. Written in ABA form, the lilting melody transforms

only briefly during the middle section, with a quasi-recitative parlando passage in mm. 1114 as

Kulmann admits her secret desire to travel with the birds sometime. The excitement returns with

an even livelier childlike outburst as she describes the thousand wonders of the world she would

like to see, and her strong affirmation that she would always return home to her fatherland of

Russia. Schumann repeats the last two words, ins Vaterland two more times, marked

crescendo, to drive home his teaching regarding the nobility of patriotism. The musical setting

creates a clear portrait of a young, energetic girl expressing her innermost desires in simple,

unpretentious terms.

47
 Kulmann and her mother lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, and so

great was their poverty that they sometimes found it difficult even to purchase oil for the lamp.

On one occasion a friend asked Kulmann what she had for breakfast. Only bread today, for

mother had no tea in the house, was the reply.86 Undoubtedly, poverty posed a significant

problem for young Elisabeth. Schumanns textual addition preceding Song no. 3, Du nennst

mich armes Mdchen (Poor Girl, You Call Me), illustrates this theme of confronting

adversity with the words, Many uncomprehending children probably reproached her for her

poverty; the following song is her reply. Kulmann does not like to hear others speak of her

difficult circumstances, whether in sympathy or teasing, and boldly responds that she is not poor.

Schumann emphasizes the admirable quality of facing adversity by including this poem, perhaps

intending to enhance Elisabeths emerging maturity resulting from her trials.

Du nennst mich armes Mdchen; You call me a poor girl;

Du irrst, ich bin nicht arm. You err, I am not poor.
Entreiss dich, Neugier halber, Escape, for curiositys sake,
Einmal des Schlafes Arm, For once the arms of sleep

Und schau mein niedres Httchen, And see my lowly cottage,

Wenn sich die Sonne hold When the fair sun rises
Am Morgenhimmel hebet: In the morning heavens
Sein Dach ist reines Gold! Its roof is purest gold!

Komm Abends, wann die Sonne Come evenings, when the sun
Bereits zum Meere sinkt, Sinks already toward the sea,
Und sieh mein einzig Fenster, And see my only window,
Wies von Topasen blinkt! Gleaming with topazes!

Du nennst mich armes Mdchen; You call me a poor girl;

Du irrst, ich bin nicht arm. You err, I am not poor.

As Marshall notes, even in a world so restricted that it consisted of a small house with

windows that looked out onto a poplar tree and two jasmine bushes, a glade, and the sky, nature

86
Ibid., 465.

48
provided material to fire Lizas imagination.87 Kulmann invites her critics to come and see her

home at sunrise, so they can witness her roof glittering with gold, while her windows that face

the sea gleam with topazes at sunset. This magical, fairy-tale like description of her living

conditions shows Kulmanns youthful, optimistic outlook on life, her inspiration derived from

nature, and her ability to find joy in the face of hardship. While still retaining these childlike

qualities, Kulmanns maturity begins to emerge in the elegant way she handles adversity. She

does not wallow in self-pity or berate those who tease her. This song foreshadows her changing

mode of communication as she beings her transformation from a child to an adult.

Schumann creates a simple, conservative tone reminiscent of the first song, which also

describes a lonely girl struggling with adversity. Set in the original G Minor key of the cycle, an

exposed vocal line enters a beat before the accompaniment. Kulmanns words recounting the

insensitivity of others receive a recitative-like treatment with only minimal, bare chordal

accompaniment, enhancing the idea of a young child feeling hurt and alone. Elisabeth ventures

into the world of make-believe and magical thinking in the middle section beginning in m. 8

where she imagines her idealized living conditions. The key center shifts to E-flat Major (a key

that will hold significance as the cycle unfolds), though with several chromatic alterations. The

tempo accelerates, while the accompaniment becomes energetic, upward-running sixteenth-note

arpeggios. The tempo relaxes back to the original at m. 21, and the minor key and sparse

accompaniment reappear with the restatement of the opening line, You call me a poor girl. You

err, I am not poor. Schumann gives this repeated text the exact same musical setting as in the

first four measures of the song to show her return to reality. Elisabeth comes back from her

enchanted rhapsody in which her bejeweled house is portrayed with lyrical melodies presented in

a major key underscored by thick, arpeggiated piano music, to her true existence as a simple,
87
Marshall, 344.

49
poor child, defending her meager living conditions. Schumanns musical setting mirrors

Kulmanns budding maturity with his lush middle section, highlighting her altering mode of

communication as she gracefully responds to her critics. His return to simplicity in the final

section shows that she still remains a child at this point in the cycle.

The fourth song, containing the most obviously childlike poem, Der Zeisig (The

Finch), describes a bird who invites a young child to cast aside her schoolbooks and sing

together. The paragraph preceding this fourth song reads, A song written when she was a young

girl, perhaps in her eleventh year. Around a hundred of other poems written at this time are

similarly nave and charming. She always reflects reality in the profoundest way. Once again,

the idea of having a personal relationship with elements of nature appears in this poem. This time

Elisabeth chooses to write from the point of view of the bird. The finch seems almost like a

human companion as it calls to the child, inviting her to join in singing. By the second stanza the

song becomes a friendly competition between the animal and child to see who sings better.

Referencing May-time and the desire to cast off schoolwork and play outdoors that students

habitually feel during that time of year fits neatly into a childs environment.

Wir sind ja, Kind, im Maie, We are, child, indeed in May,

Wirf Buch und Heft von dir! Put aside book and drills!
Komm einmal her ins Freie, Come out into the open,
Und sing ein Lied mit mir. And sing a song with me.

Komm, singen frhlich beide Come, let us both sing

Wir Einen Wettgesang, In a merry contest,
Und wer da will, entscheide, And whoeer wants to, decide,
Wer von uns besser sang! Which of us better sang!

Schumann highlights the joyful reaction the child feels toward the finchs song contest.

This short, rhythmically and melodically simple song in B-flat Major creates a sense of charm

and innocence, indicative of the mode of communication of a child. The staccato sixteenth-note

50
melodies, marked piano are traded between voice and piano in a canonic manner, portraying the

small, unthreatening nature of both child and bird. The bird begins the second stanza by deciding

that their singing is not just a playful game, but a competition. The harmonies become more

complex than the first verses tonic-dominant patterns by including a series of dominant seventh

chords marked forte, rising in intensity, leading to E-flat Major at m. 17.

The key of E-flat has appeared briefly in the previous song, and will return as the key of

the final song of the cycle. This key shift may hold significance, as Rebecca Ringer argues, by

encapsulating the idea of competition with nature. She notes that the first six songs are either in

G Minor or its relative B-flat Major, but the last song is in E-flat Major. In this final song,

Kulmann struggles with the angry sea: a metaphor to her struggle with her impending death. This

concept of combating nature is foreshadowed by the passage in E-flat, setting the competition

with the finch. In Der Zeisig the rivalry remains friendly, but by the end of the cycle Kulmann

will lose the battle with nature and give in to death.88 Ringers analysis does not take into

account the brief movement to E-flat Major in Du nennst mich armes Mdchen, though one

could infer that the conflict she experienced with poverty relates to her overall struggles

encapsulated by this harmonic shift.

After this movement to E-flat Major, the accompaniment quickly returns to the tonic of

the piece for the final repeated statement which of us sang better! in playful, staccato chords,

remaining relatively light and carefree. With only a hint of the struggle to come, this song

remains firmly in the childs innocent and untroubled world: a world that will soon change in the

next three songs.

The fifth song of the cycle, Reich mir die Hand, o Wolke, (Reach To Me Your Hand,

O Cloud), acts as a sort of turning point in both the poetry and music. In this poem, Kulmann
88
Ringer, 13437.

51
introduces the idea of death and a desire to transcend this earthly life, pleading with the cloud to

lift her up to the heavens where her father and brothers are. The paragraph that precedes the song

emphasizes this theme of impending death. How often in her poetry, she concerns herself with a

visionary depiction of her deceased family. She clings to this world with heart-felt love, to the

flowers, the gleaming stars, the noble human beings she met during her brief stay on earth. But

she has a foreboding that she will soon have to leave them. Where Kulmann used to be a child,

singing with the birds and dreaming of magical homes or visiting far-distant lands, she now

recognizes the brevity of life and feels an ominous premonition that her own time on earth will

be short.

The human-like aspects of nature factor in this poem in a similar way as the moons

family relationships in Mond, meiner Seele Liebling, and the birds invitations to sing and

compete in Der Zeisig. In this poem, Kulmann gives the cloud a physical hand and begs it to

lift her up to the heavens to see her brothers and father who have died. Jon Finson notes that

such sentiments consoled the living as much as the mortally ill, since they provided assurances

that the person dying would have company on her journey and would reunite with the previously

loved and lost.89 Just as she had sought comfort by discussing her mothers illness with the

moon in the first song, she now talks about her dead family members with the clouds, combining

themes of family relationships with the idea of impending misfortune. She experienced much

personal tragedy in her short life, and family relationships were clearly fundamental to her life

experience. This rather complex combination of themes gives Kulmanns writings a sense of

maturity not found in Marjory Flemings poetry.

89
Finson, 218.

52
 Reich mir die Hand, o Wolke, Reach me your hand, oh cloud,
Heb mich zu dir empor! Lift me up to you!
Dort stehen meine Brder There stand my brothers
Am offnen Himmelsthor. At heavens open gate.

Sie sinds, obgleich im Leben It is they, although in life

Ich niemals sie gesehn, I never saw them once,
Ich seh in ihrer Mitte I see in their midst
Ja unsern Vater stehn! Yes, our father standing!

Sie schaun auf mich hernieder, They look way down at me,
Sie winken mir zu sich. They beckon me to them.
O, reich die Hand mir, Wolke, Oh, reach me your hand, cloud,
Schnell, schnell erhebe mich! Quickly, lift me quickly!

Schumann reflects the shift in Kulmanns mode of communication from childlike to

mature through his musical setting. Where transparency, simplicity, and calmness once reigned,

now complexity and tension abound. This song and the final Gekmpft hat meine Barke, are

the most technically demanding of the set. In startling contrast to the conservative chordal

accompaniment of the first four songs, the forte-marked, quickly oscillating sixteenth notes in

the right hand of the piano cause an agitated, constant motion not previously heard. Schumann

creates unrest by avoiding the tonic, beginning instead in C Minor, and not cadencing on G

Minor until m. 5. A harmonic struggle between G Minor and G Major occurs throughout the

song, further strengthening the feeling of unrest. This struggle mirrors Kulmanns personal battle

between remaining on earth (G Minor) and yearning to transcend this life and join her family in

heaven (G Major).90 The song resolves in G Major, foretelling her fate and untimely passing. The

sweeping vocal line reinforces the idea of yearning and reaching for the heavens as several

opening phrases begin on high, long pitches, such as on the words reach and lift. The piano

postlude completes this idea of reaching with expressive leaps up an octave marked sforzando,

90
Ringer, 143.

53
striving for the clouds. The final cadence in the parallel G Major suggests that Kulmann did

indeed achieve her goal of transcendence, leaving this earthly life and, at least symbolically,

resting in another world.

The final two songs of the cycle have a strong air of inevitable doom about them, though

manifest in different ways. In the sixth poem, Die letzten Blumen starben, Kulmann equates

herself with nature; specifically the dahlias, poplars, and roses. Schumann includes the following

description: A poem full of the presentiment of death, probably dating from the last year of her

life. Next to her hut there was a little garden, in which she grew flowers year after year. There

was also a poplar nearby. Kulmann philosophically recognizes in this poem that she is mortal,

just as all nature is, and that she will die like the flowers and trees of her garden. Where she once

looked to nature as a source of comfort or play, now it becomes a symbol of her death.

Die letzten Blumen starben, The last flowers have died,

Lngst sank die Knigin Long since faded the queen
Der warmen Sommermonde, Of the warm summer months,
Die holde Rose hin! The fair, sweet rose away!

Du hehre Georgine, You noble dahlia,

Erhebst nicht mehr dein Haupt! Lift up your head no more!
Selbst meine hohe Pappel Even my tall poplar
Seh ich schon halb entlaubt. I see half stripped of leaves.

Bin ich doch weder Pappel, Yet I am neither poplar,

Noch Rose, zart und schlank, Nor rose, tender and slim,
Warum soll ich nicht sinken, Why should I too not perish,
Da selbst die Rose sank? As even the rose perished?

Written in G Minor and marked langsam, mit tiefer Empfindungen (slow, with deep

emotion), this delicate song returns to the stark, hollow accompaniment evocative of Mond,

meiner Seele Liebling, the first song of the cycle. Covering the range of a tenth, the pianissimo

vocal line lies in a low tessitura, and consists of haunting, other-worldly, repeated notes

reminiscent of the final song of Frauenliebe und leben, Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz

54
getan. If Kulmann has indeed transcended to another world in the previous song, her voice here

could be seen as ghost-like or at essentially untethered from this world. The shortest of the cycle,

this song acts as structural upbeat to the final song, with very little harmonic activity occurring.

The tonality moves briefly through E-flat Major, foreshadowing the key of the final song, as

Kulmann remarks that she should perish even as the rose did. The last three measures of the

accompaniment are identical to the opening three, creating a sense of the cycle of life, where

ashes indeed return to ashes and dust to dust.

The theme of impending death continues in the final song, Gekmpft hat meine Barke

(My barque has struggled), as Kulmann recognizes that she cannot avoid death and, furthermore,

that she has no choice in the matter. The introductory paragraph preceding the song reads,

Probably written shortly before her death. She seems certain of her imminent end; only the

thought of the mother she leaves behind causes her profound pain. The value of strong family

relationships persists as Kulmanns main concern about dying is not fear for herself, but rather

involves the pain and suffering her mother will feel after she is gone. She wishes that her mother

will not feel too oppressed by grief, and promises that upon reaching the other side of the sea of

death, Elisabeth will keep a vigilant watch for her mother and welcome her when she arrives.

The mature seventeen-year-old who wrote this poem handles the concepts of death and family

relationships in a much more elegant, refined way than the younger, weaker version of herself

who wrote the first poem about her mothers illness.

Gekmpft hat meine Barke My barque has struggled

Mit der erzrnten Fluth. With the angry waters.
Ich seh des Himmels Marke, I see heavens marker,
Es sinkt des Meeres Wuth. The raging sea abates.

55
 Ich kann dich nicht vermeiden, I cannot avoid you,
O Tod nicht meiner Wahl! O death, not my choice!
Das Ende meiner Leiden The end of my suffering,
Beginnt, der Mutter Qual. Begins mothers anguish.

O Mutterherz, dich drcke O mothers heart, may pain

Dein Schmerz nicht allzusehr! Not oppress you too much!
Nur wenig Augenblicke Only a few moments
Trennt uns des Todes Meer. Parts us from the sea of death.

Dort angelangt, entweiche Arriving there, I will be

Ich nimmermehr dem Strand, Leaving the strand nevermore,
Seh stets nach dir und reiche Ever looking for you and
Der Landenden die Hand. Giving you my hand on landing.

Nature has become the adversary as Kulmann struggles with the angry waters and the

sea of death. Where Die letzten Rosen starben dealt with nature as a symbol of death in an

almost inhuman, detached, and emotionless way, Gekmpft hat meine Barke, approaches that

same subject with much more force and vibrancy. Gone is the simple, folk-like, chordal

accompaniment of childhood found in the first four songs. Schumann has developed his musical

language to replicate the growth and maturity of his human subject. Composed in the previously

foreshadowed key of E-flat Major, melodic and harmonic ninths, as well as augmented intervals

abound, as if Schumann is trying to create appropriate harmonic space and grandeur befitting this

epic struggle with death. The piano part regains the sense of energy and movement heard in song

number five as the first three measures of chords occur on off-beats, continuing with pulsing

eighth-notes. The waves that Kulmann contends with are not rocking or lilting, but rather they

relentlessly pound her boat through this firm rhythmic figure.91

The vocal line rises and swells with the unfolding melodrama as Kulmann describes the

struggles her boat has had with the raging ocean as she tries to outwit death. Her promise to

91
Miller, 200.

56
remain on the shore, looking for her mother after reaching heaven receives the same soaring

setting as the beginning, showing Kulmanns determination to ease her mothers sorrows, even

in her last moments. The vocal line ends rather unsettlingly on the third scale degree instead of

on the tonic, as if the ending came too quickly for Elisabeth. Schumanns piano line finishes in

the postlude what the poet could not, resolving to the tonic at the last possible moment, on the

second beat of the last measure, as if delaying the inevitable as long as possible, and finally

coming to terms with her death.

The journey from childhood to maturity found in the cycles poetry receives a musical

setting reflecting this same trajectory. Contrasting with the simple and straightforward settings of

the first four songs, the sophisticated, lyrical nature of Kulmanns final swan song with its

graceful melodic shapes and expressive harmonies, serves as a theatrical culmination of her

growth and development. Following the last song, Schumann includes this epilogue:

She died, being creative and writing poetry to the very end, on November 19,
1825, in her 17th year. Among her late poems is the remarkable A Vision after
my Death, in which she describes her own death. It is perhaps, one of the most
sublime masterpieces in all of poetry. Thus she departed from us, as gently as an
angel passing from one shore to the other, but leaving behind her in luminous
strokes, the traces of a heavenly vision.

As Schumann selected the poems for this cycle from a larger collection, he did so with the

intention of teaching his audience specific lessons that he felt Kulmanns life represented. He

used the mode of communication of a child developing into an adult to elucidate the values of

strong family relationships; patriotism; strength through adversity; nature as a source of comfort;

friendship and identity; and selfless compassion for the suffering of others. He arranged the

poetry in such a way as to show youth and naivety progressing towards maturity and

sophistication. The musical setting of the entire cycle emulates Kulmanns growth, moving from

simple, transparent music toward increasingly complex, refined songs.

57
 For Performers

Performers of this cycle should pay attention to the shift in poetry and music that occurs

at the fifth song, Reich mir die Hand, o Wolke. Prior to this song, the characterization of the

piano and voice are youthful, innocent, and nave, and the texts are concerned with typical

childhood matters. A sense of purity and simplicity will aid the appropriate performance of these

first four songs. The final three songs show Kulmanns maturity and journey towards acceptance

of her fate. The vocal color should become appropriately fuller and richer, while the piano

accompaniment develops in a proportionally supportive and intense manner. If performers can

grow along with the poet in these final songs, then Schumanns intention of creating a portrait

of a child genius who life embodied admirable qualities will come to fruition.

Conclusions

A Garland for Marjory Fleming and Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann both set

poetry written by highly achieving young girls. The modes of communication of these two

children diverge slightly because Fleming occasionally imitates the actions of the adults around

her, while Kulmann grows and develops into a mature young woman. Their poetry shares some

thematic characteristics, especially in terms of strong relationships with family members and

nature, as well as their purity and innocence. The extensive differences between the two cycles,

however, occur because of the contrasting tones of the poetry, and the particular purposes each

composer had in creating the cycles. Bennett took a handful of delightful poems from the pen of

a young girl who made comical observations of the world around her while trying to put on airs

of a grown-up, and created a sweet, funny cycle intended to entertain. Marjory never had the

58
chance to show real growth and maturity in her poetry, which is perhaps reflected by the

consistent style of the musical setting. Bennett points out her comical turns of phrases befitting

her young age, as well as her imitations of the adult world surrounding her. His musical language

remains constant through the cycle. He found a way to remain true to Marjorys youthfulness and

genuine feelings without belittling her, patronizing her, or making her seem forged or false.

Schumann selected seven poems by an accomplished young woman that would highlight

her various qualities such as her awareness of mortality, her desire to comfort others, and her

struggles against adversity, attempting to recreate in song her entire life [that] was poetry. 92

Initially, Kulmann reveals her thoughts and feelings in a childlike manner, but becomes

increasingly more adult-like throughout the cycle. Schumanns dedication indicates his intention

to introduce her to the world and help his audience to appreciate her as he did. For this reason,

her development and progress play a more prominent role in the cycle, forming an entirely

different picture than the snapshot of a childs mind created in A Garland for Marjory Fleming.

The apparent inconsistencies in tone and style of Schumanns cycle might be cause for criticism

if analyzed alone. But in viewing the cycle through the lens of mode of communication, and

placing it alongside Bennetts, one can see Schumanns wisdom and sensitivity in altering the

music to fit the developing persona of this maturing young woman.

92
Quoted from the dedication paragraph of the score. Schumann, Neue Ausgabe smtlicher Werke.

59
 Chapter 2: Adult Poet Acting as a Child

When a poet writes from the point of view of a child, he has a specific purpose in

selecting that particular poetic voice. He may want to create a silly, juvenile text that would seem

more genuine or appropriate coming from a childs mouth. Perhaps he wishes to portray a certain

level of innocence and purity more commonly found in childrens thoughts and speech. A desire

to instruct readers regarding various topics that would carry more weight when introduced by a

child may influence his choice of narrator. Among the many song cycles that contain poetry by

an adult who assumes a childs identity are Theodore Chanlers The Children and Leonard

Bernsteins I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano. Both composers seek to

portray genuine childlike qualities through the text and music, though their specific messages for

their audiences differ.

The Children

The poetic voice of Chanlers cycle, The Children, contrasts with Bennetts A Garland

for Marjory Fleming and Schumanns Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104 because

the adult poet, Leonard Feeney, adopts the persona of a child. This mode of communication

corresponds to Ian Sharps third Route of Musical Experience, in which an adult utilizes a mode

of childhood to relate to adults.1 When this specific route occurs, analysts should consider the

purpose the adults have in assuming the mode of childhood. Sharp clarifies, Childhood can be

re-interpreted by adults, who thereby derive vicarious pleasure (or pain) from reliving its real or

imagined experiences. From the adult standpoint any conscious decision to relate to children . . .

usually represents a calculated position. . . . Their view of childhood is selective and often

1
Ian Sharp, Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood, Studies in the History and
Interpretation of Music 78 (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000), 31.

60
idealized.2 Differing from the previous routes of musical experience explored in Chapter One,

in which a child merely acts as a child, or a child puts on grown-up airs in order to imitate adults

or imagine what the future might be like, adults have already experienced childhood in their own

past. In deciding to present their material from the perspective of a child, adult writers hope to

achieve a specific goal with their texts. In the case of The Children, the messages of recognizing

the transience of life as represented by childhood, finding joy and wisdom through a childs

perspective, and cherishing children as God does, find expression in both the poetry and musical

setting. The poet of this cycle, American priest Father Leonard Feeney, wrote and spoke

extensively about the importance of treating children with Godly love throughout his life.

Leonard Feeney

As one of Americas most influential Jesuit intellectuals and theologians, Feeney enjoyed

a celebrated career as a writer, lecturer, and editor. Born in 1897 in Lynn, Massachusetts, he

entered the Society of Jesus in 1914 and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1928. After completing

graduate studies at Oxford, Feeney quickly rose to prominence in the United States. His book

Fish on Friday, containing sketches and stories on Catholic themes, became a national best seller

in 1934, finding its way into Catholic households all over America. As a popular author, poet,

and speaker, Feeney was often called upon to preach and give lectures. NBC Radio aired a series

of his talks on their weekly program, The Catholic Hour.3

Feeneys teachings became progressively more abrasive and antagonistic throughout his

life. In 1942 his superiors assigned him to work at the Saint Benedict Center in Cambridge,

Massachusetts, two years after its founding. The Center provided Catholic literature, discussion

2
Sharp, 23.
3
The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, About Father Leonard Feeney, M. I. C. M.,
http://www.catholicism.org/author/fatherleonardfeeneymicm (accessed July 16, 2012).

61
groups, and lectures for students attending non-Catholic universities in the area. While there,

Feeney focused his efforts on teaching his central message of no salvation outside the church.

Intent on promoting this core belief, Feeneys congregation became the Slaves of the

Immaculate Heart of Mary, a strictly conservative Catholic group.4 Using an aggressive

method of street-corner preaching, Feeney publicly and forcefully condemned those of other

faiths, particularly Jews and Protestants, refusing to soften his position when called upon by his

superiors. This behavior caused his alienation from the Catholic Church, culminating with his

excommunication in 1953.5 Upon separating with the Church, Feeney established a commune

outside the town of Harvard, Massachusetts with approximately fifty of his followers, dubbed

Feeneyites by the press. The Vatican ultimately removed its censures from Feeney in 1972,

reinstating him as a priest.6 He lived in his cloistered environment with his followers until his

death in 1978.

Feeneys poetry assembled in The Children predates his estrangement from the Catholic

Church, with themes involving much less controversial subjects than no salvation outside of the

church. He includes ideas of learning from children and treating them with love, and expresses

these ideas using the voice of a child. These concepts also appear in a set of radio addresses

Feeney gave in 1942 entitled We are the Children of God. Regarding the importance of

recognizing our identity as children of God and everything that relationship entails, Feeney

taught:

We are the children of God. I say so because God said so first, because it is
religions first lesson, and because around this central and graceful truth is built
up all contact between God and man in the beautiful theology of the Catholic
Church. The more effort we make to realize what we are in Gods sight, and to

4
Elliott Alfred Nordgren, An Analytical Study of the Songs of Theodore Chanler (19021961) (PhD
diss., New York University, 1980), 29.
5
James Carroll, Practicing Catholic (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009), 69.
6
Dave OBrian, Father Feeney: A Heretic Courted By the Church, The Boston Phoenix, October 8, 1974.

62
 act upon it, the dearer we become to ourselves and others, the more bearable to
live with, and the more missed and remembered when we die.7

Feeney believes that our simple status as Gods child is the foundation in us of everything

beautiful we know: of friendship and romance and marriage and babies: of art, song, gaiety, and

laughter.8 He affirms that in the deepest part of our soul, we are always a child, who always

knows that all is well. . . . Way down deep there is the very sanctity of our personality, to which

religion makes its appeal, and to which God speaks pleadingly when He asks us to call Him Our

Father.9 According to Feeney, understanding this identity and connection with a Heavenly

Father is critical to finding faith and hope of a life beyond this one: of an eternity awaiting us

with our Father in Heaven.

Another theme that emerges from Feeneys radio addresses regards children teaching

adults valuable lessons. He urges adults to study children, to learn from them, and to become like

them in order to find happiness and success in this world, and to reach the ultimate goal of

entering the Kingdom of Heaven, as taught in the popular Bible verse Matthew 18:3. Their

unspoiled, innocent outlook on life can help adults escape their jaded, cynical tendencies as they

look around for lifes joyful explanation with the unprejudiced vision of a child.10 Feeney

gave these radio addresses during World War II, at a time when Americans witnessed much

death and suffering, and could easily slip into hopelessness. He professed the timely sentiment

that children symbolize optimism for the future. Life will go on and the human race will triumph.

7
Leonard Feeney, The Child in Us, in We Are the Children of God (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor,
1942), 6.
8
Feeney, The Child in Us, 4.
9
Leonard Feeney, Our Eternal Childhood, in We Are the Children of God (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday
Visitor, 1942), 11.
10
Feeney, The Child in Us, 5.

63
 On a related topic, Feeney teaches that children can remind adults of the precariousness

of life, and of the wisdom needed in choosing how to spend this precious time on Earth. He

states,

There are some days when it is marvelously marvelous just to be alive! But
heres the rub, and the children know it, and its the burden of all their gay-sad
songs. Out we go from all this in a few years! And the prospect of death leads us
to ask ourselves some desperately pointed questions when we are alone.11

Feeney connects the concept of observing children and the brevity of their youth to the idea of

the transience of life, teaching that focusing on mortality will encourage people to make better

choices.

Another tenet that Feeney promotes in his lectures avows that God became a child

because the child is the truest reflection of God.12 Humans can relate to God as a child, and that

relationship should teach them the correct way to treat the children surrounding them, an

essential aspect of Christianity. Feeney expresses concern about the social war on the home and

family that he perceived in the 1930s and 1940s, and urged adults to avoid these tendencies.

If you have a distaste for the child, for his small behavior and the artless ways in
which he can be pleased, then it is impossible for Christianity to take hold of you.
. . . Much of the anti-Christian sentiment in so-called Christian lands, is due to
our dislike, our disdain, and even our dread of the child.13

He further describes these three cultural problems, dislike, disdain, and dread of children.

Dislike of the child is bound to come where father and mother are not sure of
their love, and do not even want to make sure of it. . . . As a possible nuisance he
comes into the world, if he comes at all. As a nuisance he is handed over to a
nurse, who, not being his mother, cannot always be expected to understand him
with a mothers sympathy. As a nuisance he is sent off to school, not to be
educated, but to be gotten out of sight.

11
Feeney, Our Eternal Childhood, 9.
12
Leonard Feeney, God as a Child in We Are the Children of God (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor,
1942), 19.
13
Feeney, God as a Child, 16.

64
 Dislike for the child is bad enough, but disdain for the child is devilish
and such a spirit obtains among those who have been taught to put little more
than an athletic value on their little ones. . . .
The last great emotional refusal of the child in the un-Christian
dispensation of Christian lands, is dread; the dread of him as an economic
hardship.14

According to Feeney, adults should provide a loving environment for children, being willing to

sacrifice their time and money to properly care for their little ones. They should love each child

equally regardless of his individual talents or strengths.

Feeney synthesized his themes by affirming that as humans, we all have worth because

We are the children of God. And we are also the children of men. Despite the fact
that we are not marvelous physical specimens, neither too good-looking, too
brilliant, or even at times, too wellsomeone once believed in us. We were once
welcomed into a mothers and fathers heart. We were nobodys nuisance,
nobodys misfit, nobodys economic bother. Our parents never regarded us as
something that arrived annoyingly, and had to be paid for like the gas bill. Is there
anywhere in our hearts a remembrance of this charitya charity extended to us
when we were small and silent and sleeping in the cradleupon that
remembrance religion will build, God will come to us, and Jesus, the little Infant
of Bethlehem, will be our God.15

As a priest, writer, and public speaker, Feeney sought to teach the world important moral lessons

regarding children. His longtime collaboration with composer Theodore Chanler provided yet

another vehicle for transmitting these messages.

Theodore Chanler

Chanler (19021961) began his studies of music at a time when American composition

and pedagogy had shifted from a strong German influence to a preference for a French

aesthetic.16 According to Virgil Thomson,

14
Ibid., 1718.
15
Ibid., 19.
16
Alan Howard Levy, Musical Nationalism: American Composers Search for Identity (Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1983), 30.

65
 As viewed from America, the musical prognosis for Europe was so clearly
favorable to France that well before World War I the brighter young Americans
had begun to go there for studies. . . . German study had unquestionably been of
value to the rise of American musicians into a higher level of artistic behavior. . .
. It was through their French contacts, however, that they first tasted freedom.17

Chanler belonged to the generation of American composers who gained valuable instruction in

France and then returned home to pursue their careers. Though he received several prestigious

awards and earned the respect of his fellow composers during his lifetime, Chanlers music has

not found a lasting place in the standard American repertory.

Chanlers path to France followed a rather circuitous route. The youngest of eight

children born to Winthrop Astor Chanler and Margaret (Terry) in Newport, Rhode Island on

April 29, 1902, Chanler commenced his musical training at home. Receiving encouragement

from his mother, herself a pianist, Chanler began piano lessons at age six and composition at

fifteen.18 According to friends and family, though he was talented, bright, and witty, Chanler was

a reluctant scholar. After two years studying piano and counterpoint at the New York Institute of

Musical Art, he followed mentor Ernest Bloch to the newly founded Cleveland Institute of Music

in 1920. He then traveled to Oxford to continue his studies, spending two unsatisfactory years

there before ultimately following in the footsteps of other promising American composers and

going to France to pursue composition under Nadia Boulanger.19

Boulanger earned a reputation as a highly sought-after teacher of American composers in

the 1920s. A professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory, Boulanger also taught counterpoint

and organ at the cole Normale de Musique. Some of her American students during the 1920s

included Marc Blitzstein, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, Douglas Moore, and

17
Virgil Thomson, American Music Since 1910 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), 3.
18
Bruce Lanier Kolb, The Published Songs of Theodore Chanler (DMA doc., Louisiana State University,
1976), 4.
19
Nordgren, 26.

66
Bernard Rogers, and Thomson. Both Copland and Thomson observed that her value to her

students lay in giving them instant criticism by quickly identifying a pieces expressivity.20

At a time when the field of music history was relatively underdeveloped, Boulanger

possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of musical literature.21 She believed in the importance

of familiarity with music of the past combined with a genuine appreciation for contemporary

practices. Boulanger introduced Chanler and her other students to the work of her teacher

Gabriel Faur, whose influence permanently affected Chanlers style of composition. Chanler

states that he admired the subtle simplicity of Faurs thought, the unexpectedness that is yet

always logical, and most of all, how much he could say with a few notes.22 Contrasting with

contemporary innovators such as Schoenberg and Webern, who formulated new ways of creating

music, Chanler gained strength not by rebelling against the past, but rather by openly

proclaiming Faur as his master. He emulated Faurs techniques of developing rhythm out of a

regular pulse, and of writing highly lyrical vocal melodies with restricted ranges and intervals.

Chanler adapted these techniques to his own style by allowing his melodies to contradict the

meter more persistently than even Faur had done.23 Perhaps Chanlers music has fallen into

obscurity because it did not advance new techniques of song composition. However, according

to Nordgren, his contribution to the musical life and heritage of America as a conservative

composer in an era largely characterized by radical experimentation has not been fully

recognized.24

20
Ibid., 2627.
21
Levy, 53.
22
Theodore Chanler, Gabriel Faur: A Reappraisal, Modern Music 22 (MarchApril 1945): 16569,
quoted in Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Seattle, Pst, 2000), 252.
23
Hans Nathan, A History of Song, ed. Denis Stevens (New York, W. W. Norton, 1970), 43940.
24
Nordgren, 10.

67
 Upon returning to the United States in the early 1930s, Chanlers career as a composer,

music critic, and teacher took shape. He made a significant name for himself as a music

reviewer, contributing regular articles to the periodical Modern Music until its demise in 1947.25

This quarterly magazine served American composers by providing awareness of what their

colleagues were doing, while attempting to create broader public recognition of the creative

achievements of American music.26 He also had a short career as a columnist at the Boston

Herald, but was fired after writing several negative reviews of the Boston Symphony. His other

accomplishments include receiving a Guggenheim fellowship in 1944, as well as teaching at the

Peabody Conservatory from 1945 to 1947, followed by a position at the Longy School in

Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1949 to 1959.

Chanlers compositions include a ballet, a chamber opera, a violin sonata, and some

organ and piano works, but above all he preferred to write art songs. With less than fifty song

compositions to his credit, Chanler nevertheless demonstrated his expertise as a lyric

miniaturist by achieving a heightening of poetry and music through each one. This inclination

towards song contrasted with the prevailing practice among American composers at the time.

According to musicologist Hans Nathan,

The majority of American composers who established their reputation between

the late twenties and the forties, channelled their energies into instrumental,
chiefly orchestral, and choral works. Among them were Aaron Copland, Roger
Sessions, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, and William Schuman. Their neglect of the
art-song resulted partly from their hostility towards a form that was a favorite
vehicle of the romantic period, partly from the conviction that a professional
career in America was possible only with large-scale statements, and, finally,

25
Helen Lightner, Class Voice and the American Art Song: A Source Book and Anthology (Metuchen, NJ:
Scarecrow Press, 1991), 104.
26
Eric Salzman, Modern Music in Retrospect, Perspectives of New Music 2, no. 2 (SpringSummer,
1964): 14.

68
 from the availability in many American cities, of good orchestras and choral
groups.27

Thomson agreed with this assessment of contemporary American composition, and

asserted that English-language art song had not yet reached the level of German or

French equivalents. He admonished, Let us all try very hard to write English songs; by

all means let us try. But I have yet to see a break-through in the matter, something as

radically alive and different from its predecessors as Schuberts flexible and flowing

songs are from the stiff layouts of Mozart and Beethoven.28 Against this backdrop,

Chanler worked and thrived as a composer of petite miniatures, or art songs.29

Chanler believed song writing consisted of a hierarchy of diverse elements, fusing

together to create a single form. He states his philosophy as follows:

The text is the cantus firmus, something given, that we are not responsible for,
and that, like fate, we can bend to our will only if we accept its terms. . . . Next, in
a descending scale of autonomy, comes the melody. . . . Its length, its rhythmic
design, even its general contour, are all in one way or another conditioned by the
text. Yet in spite of this, if it is to deserve the name of melody it must have a
recognizable and relatively independent musical shape. . . . Next in the hierarchy
comes the accompaniment, serving to support the usually frail structure of the
melody. Woven into the accompaniment may be ornamental and contrapuntal
designs of almost any degree of complexity. But its basic structure should again
be clear and solid in itself, having as much autonomy as its doubly conditioned
status allows.30

Chanler continued the idea of the primacy of the text by calling the text the parent of the

melody and the accompaniment its nurse. Consequently, either despite its dependence and

frailtyor because of itthe melody draws upon itself the clearest focus of attention.31 Chanler

stated that his purpose in creating this hierarchy was to help song writers avoid composing
27
Nathan, 437. Nathan notes that Roger Sessions suggested to him the idea about a professional career in
America being possible only with large-scale statements.
28
Thomson, 88.
29
Kolb, 2.
30
Chanler, quoted from an unnamed source in Robert Tangeman, The Songs of Theodore Chanler,
Modern Music 22, no. 4 (MayJune, 1945): 227.
31
Ibid., 229.

69
songs that are primarily piano pieces (and bad ones at that) with obbligato voice parts.32

Fellow composer William Flanagan observed this hierarchy of text, melody, and accompaniment

in Chanlers works, and described the result as an all-too-rare rightness of poetic inflection

(through correct, but not fussy, prosody), a sense of the inevitability of the musical whole, and a

style that, if it is not too striking in itself, is the result of meticulous, honest craftsmanship.33

This careful attention to poetic inflection and supremacy of melody can be found in The

Children.

Chanler enjoyed poetry with childrens themes, setting many poems by renowned English

poet and novelist Walter de la Mare, including one of his more famous cycles, Four Rhymes

from Peacock Pie. This cycle was commissioned as part of the League of Composers Town Hall

Award which Chanler earned in 1940. As musicologist Robert Tangeman describes, the fantasy,

humor, and gentleness of Chanlers gift come to full flower in the Peacock Pie songs. . . .

Assorted animals are included in the cycle with at least one imaginary creature, Tillie, never

clearly described, for whom the composer has written an engaging, graceful waltz.34 Chanlers

short opera, A Pot of Fat, also has ties to childrens themes, with the libretto adapted from a

Grimm fairy tale called The Cat and The Mouse in Partnership.

Chanlers propensity for childrens themes continued with his settings of texts by Feeney,

his other preferred poet. Chanler met the priest in the mid-1930s, and consequently became very

involved at St. Benedict Center. This friendship and collaboration lasted approximately ten

years. Feeney would often write poetry expressly for Chanlers use, while at other times Chanler

would create the music first and ask Feeney to provide a fitting text.35 The artistic collaboration

32
Ibid.
33
Flanagan, quoted in Kolb, 1920.
34
Tangeman, 231.
35
Ibid., 229.

70
between Chanler and Feeney worked well, for Feeney provided Chanler with the very short

poetry he preferred for his song lyrics, combining sensitivity, appropriate reserve, musicality and

craftsmanship.36

Their personal relationship did not conclude as positively, however. Chanlers family

noticed a decline in his emotional well-being during the decade they worked together, observing

that Feeneys strong personality too easily dominated Chanlers rather submissive nature.

Chanler ended their friendship when Feeney encouraged Chanler to leave his wife and then

eventually became excommunicated from the church.37

Chanler died on July 27, 1961, ending a distinguished career as a composer of small but

exquisite works, which Virgil Thomson considered among the finest of our time in English.38

Describing Chanlers style, Flanagan states, What it lacks in bravery and dimension it makes up

for in genuine modesty, probity, and conscientious workmanship. One thing is certain: We have,

or have had, no American composer who has produced more indefectibly [i.e., flawlessly]

idiomatic songs.39 His song cycle The Children uses such conscientious workmanship to

illuminate the messages in Feeneys poetry, as communicated through the voice of a child.

Analysis of The Children

The Children contains nine songs of varying lengths, all of which employ the plural

children as narrator. Chanler originally intended for the songs to be sung by a unison

childrens choir, but the publishers neglected to mention that fact in the score.40 Currently, the

cycle is performed by solo voice (presumably an adult) and piano. Fellow composer Arthur

36
Kolb, 96.
37
Nordgren, 32.
38
Virgil Thomson, American Music Since 1910 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), 131.
39
Flanagan, 23.
40
Arthur Berger, Scores and Records, Modern Music 23 (Spring, 1946): 134, quoted in Kolb, 77.

71
Berger believes that Chanler has found an excellent solution to the problem of achieving

simplicity without sacrificing subtlety. . . Chanler also operates on two levels. The voice parts

are clearly for children, but the accompaniments provide many elements a sophisticated public

will linger over affectionately.41 Chanlers vocal style, modeled after the accessibility of Faur,

lends itself to simplicity and openness required by the text. Combined with an imaginative

accompaniment, he produces a cycle that effectively encapsulates the childlike features of the

poetry.

The cycle as a whole delivers a comprehensive message of Feeneys religiously-based

lessons about childhood. It is unknown whether Feeney first provided the texts from which

Chanler selected specific poems, or whether Chanler requested that he specifically write them for

the set. Given the personal working relationship between poet and composer, they most likely

collaborated together on the overall structure, choosing which poems to include and the general

architecture of the cycle. If this is the case, then they likely shared the same purposes for using

the mode of communication of childrens perspectives to present their messages. Feeneys

notoriously persuasive personality and Chanlers rather passive demeanor combined to form a

cycle espousing many of the values found elsewhere in Feeneys writings.

The first and last songs present overtly religious or moral teachings, while the middle

seven exhibit themes of innocence and joy found in childrens perspectives on nature, family,

and silly nursery rhymes. The cycle teaches that fleeting childhood can provide hope for the

future, that adults can learn valuable insights from children, and that people should treat children

with love and respect as God would have them do. The manner in which the children narrators

deliver both the didactic messages and simple observations creates a symbolic, archetypal

41
Ibid.

72
representation of childhood, as opposed to the realistic depiction of a specific child found in the

Marjory Fleming cycle.

The first song of this cycle, also called The Children, sets the tone for the group as a

whole by establishing the concept of transient childhood. The thought of children growing older

and leaving home often fills adults with a sense of loss or sadness. Furthermore, in the context of

war (a daily concern during the early 1940s), the continual stream of young men leaving the

safety of home to fight, perhaps not to return again, produced a sense of futility and despair. The

children narrators offer a measure of hope for the future by reminding the audience that even

though they will grow up and leave the home, whether for school, war, or to start their own

families, more children will take their places. They also teach that childhood should be cherished

because if adults will look to children, they will discover love and laughter.

We are the children who play in the park

All the day long from the dawn till the dark;
We are the children.

We will grow older, as evryone knows,

And when we grow older, what do you suppose
Will become of the children?

Will there be children again,

When we who are children are women and men?
Yes! Surely the world will love children no less;

Children will come when we children are gone,

Out of the darkness and into the dawn,
Taking our places,

Bearing our brightness and lightness of limbs,

And our laughter and love in their faces.

Using children to voice these adult sentiments comes across as rather unrealistic. They

articulate mature, adult-like thoughts and feelings about aging and the circular nature of life that

would most likely never occur to actual children. By using this mode of communication, Feeney

73
creates a pedagogical representation of children as youth who declare words of wisdom and

comfort for adults.

Chanlers musical setting depicts an idyllic atmosphere of a childs world. A rollicking,

playful, and carefree mood overlays this poignant text about mortality. As these innocent

children display wisdom beyond their years, they do so within the context of simplicity and play.

The introduction establishes a skipping rhythmic pattern, a proper backdrop for this playground

song. The cheerful tone established by the piano combines with an essentially stepwise eighth-

note pattern in the voice, suggesting running children at play. Chanler marks the text, We are

the children! with a forte dynamic, emphasizing that they will be the speakers for the cycle and

will not let themselves be ignored. A melodic fragment from the nursery rhyme Pop Goes the

Weasel recurs twice, in mm. 1518 and mm. 6568. The only musical reflection of the

potentially grave mood of the text occurs when the key briefly changes form bright and happy C

Major to the relative A Minor, with a thinner piano texture, highlighting the words, Will there

be children again / When we who are children are women and men? C Major immediately

returns with the emphatic answer, Yes! Hope shall return with the passage of time and more

children will fill any perceived void. The song ends with both the vocal line and the upper hand

of the piano codetta finishing on the dominant scale degree, resulting in a rather open-ended,

fleeting feeling, emphasizing the life-lessons in the poetry. The final bass note of the piano

sounds the tonic in the last three measures, bringing the song to a calm resolution.

The next seven songs have a less moralizing agenda as they describe elements familiar to

childrens surroundings. Often the children narrators make observations that seem out of

character for their age and experience, and sometimes they overtly aim to teach adults how to

behave, but on the whole, the tone remains joyful and innocent.

74
 The text for Once Upon a Time consists of multiple humorous allusions to fairy tales,

fables, and historical events that would be common to a childs storybook repertory.

Once upon a time, Mary went to call the cattle home;

Once upon a time, Nero played a fiddle while they burned down Rome;
Once upon a time,

Noah built the Ark when it started to rain,

Launcelot loved Elaine,
Christopher Columbus grew tired of Spain,
Once upon a time.

Once upon a time, the dish ran away with the spoon;
Once upon a time, the butterfly came from the cocoon,
Once upon a time.

There wasnt any you and there wasnt any I,

But Washington never told a lie,
And four and twenty blackbirds were baked in a pie,
Once upon a time.

Once upon a time, a turtle beat a rabbit in a race,

Once upon a time; evrything remarkable always took place
Once upon a time;

Someone wrote a song about an old grey mare,

Simple Simon met a pieman going to a Fair;
Isnt it unfortunate we couldnt have been there?
Once upon a time.

These familiar references belong to childrens education and experiences, and produce a sense of

nostalgia or longing in the adult audience. However, a few lines seem to exhibit a feeling of

wistfulness beyond the childrens years, particularly There wasnt any you and there wasnt any

I, as well as Isnt it unfortunate we couldnt have been there? Perhaps children would pine for

times of fairy tales, but more likely they could imagine themselves participating in the stories

without any sense of loss for their actual reality. In these instances, the true adult nature of the

poet emerges from behind the mode of communication of his children narrators. His sense of

75
long for the world of make-believe belongs to a more mature awareness than these children

possess.

Chanler sets this imaginative text with traditional tonal music, but includes several

instances of chromaticism and multiple key changes (ten modulations in sixty-one measures) to

accompany the aimlessly wandering thoughts of children. These sudden, brief key changes

constitute harmonic vignettes for the various rhymed verses. Pentatonic tonalities in mm. 4350

suggest a childs dreamy reflections, generating a sense of other-worldliness. Following natural

speech cadences, Chanler repeats the same rhythmic pattern every time the words once upon a

time appear, building a strong unifying factor in this through-composed song, even as the

harmonies constantly change. This technique produces a patter song effect, which supports the

choice to not use arching melodies, but rather level or ascending contours. These musical

techniques combine to create a spontaneous, stream-of-conscious narrative of youthful stories

and nursery rhymes.

Wind (no. 3) is one of several songs in the cycle, along with The Rose (no. 5), and

Moo is a Cow (no. 8), that presents childlike portrayals of nature and animals. Wind is a

breezy, descriptive song that is both humorous and evocative. The text outlines childhood

thoughts and experiences with wind:

Wind is to show
How a thing can blow,
And especially through trees;

When it is fast
It is called a blast,
And its otherwise known as a breeze.

It begins somewhere in the sky,

Like a sigh,
Then it turns to a roar,
And returns to a sigh once more.

76
 Wind is the air in your hair
When you stand
On the sand
By the shore.

Wind will shake the lattices late at night,

It will make the clouds go by;
Anything easy thats hard to do,
It is pretty sure to try:

Blow down a pine,

Clothes from a line,
Tumble a chimney top.

Wind is the general sound

You hear around,
That suddenly likes to stop.

Nature receives a blustery musical setting in Wind, until the ending when the wind

finally dies down. The rapid tempo and fast-moving notes of this through-composed song create

a feeling of movement and energy, at times playful and at other times harmful. Chanler uses

every possibility of soundstaccato, accents, tenuto, sforzando, diminuendo, slurs, etc.to

highlight the various experiences with wind. He sets the text with longer melodic arch shapes

spanning two phrases to carry the listeners along with the wind, and adds several syncopated

rhythms to create an appropriately jostling atmosphere. Musical sounds matching the text, such

as a sudden decrescendo on sigh (m. 31) and crescendo on turns to a roar, (m. 34) as well as

sixteenth notes in dissonant seconds on the word blast, (m. 18) animate the childrens vivid

descriptions. The sudden, final halting of wind occurs in the piano postlude (mm. 9197) with a

slowing harmonic rhythm and lento conclusion. The song creates an overall effect of excited

children relating their personal experiences with nature in animated tones.

Children assume the role of teachers as they sing a lullaby to adults in the next song,

Sleep (no. 4). The text contrasts the attitude of adults with that of children toward sleep. Adults

77
worry, try to figure out how to fall asleep, and use tools such as counting sheep, but children are

simply confident, sink easily into sleep, and immediately stop remembering who they are.

Sleep is not something you worry about;

Sleep is just something you do.
Dont make resolutions to figure it out,
But love it like children and sleep will come true.

We never go to sleep to dream;

We go to sleep to go to sleep.
Unusual as it may seem,
We never spend our time counting sheep.

A little confidence does the trick

When we climb into our beds,
Instead of filling our heads
With a lot of animals and arithmetic.

We love the way we love to go to sleep;

To sink into a slumber that is always pretty deep,
To go sailing off to a star,
To be buried in a field of hay,

To stop remembering who we are

When were finished with our prayers and our play,
After we have given you a good-night kiss
And closed our eyes like this:

Its an awful lot of fun,

And its restful too;
Do you see how its done?
Do you?

By having children teach adults how to fall asleep, Feeney forsakes a real childs persona in

favor of an archetype or symbol of what children represent. He believes that adults should

emulate the less cluttered life of a child in order to find peace and rest. Feeney includes a subtle

religious teaching when the children state, when were finished with our prayers and our play,

once again making children the example for adults in how to behave.

78
 A dreamlike quality occurs in Sleep, with its 6/8 meter and constant rippling sixteenth

notes. The undulating arpeggiation of the tonic chord with an added sixth gives the opening

measures a tranquil, reflective quality. Within the four-bar introduction, Chanler establishes a

trance-like motion of accented first and fourth notes, resulting in an effect both relaxing and

reassuring. The mood changes only once, when repeated tritones reinforce the text in the third

stanza that refers to arithmetic, as if the children become momentarily distracted from their

narrative by this unpleasant topic.

The piano accompaniment fluctuates between its upper line doubling the voice part and

moving completely independently of the vocal melody. Throughout the song, whether doubling

or acting alone, the piano maintains a strong function as commentator with a character of its

own, personifying sleep itself. Three extended piano interludes, atypical of Chanlers style, occur

after the first, third and fifth stanzas of poetry (mm. 2030, 5972, and 11429), with a fourth

interlude (mm. 13545) between the second and third lines of the final stanza. They serve to

prolong the trancelike mood between sections of text, while giving the song continuity. A

moment of silence occurs in m. 130 after the children have closed their eyes and to demonstrate

the ease of falling asleep. The piano changes to a chordal accompaniment for the next five

measures when the children re-open their eyes and continue, Its an awful lot of fun, and its

restful too before resuming its undulating arpeggios representing sleep to the conclusion. The

gentle and delicate music carries the message of calm and tranquility, serenity and wisdom

offered by the children narrators.

The theme of nature returns with the song The Rose (no. 5). This time, however, the

rose characterizes more than childrens experiences with the outdoors; instead it becomes a

symbol or an allegory. Feeney does not clarify in his poem what he intends the rose to represent,

79
but in the context of the cycle, one can interpret that it involves children in some way. Some

insight may be gained from examining a 1939 publication by Feeney entitled Youd Better Come

Quietly, in which he makes a comparison between a rock and a rose. He states,

For heres what a rose is which a rock isnt. It is a little unity of being, each part
succulently united to another in a way no piece of rock could be to any other
piece. It works in the short space of what we are pleased to call its life, as a
small pseudo-self in the realm of matter. It can grow, nourish itself, reproduce its
kind. No rock can do that. . . .
All the magnificence and power of the inanimate world packed into one
display could not begin to adequate the wonderfulness of performance in one
small rose, acting as a unified being, exercising itself in the marvellous functions
of growth, nourishment and reproduction, putting forth its little challenge of
thorns. Because the time will come when you can say of the rose, It is now
dead! You cannot say that of any rock that ever existed, from the tiniest pebble
on the beach to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.42

Feeney continues, I am like a flower in that I nourish myself, grow, and can reproduce my

kind.43 With this comparison in mind, the rose probably represents a person, most likely a child,

with Feeney esteeming human life far above the merits of any inanimate object one can possess.

In other words, no matter what the child looks like (any hues you choose), or in whatever

situation (amid sunlight and shadows and showrs), every child deserves adults time and care.

The complicated concepts embodied by the text seem entirely out of the realm of

childrens thoughts or imaginations. One cannot truly envision children using such intricate

phrases as these:

Superimpose
On the petals of a rose
Any hues
You choose,
And see if you can find
What a garden has in mind,
Thats rose inclined.

42
Leonard Feeney, Youd Better Come Quietly: Three Sketches, Some Outlines and Additional Notes
(Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries, 1939), 65, 67.
43
Ibid., 71.

80
 Go review your hearts horticulture,
Amid sunlight and shadows and showrs;
Take a book
That you took
From the library, and look
Up the fascinating history of flowrs.

Forgetfulness
You will have to confess,
If you placed
In haste
An insufficient stress
On the blossom set above
The leaf and thorn of love,
On the stem that grows
Us a rose.

The Rose introduces a deeper level of symbolism and intricate imagery than found in the rest

of cycle. Feeney presents the idea of showing love while caring for a child (symbolized by the

rose) with phrases such as your hearts horticulture and the blossom set above the leaf and

thorn of love. In talking about placing in haste an insufficient stress on the rose, Feeney warns

adults to beware of their rushed, hurried lives that may cause them to not pay enough attention to

the children in their care. Because Feeney chose children to deliver this complex comparison,

rife with concepts belonging entirely to adults, the poem again achieves the effect of archetypal

children narrators as opposed to authentic ones.

Just as audiences might have difficulty imagining a child uttering the text due to the

mature nature of the language (i.e. superimpose, horticulture, and insufficient), Chanlers

musical setting also lacks child-like qualities. According to Bruce Kolb,

The Rose is more effectively performed as a separate song than as part of The
Children. The text seems to contain elements of retrospect and specific intent that
is uncharacteristic of a song to be performed by children. Stylistically, the poem
and the music are not representative of the cycle as a unit, and the question may
be raised concerning whether or not the poem was originally included in the
poetic cycle.44
44
Kolb, 8586.

81
Kolb accurately observes the reflective nature of The Rose and its specific purpose to convey a

message that seems too mature for children to comprehend. This analysis leads to his conclusion

that the song does not fit well in the cycle. However, he does not consider the entire group of

songs through the mode of communication of an adult acting as a child. Sharps statement,

included earlier in this chapter, reveals a common thread that unites several of the songs in this

cycle. He affirms that from the adult standpoint any conscious decision to relate to children . . .

usually represents a calculated position. . . . Their view of childhood is selective and often

idealized.45 While the level of complexity and symbolism in The Rose distinguishes it from

the rest of the songs in this cycle, Feeneys message of paying sufficient attention to children fits

with the other didactic songs, especially The Children (no. 1), Sleep (no. 4), and One of

Us (no. 9). He certainly uses a selective and idealized view of childhood as the vehicle for

carrying his explicit messages to his intended audience.

Chanler reflects the deeper, more esoteric imagery of the poetry through his musical

treatment of the text. He deviates from his preferred through-composed form by utilizing a

modified ternary setting with a slower vocal line and accompaniment, giving the song a defined,

measured quality, enhanced by lush chromaticism. The two-measure contrapuntal introduction

evokes an image of layered petals, illustrating this symbolic flower. Sevenths, ninths, and

elevenths all suggesting the luxury and fragrance of the flower, are used frequently. The

subdued, undulating melody starts piano, follows only two crescendo markings, and ends

pianissimo, conjuring a hushed atmosphere. The piano accompaniment follows vocal line more

closely than any other song, coloring the images set forth in the vocal line, while strengthening

the importance of the text. Whatever the precise meaning of this rather enigmatic poem, its

45
Sharp, 23.

82
delicacy and complexity embodied by its vocabulary, the image of a rose blossom, and the

relationships between adults and children, are reflected in the elegance and intricacy of the

counterpoint and other musical elements.

Family relationships feature as the central concept in the following song, Grandma.

The narrator observes a grandmother, describing her likes and dislikes, her appearance, her

activities, and her religious teachings. The description proceeds in an objective, almost detached

way, focusing on the grandmother as she currently is (old, with white hair and poor eyesight),

while revealing childlike obliviousness to her former youth. A change occurs in the last stanza,

however, when the child makes a more personal connection with the grandmother, realizing that

she was once a child like just the narrator, and that she had her own grandmother too.

Grandma is old
And she does not like the cold;
She prefers the spring and summer to the fall;
And the winter she prefers the least of all.

Grandmas hair is white;

And she loves to sit in her rocking chair,
And knit
And talk
And almost rock,
And see you dimly with her poor eyesight.

Grandma says
That God is good,
But that His ways
Are odd
And cannot be always
Understood.

But after she has taken a cookie from the shelf,

And given it to you
And smiled,
You know that she herself
Was once a little child,
And had a grandma too.

83
One senses in Feeneys descriptive verses of the kind, benevolent grandma, the beauty of

growing old gracefully. The final stanza teaches that all people are alike, regardless of age, and

they should try to find commonalities in their human experience. His message may also be one

of respecting the elderly along with children. The text seems genuine and realistic for childrens

thoughts and speech.

Chanler demonstrates the childs analysis of his wise, old grandmother with accented off-

beats within a waltz that appeared in his earlier cycle Four Rhymes from Peacock Pie.46 The

rhythm establishes a strong rocking feeling in the song, fitting the grandmas actions. Arching

vocal lines again complement the natural speech rhythms of the text. Chanler creates a fitting

harmonic color by a fleeting emphasis on major with quick return to minor, suggesting the

bittersweet quality of growing old. The word smiled occurs exactly at the turning point where

the child realizes that grandmas were once young too, and Chanler sets this rather shocking

awareness with a subito piano marking. Within this through-composed structure, the final four

measures, in which the child realizes that his grandma had a grandma too, have a melodic and

harmonic progression almost identical to the first statement, Grandma is old. This textual and

musical connection strengthens the childs newfound understanding, while simultaneously

creating cohesion in the songs musical architecture.

The following song, Spick and Span, has only six lines of text, the preferred length for

Chandlers miniature settings.47 In general, Chanler favored short poetry, and his style

incorporated a gift for economy that Ned Rorem praised for setting the inevitable minimum of

notes to the right words in the right order, making them sing independent of accompaniment.48

46
Tangeman, 231.
47
Broughton, 15.
48
Ned Rorem, The American Art Song, 19301960: A Personal Survey,
http://www.newworldrecords.org.liner_notes/80243.pdf.

84
Examples of Chanlers other miniatures include Ann Poverty from his Eight Epitaphs cycle, a

song requiring only thirty-five seconds to make its pathos and tenderness completely

convincing.49 Regarding the five-measure song A One-Eyed Tailor from Chanlers Three

Epitaphs, Rorem states, Chanlers genius of brevity was extreme. No one in history, not

Dowland or Satie or Webern, ever more convincingly carried a hearer from doubt through

heartbreak to resolution in a span of five bars.50 Chanler uses this gift of efficiency in Spick

and Span to illustrate a completely nonsensical poem that would appeal to childrens sense of

humor, existing solely for the fun of the rhymes and the fancy of the thoughts.

Spick and Span

Is a clean little man
Who bumped his head
And said:
Black and blue,
I know you!

This tiny, humorous, barely narrative poem receives a fittingly simple musical setting.

The piano introduces the vocal line with a one-measure scale passage. The texture remains light

and thin, except when four diminished seventh chords depict the bumping of the little mans

head, surely the childrens favorite moment in the poetry. Too short to merit any formal

organization, the little song stays in F Major, with a final forte polychord marked secco. This

concluding chord gives the effect of punctuation like an exclamation point at the end of the

poem, perhaps also illustrating the childrens laughter at their own silly text.

The cycles shortest song is followed by its longest, Moo is a Cow. It is also the only

song with an optional added vocal line, creating a duet. Feeneys poetry consists of sounds

translated into words, mimicking the way young children often identify objects and experiences

by the sounds they create. Children observe nature, family relationships, and other elements in

49
Tangeman, 230.
50
Rorem.

85
their environment, resulting in humorous and sometimes clever interpretations. The poetry

evokes images that are at once playful, alliterative, onomatopoetic, and energetic.

Moo is a cow
When she makes a bow
To a meadowfull of hay;
Shoo is a hen
When shes back again
And you want her to go away;

Peek-a-boo
Is maybe I dont see you,
But Im sure you cant see me;
Splash is a stone
When a big ones thrown
In a river or lake or sea.

Snap is a twig;
Grunt is a pig,
Baa is the tune of a sheep;
Theres a melody hid
In the katydid,
And the cricket that likes to peep.

Hush is your lip

When your fingertip
Says you shouldnt make a sound;
Hop is a toad
Right across the road,
Without stopping to look around;

Pit-a-pat is rain
On the windowpane;
Buzz-a-buzz a busy bee;
Creak is a stair,
When you ask Whos there?
And theres no one to say Its me.

Tick is a clock,
Click is a lock
After youve closed the door;
And a soft tiptoe
Is to let you know
You have fallen asleep once more.

86
 Bounce is a ball
Up against a wall,
When youve given it a throw.
Rip is a tear
In a thing you wear,
That your mother will want to sew;

Rub-a-dub-dub-dub is a drummer boy,

When a band goes marching by,
Twinkles a bright
Little star at night,
Or a funny look in your eye.

Ouch is a pain,
Toot is a train,
Sneeze is perhaps a cold;
And a My, oh my
Is: I wonder why
You will never do what youre told!

Chanler groups the poem into three strophes, each comprised of three stanzas of text.

Unlike the rest of the cycle, in which the songs are either through-composed or modified ternary

forms, Moo is a Cow receives a modified strophic setting. The vocal lines for each strophe

remain practically identical, with only a few minor deviations of rhythms or pitches to highlight

details in the text. The piano accompaniment maintains a similar character and harmonic

progression in each strophe, yet with more pronounced differences underlining and reinforcing

the spirit of specific words.

Examples of altered accompaniments include a rolled chord on splash in m. 18, and an

imitation of a drum and a bugle call in mm. 8283 after the text rub a dub dub dub is a drummer

boy as the band goes marching by. The only two measures where Chanler eliminates the second

optional voice occur on the text, Creak is a stair when you ask whos there? (mm. 4950),

magnifying the feeling of fearful isolation created by that image. These two measures are further

enhanced by a minor ninth progressing to a tritone in the piano accompaniment at whos there?

87
showing the anxiety inherent in that question. The only meter change also occurs in m. 50 (from

2/4 to 5/8) as Chanler adds a beat while the child waits for the response in the stillness, creating

an eerie mood. Ouch (m. 89) uses a dissonant F major seventh interval to depict pain, and the

piano musically sneezes with a high minor second played sforzando in m. 91 on the words

sneeze is perhaps a cold. Through expressive, madrigalistic musical details such as these,

Chanler brings to life the feeling of childlike delight in sounds of ordinary experiences.

The cycle ends with a correspondingly didactic quality as it began, with the children

narrators resuming the role of examples and teachers for adults. The sentiments from Feeneys

radio addresses regarding beliefs about God and children appear prominently in the final song,

One of Us. Feeney begins the poem by addressing husbands and wives and fathers and

mothers with a series of rhetorical questions in the first stanza. He then makes statements about

God as a child that span the second stanza and beginning of the third, concluding with more

questions intended for these adults to ponder.

Husbands and wives!

Are we not your little lives?
Fathers and mothers!
Who but we will be your others?
Why do you fear us, freeze us
Out of your heart?

One of us was Jesus;

He played our part,
In His little manger,
Smiling in His smallness,
To protect us from the danger
Of nothing-at-all-ness.

One of us was God.

Has this not been told abroad,
To some by song,
To some by star?
Then when will we be known
For what we are?

88
 Feeneys poem asks why childhood and individual children are not accepted, respected,

and treated with dignity, since God was willing to identify with childhood to the extent of

becoming a child. The poem describes how Christ came to earth as a child to protect all children

from this wretched position of disdain or dread. Feeney stated in a radio address, When God

assumed our human nature, as He did nineteen hundred years ago, in order to help us solve the

problem of our aloneness. . . . [He] became a child because the child is the truest reflection of

God.51 Perhaps Feeney chooses to deliver his adult words through the persona of harmless

children in hopes that his audience would more likely heed them. However, such adult gestures

as asking husbands and wives, are we not your little lives? do not ring true, and Feeney creates

an element of artificiality or perhaps even manipulation, striving to sway his listeners emotions

by having innocent children voice his fervent opinions.

Chanler sets the most overtly religious song in the cycle like a hymn, written in the style

of a four-part chorale, creating sober setting for the penetrating questions of Feeneys verses. The

voices move slowly within this chordal construction, with suspensions further enhancing the

chorale-like mood. Chanler illustrates the text, nothing-at-all-ness (mm. 2627) by using a

high tessitura in both the vocal and piano lines, and a decrescendo, resulting in an appropriately

thin, light tone quality. Chanlers musical setting strengthens Feeneys desire to encourage

contemplation and change in his listeners by ending the entire cycle on a half cadence, setting the

open-ended question in the text, Then when will we be known for what we are? This problem

of mistreating children extends beyond the cycle, and the music drives the point home to the

listeners.

51
Feeney, The Childs Sacrament, in We Are the Children of God, 12.

89
 In creating a cycle where invented children adopt the role of narrator, Feeney and

Chanler created an environment in which their audience can see the world through the childrens

eyes. Simple ideas, such as experiences with nature, family relationships, and silly stories or

fairy tales, receive a touch of childlike innocence and guileless perspective as the children

narrators describe their thoughts and feelings. Feeneys poetry strongly declares specific

concepts and ideals found in his other teachings. He puts his words in the childrens mouths as

they serve as instructors, teaching the audience how to be like them, outlining profound

messages of recognizing the transience of life as represented by childhood, taking appropriate

time to care for children, and cherishing children as God does. Such unconcealed moralizing

creates the effect of archetypal children, as opposed to realistic ones. Chanlers clear, descriptive

settings of the poetry, using an accessible style gleaned from Faur, provide further illumination

and insight into the childrens world and their didactic messages.

For Performers

When performing this cycle, singers and pianists should be aware that they are portraying

more of a model or idealized child than an actual child, especially in the songs The Children,

The Rose, and One of Us. In these three songs, the performers may choose to embody more

of an adult tone quality and posture, and contrast this with the more childlike facial expressions

or simplicity of tone chosen for the other songs. The concern here is not with getting inside the

mind of actual children, but rather with clearly presenting Feeneys intended message. Even

though the vocal part was originally written for children, singers should not attempt to make their

voices sound unrealistically childlike, but rather deliver the text and music in a clear, honest

manner to fit the tone of the set. They can and should instill sincerity into their performance and

90
invite audience reflection and contemplation on the questions posed at the conclusion of the

cycle.

I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano

Leonard Bernstein serves as both poet and composer as he invents the persona of a ten-

year-old girl named Barbara to deliver the song cycle I Hate Music! The mode of communication

corresponds to Ian Sharps third Route of Musical Experience, in which an adult assumes a mode

of childhood to relate to adults. While this mode of communication is the same as in Chanlers

The Children, the respective composers methods and messages differ. Bernstein does not create

an archetypal figure of childhood, replete with religious wisdom and deliberate instructions for

adult behavior, but rather constructs a realistic, individual young girl, and allows her to voice her

thoughts and opinions in a genuine way. He combines the insightful and humorous revelations

from Barbaras youthful perspective with a more subtle message to treat children with respect.

The child narrators search for validation echoes Bernsteins own struggle for acceptance as a

legitimate composer, with his unorthodox (for the time) technique of combining classical and

popular elements in his music.

Leonard Bernstein

Bernstein (19181990) earned celebrity status as a world-famous conductor, composer,

pianist, teacher, television personality, author, and recording artist. His outgoing disposition

found many outlets for communication through his accessible musical compositions, his dynamic

orchestral conducting, as well as his passionate teaching practices. According to composer Lukas

Foss, Bernsteins life defied convention:

In an age of specialization, Leonard Bernstein dares to excel in performance as

well as in composition, in the classical idiom as well as the popular one. In an age

91
 of impersonal music, and often impenetrable music, Leonard Bernstein dares
to be personal, human, even vulnerable. Indeed his music has the rare quality of
instant communication.52

Figuring prominently among his interests were bridging the gap between art music and

popular music in his compositions, as well as guiding children to an understanding of

music through his teaching methods.

As a child, Bernstein discovered music both as a source of joy and of strength in facing

adversity. Born in 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Bernstein

had a somewhat troublesome childhood. A thin, sickly child, Bernstein suffered from asthma,

and the painful fear of anti-Semitic neighborhood gangs. His problems seemed to change

instantly, however, when his aunt Clara loaned Bernsteins family her piano while she was going

through a divorce. Bernstein fell in love with music, and desired to devote his life to its study,

much to the dismay of his father, Sam.53 Sam Bernstein had fled Russia as a teenager to pursue

the American dream, working his way up from cleaning fish in Manhattan to becoming a

prosperous beauty supply businessman in Boston.54 Not yet comprehending the extent of his

sons talent, Sam refused to believe that he had gone through so much to give his family a good

life in the United States in order for his firstborn son to waste his time as a lounge pianist.

Luckily Bernstein received support from his mother, Jennie, and his two younger siblings,

Shirley and Burton. Over the years, Bernsteins father warmed to the idea of his son as a

musician, taking Leonard to concerts at the Boston Pops and even buying him a grand piano in

1931.55

52
Lukas Foss, Leonard Bernstein: A Complete Catalog of His Works Celebrating His 60 th Birthday, August
25, 1978, ed. Jack Gottieb (New York: Amberson Enterprises, 1978), 5.
53
Joan Peyser, Bernstein: A Biography, Revised & Updated (New York: Billboard Books, 1998), 2022.
54
Paul R. Laird, Leonard Bernstein: A Guide to Research, Routledge Music Bibliographies (New York:
Routledge, 2002), 1.
55
Peyser, 25.

92
 Bernsteins interests in both classical and popular styles of music began in childhood,

continued throughout his education, and profoundly impacted his professional career. While

Bernstein ultimately desired recognition as a formal classical musician, he began his studies by

reconstructing the popular music of the day on his piano.56 This familiarity with popular Bebop

and jazz styles shaped his understanding of music and his compositional style throughout his life.

In his bachelors thesis written at Harvard, Bernstein concluded that jazz was the most important

phenomenon in American twentieth-century music.57 He expressed this jazz vernacular through

his rhythmic language, including choice of meter, syncopations, and accent displacement. He

also used vocal melodies that sounded improvised, and favored texts with comical everyday

language, intended to engage all listeners, as opposed to weighty poetry.58 Describing

Bernsteins ability to cross musical boundaries, composer John Adams stated, Bernsteins great

gift was that he could operate with total ease and naturalness in both worlds, that of high art and

that of American popular culture. No one since has quite been able to straddle the two worlds

with such ease, although many have tried.59 This idea of straddling two worlds also finds

expression in I Hate Music! as Barbara balances on the border between childhood and maturity.

Bernsteins overall musical style straddles the classical and popular worlds by employing

complicated rhythms, lyrical, yet disjunct melodies, and essentially tonal harmonies with

extensive chromaticism and modality to create a distinctive sound. Speech rhythms are the most

important influence on Bernsteins text settings.60 Borrowing from the jazz idiom, he favors the

56
Ibid., 23.
57
Ibid., 45.
58
Yugo Sava Ikach, A Study of Selected Songs by Leonard Bernstein Which Reflect His Contribution to
the Evolution of Art Song in America, (DMA doc., West Virginia University, 2003), 7.
59
John Adams, An American Voice, in Leonard Bernstein: American Original. How a Modern
Renaissance Man Transformed Music and the World during His New York Philharmonic Years, 19431976, ed.
Burton Bernstein and Barbara B. Haws (New York: Philharmonic-Symphony of New York, 2008), 196.
60
Laird, 26.

93
asymmetric 5/8 and 7/8 meters for imitating American speaking patterns.61 Bernsteins inherent

lyricism often conceals his unusual melodic construction. His frequent use of wide intervals

gives his themes an angularity not often associated with lyrical beauty.62 Bernsteins primarily

triadic tonal vocabulary includes the generous addition of modal inflections, borrowed chords,

chromaticism, and dissonances to communicate emotional distress.63 He briefly experimented

with the twelve-tone compositional method, mainly in his Kaddish Symphony of 1963, but even

in that instance he used the technique as a means to convey agony, with tonality and diatonicism

triumphing in the end.64

Bernsteins preference for an accessible musical style correlated with his strikingly

extroverted personality and his powerful desire to communicate. In his compositions, his

combination of lyrical melodies, essentially tonal harmonies, and strong vernacular references

enable him to establish a clear connection with his audience. This desire to communicate also

dictated his choice of genre, as his most enduring works were written for the Broadway stage, a

commercial genre requiring immediate comprehension for success.65 It also influenced his

decision to participate in a series of fifty-three television broadcasts from 1957 to 1973, designed

to teach audiences across the country about music. These instructional concerts, called the New

York Philharmonic Young Peoples Concerts with Leonard Bernstein, became one of his

proudest legacies. Growing out of his Omnibus program, a lecture series from the early 1950s,

the Young Peoples Concerts were highly acclaimed by critics, becoming the first and longest

running series of classical music programs ever shown on commercial television. Bernstein took

61
Leonard Bernstein, Findings (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982), 8287.
62
Laird, 19.
63
Ibid., 37.
64
Peyser, 34344.
65
Laird, 15.

94
over the concerts from Ernest Schelling on the condition that they would be televised, helping

him to reach an infinitely wider audience.66

The Young Peoples Concerts not only accomplished Bernsteins desire for

communication, they gave him the opportunity to teach young people, a lifelong pursuit.

Bernstein believed that all children have an instinctual musical gift, and contended that musical

training ought to be an integral part of education instead of being considered a luxury. 67 Often

called a natural teacher by his colleagues, friends, and members of his family, he had a gift for

explaining musical concepts in a way that non-musicians could understand.68 Bernstein wrote his

own material for The Young Peoples Concerts and presented it in a simple, unpretentious

manner, using language that was immediately understood. While the programs were entertaining

and often amusing, involving the participation of his audience, Bernsteins purpose remained to

teach serious musical messagesthe meaning of music, the influence of folk origins, the

structure of a fugue, what makes music symphonicto children and parents alike.69 Bernstein

remarked,

These concerts are not just concertsnot even in terms of the millions who view
them at home. They are, in some way, the quintessence of all I try to do as a
conductor, as a performing musician. There is a lurking didactic streak in me that
turns every program I make into a discourse, whether I utter a word or not; my
performing impulse has always been to share my feelings, or knowledge, or
speculations about musicto provoke thought, suggest historical perspective,
encourage the intersection of musical lines. And from this point of view, the
Young Peoples Concerts are a dream come true, especially since the sharing is
done with young peoplethat is, people who are eager, unprejudiced, curious,
open, and enthusiastic. What more could an old incorrigible pedagogue ask for? I
hope I shall never have to give these concerts up; they keep me young.70

66
Tim Page, Leonard Bernstein and Television: Envisioning a Higher Purpose, in Leonard Bernstein:
American Original. How a Modern Renaissance Man Transformed Music and the World during His New York
Philharmonic Years, 19431976, ed. Burton Bernstein and Barbara B. Haws (New York: Philharmonic-Symphony
of New York, 2008), 9197.
67
Secrest, 24447.
68
Laird, 910.
69
Paul Myers, Leonard Bernstein, 20th-century Composers (London: Phaidon Press, 1998), 114.
70
Bernstein, quoted in Page, 101.

95
Bernsteins unparalleled achievement in the world of childrens programming was enriched by

his relationships with his own three children.71 According to his daughter Jamie, Bernstein said,

If my children have done nothing else, they taught me how to translate music to other children

and to make it fun.72 Bernstein professed that his key to success with children lay in treating

them like legitimate people and not talking down to them, a theme that he explores in I Hate

Music!

Bernstein found the inspiration for this song cycle from an event in his life occurring in

the fall of 1942, at the beginning of his musical career. Having completed his studies at Harvard,

Curtis, and Tanglewood, Bernstein obtained a five-year publication contract, allowing him to

move to an apartment on West Fifty-Second Street in New York City that he shared with an

artist named Edys Merrill.73 He had a Steinway grand piano in his room on which he would play

constantly, coaching opera singers, improvising, and clowning around. Merrill worked in a

manufacturing plant for the war effort and did not appreciate the noise at home after working at a

factory all day. When she had to pass through this room to use the bathroom, she would shout, I

hate musicla dee da dee da! while covering her ears, walking around the room.74 Bernstein

must have found her outbursts memorable, for they inspired the name for this cycle, as well as

the central song, also titled, I Hate Music! One can only speculate how much of Merrills

personality Bernstein infused into the cycles narrator; certainly her silly imitations of singing

find expression through Barbaras childlike voice.

Bernstein faced obstacles in convincing others of the cycles worth as he attempted to

have it premiered, a situation that correlates with his personal struggle to gain respect as a

71
Meryle Secrest, Leonard Bernstein: A Life (New York: A. A. Knopf, 1994), 244.
72
Bernstein, quoted in Peyser, 289.
73
Myers, 35.
74
Burton, 10304.

96
legitimate composer. In the summer of 1943, Boston Symphony conductor Serge Koussevitzky

introduced Bernstein to mezzo soprano Jennie Tourel, who had recently come to the United

States from Paris. She asked Bernstein to accompany her in a recital at the Public Library in

Lenox, Massachusetts. This concert began a long collaboration between Bernstein and Tourel, as

she grew to be his favorite interpreter of his vocal compositions and a featured soloist in his

symphony concerts.75 Bernstein requested that Tourel sing I Hate Music! on the recital, but

Koussevitzky disapproved of the jazz-infused cycle and forbade its performance. Bernsteins

publicist Friede Rothe agreed with this negative assessment of the set, describing the music not

as art songs, but cute little songs that should be sung at a house party.76 Tourel and Bernstein

decided to perform the set anyway, presenting it as an encore.77 Tourel gave the cycle its first

genuine performance as part of her New York debut at Town Hall on November 13, 1943, the

night before Bernsteins famous surprise conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic.78

The cycle met with positive reviews, being called witty, alive and adroitly fashioned.79

According to Bernstein, people yelled and stamped and cheered and I had to take a bow.80

Since its premiere, the cycle has enjoyed numerous recordings and recital performances, often

serving as a lighter set of songs to round out weightier programmed music.

Analysis of I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano

Lasting merely seven minutes, this set of five rather short songs for soprano and piano

presents a fictitious child narrator who wavers between asserting her legitimacy as a person and

75
Peter Gradenwitz, Leonard Bernstein: The Infinite Variety of a Musician (New York: St. Martins Press,
1987), 33.
76
Rothe, quoted in Peyser, 124.
77
Myers, 37.
78
Peyser, 11314.
79
Burton, 113.
80
Peyser, 115.

97
behaving her chronological age. Though these kid songs (as Bernstein calls them) are intended

for adults to perform, the cycle fits Sharps third Route of Musical Experience by employing a

youthful perspective. Bernstein uses intellectual wit and humor to produce a credible portrait of a

nave, unaffected girl named Barbara relating her thoughts and feelings. He simultaneously

includes discreet teachings about the value of children through her words. The cycle can be

interpreted as a loose narrative, unfolding as Barbaras discussion with a group of unidentified

houseguests. Much as in The Children, the first and last songs offer the most obvious didactic

themes, with the middle songs focusing on gentle humor and a perceptive look into the nature of

a child.

The cycle begins with My Name is Barbara, a song in which the young protagonist

discusses the various explanations she has received from her mother regarding where babies

come from. In a childlike, stream-of-conscious manner, Barbara finishes the song with a non-

sequitur, introducing herself to the group.

My mother says that babies come in bottles;

But last week she said they grew on special baby-bushes.
I dont believe in the storks, either!
Theyre all in the zoo, busy with their own babies!
And whats a baby-bush, anyway!?
My name is Barbara.

The idea of a ten-year-old girl having questions about the origin of babies is realistic and

genuine. Bernstein related a similar experience he had when he was fourteen, around the time his

younger brother was born, saying I was crazed with curiosity. I would look up childbirth in

the Jewish encyclopedia, the only encyclopedia we had at the time, but there wasnt much to

learn from that.81 Bernstein mirrors in Barbaras speech the frustration he must have surely felt

by not having answers to his own questions. Barbara grows impatient with adults treating her

81
Ibid., 28.

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differently or dishonestly, exclaiming that she does not believe in the various theories that her

mother has told her thus far. In this song Bernstein echoes the belief that enabled his success in

the Young Peoples Concerts, namely, that adults should not talk down to children. They are

often more perceptive than adults realize. Through Barbaras heartfelt frustrations with feeling

deceived by her mother, Bernstein subtly promotes his conviction that parents should treat their

children as legitimate people and talk to them with age-appropriate honesty.

Bernsteins music enhances the childlike qualities of the text as well as his message. He

creates a spontaneous feel to Barbaras words by overlaying a sparse piano texture with a

recitative-like, disjunct melody that nevertheless flows in lyrical arching shapes. The song

remains primarily in the dorian mode until the final E Major chord, occurring at the end of

Barbaras emotional journey, which Bernstein helps to outline with interpretive markings. A

plodding rhythmic accompaniment begins the song, suggesting the girls conscientiously polite

delivery of her thoughts, marked mezzo piano and contemplative at m. 3 when relating her

mothers conflicting explanations for where babies come from. Her discourse rises vehemently

to forte at m. 10 when she states her disbelief in the stork theory. Bernstein highlights Barbaras

agitated exclamation by setting the text with the highest pitch of the vocal line and abandoning

the previous accompaniment pattern in favor of sustained chords, while also including many

accents and tenuto markings. This dramatic change in music shows Barbaras brief foray into a

realm of defiance, nearly throwing a tantrum at the thought of being treated like a gullible child.

The initial rhythmic motive returns in the piano accompaniment as her passionate outburst

subsides almost resentfully at m. 15 when she questions the truthfulness of a baby-bush.

Trying to act more grown-up, Barbara remembers her manners and concludes by introducing

herself sweetly at m. 18. The musical setting magnifies Barbaras frustration at being treated

99
like a child, even as she lapses into childlike behavior. She tries to gain added respect and dignity

as an intelligent, mature person, yet remains partially in the world of childhood.

Bernstein puts Barbaras quest for validation into greater relief as he includes instances of

her simply acting as a genuine child. Her imaginative personality shows itself clearly in the

second song, Jupiter Has Seven Moons. Barbara excitedly describes Jupiter and Saturn and

their multiple moons, comparing them with the Earths single moon. She makes creative and

clever connections between the number of moons and their effects on the Earth, including

enhanced romantic possibilities, the effect on baying dogs, multiple tides in the Atlantic Ocean,

and the size of the Man in the Moon.

Jupiter has seven moons or is it nine?

Saturn has a million, billion, trillion sixty-nine;
And evry one is a little sun, with six little moons of its own!
But we have only one!

Just think of all the fun wed have if there were nine!
Then we could be just nine times more romantic!
Dogs would bay til they were frantic!
Wed have nine tides in the Atlantic!
The man in the moon would be gigantic!

But we have only one!

Only one!

Barbaras animated speculations about how life on Earth would change with multiple

moons show her authentic, guileless character. In relating her knowledge about Jupiter, she

reveals some factual flaws, for she cannot remember if Jupiter has seven moons or nine. She then

childishly declares that Saturn has a million, billion, trillion sixty-nine, a huge overstatement

that would be suit a young girls wildly exaggerative personality. By including Barbaras lunar

associations with non-scientific elements, such as romance and the Man in the Moon, Bernstein

demonstrates her youthful realm of thought. The text of this song creates a depiction of a nave,

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energetic, imaginative young girl who takes newfound knowledge and applies it to her

understood truths in a creative way.

Written in a predominantly major mode, the music follows Barbaras sequence of

thoughts through a series of fluctuating dynamic levels and tempo markings, varying according

to her particular mood. The light, fast, complicated, eighth-note piano accompaniment that

occurs during Barbaras animated descriptions of Jupiter, Saturn, and the theoretical implications

of many moons appropriately changes to slow, sustained chords as Barbara laments the Earths

inferior status. Syllabic text setting within a pattern of vacillating 5/8 and 4/8 meters follows her

natural speech rhythms, and creates a skipping quality to the music, perfectly suiting a ten-year-

old girls playful imaginations. These musical elements help create a picture of an emotional pre-

teenager who is still categorizing her knowledge about the universe and making intriguing

connections, without any effort to conceal her emotions as she does so.

The next song, I Hate Music! holds a doubly-central place as the third song in this

group of five and with its opening line comprised of the phrase that inspired the cycles

composition. Barbara emphatically proclaims that she hates music, but seemingly contradicts

herself by stating that she loves to sing. She clarifies her opinions by describing what the word

music means to her, and then reaffirms her love for singing.

I hate music!
But I like to sing:
La dee da da dee; la dee da dee.
But thats not music, not what I call music.
No, sir.

Music is a lot of men in a lot of tails,

Making lots of noise like a lot of females;
Music is a lot of folks in a big dark hall,
Where they really dont want to be at all;

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 With a lot of chairs, and a lot of airs,
And a lot of furs and diamonds!
Music is silly!

I hate music!
But I like to sing:
La dee da da dee: la dee da dee: la dee da dee.

With the keen perception of a child, Barbara deftly distinguishes between hating the type

of music that adults have artificially constructed to signify attending concerts in dark halls,

while wearing their best clothes and pretending to enjoy themselves, with loving the purity of

singing. She uses the childlike nonsense syllables la dee da da dee to illustrate her positive

feelings about singing. This demonstration embodies music at its purest form, coming from the

mouth of a child, without words or a preconceived melody, simply emanating from her soul.

Barbara possesses the honest candor that allows her to reveal the silly traditions and facades that

pretentious concert-goers adopt. Adults are seemingly too decorous to either recognize or point

out these peculiarities themselves. Another analysis of the text could include Bernstein using a

childs voice to speak out against those musical elitists who do not consider his music worthy of

their high standards, due to his affinity for including vernacular elements.

Bernstein begins Barbaras emotional tirade with an accented, forte melodic line that

leaps upward a minor ninth on the word hate. Wide intervals occur in many of Bernsteins

melodies, but this particular instance brings added emphasis to Barbaras impudent outburst.

Presented in a dramatic, recitative style over sustained piano chords, this surging declaration

reveals her immaturity by using such a harsh word in a social situation.

Bernstein removes any residual feeling of meter or pulse with an unaccompanied setting

of her nonsensical text, la dee da da dee at m. 4. He reinforces the improvisational quality of

her tune by marking the disjunct, syllabic vocal line freely, rather tonelessly and carelessly.

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This melody has no basis in any particular scale or mode, and uses nine of the possible twelve

tones. While clearly imitating Edys Merrills mocking parody of music, perhaps Bernstein is also

ridiculing the twelve-tone compositional practices of his contemporary composers by suggesting

that a child could write the equivalent.

Barbara then begins a fast-paced, breathless, angry section in which she describes her

observations of music (meaning the concert-going experience) with quickly ascending triplet

sixteenth-note patterns in the piano, over which her melody grows progressively higher and

louder to the fortissimo climax on diamonds! Bernstein could be making a negative social

commentary regarding the pseudo-sophisticated concert-going public through this section. This

section may also include an element of self-parody, as Bernstein belongs to the classical, tail-

wearing class of musicians himself. Barbara concludes by reaffirming her opening hatred of

music followed by a slightly longer depiction of her definition of singing. The relaxed,

freely improvisational melody creates a pure, childlike depiction of true music. As a whole, this

song encapsulates a young girl displaying wisdom beyond her years, while portraying her

emotions in a rather ill-mannered, uncouth fashion.

Barbara displays her sharp sense of humor and desire to entertain as she tells a riddle in

A Big Indian and a Little Indian. Supremely confident of her cleverness, she enjoys stumping

her audience, taking great pleasure in giving them two measures to discover the correct answer.

A big Indian and a little Indian were walking down the street.
The little Indian was the son of the big Indian;
But the big Indian was not the father of the little Indian:

You see the riddle is, if the little Indian was the son of the big Indian,
But the big Indian was not the father of the little Indian,
Who was he?
Ill give you two measures:
His mother!

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Retelling jokes and finding glee in feeling smarter than her peers fits right into Barbaras ten-

year-old persona. Bernsteins age-appropriately innocent, humorous text creates a glimpse into

an authentic childs mind.

This simple, childlike riddle receives a rhythmically sophisticated setting. Comparable to

the approach in Jupiter Has Seven Moons, Bernstein uses rhythmic complexity to portray the

speech-like qualities of this text. As stated previously, Bernstein believed that rhythmic groups

of five and seven produced the best imitation of American speech. In this song, he freely moves

through 7/8, 8/8, 5/8, 3/8, and 9/8 meters depending on what the text dictates. Adding to the

complexity of the song, the contrapuntal left and right hands of the accompaniment contain

rhythmic displacement, with accents falling on different beats from each other, as well as

diverging from the accents of the vocal line. This practice can be traced to the rhythmic

innovations in the jazz style of Bebop.82 Such an intricate musical setting incorporating jazz and

popular styles disproves the contention of Bernsteins publicist that these songs should be

considered simplistic parlor music. The technical expertise required to navigate such complex

rhythms and meter changes clearly move this work out of the amateur performers abilities and

into a sophisticated, professional realm.83

The complicated rhythmic structure of A Big Indian and a Little Indian does not

obstruct the melodic clarity or childlike nature of the text, however. To counter-balance the

songs rhythmic dominance, the vocal line retains a simpler, more triadic outline. Bernstein

creates a caricature of the Indian element of the text with a pentatonic feel in the introduction,

and a drumbeat pattern during the interlude before the spoken text, marked pesante, like

Indians. He applies a theatrical gesture as Barbara speaks the second stanza in which she

82
Barry Kernfield, Bebop, in The New Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, 1986), 86.
83
Ikach, 46.

104
outlines the details of the riddle, generating a moment of extremely accessible communication,

unimpeded by any musical participation. After giving the audience the promised two measures

to contemplate the answer to her riddle, Bernstein sets Barbaras final statement, his mother!

with an upward leaping octave, highlighting the triumphant manner in which she delivers the

punch line. The animated musical setting enhances her unabashed delight in childlike humor.

Bernstein ends the cycle by delivering in his most straightforward manner the philosophy

that children should be treated as equals in Im a Person Too. Young Barbara tells her listeners

that she recently discovered she is a legitimate person despite her age, and describes the

confusion and frustration she feels when adults treat her differently.

I just found out today that Im a person too, like you:

I like balloons; lots of people like balloons:
But evryone says, Isnt she cute? She likes balloons!
Im a person too, like you!

I like things that evryone likes:

I like soft things and movies and horses and warm things and red things:
Dont you?
I have lots of thoughts; like whats behind the sky;
And whats behind whats behind the sky: [emphasis original]
But evryone says, Isnt she sweet? She wants to know evrything!
Dont you?

Of course Im very young to be saying all these things

In front of so many people like you;
But Im a person too!
Thought Im only ten years old;
Im a person too, like you!

Barbaras words illuminate her pre-adolescent status of straddling the worlds of

childhood and adulthood. She admits that she is young and that she likes seemingly childish

things such as balloons and horses, but wonders how different that makes her from adults. She

grows tired of adults finding her cute and sweet simply because of her age. If adults can like

the same things she likes, and if they can desire to know everything just as she does, why is she

105
singled out and treated differently? In this song, Barbara refers to grown-ups talking about her in

the third person as if she is not present or cannot hear them. She boldly reminds the adults in the

room that children are people too and should not be ignored. The message Bernstein conveys

through his text is that children are smarter than adults often recognize, and they should not be

dismissed simply because of their age. He seems to identify with Barbaras situation and

empathize with her feelings. As Ikach asserts,

Obviously, there is a bit of Bernstein in the little girl. She is precocious,

rebellious, irreverent, and unpredictable, but she is not yet an accepted member of
the adult population. This parallels Bernsteins insecurities as a composer. He
shared and enjoyed her childlike qualities, but longed for respect among the
learned music cognoscenti and critics. Above all, he wished to be considered a
serious composer.84

Bernsteins identification with this fictitious girls situation enables him to create a realistic

depiction of her in both words and music.

In this final song, the lyrical vocal line begins without piano introduction, as if Barbara

inserts herself into a conversation without a proper invitation. The accompaniment follows the

voice much more closely than in any of the previous songs, giving added meaning and strength

to Barbaras words. Bernstein sets her opening text earnestly with march-like quarter-note

declarations, supporting her heartfelt discovery that she is a person too. Barbara follows this

assertion with a recitative-like melody marked resigned over oscillating chords as she

describes her likes and observations about the treatment she receives from adults. These two

types of musical passages continue to alternate, fluctuating between boldness and timidity, while

growing in intensity and rising in pitch to the climax of the song. The music reaches a fitting

conclusion as it slows in tempo and the vocal line leaps an octave to a high A with Barbaras

dramatic reiteration of Im a person too! three times. This wide interval, even when enveloped

84
Ibid., 45.

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in lyricism, emphasizes the theme of the final song, and indeed, of the entire cycle. Barbara has

arrived upon the message she wants to give adults, though she may have traveled there in an

indirect way, and she states her opinion firmly at the end.

Barbara follows a trajectory through these five songs that exemplifies her situation in life

and parallels Bernsteins own creative path. She expresses frustration at being treated with

dishonesty or condescension, revels in imagination and creativity, communicates outrage at

others pretensions, finds simple joy in entertaining, and asserts her rights as a person. Written at

the outset of his career, the cycle showcases Bernsteins own frustration, creativity, outrage, joy

and assertiveness as he struggles to find validity among his peers and critics. Though the songs

may not fit every critics definition of art music, their intricate technical demands combined

with their insightful messages lift them out of the realm of casual entertainment. By using this

mode of communication to create an authentic, childlike protagonist with unconcealed emotions

and opinions, Bernstein charms his audience while cleverly sharing his messages of legitimacy.

He embodies Sharps belief that adults who re-interpret childhood derive vicarious pleasure (or

pain) from reliving its real or imagined experiences85 as he takes his alter-ego Barbara along a

journey seeking legitimacy, corresponding to his own quest for respect as a cross-over musician.

For Performers

In searching for advice or suggestions for performers of I Hate Music! one needs to look

no further than Bernsteins own instructions in the published score. He advises, In the

performance of these songs, coyness is to be assiduously avoided. The natural, unforced

sweetness of child expressions can never be successfully gilded; rather will it come through the

85
Sharp, 23.

107
music in proportion to the dignity and sophisticated understanding of the singer.86 This

suggestion fits naturally with Bernsteins philosophy regarding the ideal treatment of children.

The singer and pianist should take the opportunity to showcase the moments where Barbara acts

childlike, whether through her romanticized fantasies and riddles, or through her immature

outbursts and tantrums. They should consciously contrast these moments with her more mature

instances of insightful commentary and quests for authenticity. By doing so, they will

appropriately convey the themes of the text through the perspective of a believable child.

Conclusions

Both The Children and I Hate Music! utilize an invented childs perspective, but they

differ in the delivery of their messages. Feeney and Chanler construct a narrator of archetypal

children to explicitly instruct their adult audience on issues such as how to fall asleep and how

to treat children in a manner pleasing to God. Some of their childlike songs feel genuine and

realistic, especially the ones describing childrens observations of the world around them.

Humorous insights couched in illustrative musical settings, such as in Wind, Spick and

Span, and Moo is a Cow, create a sense of sweetness, innocence and purity. However, texts

such as The Children, The Rose, and One of Us, seem awkward or disingenuous coming

from the mouths of children, resulting in an unconcealed moral lesson from the poet and

composer. The inclusion of these uncharacteristically mature concepts and emotions belonging

outside the realm of a childs understanding adds a sense of forged sentimentality to their

message.

86
Leonard Bernstein, I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano (New York: M. Witmark &
Sons, 1943), i.

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 In contrast, Bernstein chooses to treat his invented narrator Barbara consistently as an

authentic, real child, allowing her to convey her thoughts and feelings in a credible and sincere

way. In Jupiter Has Seven Moons Barbara lets her imagination run wild, while in A Big

Indian and a Little Indian, she takes pleasure in telling a joke. Bernstein sometimes uses her

voice to respond to his own critics and peers, such as her quasi-imitation of a twelve-tone row

and her mockery of the elitist concert-goers in I Hate Music. His cycle also includes teachings

about treating children equally in Im a Person Too and not talking down to them in My

Name is Barbara, achieving these results without sounding blatantly preachy.

While The Children contains an obvious, clear agenda of presenting specific concepts to

adults regarding how to be more like children and to treat them well, Bernsteins cycle employs a

more subtle approach through a credible voice of a ten-year-old child. Applying Sharps words,

Chanlers cycle uses the mode of communication of an adult acting as a child to create a

selective and idealized version of childhood, while Berntseins use of a childs perspective

enables him to vicariously relive the experiences of his own life. Each composer utilizes

musical techniques consistent with his individual style to depict the fictive perspective of a child,

resulting in an entertaining cycles that simultaneously promote thought and change.

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 Chapter 3: Adult Poet Addressing a Child

Adults interact with children in a variety of situations. Parents, teachers, and caregivers

instruct, entertain, discipline, praise, soothe, and express affection for the children in their care.

When talking with children, adults naturally alter their manner of speech, whether by changing

their word choice, tone of voice, or subject material, in order to communicate more clearly.

When adults speak to a child under their care, they often recount amusing stories, express love

and tenderness, and describe their hopes for the childs future. Poets consider these issues as they

write from the point of view of an adult speaking to a child. Two song cycles, Francis Poulencs

La courte paille and Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies, both set texts in which an adult

addresses a child. Though they contain light subject material and a high level of accessibility that

may cause some critics to dismiss them as insignificant, both cycles offer sophisticated, well-

crafted music, incorporating entertainment along with poignant sentiments.

La courte paille

A fictional mother acts as the narrator of La courte paille, addressing her child with a

series of magical, silly, and introspective texts. In the odd-numbered songs, the mother relates to

her child in an adult-like way, but in the even-numbered songs, she addresses him in a childlike

manner. These two modes of communication correspond to Ian Sharps first and second Routes

of Musical Experience, in which adults either assume a mode of childhood or retain a mode of

adulthood to relate to children.1 The audience plays the role of the imaginary child, prompting

the particular modes of communication from the adult narrator. The fanciful poems, written by

Belgian Maurice Carme, incorporate relatively simple, direct imagery combined with silly,

1
Ian Sharp, Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press,
2000), 31

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fantastical stories that amuse and entertain. The mothers tender feelings of love and concern for

the child permeate the poetry, especially in her meditative texts. Poulencs accessible style of

composition maintains an open manner of communication desirable when speaking with

children. He offers a fitting musical illustration of the poetry, with two distinct styles

corresponding to the more subdued or introspective poems and the playful, fantastical stories.

Poulenc creates variety through his lyrical treatments of the mothers adult-like ruminations,

along with his imaginative and energetic settings for the humorous poems where she acts in a

childlike manner.

Maurice Carme

Called the Mozart of poetry by Tristan Klingsor, Maurice Carme excelled in

recreating the world of a child through his magical, comical texts.2 His propensity for childlike

themes has also earned him the labels, the poet of joy, the poet of peace, and the poet of

children.3 Despite receiving acclaim as one of Belgiums master poets, Carme has been

generally overlooked in studies of modern French literature.

Carmes interest in poetry began at a young age. Born on May 12, 1899 in Wavre,

Belgium, Carme lived a modest but happy childhood. His father, Joseph, made his living as a

painter and decorator, and his mother, Henriette, ran a small grocery shop. They had five

children all together, though only Maurice, his sister Germaine, and younger brother Georges

survived past infancy. Finding inspiration from his childhood girlfriend, Bertha Detry, Carme

began writing poetry in 1914. Upon receiving a scholarship that same year, he entered the

2
Marie-Georgetter Steisel, French Poetry for Children: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography, The Modern
Language Journal 48, no. 3 (1964): 129.
3
Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs, trans. Winifred Radford (New York: W. W.
Norton, 1977), 164.

111
teacher training college, the cole Normale de Tirlemont, where he studied with Julien Kuypers,

a professor who introduced him to contemporary poetry and encouraged his writing.4

Before becoming a full-time writer, Carme spent his professional life as an educator of

children. He left Wavre upon completion of his studies in 1918 to teach primary school in

Anderlecht, Brussels. He married fellow teacher Andre Gobron in 1924, and in 1933 they

moved into a house he had built, which became known as la Maison Blanche. In 1943 Carme

gave up teaching in order to devote his time to writing. The many years he spent in the company

of children influenced his writing style. Fluency and accessibility characterize his poetry, often

containing recognizable subject material presented in a charming, pleasurable way.5

At a time when the predominant approach to poetry included complexity and obscurity,

Carme ultimately decided not to follow that path. Though he briefly flirted with surrealism and

modernism in his early career, which colored aspects of his future works, Carme chose to

abandon experimentalist writing, aiming instead for childlike clarity, even when conveying a

dark message.6 A statement by Carme gives insight into his goals as a writer, and can be

considered his poetic credo: Poetry that is at once extremely simple, extremely lyrical, and

extremely movingand mysterious enough to maintain poetrys magic. With all my heart, I

hope that some day Ill write the poem which resembles the one Ive dreamt of from the day I

began to write.7 His style incorporated brevity and lilting sonorities, while still retaining enough

mystery to preserve the magic inherent in poetry as a genre.8

Biographer Jacques Charles notes that Carmes poems do not always appeal to modern

tastes because of their perceived navet. This perception likely stems from the fact that much of

4
Maurice Carme, Defying Fate, ed. Jean Boase-Beier (Todomorden, UK: Arc Publications, 2009), 147.
5
Martin Sorrell, introduction to Defying Fate, 14.
6
Ibid.
7
Carme, 14.
8
Christopher Pilling, preface to Defying Fate, 10.

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Carmes poetry is written in a whimsical style appropriate for children.9 Nicknamed the poet

of children, many of his writings are intended for a young audience. Among these works are

Pomes de gosses et Proses denfants (1936), The Magic Lantern (1947), Mother Raspberry

(1969), and The Paper Mill (1973).

Carmes writings include more than eighty books, novels, short stories, fables and

essays, and poems, with a collection of poetry published almost every year from 1947 to 1975.

Some of his award-winning works include Mre (1935), which won the Prix Triennal de Posie,

and La maison blanche (1949), which won the Prix de lAcadmie Franaise. He succeeded Jean

Cocteau as Prince des Potes in Paris in 1972, and won several other prizes in Belgium and

abroad. He worked until the last day of his life, January 13, 1978. His home became the location

for his charity, The Maurice Carme Foundation, in 1975 as well as the Maurice Carme

Museum upon his death.10

Francis Poulenc

Francis Poulenc developed his compositional style during a time when Paris served as a

significant base of artistic development, producing modern advancements in literature, visual

arts, and music. The Post-Romantic tradition of Claude Debussy yielded in the early twentieth

century to the neoclassicism of Igor Stravinsky and the satire of Erik Satie. Collaborations

between writers such as Jean Cocteau, artists like Pablo Picasso, and choreographers such as

Sergei Diaghilev brought a sense of novelty to this cultural center. Within this innovative

atmosphere, Poulenc incorporated elements of all these influences to create his own distinctive

musical language.

9
Jacques Charles, Maurice Carme (Paris: Pierre Seghers, 1965), 29.
10
Jean Boase-Beier, ed., Defying Fate, by Maurice Carme, 147.

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 Poulencs oft-noted dual personality of piety mixed with hedonism can be traced to his

childhood. He was born in Paris on January 7 of the same year as Maurice Carme, 1899. His

father, mile, a strictly religious Catholic from the south of France, gave him the serious, devout

side of his personality. The other side came from his mother, Jenny Royer, a Paris native who

held independent views and a strong love of the arts.11 She exposed him to such diverse

composers as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frdric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franois

Couperin, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Stravinsky, and Arnold Schoenberg.12 An

accomplished amateur pianist, Royer began teaching her young son the piano at the age of four.

Poulenc spent countless hours at the piano, working to develop his own technique and has said,

When I recall my childhood I see myself always sitting at a piano.13

Poulencs early exposure to the music hall and cabaret scene of Paris greatly influenced

his compositional style. His propensity for diatonicism and lyrical melodies likely resulted from

this light music that he so frequently heard early in his life.14 His mother encouraged him to keep

an open mind to every kind of music, particularly to works by contemporary composers and

those who would follow.15 Poulenc spent his childhood summers in the nearby village of

Nogent-sur-Marne, fondly describing it as, paradise to me, with its open-air dance halls, its

French-fry vendors, and its bals musettes. . . . The bad-boy side of my music, you see, is not

artificial as is often believed, because it is associated with my very dear childhood memories.16

Poulenc used musical allusions of the popular waltzes and dance-hall tunes he heard in childhood

11
Gloria Shafer, Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle as a Musical Genre with Four Case Studies and an
Original Cycle, (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989), 42.
12
Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc, Oxford Studies of Composers (New York: Oxford University Press,
2003), xi.
13
Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs, trans. Winifred Radford (New York: W. W.
Norton, 1977), 22.
14
Keith Daniel, Francis Poulenc: His Artistic Development and Musical Style (Ann Arbor: UMI Research
Press, 1982), 17.
15
Ibid., 2.
16
Francis Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand (Paris: R. Julliard, 1954), 1718.

114
in order to create a carefree or nostalgic mood. This style complemented Carmes playful poetry

to create a fittingly impetuous-sounding cycle in La courte paille.

In the context of contemporary experimentalist composers, Poulencs music remains

fairly conservative, yet individual enough to be recognized after hearing the first several

measures. 17 He did not follow the paths of serialism and atonality, choosing instead to deepen

and distill his own personal style.18 As longtime collaborator Pierre Bernac described, His

harmonies perhaps belonged to everyone, but he used them as no one else.19 Rich harmonies

including seventh, ninth, and thirteenth chords often remain unresolved, serving as consonant

chords, much like Ravels music. His melodies, constructed in smooth lines of step-wise and

triadic motion, have a sense of tunefulness and lyricism influenced by the popular music of Paris.

Strong Neo-Classical trends affect Poulencs accompaniments, often consisting of Alberti bass

figures, arpeggios, triadic chords, and scalar passages. Poulenc organizes most of his music into

standard forms consisting of short phrases either repeated in new keys or contrasting with

another motive, linked by subtle key shifts.20 Once he had composed music for a line of a poem,

he never transposed the key in order to make his task easier, because of the potential negative

effects on the poetry. This resulted in numerous and inventive modulations, often with little or no

preparation, that Poulenc described as passing at times through a mouse hole.21 Frequent meter

changes facilitate a flexible musical style corresponding to every passing change in mood,

uniquely responding to the demands of the texts of his vocal music.

17
Kirk A. Severtson, Poulencs Development as a Piano Composer: A Comparison of the Solo Piano
Works and the Mlodies (DMA thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2005), 12.
18
Daniel, 98.
19
Bernac, Francis Poulenc, 50.
20
Elizabeth Nolan, The Mlodies of Francis Poulenc: A Selective Musico-literary Study (MA thesis,
Dublin Institute of Technology, 1998), 2324.
21
Francis Poulenc, Diary of my Songs, trans. Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, 1985), 87.

115
 Poulenc wrote a significant portion of his music for the voice, including choral and

operatic works, as well as 152 mlodies, or art songs. Nothing affected Poulencs song-writing

more than his twenty-five year recital partnership with baritone Pierre Bernac. In 1935 Poulenc

and Bernac formed their collaboration, after which Poulenc composed two-thirds of his total

output of songs.22 Poulenc in fact claimed that everything he knew about songs came from

accompanying Bernac, stating,

All of the evolution that took place in my mlodies was due to Bernac. Just as
Vies had revealed to me certain secrets of pianistic writing, Bernac showed me
the possibilities of singing, and since singing is my greatest love, I need say no
more as proof of my happiness during these years of collaboration.23

Bernac returned the compliment, lauding Poulencs exceptional sense of French declamation, his

incredible ease in modulating from one key to another, his gift for melody, and the luminosity

given to previously hidden meanings in his texts. He felt that Poulenc gave the best of himself

in his vocal music, and believed that in these works Poulenc is most likely to confront

successfully the test of time.24

Along with the care he took in composing individual songs, Poulenc paid great attention

to the ordering of songs within a cycle. He arranged each song so that it contrasted well with the

next in the same way a painter displays his artwork, stating, It is all a question of the hanging,

as essential in music as in painting.25 This led to a tendency in his song cycles to order his songs

slow-fast-slow, calling the swift scherzo-like movements which lead in and out of more lyrical

numbers trampoline songs.26 Poulenc uses this format to organize La courte paille, giving a

22
Carl B. Schmidt, Entrancing Muse: A Documented Biography of Francis Poulenc (Hillsdale, NY:
Pendragon Press, 2001), 182.
23
Poulenc, quoted in Daniel, Francis Poulenc, 37.
24
Bernac, Francis Poulenc, 38.
25
Poulenc, Diary of My Songs, 79.
26
Graham Johnson, A French Song Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 353.

116
sense of variety to the cycle by illuminating different emotional aspects and the two possible

modes of communicating with children.

Poulencs love of the voice matched his love of great poetry, which developed during his

teenage years when he formed lasting associations with several avant-garde poets who gathered

at a famous Parisian bookstore. Among these were James Joyce, Max Jacob, Guillaume

Apollinaire, and Paul luard.27 In his songwriting, Poulenc preferred to set texts by such

contemporary poets, paying careful attention to the prosody, mood, and tone of his musical

settings, which were always rooted in an intimate understanding of the poetry.28 Poulenc

described his compositional method as follows:

When I have chosen a poem, the musical realization of which often does not
follow until months later, I examine it from all angles. . . . I listen to it, I look for
traps, I sometimes underline the difficult parts of the text. I note the pauses. I try
to discover the internal rhythm through a line which is not necessarily the first.
Then I try setting it to music, bearing in mind the different densities of the piano
accompaniment.29

The poets themselves praised his musical settings for maintaining the integrity of the text,

calling him the poets musician for his music that often lent a new clarity and significance to

their sometimes obscure and elusive modern verses.30

Poulenc composed music with childrens themes throughout his career. The lesser-known

song cycle Quatre chansons pour enfants (1934) uses a lively, music-hall vocabulary to depict a

boisterous group of greedy daughters who reject a series of elaborate Christmas gifts in favor of

une petite soeur (a little sister) and later deux soeurs exactement pareilles (two identical

27
Schmidt, 2627.
28
Severtson, 2.
29
Daniel, Poulenc, 249 (emphasis original).
30
Nolan, 19.

117
sisters).31 The inspiration for another work with childrens themes, LHistoire de Babar, le petit

elephant (1945), came from Poulencs piano improvisations during a reading of the popular

childrens story, at the request of his young niece, much like Ravels Ma mere loye (Mother

Goose).32 Babar involves piano and speaker in the manner of Sergei Prokofievs Peter and the

Wolf, but with a much funnier and more unpredictable text, according to Poulenc.33 Though

mostly consisting of comical illustrations of the words, the music is at once touching and

entertaining, in a style anticipating Poulencs last set of childrens songs, La courte paille.

Poulenc created La courte paille, his final song cycle before his death, in 1963. He was

drawn to the direct imagery and accessibility of Carmes texts, especially after spending

decades setting the esoteric poetry of Apollinaire and luard.34 Poulenc chose seven whimsical

poems from two collections of Carmes poetry, La cage aux grillons (The Crickets Cage) and

Le voleur detincelles (The Thief of Brightness), and asked the poet to provide an overall title for

the cycle. Carmes choice of La courte paille, meaning The Short Straw, refers to the

childrens game of drawing straws. According to Poulenc, As for the title, La courte paille

symbolizes my little musical game exactly.35 Poulenc does not clarify what he means by a

musical game, but this description certainly epitomizes the childlike, fun-loving, capricious

quality of the cycle.

Poulenc dedicated the cycle to his close friend and longtime colleague, soprano Denise

Duval. Of the many women who influenced Poulenc during his career, none had more significant

impact than she. Inspired by her voice, Poulenc wrote several major works for her. She sang the

31
Keith E. Clifton, Beyond Childhood: Poulenc, La courte paille, and the Aural Envelope, College Music
Symposium 49 (2009): 33435.
32
Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: University Press, 2003), 173.
33
Poulenc, quoted in Schmidt, 312.
34
Clifton, 33536.
35
Poulenc, quoted in Schmidt, 442.

118
role of Thrse in the Apollinaire farce Les mamelles de Tirsias (The Breasts of Tirsias), as

well as Blanche in Dialogues des Carmlites and Elle in the one-act monologue opera La voix

humaine.36 Poulenc referred to her as his ideal muse and the adorable one.37 After Bernacs

retirement, Poulenc accompanied Duval on many concert tours throughout Europe and the

United States.38 He hoped for her to sing the songs of La courte paille to her six-year-old son,

and intended for her to premiere the cycle during a concert tour of Italy. To his surprise, Duval

disliked the cycle and never performed it in its entirety. Instead, Colette Herzog and Jacques

Fvrier gave the premiere at the 1961 Royaumont Festival.39

Analysis of La courte paille

La courte paille incorporates images of childhood from adults perspective. The cycle

does not tell a narrative story; rather it consists of seven songs a mother sings to her child. Even

without a narrative quality, the songs may be properly considered a cycle due to the careful

alternation of slow and fast tempos and the similarity between the first and last songs.40 The

poetry sometimes conforms to Sharps second Route of Musical Experience by retaining a mode

of adulthood to relate to a child, while at other times it assumes a more childlike manner in

relating to the child, corresponding to the first Route of Musical Experience. Sometimes the

mother sings to soothe the child to sleep or dreamily muses on his future, while at other times

she relates funny or magical stories and fairy tales. In the odd-numbered songs, when the mother

relates to her child in an adult manner, the texts still contain vivid and magical images, but they

36
Clifton, 335.
37
Francis Poulenc, Francis Poulenc, Echo and Source: Selected Correspondence, 19151963, ed. Sidney
Buckland (London: Victor Gollancz, 1991), 303.
38
Susan Joanne Musselman, Cohesion of Composer and Singer: The Female Singers of Poulenc (DMA
document, Ohio State University, 2007), 47.
39
Poulenc Diary of My Songs, 148.
40
Severtson, 143.

119
are presented in a relatively subdued and sophisticated manner. The soothing, lyrical musical

settings reflect this more adult-like mode of communication and storytelling. When she relates to

the child in a childlike manner in the even-numbered songs, her texts include more nonsense

words and ridiculous concepts, and the musical setting parallels this more whimsical, energetic,

silly, childlike tone.

The first and last songs of this cycle use the mode of communication of an adult

addressing a child in an adult manner with comparable themes and settings, both expressing the

musings of a mother on a sleepless moonlit night. Le sommeil (Sleep) opens the set with a

depiction of a mother who has been rocking her crying and presumably ill son all evening, trying

to coax him to sleep. The text alternates between anxious thoughts from the parent unable to

calm the child, and childlike imagery describing nocturnal elements of nature.

Le sommeil est un voyage, Sleep has gone off on a journey. 41

Mon Dieu! O est-il parti? Gracious me! Where can it have got to?
Jai beau bercer mon petit; I have rocked my little one in vain;
Il pleure dans son lit-cage, He is crying in his cot,
Il pleure depuis midi. He has been crying ever since noon.

O le sommeil a-t-il mis Where has sleep put

Son sable et ses rves sages? Its sand and its gentle dreams?
Jai beau bercer mon petit; I have rocked my little one in vain,
Il se tourney tout en nage, He tosses and turns, perspiring,
Il sanglote dans son lit. He sobs in his bed.

Ah! Reviens, reviens, sommeil,
Sur ton beau cheval de course!
Dans le ciel noir, la Grande Ourse
A enterre le soleil
Et rallum ses abeilles.
Ah! Come back, come back, sleep,
On your beautiful race horse!
In the dark sky, the Great Bear42
Has buried the sun
And rekindled his bees. 43

Si lenfant ne dort pas bien, If baby does not sleep well,

Il ne dira pas bonjour, He will not say, good day,
Il ne dira rien demain He will have nothing to say

41
The translations are from Bernacs Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs.
42
i.e., Ursa Major.
43
i.e., The Milky Way.

120
 A ses doigts, au lait, au pain To his fingers, to the milk, to the bread
Qui laccueillent dans le jour. That greet him in the morning.

Poulenc paints this familiar scenario with a dreamlike ostinato pattern in the bass, bathed

in pedal, imitating the act of rocking. Combined with the low dynamic and hypnotic vocal line

staying mostly within the range of a fifth, this ostinato creates a soothing mood reminiscent of a

lullaby. The recurring syncopations in the piano and chromatic movement in the voice line hint

at the childs restlessness, while the rocking motion in mm. 3, 78 and 1113 illustrate the

mothers continued attempts to calm him. The mothers plea for sleep to return in mm. 1115

rises to forte, showing her exasperation at her situation. The last six measures change meter

twice, producing the loss of a sense of time; a phenomenon that might occur after staying awake

all night. The song closes on an ambiguous g7 sonority, suggesting that the child has hopefully,

finally fallen asleep. Bernac suggests that Le sommeil, should be interpreted with rather great

simplicity, and all the tenderness (a little anxious) of a young mother who does not know how to

get her baby to sleep.44 Poulencs musical setting generates a soothing, calm, ethereal

atmosphere, perfect for a mother relating to a child in an adult-like manner.

The next song, Quelle aventure (What Goings-on!), as well as the other even-

numbered songs are considered trampoline songs, with their more fanciful and animated tone.

The poetic voice is clearly that of a child, but Quelle aventure can be interpreted as a mother

telling a preposterous bedtime story of a child who swears he witnessed some astonishing events,

but worries that his mother will never believe his tale. The poems absurdity, bordering on the

surreal, imitates a childs manner of communication, and surely appeals to the child listening to

the story.

Une puce, dans sa voiture, A flea, in its carriage,

Tirait un petit lphant Was pulling a little elephant along
44
Bernac, Francis Poulenc, 164.

121
 En regardant les devantures Gazing at the shop windows
O scintillaient les diamants. Where diamonds were sparkling.

Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Good gracious! Good gracious!

Quelle aventure! What goings-on!
Qui va me croire, sil mentend? Who will believe me, if I tell them?

Llphanteau, dun air absent, The little elephant was absent-mindedly

Suait un pot de confiture. Sucking a pot of jam,
Mais la puce nen avait cure, But the flea took no notice,
Elle tirait en souriant. And went on pulling with a smile.

Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Good gracious! Good gracious!

Que cela dure If this goes on
Et je vais me croire dment! I shall really think I am mad!

Soudain, le long dune clture, Suddenly, along by a fence,

La puce fondit dans le vent The flea disappeared in the wind,
Et je vis le jeune lphant And I saw the young elephant
Se sauver en fendant les murs. Make off, breaking through the walls.

Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu! Good gracious! Good gracious!

La chose est sure, It is perfectly true,
Mais comment la dire a maman? But how shall I tell Mummy?

Marked trs vite with a quarter note equaling 132, this song emulates the mothers

effusive narration, illustrating the altered, more childlike manner of speech that she uses to

entertain her son. With its lightning-fast syllabic text declamation, this mlodie serves as a good

example of Poulencs patter songs.45 The loud dynamics and accented textures contribute to

the excited delivery of text. The melodic line consists of mock-serious chromaticism combined

with exaggerated vocal leaps of an octave on the words Mon Dieu! as the protagonist in the

story wonders aloud who will believe such nonsense.

The third song, La reine de coeur (The Queen of Hearts) describes a darker

dimension of childhood fantasy, perhaps more appropriate for a parent relating scary ghost

stories to a child around a campfire. In the poem, a fairy-tale queen, described by Benjamin Ivry

45
Daniel, 251. Daniel divides Poulencs music into six broad categories, including prayer-like songs,
tender, lyrical songs, and dramatic songs.

122
as an ice maiden as dangerous as Schuberts Erlknig,46 regally beckons to the child as she

presides over a court of lovers, including the young dead. This enigmatic, more mature poem,

replete with ominous and somewhat sinister sentiments, demonstrates that though Carmes style

might appear simple, the same is not necessarily true of his subject matter.47 The complex

imagery in this poem fits the mode of communication of an adult retaining a mode of adulthood

to relate to a child.

Mollement accoude Gently leaning on her elbow

A ses vitres de lune, At her moon windows,
La reine vous salue The queen waves to you
Dune fleur damandier. With the flower of the almond tree.

Cest la reine de coeur. She is the queen of hearts.

Elle peut, sil lui plat, She can, if she wishes,
Vous mener en secret Lead you in secret
Vers dtranges demeures To strange dwellings

O il nest plus de portes, Where there are no more doors,

De salles ni de tours No rooms nor towers,
Et o les jeunes mortes And where the young who are dead
Viennent parler damour. Come to speak of love.

La reine vous salue; The queen waves to you,

Htez-vous de la suivre Hasten to follow her
Dans son chteau de givre Into the castle of the hoar-frost
Aux doux vitraux de lune. With the lovely moon windows.

Poulenc returns to the reflective tone of the first song (Le sommeil) as he sets the

mystical images of the queen in her castle of hoar-frost with the lovely moon windows with

alternating 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 meters, creating a dreamy, otherworldly waltz. Liquid, legato vocal

lines and rich harmonies featuring seventh and ninth chords create a mysterious, haunting

depiction of this menacing queen. The smoothly arching legato melody gently ascends in m. 5

46
Benjamin Ivry, Francis Poulenc (London: Phaidon Press, 1996), 212.
47
Sorrell, 16.

123
like a wave of a courtly hand.48 Beginning and ending pianissimo, the song grows to forte in

m. 6, yet never disrupts the calm, steady triplets embodying the magical feeling of the text. The

E Minor tonality contains few chromatic alterations, and then seamlessly shifts to the parallel

major in the final measure with the addition of a Picardy third. Mellers likens this striking

gesture to the sudden appearance of the Queens shining castle,49 perhaps adding a hint of a

happy ending to this cryptic fairy tale.

The next song, Ba, be, bi, bo, bu, returns to the mother entertaining her child in a

childlike manner by telling a silly story involving Puss-in-Boots, a well-known fairy-tale

character. The cat chooses not to focus on his studies, electing instead to play, dance, and sing.

The poetry incorporates a rhyme familiar to French school children, teaching them a series of

words that make their plural with x instead of s. The mothers use of the nonsense words, ba,

be, bi, bo, bu, b and rikketikketau mimics childrens wordplay games, with no added

meaning intended beyond the pleasure derived from their sounds.

Ba, be, bi, bo, bu, b! Ba, be, bi, bo, bu, be!
Le chat a mis ses botts, The cat has put on his boots;
Il va de porte en porte He goes from door to door,
Jouer, danser, danser, chanter. Playing dancing, singing.

Pou, chou, genou, hibou. Lice, cabbage, knee, owl. 50

Tu dois apprendre lire, You ought to learn to read,
A compter, crire, To count, to write,
Lui crie-t-on de partout. They cry to him on all sides.

Mais rikketikketau, But rikketikketau,

Le chat de sesclaffer The cat bursts out laughing,
En reentrant au chteau: And goes back to the castle:
Il est le Chat bott! He is Puss-in-Boots!

48
Mellers, 174.
49
Mellers, 174.
50
Words that form their plural with an x instead of an s.

124
 Lasting only about twenty-three seconds, the patter song Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu

breathlessly races by at a tempo marked follement vite (crazily fast), requiring little subtlety.

With a childlike setting much like Quelle aventure, the thrillingly, dangerously fast melodic

line predominantly consists of chromatic half steps punctuated by the occasional leap,

highlighting important words in the text. The majority of the song is played without pedal,

except for mm. 7 and 8 where adults are telling Puss-in-Boots that he must learn to read and

write. This slight change in delivery could be interpreted as the mother trying to make the child

laugh by imitating the authoritative way adults speak to children. The final revelation of Puss-in-

Boots identity occurs in accented chords over a cascading chromatic bass line, leading to an

abrupt conclusion, creating a comically scary effect in the way children treasure.51

Examining the next poem as if an adult were addressing a child in an adult manner

provides a possible interpretation of a mother pacifying a sullen child who cannot play outside in

wet weather. The mother placates the child with descriptions of the sweetness of rainfall, using

enchanting imagery in Les anges musicians (The Angel Musicians). She creates a surreal

portrait of visionary Thursday angels playing on their harps, while Mozart splashes in drops

of blue joy as the rain falls from the sky.

Sur les fils de la pluie, On the threads of the rain

Les anges du jeudi The Thursday angels52
Jouent longtemps de la harpe. Play all day upon the harp.

Et sous leurs doigts, Mozart And beneath their fingers, Mozart

Tinte, dlicieux, Tinkles, deliciously
En gouttes de joie bleue. In drops of blue joy.

Car cest toujours Mozart For it is always Mozart

Que reprennent sans fin That is repeated endlessly
Les anges musiciens By the angel musicians,

51
Mellers, 176.
52
Thursday is traditionally the school half-day holiday in France.

125
 Qui, au long du jeudi, Who, all day Thursday,
Font chanter sur la harpe Sing on their harps
La douceur de la pluie. The sweetness of the rain.

Using the neoclassical technique of quoting from Classical and Baroque works in

contemporary music, this song opens with a striking imitation of Mozart created by a quasi-

Alberti bass and diatonic legato melody. Poulenc had a special affinity for Mozart, stating, I

have a fondness for the melodic line, and I prefer Mozart to all other musicians.53 In fact, the

opening measures provide a near quotation of the second movement of Mozarts Piano Concerto

in D Minor, K. 466.54 This quotation does not last long, as the harmonies soon leave the realm of

Classical imitation and return to a twentieth-century style. The constant eighth-note rocking

motion perpetuates a mood of sweetness and childlike innocence. Perhaps Poulenc draws on his

own childhood memories of his mother playing Mozart on the piano to create this soothing

image in song. The piano postlude ends with a barely-audible E7 chord, simulating the ringing

sound of harps.

A fanciful story involving a cast of supernatural characters follows in Le carafon (The

Baby Carafe). An inanimate container possesses human-like qualities in this poem, as it

bemoans its childless state and yearns aloud for the companionship that living animals enjoy.

The inclusion of nonsensical and magical beings like the sorcerer riding on a phonograph and

legendary Merlin, along with clever wordplay associating carafes with giraffes (working

equally well in French and English) add to the merriment and childlike mode of communication

embodied by the text.

Pourquoi, se plaignait la carafe, Why, complained the carafe,

Naurais-je pas un carafon? should I not have a baby carafe?
Au zoo, madame la girafe At the zoo, Madame the giraffe--
Na-t-elle pas un girafon? Has she not a baby giraffe?

53
Poulenc, quoted in Schmidt, 197.
54
Clifton, 339.

126
 Un sorcier qui passait par l,
A cheval sur un phonographe,
Enregistra la belle voix
De soprano de la carafe
Et la fit entendre Merlin.
Fort bien, dit celui-ci, fort bien!
Il frappe trios fois dans les mains
Et la dame de la maison
Se demande encore pourquoi
Elle trouva, ce matin-l,
Un joli petit carafon
Blotti tout contre la carafe
Ainsi quau zoo, le girafon
Pose son cou fragile et long
Sur le flanc clair de la girafe.
A sorcerer who happened to be passing by
Astride a phonograph,
Recorded the lovely soprano voice
Of the carafe
And let Merlin hear it.
Very good, said he, very good!
He clapped his hands three times
And the lady of the house
Still asks herself why
She found, that very morning,
A pretty little baby carafe
Nestling close to the carafe
Just as in the zoo, the baby giraffe
Rests its long fragile neck
Against the pale flank of the giraffe

One can easily imagine a mother playfully reenacting this story in a childlike manner,

complete with accompanying gestures and facial expressions, to amuse her young child. Poulenc

sets this whimsical text with specific musical characterizations of the narrator, Merlin, and the

carafe by giving each of them distinct vocal ranges and styles in the manner of Schuberts

Erlknig. The carafes wailing cries consist of fast, prattling eighth notes and sixteenth notes in

an uncomfortably high tessitura. This contrasts with the lower, slower, and brusque declarations

by Merlin, sung in an almost parlando manner. The narrators voice follows the contours of the

story, including a humorous description of the carafes lovely soprano voice that can be

exaggerated to the point of parodying a bad opera singer. The characteristic fast tempo and rapid

text delivery of this trampoline song combines with numerous sudden harmonic shifts and

successions of ostinato patterns to carry the intricately unfolding narrative. The last eleven

measures descend to a pianissimo dynamic, the sweet and tender ending preparing the listener

for the final lyrical song of the cycle.

Poulencs instruction for a very long silence before Lune davril (April Moon)

indicates the importance he placed on the final song of the cycle. The poem uses the mode of

127
communication of an adult addressing a child in an adult manner similar to the opening setting in

which a mother ponders during a sleepless night. It differs from the previous six songs, however,

because of its surrealistic images and oblique references to war and desolation. The narrator can

only dream of a country that is once again bright and sunny, complete with a peach tree with a

heart of saffron and fish that laugh like sleet. Evidently, these fantastical descriptions of her

country do not belong to the mothers reality, for she alludes to the current devastation with

references to the dead, and she hopes for a future where they have destroyed all the guns. The

mother looks toward the childs future with a mixture of apprehension and hope, nostalgia and

optimism.

Both Carme and Poulenc were greatly affected by witnessing the results of the violence

of two world wars. Martin Sorrell describes Carme as a gentle man who was never required to

fight a war, yet he was gripped by feelings and premonitions of waste, desolation, and even

violence.55 Poulenc belonged to a group of French musicians who actively participated in the

resistance efforts of World War II through various compositions and performances.56 Upon

visiting his childhood summer retreat of Nogent-sur-Marne in 1943, Poulenc discovered it

devoid of the dance halls and other pleasures of his youth. The themes of tragedy, loss, and

cautious hope for the future pervade the final song of this cycle.

Lune,
Belle lune, lune dAvril,
Faites-moi voir en mon dormant
Le pcher au coeur de safran,
Le poisson qui rit du grsil,
Loiseau qui, lointain comme un cor,
Doucement rveille les morts
Et surtout, surtout le pays
O il fait joie, O il fait clair,
O soleilleux de primevres,
Moon,
Beautiful moon, April moon,
Let me see in my sleep
The peach tree with the saffron heart,
The fish who laughs at the sleet,
The bird who, distant as a hunting horn,
Gently wakens the dead
And above all, above all, the land
Where there is joy, where it is light,
Where sunny with primroses,

55
Sorrell, 16.
56
Schmidt, 302.

128
 On a bris tous les fusils. All the guns have been destroyed.
Lune, belle lune, lune davril Beautiful moon, April moon,
Lune. Moon.

Carmes message in his poetry does not sink into melancholy, despair, or sermonizing,

however; as Sorrell explains, What he says may be disturbing, but the way in which he says it

remains well-mannered.57

Poulencs setting of Lune davril with its similar dynamics, tempo, color, and tonalities

as Le sommeil, creates a musically unifying architecture to the cycle that complements

Carmes recurring poetic themes. The slow tempo and repeated, syncopated c1 pedal in the

opening seven measures of the piano accompaniment unfold nearly identically to the first song,

creating an ethereal atmosphere for this invocation to the moon. That static pedal point,

combined with a soft, prayer-like, restrained vocal line evokes a sense of time standing still

during this mothers reverie. Her emotions build in pitch and dynamics to a fortissimo climax at

mm. 1620 as she imagines a world full of joy and brightness, then descends an octave to a

pianissimo delivery of the most important line of text, they have destroyed all the guns. The

vocal line finishes with an exact restatement of the opening four measures, replicating the chant-

like character. The piano postlude extends the c1 pedal for eight more measures at a whispering

pppp marking, prolonging the ethereal stillness of the music into the night. The final C7 chord is

described by Mellers as one that suspends the child in time, waiting for ensuing lifeand for

inevitable death.58

Analyzed through the lens of a mother addressing her son, La courte paille encapsulates

the wide range of feelings and attitudes that adults may adopt in their communication with

children. Poulencs choice of alternating lyrical songs employing a mode of adulthood with more

57
Sorrell, 17.
58
Mellers, 178.

129
spirited settings using a mode of childhood offers a kaleidoscope of images and themes

correlating with the interactions betweens adults and children. The adult-like songs retain a sense

of sophistication and intrigue while the childlike numbers incorporate absurdity and silliness.

The cycle begins with a sense of worry, concern, and despondency in caring for a sick child. The

next five songs embody juvenile entertainment, mysterious peril, and soothing placation,

oscillating between child-like and adult-like manners of expression, yet all with fanciful concepts

and tones appropriate for childrens stories. The last song explores the mothers reflections on

the current violent state of the world and her hopes for a better future for her child. Considering

the importance of this final song, the entire cycle could be interpreted as a prayer for peace. The

mother desires to preserve the innocence of her child through telling silly stories and relating

magical tales, while hoping for a better future than the one that currently exists.

For Performers

These seven songs have been dismissed by critics as neurotic cradle songs that

communicate lax abandonment or edgy nervousness,59 or as merely simple, childlike

songs,60 but if interpreted well, they have the capacity to entertain and affect all who experience

them. Poulenc gives valuable wisdom in his Diary of My Songs, stating, These sketches, by

turns sad or mischievous, are unpretentious. They should be sung tenderly. That is the surest way

to touch the heart of a child.61 Singing all of the songs as if to a child will help in creating

appropriate energy and mannerisms in the performers.

Performers bear the responsibility of portraying the poetry and music in the way Poulenc

intended. Emulating his method of composition, singers and pianists should realize that a cycle

59
Ivry, 212.
60
Daniel, 250.
61
Poulenc, Diary of My Songs, 109.

130
by Poulenc is always a poetic event before being a musical piece. They can accurately decipher

this music only after achieving a detailed understanding of the text. They should follow

Poulencs clear instructions regarding mood, tempo, and lack of rubato. The adult-like, lyrical

songs demand a wide range of vocal timbres to convey various emotional states, including

frustration, mystical storytelling, and reminiscing. Performers need to resist the temptation to

become over-indulgent on last song, however, as the French style requires slightly reserved

emotions, with reason and intellect at the forefront. The trampoline songs have a playful, silly

tone, full of childlike mischief and energy. Despite their rapid tempi, singers must take care to

make all of the words understood. This can be accomplished with percussive diction, and clear

contrasts between dynamics, as well as variation between rhythmic phrases and melodic ones.

The singer and pianist can also experiment with varied inflections, especially when portraying

the three voices in Le carafon. By maintaining the consistent perspective of an adult

addressing a child, alternating between mode of adulthood and retaining a assuming a mode of

childhood, the performers can effectively interpret all of the emotional nuances and technical

details involved in this mode of communication.

A Charm of Lullabies

Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies also examines the diversity of interplay

between adults and children, specifically within the context of helping children fall asleep. As

the title indicates, all of the songs in this cycle are some sort of lullaby. With poetry written from

the point of view of an adult singing to a child, they fit Sharps second Route of Musical

Experience, in which adults retain a mode of adulthood to relate to children. Musicologist Walter

131
Bernhart classifies this cycle as a loose cycle with a weak form of coherence,62 but the fact that

the songs are all lullabies with the same inherent mode of communication gives the cycle a great

sense of unity. The texts for these songs come from five different British poets who lived from

the Elizabethan to the Romantic era. Specific concepts recur in the poetry, such as calming or

soothing, expressions of love and concern for the childs safety, preserving the childs innocent

state, and thoughts about the childs future. Their musical settings enhance these returning

themes, while simultaneously highlighting the unique aspects of each poem.

Benjamin Britten

Born in 1913, Benjamin Britten began his musical studies amidst a renaissance of English

music initiated by the previous generation of composers. Edward Elgar helped to establish a new

English tradition of large-scale works such as symphonies and concertos, while composers such

as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst promoted folk music in modern composition. A

renewed interest in English music of the past led to revivals of Purcells stage works, especially

The Fairy Queen, as well as performances of John Gays The Beggars Opera. Without merely

imitating the styles of former composers, Britten integrated elements of English nationalism in

his music. Musicologist Christopher Headington summarizes, Britten, as his whole work

demonstrates, was national without being nationalist in the folk-oriented way of Vaughan

Williams in England, Falla in Spain or even Gershwin in America. His music is English in the

same way as that of Bach and Beethoven is German. 63 Establishing a modern, individual style

62
Walter Bernhart, Three Types of Song Cycles: The Variety in Brittens Charms, in Word and Music
Studies: Essays on the Song Cycle and Defining the Field, ed. Walter Bernhart and Werner Wolf (Atlanta: Rodopi,
2001), 216.
63
Christopher Headington, Britten (London: Eyre Methuen, 1981), 75.

132
based in English tradition, Britten became one of the most celebrated British musicians since

Purcell.

Brittens musical language assimilated certain European styles along with his English

nationalism. While he respected the musical genius and inventiveness of Schoenberg and Berg,

Britten chose not to follow their methods. He esteemed the lucid technique of Mozart and the

warm compassion of Schubert. He admired Stravinskys clear-cut style and the harmonic

richness of Wagner and Mahler. Incorporating all of these influences, Britten remained

connected to conventions of the past, while attaining a characteristic style of his own.64 Britten

also adopted the musical trait of clarity from his early composition teachers, Frank Bridge, John

Ireland, and Arthur Benjamin, resulting in a higher level of accessibility to audiences than most

contemporary composers.65 This ability to connect to audiences through a musical medium that

combined technical brilliance, freshness of outlook and clarity, while seeming both national and

cosmopolitan, brought him success both at home and abroad.66 This uncomplicated style

illuminates poetry spanning more than three centuries of English literary tradition in A Charm of

Lullabies, with distinctive musical settings for the different attitudes and emotions of each poem.

Britten possessed a keen sensitivity to the relationship between words and music that led

him to write more than half of his entire output for the voice. Aaron Copland remarked that

Britten had an outstanding gift for vocal musicknowing well how to write for voice and

voices in combination, and that his music had a decided singing quality.67 Biographer Eric

Walter White attests that unlike some composers, Britten did not feel inhibited by words, but

64
Lennox Berkeley, The Light Music, in Benjamin Britten: A Commentary on His Works From a Group
of Specialists, ed. Donald Mitchell and Hans Keller (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972), 287.
65
Percy Young, Britten, Masters of Music (New York: David White, 1966), 9.
66
Ibid., 55.
67
Aaron Copland, quoted in Phillip Ramey, Benjamin Britten: November 22, 1913December 4, 1976
Opera News 41 (February 5, 1977): 3637.

133
could assess the different values of the syllable, the word, and the idea behind the word, giving

them a musical gravity of their own.68

During his extensive studies of Purcells vocal compositions, Britten discovered, Purcell

is a great master at handling the English language in song and I learned much from him.69 Like

Purcell, Britten preferred declamatory vocal lines over the lyrical Italian bel canto style, and

utilized techniques such as word painting, contrapuntal devices, ostinato and canonic imitation.

He combined these Baroque elements with modern features such as quartal harmonies, chord

clusters, sparse textures influenced by Stravinsky, as well as free use of all twelve tones to create

a thoroughly contemporary style.70 Lifelong companion and musical collaborator Peter Pears

summed up Brittens vocal style:

Britten has never claimed to be an innovator; the generation of revolutionaries

was the previous one to his. . . . He learnt that as a result of the explosions in the
musical world of the first decades of this century, the younger composer had to
build his own tradition. In endeavouring to do this, Britten has gone to the purest
stream of modern music. Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert,
Verdi and, of later figures, Mahler, Berg and Stravinskyfrom all these he has
learnt much in his search for the classic virtues of a controlled passion and the
bounding line. But if Britten is right, and he has made no actual innovations,
there blows in his vocal music at least (and that is all that concerns us here) a
strong revitalizing south-east wind which has rid English song of much
accumulated dust and cobwebs, and has renewed the vigor of the sung word with
Purcellian attack. If Britten is no innovator, he is most certainly a renovator, and
having thus cleansed his house, he has a right to feel at home in it.71

Brittens renovations of English vocal music have resulted in some of the most celebrated

English art song and opera compositions of the twentieth century.

68
Eric Walter White, Benjamin Britten: His Life and Operas (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1970), 9091.
69
Headington, 40.
70
George Richard Tibbetts, An Analysis of the Text-Music Relationship in Selected Songs of Benjamin
Britten and its Implications for the Interpretation of His Solo Song Literature, (EdD diss., Columbia University,
1984), 134.
71
Peter Pears, The Vocal Music, in Benjamin Britten: A Commentary on His Works From a Group of
Specialists, ed. Donald Mitchell and Hans Keller (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972), 73.

134
 Brittens musical output, particularly his vocal music, was heavily influenced by his

childhood. With the exception of a few years spent in the United States during World War II,

Britten lived the majority of his life in the same area of England where he grew up. Biographer

David Matthews notes, Staying near to where he was born helped him maintain contact with the

childhood world to which he so often returned in his music.72 Britten was the youngest of four

children born to Robert, a dentist, and Edith, an amateur singer and member of the local choral

society. His mother played the piano and sang songs by composers such as Schubert and Roger

Quilter at home. Britten suffered from poor health, including a congenital heart condition (that

ultimately resulted in his premature death) and severe pneumonia at the age of three months. He

did not sleep well as a child, often relying on his mothers mezzo-soprano voice to sing him to

sleep. According to Matthews,

It is almost impossible to exaggerate the importance of this archetypal maternal

practice to Brittens psyche and his later artistic development. Brittens unease
with the outside world was extreme and his music reveals it: his world is a place
of danger and often of terror, where innocence is readily corrupted. There can be
temporary reassurance in beauty and in love, but sleep is the only sure place
where security and trust may be regained. The image of sleep as a refuge is
something that Britten returns to again and again in his music: in the Serenade,
the Nocturne, the War Requiem.73

One could easily add A Charm of Lullabies to the above list of compositions, as its subject

embodies images of a mother singing a child to the safety and security of sleep.

The themes of both the preservation and the corruption of innocence pervade A Charm of

Lullabies, as well as the majority of Brittens musical output, prompting many to explore the

extent to which his own childhood experiences may be represented in his music. Comments

72
David Matthews, Britten (London: Haus Publishing, 2003), 1.
73
Ibid., 4.

135
made by Britten regarding being raped by a school teacher,74 as well as vague references to

traumatic sexual experiences in his childhood,75 have led some to conclude that operas such as

Peter Grimes, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice were based on autobiographical

events. Donald Mitchell, Brittens publisher for the last twelve years of his life, responds to these

theories as follows:

Was Ben fantasizing, perhaps? We shall never know, I guess; never know what
he meant by rape, if he used the word. . . . The greatest danger in all this, it
seems to me, would be to build some enormous superstructure of speculation on
such a flimsy basis. We should certainly take note of it, but it would be wise not
to throw caution to the winds, above all to desist from thinkingeven if the
rape proved to be well foundedthat it would provide us with a key to, a
readymade explanation of, the music. It doesnt.76

An interviewer from The Guardian asked Britten about his preoccupation with innocence

outraged.77 Britten admitted this fascination must exist because so many people had mentioned

it. The interviewer clarified Brittens response, stating, [Britten] is never aware of himself

thinking, Heres a nice story about innocence destroyed again, but he supposes he does have an

instinctive tug towards it.78 Clearly Britten was drawn to texts with themes of childhood and

lost innocence, whether inspired by his own experiences or not.

Britten loved being in the company of children, becoming so like a little boy79 when he

was among them. This preference for entering into their realm as opposed to remaining in his

adult world led Britten to write many compositions for their education and performance.

Violinist Yehudi Menuhin remarked on Brittens eternal youthfulness, saying, There was

something extremely boyish about him. It accounts for his identification with young people and

74
Eric Crozier, quoted in Humphrey Carpenter, Benjamin Britten: A Biography (New York: Charles
Scribners Sons, 1992), 20.
75
Beata Mayer, quoted in Carpenter, 20.
76
Donald Mitchell, quoted in Carpenter, 23.
77
Unidentified reporter, Guardian, June 7, 1971, quoted in Carpenter, 534.
78
Ibid.
79
Briony Duncan, quoted in Carpenter, 343.

136
for how much of his work was written for children.80 Singer Nancy Evans felt that this ability to

empathize with children manifested itself in his music: He sensed ways in which they could do

things which other composers would think were too difficult for them, because he could fit into

their mentality and their spirit. It was a sort of Peter Pan thing.81 Brittens music assistant

Imogen Holst believed Britten treated his childrens music with the same care he reserved for his

other compositions, never falling into the error of writing for children as if their language were

different from his own.82 One of Brittens most famous works for children was the educational

film teaching about the instruments of the symphony, entitled The Young Persons Guide to the

Orchestra, created in 1946 with librettist Eric Crozier. This collaboration with Crozier led to

other young persons pieces. His opera Albert Herring, the cantata Saint Nicolas and the opera

The Little Sweep all have roles for children and librettos by Crozier.83

Brittens professional relationship with Crozier also resulted in the composition of A

Charm of Lullabies. Crozier and Britten worked together in Brittens newly formed

Glyndebourne English Opera Company at the end of World War II. When the companys

production of The Rape of Lucretia was being staged in Holland in 1947, one of the two

Lucretias was Nancy Evans, who later became Croziers wife. Evans was invited to return to

Holland for a recital tour in January of 1948, and Britten offered to write some songs for her to

include in her recital program. Britten found the texts for the cycle in an anthology edited by F.

E. Budd, A Book of Lullabies 13001900, a volume that might have been purchased while

80
Yehudi Menuhin, quoted in Headington, 148.
81
Nancy Evans, quoted in Carptenter, 343.
82
Imogen Holst, Britten and the Young, in Benjamin Britten: A Commentary on His Works From a
Group of Specialists, ed. Donald Mitchell and Hans Keller (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972), 279.
83
Headington, 83.

137
Britten and Crozier were in Dublin.84 He titled the cycle A Charm of Lullabies, with the word

charm, meaning a collective noun for a flight of goldfinches.85

Analysis of A Charm of Lullabies

This cycle of five songs incorporates lullabies by William Blake, Robert Burns, Robert

Greene, Thomas Randolph, and John Philip, British poets spanning the Renaissance to the

Romantic era. Britten enjoyed setting poetry from different time periods, as evidenced by his

cycles of Renaissance sonnets by Michelangelo and John Donne, Romantic poetry of Arthur

Rimbaud, and contemporary poetry by Walter de la Mare and W. H. Auden. Each song has a

different tone or character, but they are all connected by virtue of being lullabies.

Finding five lullabies sufficiently contrasting in mood and style to keep the audience alert

and interested presented quite a challenge for Britten, and setting them with correspondingly

interesting music produced its own difficulties. Pears reasons, If this is not such an impressive

cycle as the others, it is at least partly due to the subject matter. Love and Death may easily be

viewed from different angles, but a lullaby isa lullaby, sonst nichts or almost nichts.86 Budd

has a somewhat different opinion about the inherent possibility for variety in lullabies. He asserts

that the adoption of a conventional poetical form does not necessarily involve the adoption of a

set of stereotyped emotions and images. On the contrary, the characteristic tastes of these

84
Benjamin Britten, Letters From a Life, ed. Donald Mitchell (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1991) 3: 343.
85
Crozier, Introduction to A Charm of Lullabies: For Mezzo-Soprano and Piano, Op. 41 by Benjamin
Britten (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1994), 2.
In this context, flight as defined by Oxford Dictionaries, refers to a group of creatures or objects flying
together, in particular a flock or large body of birds or insects in the air, especially when migrating.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/flight?region=us&q=flight (accessed July 14, 2012).
86
Pears, 72.

138
individual authors appear clearly in their lullabies.87 Britten chose texts that all relate

thematically as lullabies, while retaining sufficient individuality to create variety.

Lest these poems be considered frivolous or childish works, Budd is quick to point out

that

English lullabies are predominantly serious poems. They are not nursery rhymes
or mere verbal incantations to conjure up sleep. Written by adults for the reading
of adults, and in substance often quite beyond the scope of childish
comprehension, they are for the most part lyric songs which, under the guise of
what has grown to be an established poetic convention, illustrate definite
emotional or philosophic attitudes to life based on experiences which fall to the
lot of the majority of human beings.88

A child still serves as the poetic audience of a lullaby, but adults become the real audience as

they read the poetry and listen to the musical settings. The adult audience members can re-

experience their former juvenile state as they listen to these lullabies. Conjuring up peaceful

memories of childhood, audiences regain access to the childhood bliss of being the object of a

mothers desire.89

These lullabies all use the same mode of communication of an adult addressing a child in

an adult manner to illustrate the various experiences associated with the bedtime routine. Usually

the adults act as protectors and comforters, finding bittersweet joy in tending for these small

children. They recognize that the children are blissfully unaware of the dangers around them and

the challenges that lie ahead. The adults, with perspective that comes with age, often imagine the

childrens potential with a mix of pleasure, pride, and apprehension. While looking to the future

they are also firmly rooted in the present task of getting the children to sleep, sometimes with

87
F. E. Budd, ed., A Book of Lullabies: 13001900 (London: Scholartis Press, 1930), 18.
88
Ibid., 1.
89
Karen M. Bottge, Brahmss Wiegenlied and the Maternal Voice, 19th-Century Music 28, no. 3
(Spring 2005): 198.

139
frustration and impatience, yet often with genuine love and concern, willing them into a state of

peace and serenity.

Explorations of textual and musical aspects of Johannes Brahmss lullaby, Wiegenlied,

can likewise inform a study of Brittens Charm of Lullabies. Musicologist Karen Bottge

identifies recurring poetic themes, musical techniques, and characteristic emotional qualities

resulting from the special bond formed as the adult (usually a mother) soothes a child into a

safe, pleasurable interior within which to ease the drop into sleeps oblivion.90 She describes

an aural envelope that enfolds the mother-child dyad in a ring of sensual pleasure,91 referring

to psychologist Guy Rosolatos description of the mothers voice as a blanket of sound that

surrounds the infant from all sides.92 Britten generates an appropriately soothing blanket of

sound through his musical settings of these poems, particularly in the first and last songs of the

cycle.

A Cradle Song, with poetry by William Blake, begins this set of lullabies. According

to Budd, No man was ever better qualified to sing of children than Blake, for the simple reason

that he never ceased to be a child himself . . . .93 Blake (17571827) lived a life of hard work,

poverty and obscurity, not achieving widespread fame for his engravings, paintings, and poetry

until many years after his death. Considered a mystic and a social revolutionary,94 Blake

explored significant issues in religion, politics, and psychology through his art and poetry. Some

prominent works include Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), two

90
Ibid., 205.
91
Ibid., 187.
92
Guy Rosolato, La voix: Entre corps et langage, Revue franaise de psychanalyse 37 (1974): 81, quoted
in Bottge, 187.
93
Budd, 16.
94
James King, William Blake: His Life (New York: St. Martins Press, 1991), 27.

140
collections of poetry that contrast the nave guilelessness of innocence with the embitterment of

experience.95

The persistent theme in Blakes poetry of extolling innocence and lamenting its loss

coincides with Brittens sentiments. Consequently, Britten set many of Blakes texts throughout

his career. Beginning with A Nurses Song, which Britten composed at the age of sixteen,

Blakes poetry appears in various songs and as inspiration for works such as his childrens opera

A Little Sweep. Brittens largest and most famous cycle of Blakes writings is Songs and

Proverbs of William Blake, setting poetry from Blakes Songs of Innocence and Songs of

Experience, written in 1965.

Blake treats innocence as an idealized landscape in which children are nurtured.96 The

text of A Cradle Song fits Blakes theme of preserving innocence as it depicts a mother

rocking her baby to sleep, lovingly admiring every feature and smile. She reiterates the word

little four times, emphasizing the smallness of everything connected to her baby, including the

childs heart, sorrows, and pretty wiles, giving a sense of adoration and protectiveness over her

tiny, helpless infant. Within this seemingly idyllic setting, premonitions of danger or peril creep

in with the inclusion of cunning wiles and dreadful lightnings

Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,

Dreaming o'er the joys of night;
Sleep, sleep, in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.

Sweet babe, in thy face

Soft desires I can trace,
95
Brian Wilkie, Blake, William (17571827), in Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale Biography in
Context (Detroit: Gale, 1998)
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=B
IC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPa
ge=&disableHighlighting=false&source=&sortBy=&displayGroups=&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanI
d=&documentId=GALE%7CA148412377&userGroupName=usc13562&jsid=8188bd1aa04ef254ee36246ae82d1ae
3 (accessed July 15, 2012).
96
King, 65.

141
 Secret joys and secret smiles,
Little pretty infant wiles.

O! the cunning wiles that creep

In thy little heart asleep.
When thy little heart does wake
Then the dreadful lightnings break,

From thy cheek and from thy eye,

O'er the youthful harvests nigh.
Infant wiles and infant smiles
Heaven and Earth of peace beguiles.

Budds interpretation of A Cradle Song (the second poem to which Blake gave this

title) takes into account both Blakes nostalgia for innocence as well as his remorse that

experience severed precious links with childlike simplicity and guilelessness.97 Using this

context, night symbolizes experience, which casts its shadow over a sleeping baby girl, filling

her with dreams of her future charms. The cunning wiles that creep and beguile Heaven and

Earth of peace refer to maturity that will inevitably come to this innocent child when she wakes,

perfecting the pretty wiles of infancy into instruments of conquest.98 The mother knows she

has precious little time with her child as an innocent baby. All too soon her child will grow up

and consciously use her wiles and smiles for her own purposes.

Britten creates a dreamy nighttime atmosphere through his gently undulating VI pattern

in the bass, combined with a predominantly conjunct murmuring upper piano melody, spinning

an ambient protective circle around the childs slumber, guarding against the unknown terrors

of the night.99 The fast-moving upper piano line often clashes in intervals of seconds with the

slower vocal line. This collision of a semitone, in Brittens harmonic language, always suggests

97
Budd, 16.
98
Ibid.
99
Bottge, 199.

142
some sort of tension or contradiction, in this case the inevitability of lost innocence.100 The two

musical lines share a parallel, close movement, typical of Brittens style, giving the effect of the

piano following the voice but never catching it.101 The music changes as the mother describes the

cunning wiles that creep with an almost chant-like melody over a bitonal accompaniment, rife

with harmonic tension. The clashing seconds return with the dreadful lightnings at a

heightened dynamic level, bringing added significance to the mothers worries for her childs

impending maturity. Brittens setting enhances the message of Blakes text, that fleeting

innocence should be protected and cherished.

The second poem of the cycle, The Highland Balou, was written by the celebrated

Scottish poet Robert Burns (17561796). Burns recorded aspects of farm life, traditional culture,

class distinctions, and religion in his poetry. His sensitivity to nature combined with the high

value he placed on freedom, individuality, and emotion have caused some scholars to label him

as a pre-Romantic.102 His poems and folk-songs written in the Scottish vernacular have helped to

sustain Scotlands traditions and identity, stimulating his reputation as a political as well as a

poetical figure, and his designation as the national poet of Scotland.103

Traditional Scottish tunes have appeared in English song-books for hundreds of years,

prompting many composers to write their own Scotch songs, characterized by lyrics with

typical Scottish names and subjects, and using the rhythmic gesture called the Scotch snap.

Scottish poets such as Burns and Sir Walter Scott participated in a heightened literary trend in

100
Carpenter, 338.
101
Pears, 7273.
102
Robert Burns, Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography 3, Gale Biography in Context
(Detroit: Gale Research, 1992) http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?fail
OverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupNa
me=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&source=&sortBy=&displayGroups=&action=e&a
mp;catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1655000041&userGroupName=usc13562&jsid=2d
3ff3620e15e1d6443fc7f5884b5307, (accessed July 15, 2012).
103
Maurice Lindsay, Robert Burns: The Man, His Work, the Legend (New York: St. Martins Press, 1979),
34243.

143
the late eighteenth century of gathering authentic Scottish tunes and writing new texts to the old

melodies.104 Britten followed in the tradition of composing new Scottish songs, arranging

several of Burnss collected folk-tunes, and setting Burnss original poetry in others, including

his last cycle, A Birthday Hansel, in 1975. This poem, called a balou (Scottish for lullaby) is

a versification of a Gaelic nursery song, complete with its own music. A Highland lady

communicated both the text and melody to Burns.105 Britten modeled his own composition after

the melody Burns had used nearly two hundred years before.106

A theme emerges in The Highland Balou of a mothers pride in her child, especially

when thinking about his future accomplishments. As the poem is written in Scottish vernacular,

its meaning can be difficult to decipher. Crozier explains, This is a lullaby sung by an entirely

different type of mother from the restshe is a wild Scottish Highland lass who is highly proud

of the man-child the chief of the clan has fathered upon her and who looks forward to the day

when he will grow up and become the scourge of the Lowlanders.107 She lovingly refers to her

child as my sweet wee Donald and goes on to describe her hopes for his future. She proudly

envisions him stealing a horse and traveling through the country, thro the Lawlands, oer the

border, bringing home a Carlisle cow.

Hee Balou, my sweet wee Donald,

Picture o' the great Clanronald!
Brawlie kens our wanton Chief
What gat my young Highland thief.
(Hee Balou!)

104
Denis Stevens, A History of Song, rev. ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1970), 146.
105
Robert Burns, The Poetry of Robert Burns, ed. W. E. Henley and T. F. Henderson (New York: AMS
Press, 1970), 3: 685.
106
Robert Burns, The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, ed. James Kinsley (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1968), 2: 685.
107
Eric Crozier, personal correspondence to Annete Nicolai, on April 3, 1989, quoted in Annette Nicolai,
Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies: Historical Survey, Analysis and Performance (MA thesis, California
State University, Long Beach, 1992), 44.

144
 Leeze me on thy bonnie craigie!
And thou live, thou'll steal a naigie,
Travel the country thro and thro,
and bring hame a Carlisle cow!

Thro the Lawlands, oer the Border,

Weel, my babie, may thou furder!
Herry the louns o' the laigh Countrie,
Syne to the Highlands hame to me!

This poem fits the cycles overall mode of communication of an adult relating to a child

through lullabies, featuring the joy and pride felt in the childs potential. His musical setting

evokes images of the rugged Scottish Highlands through his bagpipe drone of the bass and

highly syncopated piano and vocal melody lines. These dotted rhythms create a strong rhythmic

pulse, and combined with the andante maestoso markings, the song conveys a fervent sense of

pride of a mother for her child. She holds great aspirations for her baby, the son of the clan chief,

and sings of her bold prophecies for his future adventures. Britten further develops the Scottish

musical idiom by including a Scotch snap in conjunction with important words of the text,

especially the boys name Donald, the great Clanronald, as well as thief, and naigie

(horse). In a manner contrary to the typically soft and calm nature of a lullaby, the mothers pride

builds to forte in m. 14 as she imagines the child bringing home a cow, and again in m. 24 as she

concludes her vision of her child returning home after many adventures. These musical details

emphasize the wild Scottish countryside setting of the poem, where a mother might find pride in

her son stealing horses, rounding up cattle, and traveling far and wide.

English prose writer and dramatist Robert Greene (15581592) authored the next poem,

Sephestias Lullaby. A prolific and versatile Elizabethan writer, Greene completed thirty-eight

publications, including prose romances, pamphlets, and dramas, with a style exemplifying the

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literary activity of his time.108 Most of Greenes poems are lyrics that appear within his

romances, often without relation to their context. This practice, typical of the time, provided his

poetry with a means of publication, which would probably not have happened otherwise.

Sephestias Lullaby, however, actually does fit in the novel in which it appears, entitled

Menaphon.

Sephestia, the heroine of the novel, is probably the most familiar of all of Greenes

characters, and her lullaby ranks among the best known of his poems.109 Lullabies were fairly

rare poetic forms in Elizabethan poetry, and Greenes biographer, John Clark Jordan, notes that

one does not expect to find an example, so exquisite an example, among the poems of

Greene.110 The novels rather convoluted plot uses many conventions derived from Greek

dramas. It involves banished royalty who become separated, then live in disguise among

shepherds until their complicated reunion, fulfilling an enigmatic prophecy.111 The lullaby occurs

fairly early in the story, as Sephestia entreats her infant son to stop crying and describes her own

sorrows regarding her exodus from her homeland and her separation from her husband during the

voyage into exile. She expresses the mix of emotions she feels both for her son and for her

future, a combination of apprehension and joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;

When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.

Mothers wag, pretty boy,

Father's sorrow, father's joy;
When thy father first did see
Such a boy by him and me,
He was glad, I was woe;
Fortune changd made him so,

108
John Clark Jordan, Robert Greene (New York: Columbia University Press, 1915), 6, 10.
109
Ibid., 50.
110
Ibid., 141.
111
Ibid., 3840.

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 When he left his pretty boy,
Last his sorrow, first his joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;

When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.

The wanton smiled, father wept,

Mother cried, baby leapt;
More he crowd, more we cried,
Nature could not sorrow hide:
He must go, he must kiss
Child and mother, baby bliss,
For he left his pretty boy,
Father's sorrow, father's joy.

Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee,

When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.

This poem revisits the theme of a mothers concern for her childs future, though within a

different emotional context than that of the previous lullabies of the cycle. Sephestia seems

preoccupied by her own struggles while trying to calm her crying baby. Her pleas of weep not,

my wanton seem intended to soothe herself as much as her child. She articulates a sense of

foreboding for her sons fate by reiterating, When thou art old, theres grief enough for thee

three times, speaking from her own experiences with misfortune. She appears less concerned

with the childs destiny than with recollections of his fathers sad parting from them both. These

sorrowful images of separation and tears combine with her blissful memories of delight in caring

for her baby boy. This juxtaposition of such conflicting emotions result in an almost manic feel

to the poetry, adding to the mothers heightened emotional state.

Brittens music enhances this duality of feelings found in the mothers poetry by

providing a strikingly different musical setting for the descriptions of future grief to contrast with

the sections of nostalgic recollection. Marked piangendo, a weeping motive occurs in the lento

piano refrain, as accented quarter notes functioning as V7 chords resolve up a half step to the

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tonic in a weeping motive. Britten repeats this one static chord progression throughout the four-

measure refrain, over which he lays a dolce vocal line. The mothers lyrical melody includes a

dramatic downward portamento of a seventh on the text theres grief, suggesting her own

weeping along with her childs. The contrasting allegretto sections have a leggiero vocal line

combined with a gently accented eighth-note piano accompaniment that matches the pitch

outlines of the vocal line. The upper piano part contains grace notes that resolve upward in a

brisker imitation of the previous weeping motive, forming a connection between the faster and

slower sections. The musical setting creates the effect of a mother fluctuating between different

emotions while soothing her childs cries. Sometimes she gently dances her baby around the

room, trying to make him smile and laugh, while other times she pauses to wallow in her

familys present and future grief.

Thomas Randolph (16051635), author of the fourth poem, A Charm, was a brilliant

scholar and prolific writer, known for his humor and wit, especially in his poetry.112 Randolph

mirrored contemporary lifes vices and virtues in his comedies, reflecting human nature in a

comical way in order to stimulate moral education. His plays, such as The Muses Looking Glass

(1638) were deeply shaped by classical dramas in terms of plot, character, and satire. His

familiarity with Greek mythology accounts for the many mythological references found in A

Charm, from his play The Jealous Lovers.113

In the context of the play, A Charm is actually not a lullaby at all, nor is it directed

towards a child. In the scene, characters Techmessa and Tyndarus lie in coffins, while Sexton

112
John Jay Parry, ed., introduction to The Poems and Amyntas of Thomas Randolph (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1917), 2123.
113
Jill L. Levenson, Thomas Randolph, Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists, ed. Fredson Bowers (Detroit:
Gale Research, 1987) Dictionary of Literary Biography 1, no. 58
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1200003512&v=2.1&u=usc13562&it=r&p=LitRG&sw=w
(accessed July 15, 2012).

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and his wife Staphyla approach the open coffins to steal the clothes off them, thinking they are

dead. Techmessa and Tyndarus sit up in the coffins and curse Sexton and his wife with threats

involving mythological beings before placing them in the coffins from which the singers have

just risen. Taken out of its dramatic context, this poem provides an interesting example of a

lullaby of the terrifying order.114 As part of the cycle, A Charm fits the narrative of an

exasperated mother trying desperately to get her child to sleep, resorting to warnings of

punishments for disobedience. Unlike in the title of the cycle, here the term charm is used in

the sense of a spell or enchantment.

Quiet!
Sleep! or I will make
Erinnys115 whip thee with a snake,
And cruel Rhadamanthus116 take
Thy body to the boiling lake,
Where fire and brimstones never slake;
Thy heart shall burn, thy head shall ache,
And evry joint about thee quake;
And therefor dare not yet to wake!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!

Quiet!
Sleep! or thou shalt see
The horrid hags of Tartary,117
Whose tresses ugly serpents be,
And Cerberus118 shall bark at thee,
And all the Furies that are three

114
Budd, 123.
115
All of the descriptions of mythological references come from Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinchs Mythology
(New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1947). The Erinnyes, or Furies, were three goddesses who punished by their
secret stings the crimes of those who escaped or defied public justice. The heads of the furies were wreathed with
serpents, and their whole appearance was terrific and appalling. Their names were Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera.
Bulfinch, 10.
116
Radamanthus is the son of Jupiter and Europa. He reigned in the Cyclades with such impartiality, that
at death he was made one of the judges of the infernal regions. Bulfinch, 718.
117
Tartary is the infernal regions of classical mythology; used as equivalent to Hades by later writers, but
by Homer placed as far beneath Hades as Hades is beneath the earth. Bulfinch, 722.
118
Cerberus is a watch dog at the entrance to Hades; offspring of Typhaon and Echidna; generally
represented with three heads, a mane of serpents heads and a serpents tail. Bulfinch, 692.

149
 The worst is called Tisiphone,119
Shall lash thee to eternity;
And therefore sleep thou peacefully
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!

A Charm incorporates a completely different motivation behind the experience of

quieting a child, adding a bit of humorous reality to an often-idealized situation. This mother has

lost all patience with the bedtime routine and warns every imaginable negative consequence for

disobedience. She demands, Quiet, sleep! and threatens all manner of mythological tortures.

Every adult who has dealt with an unruly child who refuses to comply with the bedtime routine

can relate to the frustration demonstrated by this frazzled mother.

Britten musically depicts the mothers aggravation by setting this atypical lullaby at a

prestissimo furioso tempo with sharp vacillations between dynamic levels and tempi, emitting

outbursts of anger alternating with controlled suppression. The fz opening rolled chord sets the

tone for the vocal exclamation Quiet! Immediately the voice drops to a piano dynamic and

begins to breathe out threats against the errant child. The soft piano tremolo underscores the

pent-up irritation the mother must feel, as well as her urges to control her temper. As she

describes the ghastly fates awaiting her child, her vocal line creeps higher and louder, with the

piano accompanying with staccato eighth notes. The final climax occurs during the highest and

loudest fortissimo passage, in mm. 1112 with the charge, And therefore dare not yet to wake!

The second half of the song has similar text, and receives the same musical treatment. This half

climaxes with the humorously impossible mandate to Therefore sleep now peacefully, after

filling the childs head with fear and trembling. Brittens musical details create a vivid image of

a mother at the end of her patience, trying every possible tactic to will her child to sleep.
119
Tisiphone is one of the Furies. Aeneas saw her in the infernal regions apply her whip of scorpions to
offenders whose guilt had not been revealed during their life on earth. Bulfinch, 723.

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 John Philip, author of the final poem, The Nurses Song, was a minor Elizabethan

playwright who flourished between 1566 and 1591, and the most obscure of the five authors

represented in the cycle. Multiple spellings of his name, including Phillips, Philips, Phillip, and

Phillyps, contribute to the confusion regarding his identity.120 A student of divinity121 and

member of Queens College, Cambridge, Philip authored several tracts, pamphlets, elegies, and

ballads.122 His spiritual background accounts for the religious tone of The Nurses Song. The

play from which this lullaby is taken, The Play of Patient Grisell, was published in 1565. It

disappeared until 1907 when a single copy was found and subsequently reprinted by the Malone

Society.123 The plot comes from Boccaccios tale of the patient and obedient Griselda who

represents heroic steadfastness in the face of adversity,124 but also includes a political emphasis

relevant to Philips time.125

The Nurses Song completes the cycle in a similar mood as it began with A Cradle

Song by expressing the gentle warmth of a loving nurse singing a baby to sleep, while hinting at

the theme of safeguarding the innocent child. Both poems describe a caregivers verbal promises

of protection, warding off harm by creating a defensive wall of sound to shelter the child from

danger.126 References to peril appear more subtly in The Nurses Song than in A Cradle

Song as the nurse calls down heavenly protection, with the words The gods be thy shield and

comfort in need.

Lullaby baby,

120
W. W. Greg, John Phillip: Notes for a Bibliography, The Library: The Transactions of the
Bibliographical Society s31, no. 3 (July 1910): 303.
121
Ibid., 310.
122
Budd, 121.
123
Crozier, quoted in Nicolai, 82.
124
Arthur F. Kinney, ed. The Cambridge Companion to English Literature, 15001600 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), 148.
125
Louis B. Wright, A Political Reflection in Phillips Patient Grissell, The Review of English Studies 4,
no. 16 (Oct.1928): 428.
126
Bottge, 211.

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 Lullaby baby,
Thy nurse will tend thee as duly as may be.
Lullaby baby!

Be still, my sweet sweeting, no longer do cry;

Sing lullaby baby, lullaby baby.
Let dolours be fleeting, I fancy thee, I . . .
To rock and to lull thee I will not delay me.

Lullaby baby,
Lullaby-laby-laby baby,
Thy nurse will tend thee as duly as may be
Lullaby-laby-laby baby

The gods be thy shield and comfort in need!

The gods be thy shield and comfort in need!
Sing Lullaby baby,
Lullaby-laby baby

They give thee good fortune and well for to speed,

And this to desire ... I will not delay me.
This to desire ... I will not delay me.

Lullaby lullaby-laby baby,

Thy nurse will tend thee as duly as may be.
Lullaby-laby-laby-laby baby.

A Nurses Song imitates the authentic manner in which most lullabies are sung by

beginning and ending with an unaccompanied vocal refrain. As opposed to performing lullabies

in a concert hall, in reality mothers are usually alone with a child, singing unaccompanied

lullabies in the privacy of a bedroom. They might improvise a rather random series of notes and

words that eventually form into defined rhythms and melodies. This last song in A Charm of

Lullabies depicts that spontaneous experience.

Britten connects the final song of the cycle to the opening one by giving it a

complementary musical setting. He returns to the gentle VI rocking pattern in the bass lines of

the piano accompaniment, and the serene, legato vocal style he used previously to depict

peaceful crooning. When the idea of danger appears at the nurses text let dolours be fleeting

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in m. 8, Brittens musical setting remains blissfully calm. This may seem odd to maintain a

serene musical setting while referencing pain in the childs future, but this practice actually

occurs throughout the lullaby genre. According to Bottge,

One stanza may reassure the child with close holding and rocking whereas the
next threatens disaster by dropping, splitting into pieces, even death: when the
bough breaks. The poem or narrator does not always express a wish to protect the
child but, rather, may articulate fear with a soothingly calm voice that conjures it
into the home, into the cradle, into childhood itself.127

Britten uses his music to once again create a protective barrier around the child, keeping the baby

safe from the inevitable pain and tragedies of the future.

All does not remain calm during this lullaby in the contrasting middle section, however.

The music rises in intensity at the subsequent iterations of Lullaby-laby-laby baby, becoming

louder and more agitated as the song progresses. The piano abandons its rocking motive at m. 14

and m. 24 in favor of sixteenth-note flourishes at this recurring refrain. The nurses repeated

invocations to the gods for protection receives a louder dynamic, increased harmonic tension,

and a higher vocal tessitura, followed by a forte appassionato repeat of the lullaby-laby-laby

text. After that climactic moment, the lullaby gradually returns to a fittingly calm close while the

nurse completes her task of soothing the baby to sleep. Britten culminates the song and the cycle

with the voice intoning the word lullaby-laby-laby, trailing off into the darkness, suspending

the childs innocent slumber in infinity.

Britten selects a group of lullabies from poets representing several time periods to design

a cycle outlining the many possible emotions involved in singing children to sleep. He uses the

mode of communication of an adult retaining a mode of adulthood in addressing a child to

illustrate the love, care and concern, and apprehension parents feel for their innocent and helpless

children. He begins the cycle with tender professions of love combined with subtle fears for the
127
Ibid., 20607.

153
eventual loss of innocence. The poetry then explores themes of pride in future accomplishments,

preoccupation with grief and trials, and frustration with disobedience before concluding with

expressions of soothing and protecting. The musical setting of A Charm of Lullabies effectively

captures these diverse aspects of childhood by highlighting the nuances of these adults words

directed toward children. The cycle, like many other compositions written throughout his career,

exemplifies the importance Britten placed on the theme of preserving innocence.

For Performers

When performing this cycle, both pianist and singer should try to conjure the nighttime

atmosphere appropriate for lullabies. Remembering that all of the texts address children, they

should exhibit genuine love and concern for protecting these innocent beings. Performers should

embody the sense of parental pride and optimism combined with trepidation for the childrens

futures. Always keeping in mind the appropriate ambience required for children falling asleep,

the dynamic level should be softer in general, but with enough variety within that context to

maintain the interest of the audience. Both singer and pianist should strive for a gentle, caring

demeanor, except for during A Charm, with its multiple lobbied threats. Performers who can

portray authentic emotions directed toward the imagined audience of children will find success

in their depiction of this song cycle of lullabies.

Conclusions

La courte paille and A Charm of Lullabies portray various interactions between an adult

and a child through song. In both cycles, the majority of the poetry is clear, accessible, and easily

interpreted, as expected when speaking to children. The adult narrators use similar language and

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concepts when they follow the mode of communication of addressing children in an adult-like

manner. Their poetry includes imagery and magical language appropriate for youthful

sensibilities. They both talk about their hopes and dreams for the childrens future, alluding to

the difficulties of this world full of danger. In every instance, the adults genuinely love the

children they care for, and show that emotion through their tender words and gentle delivery.

Both Poulenc and Britten achieve variety in their cycles by choosing texts with diverse

moods and giving them distinctive musical settings. The odd-numbered poems in Poulencs

cycle present lyrical depictions of a mother trying to quiet her restless child through the mode of

adulthood, telling him soothingly magical fairy tales and musing about his future. The even-

numbered trampoline songs contrast with these ponderous texts by utilizing a more animated,

childlike mode of communication, creating a sense of fun and fantasy as the mother relates

nursery rhymes and nonsense stories to the child. Brittens group of lullabies presents a similar

trajectory as adults hush the tired and fretful children in their care, though the mode of

communication remains adult-like through the cycle. The first and last songs employ calming

melodies and rocking rhythms to ease the crying children. Britten balances these soothing songs

with contrasting emotions in the second through fourth songs to bring diversity and interest to

the cycle as a whole. The regal pride, frantic agitation, and frustration depicted in the middle

songs help keep the audience from falling asleep along with the imaginary children.

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 Conclusion

Analyzing art songs with childrens themes based upon their mode of communication

accentuates different aspects of childhood within each cycle. Depending on whether the poetry

was written by a child, an adult acting as a child, or an adult addressing a child, each composers

musical treatment emphasizes the specific themes found in the text. Comparisons of pairs of

song cycles with the same mode of communication reveal greater depth and insight into the

compositions than could be discovered alone. While each set of songs exhibits a unique response

to its particular mode of communication, recurring themes and techniques appear throughout

these works, giving a sense of continuity to this sub-genre. Specific modes of communication

tend to correspond to certain issues such as didacticism or imitation of childhood, though these

concepts can span multiple modes. Though critics and performers sometimes dismiss these

works as being too light-hearted or frivolous to merit serious analysis or discussion, valuable

messages and insights can be gained by their study, and truly sophisticated poetic and musical

constructions can be found.

Textual Characteristics

Alice G. Thorn lists several recurring subjects that consistently appear in childrens

music in her book Music for Young Children. Among these are themes of nature, lullabies,

animals and birds, people and activities, chants and games, nonsense songs, Mother Goose,

hymns, nursery songs, and fairy tales.1 Every cycle discussed in this document, regardless of its

mode of communication, uses some of these subjects in its poetry. A Garland for Marjory

Fleming and Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann both display topics of animals with human-

like characteristics, while family relationships serve as subject material in all six cycles. Nature
1
Alice G. Thorn, Music for Young Children (New York: C. Scribners Sons, 1929), 1213.

156
features prominently in songs such as Wind and The Rose in The Children, as well as many

of the songs in Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann. Lullabies pervade A Charm of Lullabies

and also occur in Sleep from The Children and Le sommeil from La courte paille. One of

Us from The Children, has a hymn-like setting, and Lune davril in La courte paille, could be

considered a musical prayer. References to religion exist throughout A Garland for Marjory

Fleming and The Children, as well as The Nurses Song from A Charm of Lullabies. Magical

fairy tales and nursery songs occur in several songs in La courte paille and The Children. Chants

and games appear in The Children and in A Big Indian and a Little Indian of I Hate Music,

while ridiculous stories occur in Spick and Span from The Children, and in the even-numbered

songs of La courte paille.

Song cycles in each mode of communication display childlike concepts and poetic

techniques. Imagery relevant to a childs world, as well as poetic devices such as childish rhyme

schemes or syntax, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and nonsense syllables consistently occur in all

the song cycles. A Garland for Marjory Fleming has forced rhymes, childlike misspellings, and

an amateurish, undeviating rhyme scheme through the entire cycle. The invented child narrator

Barbara introduces herself with a childlike non-sequitur in My Name is Barbara and delivers

her thoughts in a stream-of-conscious fashion throughout I Hate Music. Nonsense syllables

appear in I Hate Music, La courte paille, and A Charm of Lullabies, with instances of alliteration

and onomatopoeia in The Children. Childlike images comparing the moons paleness to a

distraught mother in Mond, meiner Seele Liebling or imagining a bird instigating a singing

contest in Der Zeisig occur in Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann. Descriptive phrases

depicting the smallness and helplessness of children occur in the majority of the poetry in A

Charm of Lullabies. Long lists of storybook events in Once Upon a Time as well as literal

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translations of sounds in Moo is a Cow appear in The Children, and absurd situations

involving fantastical creatures pervade the trampoline songs of La courte paille.

While much of the subject material and technical details in the poetry reflects a youthful,

nave tone, deeper themes and poetic images recur in the cycles that add another level of

meaning to the works. Complex and obscure symbolism can be found in The Rose in The

Children, as well as La reine de coeur and Lune davril in La courte paille. Several poems in

Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann explore the somber themes of adversity and death,

including Du nennst mich armes Mdchen, Die letzten Blumen starben, and Gekmpft hat

meine Barke. An intricate depiction of the impending loss of innocence occurs in A Cradle

Song from A Charm of Lullabies. The inclusion of such mature subject material and complex

poetic techniques elevate these cycles out of the level of frivolous entertainment into the realm of

art song.

Musical Characteristics

Gloria Shafer notes in her discussion of childrens song cycles that they tend to have

similar rhythms and melodies, repeated phrases, and extensive musical coloring.2 Musicologist

Keith Clifton characterizes music depicting childhood as making limited technical demands and

having accessible melodies, diatonic harmonies, and periodic formal structures.3 Their

assessments accurately fit the majority of songs discussed in this document, regardless of their

modes of communication. Most cycles have relatively conservative musical settings in relation to

the overall musical style of the composers. All of the cycles have predominantly diatonic

2
Gloria Shafer, Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle as a Musical Genre with Four Case Studies and an
Original Cycle (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989), 71.
3
Keith Clifton, Beyond Childhood: Poulenc, La courte paille, and the Aural Envelope, College Music
Symposium 49 (2009): 333.

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harmonies, with instances of chromaticism or modality used to color the text, such as in Marjory

Flemings Sweet Isabell or Spick and Span, from The Children. Speech-like rhythms and

clear melodies enhance the childlike nature of the texts in songs such as Chanlers Once Upon a

Time and all of Bernsteins songs. Rocking motions depicting the text are generated by ostinato

bass patterns in both Le sommeil and Lune davril from La courte paille, as well as in A

Cradle Song from A Charm of Lullabies. Childlike sing-song melodies feature in The

Children and In Isas Bed from Marjory Fleming. Word painting occurs throughout the six

cycles, notably in The Childrens Moo is a Cow and Marjory Flemings A Melancholy Lay.

Huge melodic leaps accompany child narrators expressing strong emotions such as when

Marjory Fleming proclaims, I love in Isas bed to lie, when Bernsteins Barbara exclaims, I

hate music! and when the mother in Poulenc imitates a childlike excitement with Mon Dieu!

Though all of the cycles feature mostly straightforward, accessible musical settings, some

intricate, complex musical devices also exist. Complicated rhythms within meters that imitate

American speech patterns occur in Jupiter Has Seven Moons and A Big Indian and a Little

Indian in I Hate Music. Similarly, Sonnet on a Monkey from Marjory Fleming and the

trampoline songs in La courte paille have elaborate, complex rhythmic patterns. Bi-tonality and

clashing half step relationships occur in Brittens A Cradle Song, and intricately developed

piano interludes in Chanlers Sleep bring a sense of refinement to the music. The first half of

Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann present her childlike poems in a simple, conservative way,

yet increasingly difficult technical demands pervade the later songs of Schumanns cycle.

Sophisticated counterpoint and thick chromaticism in Chanlers The Rose reflects the

complexity and symbolism of the text. These refined musical elements defy the expectation of

simplicity that listeners intuitively associate with songs cycles containing childrens themes.

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 Modes of Communication

When analyzing song cycles based on their modes of communication, certain recurring

ideas regarding illustrating childrens themes emerge. Sometimes of these issues are unique to a

specific mode of communication, while others appear in multiple modes. Identifying

commonalities among cycles with similar perspectives sheds light on the composers possible

purposes in choosing specific modes of communication for their cycles.

One of the main criteria for defining song cycles with childrens themes is that they

express childrens experiences and emotions. Among the cycles studied in this document, those

with real child poets and adult poets acting as children fill that requirement most clearly. The

songs in which an adult addresses a child do not truly exhibit the childrens thoughts or feelings

because children act as the audience instead of the narrators. In these situations, the childrens

experiences and sensibilities can be inferred by the subject material and manner of expression

that the adult narrators use when addressing them.

Most modes of communication focus on capturing the personalities of the real or

invented children. In the cycles where a true child acts as narrator, Bennett creates a realistic

snapshot of a young girl without any overt agenda, while Schumann chooses to infuse his

depiction of his child author with teachable elements for his audience. This didactic pursuit

corresponds with the song cycles in which an adult narrator assumes a childlike persona. Both

Chanler and Bernstein imitate childlike mannerisms for a mixture of entertainment and

education, though with varying degrees of conspicuous instruction. Imitations of childlike

innocence also occur in moments where an adult relates to a child by assuming a mode of

childhood, such as in the trampoline songs of Poulencs cycle. By having an adult narrator

160
imitate childlike stories and mannerisms, these songs achieve the same goal of illustrating a

youthful personality, though they lack the didactic quality of the invented child narrators.

The most distinctive mode of communication occurs when an adult addresses a child

while retaining a mode of adulthood, particularly in A Charm of Lullabies. These narrators

express love and concern for the children in their care, but do not imitate childlike speech

patterns or include whimsical stories. They tend to focus on concern for the childrens well-being

and future challenges, and apply an instinctive attitude of shielding and protecting them from

harm.

Messages

As opposed to merely offering a collection of childlike texts set to music, each of the six

song cycles studied in this document exhibits a sense of purpose or a comprehensive message.

This phenomenon is hardly unique to songs with childrens themes or to any musical genre, as

the argument could be made that there would be little value in grouping any poetry or music

without a purposeful concept or significance. In this particular sub-genre, however, the messages

tend to lie under the surface, not becoming readily apparent at first glance because of the

inherent charm and seeming navet of the texts. By seeking to uncover deeper meanings within

the poetry and musical settings of songs with various modes of communication, one discovers a

body of literature that offers depth and poignancy along with sweetness and entertainment.

Several of the cycles have messages that stem from the poets or composers personal lives, and

the strongest statements of their themes consistently occur in the first and last songs of each

group, providing a strong architecture to each of the cycles.

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 Bennetts A Garland For Marjory Fleming has the most simple purpose of the group:

realistically depicting a young girls childish thoughts and feelings as stated in her own words.

Bennett treats the sweet eight-year-old Fleming with kindness and tenderness, exposing her

youthful perspectives and opinions with a simple and open tone mirroring her nave and

unsophisticated personality. When she acts more adult-like, Bennetts musical reaction to this

shift in mode of communication contrasts with the settings of her more childlike words, while

remaining consistent in style. The most authentic poems that portray her genuine, childlike self,

as opposed to her brief forays into the world of adults, occur in the first song, In Isas Bed, and

the last song, Sonnet on a Monkey. As a whole, Bennetts musical treatment does not seek to

moralize or influence his audiences opinions of this child poet. Rather, he effectively highlights

her multi-faceted personality, complete with impulsive, tender, precocious, and vivacious

qualities. No personal details from Bennetts life could be found to support any argument that he

set her poetry with a specific purpose in mind, though his continuing interest in music with

childrens themes is evidenced by his arrangements of nursery songs for the Oxford Nursery

Song Book and his cycle of nursery rhymes, Songs Before Sleep.

Schumanns Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann uses the poetry of a child to outline a

portrait of a maturing young girl. As she develops through her difficulties, her mode of

communication changes from childlike to adult-like. Schumann sets Kulmanns words with a

distinct purpose in mind. As his dedication and supplemental texts reveal, he intends for this

cycle to teach valuable lessons and promote admirable character traits found in the poetry of this

developing young woman. Feeling an intimate, personal connection with Kulmann, Schumann

attempts to delve into her inner life and create a portrait of this idealized young prodigy. He

accomplishes this task by setting her more youthful poetry in a conservative, simple way, and

162
creating increasingly complex musical settings for her more mature texts. The over-arching

theme of facing adversity and the inevitability of death with increasing wisdom finds expression

in the first song, Mond, meiner Seele Liebling, and the final Gekmpft hat meine Barke.

Chanlers The Children employs the fictitious children narrator to convey the teachings

that children are a representation of God and adults should try to be like them. Sometimes the

children act in a genuine way by expressing entertaining observations through nursery rhymes

and realistic anecdotes, yet in many of the poems, the children act more like a symbol, an

archetype, or a representation of an ideal to teach wise life-lessons to adults. Feeneys

religiously-based, personal convictions about the fundamental value of children have their

strongest outlets in the first and last poems, The Children, and One of Us. Chanlers musical

representations of these two sides of this youthful perspective fittingly illustrate both the playful,

silly children along with the symbolic, didactic representation of childhood. He uses emulative

musical techniques to replicate the juvenile tone of words and images in the genuinely childlike

songs, while his vocabulary changes for the instances involving teaching lessons. Incorporating

realistically childlike elements in a visibly moralizing cycle creates a mixture of charming

entertainment and erudite artificiality.

In I Hate Music! the capricious commentary of ten-year-old Barbara insightfully teaches

adults to value children as equals. Bernstein does not present his themes as directly as Feeney

does in The Children. Instead of featuring a symbolic or archetypal child, Bernstein maintains his

narrators authenticity and individuality through her telling riddles, throwing tantrums, and

singing songs. Bernsteins precocious narrator voices his own personal convictions about talking

to children as legitimate people, a concept related to his professional desires to find acceptance

from his peers. The cycles message presents itself in the first and last songs, as Bernstein

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suggests the idea of treating children with honesty in My Name is Barbara, and states his

agenda in its most obvious form in the assertive finale, Im a Person Too. Even while sending

these messages, Bernsteins music captures Barbaras personality, complete with her fun-loving,

petulant, dreamy, and curious sides. His musical setting combines jazz elements within a

classical style to depict a child straddling the worlds of childhood and adulthood.

Poulencs La courte paille promotes the message of concern about the condition of the

world that adults have provided for children combined with a hope for a better tomorrow within

the context of a mother addressing her son. Carmes poetry presents a mixture of whimsical,

fanciful texts and dreamy, poignant reflections to encapsulate this mode of communication.

Sometimes the mother acts in a childlike way as she refers to fantastical events and characters

from nursery rhymes with poetry that would appeal to a childs sensibilities. These trampoline

songs occur in alternation with more lyrical poetry as the mother acts in an adult manner,

sustaining the magical atmosphere while bringing a soothing, gentle tone to the cycle. The

mothers most direct interactions with her child occur in the first and last songs, exhibiting the

message of the cycle. Le sommeil provides an intimate portrait of a concerned mother

worrying about what tomorrow will bring for her ill child, and Lune davril echoes Poulencs

desire for peace as the mother reveals her hopes and concerns for her sons future. The dual-

nature of the cycle, with calm, smooth, dream-like settings interspersed with cabaret-influenced,

raucous flights of fancy is consistent within Poulencs output, ranging from the pious to the

burlesque.

Brittens A Charm of Lullabies focuses on the message of preserving childlike innocence

and protecting the infants from the adversities that are to come. He sets five lullabies with adult

narrators who address children in an adult manner, while embodying various emotions and

164
attitudes toward the bedtime routine. The cycle explores a mothers pride in her child, concerns

about a childs future, and frustration and exasperation felt when dealing with disobedience. The

main theme of preserving innocence finds expression in the opening A Cradle Song and the

final The Nurses Song. Both of these songs convey words of comfort and peace, infused with

references to shielding their helpless babies from the dangers of the world. Brittens musical

settings fit the sentiments of the words, with rocking and soothing elements accompanying

expressions of love for the child, and appropriately proud, frenzied, or distraught settings

corresponding with the various attitudes of the mothers. The cycles theme reflects Brittens

personal life, specifically his lifelong concern with the preservation of childhood and the

corruption of innocence.

Legitimacy

A secondary purpose of this document is to introduce other singers and teachers to this

repertoire, some of which is not widely performed. Initially the exploration of these cycles came

about as a means to find a contrasting set of songs that would round out a recital program. The

light subject material and accessible music may cause performers to think that song cycles with

childrens themes are merely fun, frivolous works. However, upon closer inspection, greater

meaning and deep messages can be uncovered. The musical settings do not just create imitative

representations of childlike aspects of the texts. Rather, they enhance the thematic and often

didactic elements of the poetry, creating works of art with depth and purpose. Musicians have the

opportunity to explore this literature not just as a fun way to lighten up a recital program, but for

their inherently deep or poignant messages and sophisticated musical settings.

165
 Summary

The six song cycles with childrens themes considered in this document present pervasive

childlike topics such as family relationships, interactions with nature, storybook or magical

creatures, nonsensical texts, and details from schoolwork or play. The vast majority of poems

present their messages about children in a straight-forward, uncomplicated manner. The

composers enhance the poetry through their correspondingly accessible musical settings

involving fairly standard forms, clear melodies, diatonic harmonies, and inventive music-text

relationships. Methods including speech-like text settings, sing-song melodies, and word

painting bring out the childlike characteristics of the poetry. These juvenile aspects of both

poetry and music combine with subtle sophistication to create works of art as opposed to simple

parodies of childhood. Mature themes in the poetry such as treating children with respect,

learning from their examples, and ruminations on mortality and death pervade this literature.

Instances of complex symbolism or elegant poetic construction add to the refined quality of the

texts. Sophisticated musical settings involving complicated rhythmic patterns, harmonic

relationships, and accompanimental gestures strengthen the artistic value of these cycles. All of

the poets and composers have specific agendas in creating their works, often weaving in ideas

and messages that coincide with their personal beliefs.

The effective execution of these cycles corresponds to the level of authenticity generated

by singers and pianists. Performers of this repertoire should strive to portray the children with

appropriate technique and interpretation, taking care to avoid creating a caricature or false image.

When the modes of communication vary, singers and pianists should respond accordingly. They

can assume different tone colors when Marjory Fleming acts more grown-up, when Elisabeth

Kulmann matures into a young woman, when Chanlers narrators act as either authentic children

166
or teachers, and when Poulencs mother narrator assumes a childlike manner. Depicting honesty,

openness, and purity of expression in interpreting the words of an actual child narrator, an adult

acting as a child, or an adult addressing a child should be the goal of all performers. As more

singers and pianists familiarize themselves with this body of literature, they will find a

refreshingly light, sweet genre with all the sophistication and intricacies of other high-quality art

songs.

167
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