Date of Award

Spring 2025

Document Type

Open Access Dissertation

Department

School of Music

First Advisor

Dominic Armstrong

Abstract

American composer, Ben Moore, has written music that has spanned genres including operas, children’s operas, art songs, cabaret songs, and musical theatre songs. His career spans multiple decades, but his music is not performed as often as it should in the Classical Music community. Moore’s music can be daunting at first glance, but many of his composition stylings are present in many of his works. Should one learn how to navigate one of his art songs, they will have a guide that should translate over to his other works. I have decided to focus on the seven art songs with texts by William Butler Yeats and will analyze them through technical and stylistic lenses. Ben Moore’s style is detailed but is attainable with ample score study. Interviews with prominent musicians that have recorded his works help supplement the analysis in chapter one. Each proceeding chapter will begin with a chart of the piece’s basic musical information that will then discuss the technically difficult vocal passages and piano accompaniments. Pedagogical suggestions will be presented to use in the voice studio as well as suggestions to improve the collaborative process for both the singer and pianist. The purpose of this study is to expose a larger audience to the musical works of Ben Moore and to help musicians give an informed and efficient performance of his music.

Rights

© 2025, James Allen

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