Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach
- Cambridge Companions to Music
- The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Part I Historical Context
- Part II Profiles of the Music
- 5 Amy Beach’s Keyboard Music
- 6 Songs of Amy Beach
- 7 “Worthy of Serious Attention”
- 8 The Power of Song in Beach’s Orchestral Works
- 9 Choral Music
- 10 Beach’s Dramatic Works
- Part III Reception
- Appendix: List of Works
- Select Bibliography
- Index
10 - Beach’s Dramatic Works
from Part II - Profiles of the Music
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 October 2023
- The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach
- Cambridge Companions to Music
- The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Music Examples
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Part I Historical Context
- Part II Profiles of the Music
- 5 Amy Beach’s Keyboard Music
- 6 Songs of Amy Beach
- 7 “Worthy of Serious Attention”
- 8 The Power of Song in Beach’s Orchestral Works
- 9 Choral Music
- 10 Beach’s Dramatic Works
- Part III Reception
- Appendix: List of Works
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Amy Beach’s “dramatic works” encompass a select few compositions over the course of her career, united by shared themes and collaboration with other female artists: two dramatic unstaged arias for solo voice and orchestra, Eilende Wolken, Segler der Lüfte (1892) and Jephthah’s Daughter (1903); and her only opera, Cabildo (1932). These dramatic works are few and far between in her oeuvre, but they represent landmarks in her lifelong creative processes. Eilende Wolken, Beach’s first commissioned work, is one of the first examples of her use of folk song in her compositions. Jephthah’s Daughter is a challenging and mature work, straddling her years focused primarily on composition and the revival of her performing career. Cabildo is filled with borrowed folk song and her own melodies with a romantic plot set during a major American historical event, representing the qualities of American opera she suggested for years.
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- The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach , pp. 201 - 228Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023