Date Available

2-26-2018

Year of Publication

2018

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

College

Fine Arts

Department/School/Program

Music

Advisor

Dr. Angelique Clay

Abstract

The Niles-Merton Songs is a two-opus collection of twenty-two songs by John Jacob Niles setting the poetry of Thomas Merton. The songs are beautiful but contrast from his more popular works in poetry and composition. This project explores reasons why these songs are rarely performed, and gives an overview and analysis of ten selected pieces. The document includes a brief introduction, biographies of Niles and Merton, information detailing Niles’s compositional process, and the technical and artistic requirements for performing the songs, including appropriate age and voice type.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/ETD.2018.054

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