Date Available

12-12-2023

Year of Publication

2023

Document Type

Doctoral Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

College

Fine Arts

Department/School/Program

Music

Advisor

Dr. Jefferson Johnson

Abstract

Despite experiencing a great deal of recognition in his lifetime, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s music is seldom performed today. His more famous pieces were his choral cantatas, but they require resources that most choirs cannot access. To encourage performance of his music, this monograph focuses on four of his part songs, which are much more accessible.

While many choirs will have the voicings to perform these pieces, they are very chromatic. Coleridge-Taylor is a product of late Romanticism and he employs many chromatic techniques to embellish his music. Inexperienced choirs will struggle to maintain a sense of tonal center if they are unable to maintain a sense of the primary harmonic progression in each song.

Each chapter contains an analysis of each song along with a harmonic reduction that is meant to simplify the learning process for choirs. With these tools, directors should feel emboldened to try one of the pieces listed in this document for their choirs. Coleridge-Taylor’s part songs have been overlooked for too long and it is time to correct their omission.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/etd.2023.441

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