The Dickinson Songs of Aaron Copland (review)

Larry Starr's study is full of superlatives and prompts a similar response. He is so clearly moved by the work that he cannot resist expounding its merits, offering evidence for and insights about its compositional achievement while extolling its ineffable beauty. His enthusiasm is infectious, and after moving swiftly through this short monograph, the reader wishes only to stop reading and start listening.

The Dickinson Songs of Aaron Copland takes as its sole subject Copland's Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson (1949–50), his most ambitious work for solo voice. The twelve songs inspire eleven chapters. In the first six, totalling some fifty pages, Starr considers such subjects as Copland's personal idiom (both unique and typical in this work); his manner of text setting (syllabic and dialogic); approach to the voice (not nearly so cruel as has been claimed); the issue of 'authenticity' (always a red herring); and whether the collection of songs might properly be considered a cycle (definitely yes). Nearly as many pages are then devoted to a song-by-song analysis, and three brief concluding chapters touch upon the version for voice and chamber orchestra, various performances of the work in both forms, and influences—or lack of them—on the songs. Throughout, Starr offers nuanced readings of Dickinson's poetry, Copland's music, and the relationship between them; his interpretations are utterly convincing, and he is particularly thoughtful on the structure of the set as a cycle as well as the topos for each song. In its concision, clarity, and evident intelligence, the monograph reflects the work itself, as the author seems to emulate the composer's lauded economy.

At times, however, such economy falters slightly. There is the inescapable problem of discussing a single work across many chapters, because the echoes inevitably accumulate. Having effectively analysed the closing bars of 'Why do they shut me out of Heaven?' within a more general consideration of Copland's tonal practice in chapter 5, Starr refers back to this example when discussing the song again in chapter 7 (a page number for the earlier passage might have facilitated comparison). Those hoping for a comprehensive analysis of each song may be frustrated but should recognize the merits of a decentralized approach, which allows specific examples to illuminate general observations. In discussing Copland's response to Dickinson's distinctive metres, for example, Starr uses 'The Chariot' to demonstrate the ways in which the composer both preserves and disrupts the poetic structure. Her iambs fall within his dotted rhythms, but Copland also provides 'the occasional, deliberately strong push "against" the poetry' (p. 18).

The focus and brevity of this volume speak to the intent behind the series in which it appears: Starr's is the first of the College Music Society Sourcebooks in American Music. The editor, Michael J. Budds, explains that the series is meant to provide 'educational resources directed to teachers of music, students of music, and other lovers of music'. These are not 'scholastic tracts' (p. v), he cautions, and Starr likewise asserts that he has 'aimed for the widest possible audience in my writing by avoiding extended technical discussions, assuming that the reader brings as background nothing other than curiosity about the work and musical literacy sufficient to follow Copland's score easily' (p. vii). Therein lies the rub, of course, and in the next paragraph Starr advises the musically literate but analytically naive reader to have the vocal score at hand.

The vision of the series and of its ideal reader raises questions of style and audience—questions that seem especially germane given the composer under consideration. As is well known, Copland in the mid-1930s declared 'an increasing dissatisfaction with the relations of the music-loving public and the living composer' (see his 'Composer from Brooklyn', in Magazine of Art (1939); repr. in Our New Music, 1900–1960 (1941), rev. and enlarged as The New Music 1900–1960 (New York...