American Poet Emily Dickinson Set to Music by 20th Century Composers

Abstract: When singers perform art songs, how many of them, especially students, learn about the poem and poet behind the lyrics? It might be that a number of singers focus on composers, however not poets. Even in concert programs, it is common to only write the composer’s name. I am one of the singers that has learned lyrics in the last minute before a concert or an examination. I will experiment with changing my learning process and see if that makes any difference when performing the art song.  The purpose of this study is also to focus on the poet Emily Dickinson. Furthermore, to find out about the music of composers from the 20th century onwards using Dickinson’s poems. I choose Aaron Copland’s song cycle “Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson”.  Finally, I will perform the work and demonstrate if there is a difference in the singing interpretation by studying not only the music but also the poems behind the lyrics. “Who is Emily Dickinson?” The study explores this question first. After researching 100 songs using her poems, I chose three composers, Aaron Copland, Libby Larsen and Niccolò Castiglioni. Thereafter, “Bind me - I can still sing” of Larsen and “Dickinson-Lieder” of Castiglioni is mentioned. Furthermore, the song cycle “Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson” by Copland is analyzed deeply to find out more about the piece and why the composer was inspired by Dickinson. It was discovered that one is able to understand the piece deeply, knowing not only about the life of the composer, but also the poet leads to a better understanding of the work. From the singer’s point of view, the level of expression and singing performance has improved after researching the poet Emily Dickinson.  The study concludes knowing deeply about the poet that there is no doubt how important the poem is when understanding and interpreting art song.