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X-WR-CALNAME:Eastman Theory Colloquium: Stephen Rodgers (University of Oreg
 on)
X-WR-TIMEZONE:Eastern Time (US & Canada)
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260720T080155Z
UID:tag:localist.com\,2008:EventInstance_47347804666528
DTSTART:20241206T210000Z
DTEND:20241206T220000Z
DESCRIPTION:Texture as Form in Lili Boulanger’s "Clarières dans le ciel"
 \n\n“Au pied de mon lit\,” the fifth song from Lili Boulanger’s Clai
 rières dans le ciel\, is fewer than forty measures long\, yet in that spa
 n it uses six distinct piano textures. Some of those textures underline sh
 ifts from one formal section to another\; others happen in the middle of a
  section\, or even the middle of a phrase. The changing accompanimental pa
 tterns\, in other words\, create their own form—a textural form that at 
 times aligns with the form created by harmony and melody\, but more often 
 conflicts with it. Texture\, traditionally considered a “secondary” mu
 sical parameter\, has typically been seen as less essential than the “pr
 imary” parameters of melody\, harmony\, and rhythm\; Camilla Cai\, in an
  article about texture in Felix Mendelssohn’s and Fanny Hensel’s piano
  music\, argues that texture has been devalued in part because it has been
  feminized\, viewed as merely sensuous\, decorative\, and auxiliary. A son
 g like “Au pied de mon lit\,” however\, shows that this “secondary
 ” parameter can be of primary importance. Drawing upon recent studies of
  texture by Jonathan De Souza and Johanna Frymoyer\, I explore the interac
 tion of textural form and harmonic-melodic form\, as well as poetic form\,
  using several songs from Boulanger’s cycle as case studies.\n\nLooking 
 at her songs from this perspective—and treating texture as a driving for
 ce in her music\, not just a surface feature—reveals how she ingeniously
  juxtaposes\, blends\, and transforms textures to create dynamic musical s
 hapes. Moreover\, it invites us to expand our conception of “form” in 
 general\; a single piece\, I suggest\, is not in a single form but in many
  forms at once\, the number of forms dependent upon the number of paramete
 rs we attend to\, the degree of correspondence or conflict among them\, an
 d the elements that captivate us most.\n\nStephen Rodgers is the Edmund A.
  Cykler Chair in Music and Professor of Music Theory and Musicianship at t
 he University of Oregon\, where he has been teaching since 2005. Rodgers
 ’s research focuses on the relationship between music and poetry in art 
 songs from the nineteenth century to the present day\, especially art song
 s by underrepresented composers. He has written extensively on the songs o
 f Fanny Hensel\, one of the nineteenth century’s most prolific and innov
 ative song composers. His edited essay collection entitled The Songs of Fa
 nny Hensel—the first book devoted to Hensel’s contributions to the gen
 re—was published in 2021 by Oxford University Press. A monograph on the 
 songs of Clara Schumann is forthcoming in Cambridge University Press’s M
 usic in Context series.\n\nRodgers’s work is guided by a desire to reach
  communities that extend beyond academia. He is a founding member of the W
 omen’s Song Forum\, an online forum devoted to women’s voices in song 
 and geared toward a wide-ranging audience of scholars\, performers\, educa
 tors\, and lay listeners. He has collaborated with the Hampsong Foundation
 \, a non-profit created by the baritone Thomas Hampson that promotes inter
 cultural dialogue and understanding through song\; Hampson interviewed him
  on the series World of Song and\, in April 2021\, invited him to host pro
 grams on Marian Anderson and Mahalia Jackson\, early twentieth-century wom
 en’s song\, and Fanny Hensel. He is active as a tenor and frequently per
 forms lecture-recitals for specialists and non-specialists alike. He also 
 runs a website devoted to underrepresented composers called Art Song Augme
 nted and hosts a podcast about poetry and song called Resounding Verse.
GEO:43.157809;-77.60103
LOCATION:Eastman School of Music\, ESM 305
SUMMARY:Eastman Theory Colloquium: Stephen Rodgers (University of Oregon)
URL;VALUE=URI:https://events.rochester.edu/event/eastman-theory-colloquium-
 stephen-rodgers-university-of-oregon
CATEGORIES:Arts & Culture
CATEGORIES:Lectures & Talks
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