Natural Imagery in the Art Songs of Mary Carr Moore

ABSTRACTThe first and most general aim of this treatise is to introduce readers to the art songs of Mary Carr Moore (1873-1957), an American composer who lived and worked on the West Coast. Moore composed songs throughout her life, yet her contributions to this genre have garnered little attention. The songs chosen for this study represent a small portion of Moore's output of vocal music with poetry on natural themes. I have long been fascinated by the myriad ways artists experience the natural world and filter it through their works, and this project has been an attempt to explore just one composer's relationship with nature. While the complicated task of defining nature, if it is possible to do so satisfactorily, is beyond the scope of this treatise, it is my hope that the following broad descriptions of natural imagery will suffice for the reader: imagery of land, including flora and fauna; imagery of water, such as lagoons or the ocean; and imagery of air, including the sky, wind, or clouds. To consider each song in historical context, discussions of relevant biographical points concerning the composer and poets precede each musical analysis. Historical details pertaining to the selected works are highlighted. Each chapter contains song analyses including discussions of prosody and salient musical features. In addition to exploring the ways Moore musicalized natural imagery in her art songs, the reader will gain a deeper understanding of her musical language. Furthermore, because Moore composed the presented songs over three decades, the reader will obtain a sense of how her compositional style developed throughout her career. Finally, this treatise will apply three criteria concerning the ways women artists from the Victorian era commonly expressed nature in their works. These include nature as an extension of the domestic sphere, nature as possessing intrinsic value (not as a commodity), and nature as a spiritual experience. While aspects of these criteria may apply to any or all the songs in this study, these three considerations will be specifically reserved for the songs whose texts are by women authors.