The Voice of Children in Art Song:

A Study of Six Cycles Involving a Childs Perspective

A document submitted to the
Graduate Thesis and Research Committee
of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of the degree
requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
in VOICE
in the Performance Studies Division
of the College-Conservatory of Music
by
Rachelle M. Woolston
BA, Brigham Young University, 2002
MM, University of Cincinnati, 2004

Committee Chair: Dr. Stephanie Schlagel, PhD

Abstract
This document explores the often overlooked and undervalued song cycle repertory
containing childrens themes. This genre includes music written and performed by adults that
offers elements of a childs world within the poetry. Various modes of communication are
possible in songs with childrens themes, depending on whether the poet is an adult or child,
whether the poet acts as an adult or child, and whether the intended audience consists of adults or
children. The document compares six song cycles using each of these modes of communication.
Poems written by children are set in A Garland for Marjory Fleming by Richard Rodney Bennett
and Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104 by Robert Schumann, while adult poets act
as children in Theodore Chanlers The Children and Leonard Bernsteins I Hate Music! A Cycle
of Five Kid Songs for Soprano, and children are the poetic audience in La courte paille by
Francis Poulenc and A Charm of Lullabies by Benjamin Britten. This document uses these three
modes of communication as an analytical lens through which to view the poetic and musical
techniques used in creating a childs world in song. The analysis searches for specific messages
conveyed by the poets and composers and gives suggestions to performers in highlighting these
childlike aspects on stage.

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Acknowledgements
I would like to thank the incredible faculty and family members who made this document
possible. First and foremost, my advisor Dr. Stephanie Schlagel has seen me through this process
from the very beginning. She helped me to develop this project from its origins as a lecture
recital in Cincinnati, and patiently worked with me through a cross-country move and the birth of
my second, third, and fourth children. She has been an invaluable resource, guiding my research,
helping me to organize and present my thoughts in a meaningful way, and providing excellent
feedback on numerous drafts. I am extremely grateful for her expertise, encouragement, and
support. I am also indebted to my readers, Professors Mary Henderson Stucky and Barbara Paver
for their time they spent reviewing my document and their willingness to provide suggestions for
how to improve it.
I am also thankful to my wonderful family for their unwavering support. My husband
helped me find the motivation to see this project through to its completion, and spent countless
hours fulfilling the household responsibilities and care of our growing family so I could make the
time to research and write. I want to acknowledge my four children for serving as the inspiration
for this topic of study, and for challenging me to become a better person every day. They give
my life fullness and richness that I never before dreamed of obtaining. I hope to be an example to
them of finishing what you start, no matter how long or difficult the process.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ............................................................................................................................1
Purpose.......................................................................................................................3
Literature Review.......................................................................................................4
Methodology ..............................................................................................................7
Scope ..........................................................................................................................10
Chapter 1: Child Poets ...........................................................................................................12
A Garland for Marjory Fleming ................................................................................12
Marjory Fleming ............................................................................................13
Richard Rodney Bennett ................................................................................17
Analysis of A Garland for Marjory Fleming .................................................19
For Performers ...............................................................................................31
Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104 ........................................................31
Elisabeth Kulmann .........................................................................................32
Robert Schumann ...........................................................................................36
Analysis of Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104.........................43
For Performers ...............................................................................................58
Conclusions ................................................................................................................58
Chapter 2: Adult Poet Acting as a Child ................................................................................60
The Children ..............................................................................................................60
Leonard Feeney..............................................................................................61
Theodore Chanler...........................................................................................65
Analysis of The Children ...............................................................................71

For Performers ...............................................................................................90

I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano ..............................................91
Leonard Bernstein ..........................................................................................91
Analysis of I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano ...............97
For Performers ...............................................................................................107
Conclusions ................................................................................................................108
Chapter 3: Adult Poet Addressing a Child .............................................................................110
La courte paille ..........................................................................................................110
Maurice Carme .............................................................................................111
Francis Poulenc ..............................................................................................113
Analysis of La courte paille...........................................................................119
For Performers ...............................................................................................130
A Charm of Lullabies .................................................................................................131
Benjamin Britten ............................................................................................132
Analysis of A Charm of Lullabies..................................................................138
For Performers ...............................................................................................154
Conclusions ................................................................................................................154
Conclusion .............................................................................................................................156
Textual Characteristics...............................................................................................156
Musical Characteristics ..............................................................................................158
Modes of Communication..........................................................................................160
Messages ....................................................................................................................161
Legitimacy .................................................................................................................165

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Summary ....................................................................................................................166
Bibliography ..........................................................................................................................168
Secondary Literature ..................................................................................................168
Poetry and Scores .......................................................................................................175

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Introduction: Childrens Themes in Art Song

Most scholarly criticism of song cycles focuses on serious works that are usually
earnest in nature, meriting the label of art music. According to Shirlee Emmons and Stanley
Sonntag, authors of the standard singers reference book, The Art of the Song Recital, Musicians
tend to view the song cycle as possessing certain requisite attributeslengthiness, solemnity,
and gravity.1 However, every performing musician understands the need for music of a
humorous or fun-loving nature, particularly when constructing a recital. Performers often seek
for a contrasting set of art songs to balance a recital program, and music with brevity,
lightheartedness, and wit fills that requirement perfectly. One such example of cheery, witty
repertoire worthy of study and programming is song cycles with themes of children.
Writing music containing childrens themes is not a new phenomenon. Several
composers have found childhood to be an inspiration for works involving the voice as well as all
combinations of instruments. As musicologist Keith Clifton notes, Musical depictions of the
childhood experience have attracted a wide spectrum of composers, reaching an apex in the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Since such music generally makes limited technical demands
and features accessible melodies, diatonic harmonies, and periodic (often ternary) formal
structures, the appeal is logical.2 Examples of such compositions include music illustrating
childrens stories or nursery rhymes, such as Maurice Ravels Ma mere loye, Engelbert
Humperdincks Hnsel und Gretel, and Sergei Prokofievs Peter and the Wolf. Some large-scale
works with an adult cast include parts for children to perform, such as Benjamin Brittens War
Requiem or Alban Bergs Wozzeck. Other compositions were written with the intent of furthering
childrens education, either for childrens recital performance, as in Robert Schumanns
1

Shirlee Emmons and Stanley Sonntag, The Art of the Song Recital (New York: Schirmer, 1979), 269.
Keith E. Clifton, Beyond Childhood: Poulenc, La courte paille, and the Aural Envelope, College Music
Symposium 49 (2009): 333.
2

Liederalbum fr die Jugend, or for adult performance, like Brittens The Young Persons Guide
to the Orchestra. This document focuses on examples of art songs for voice and piano that are
performed by adults.
Song cycles with childrens themes are defined primarily by their childlike topics, often
overtly stated in their titles, such as Modest Mussorgskys The Nursery or Theodore Chanlers
The Children. Subject material for these art songs may include holiday songs, songs about the
outdoors, lullabies, songs about animals and birds, songs about people and their activities, songs
of greeting, chants and games, nonsense songs, Mother Goose rhymes, hymns, nursery songs,
and fairy tales.3 Most importantly, these songs express childrens experiences and emotions.
Though labeling this subject material as light may insinuate simple, unrefined music, many art
songs involving childrens themes are not merely fluff. In the hands of capable poets and
composers, quite complex, intricate, and delightful creations often result. These sophisticated
songs are best suited for adult audiences, appealing to their nostalgia of youth and childhood,
combined with their appreciation for musical subtlety and sophistication.
Crucial to the study of songs with childrens themes is the manner in which the
perspectives of children are conveyed by the poet, the composer, and the performer. The poet
plays a fundamental role in determining the poetic voice, choosing to write from either the
perspective of a child or of an adult. This choice of perspective can be described as a mode of
communication. The mode of communication depends on 1) whether the poet is an adult or a
child, 2) whether the poet is acting as an adult or a child, and 3) whether the intended audience is
made up of adults or children. Musicologist Ian Sharp categorizes these various modes of
communication into eight Routes of Musical Experience. They are:

Alice G. Thorn, Music for Young Children (New York: C. Scribners Sons, 1929), 1213.

1. Adults assume a mode of childhood to relate to children.

2. Adults retain a mode of adulthood to relate to children.
3. Adults assume a mode of childhood to relate to adults.
4. Adults retain a mode of adulthood.
5. Children retain a mode of childhood to relate to adults.
6. Children assume a mode of adulthood to relate to adults.
7. Children retain a mode of childhood to relate to children.
8. Children assume a mode of adulthood to relate to children.4
Upon determining a poems mode of communication, whether adult, child, or adult acting as a
child, the composer shapes the work by responding to its point of view with his musical setting.
He establishes the musical tone and creates specific sounds to effectively illustrate the childlike
qualities of the text. The performers then interpret the intentions of both the poet and composer
in bringing the literature to life on the stage.

Purpose
There is relatively little research on the topic of childrens themes in art song, and the
subject matter deserves further exploration. The purpose of this document is to study three pairs
of song cycles involving a childs perspective, whether real or manufactured. Each pair uses a
different mode of communication. The cycles studied in chapter one, A Garland for Marjory
Fleming by Richard Rodney Bennett and Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104, by
Robert Schumann, have poetry written by children. Chapter two analyzes Theodore Chanlers
The Children and Leonard Bernsteins I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano,
with poetry written by adults acting as children. Songs in which adults address children appear in
chapter threes discussion of La courte paille by Francis Poulenc and A Charm of Lullabies by
Benjamin Britten. This document utilizes these three modes of communication as an analytical
lens through which to view the poetic and musical techniques used in creating a childs world in
4

Ian Sharp, Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press,

2000), 31.

song. These observations generate suggestions to performers of ways to in feature these childlike
aspects on stage. Examining these cycles through the mode of communication reveals common
themes and subtle aspects of the poetry and music, with more richness achieved by comparing
pairs in the same modes of communication. By bringing attention to some works that are not
widely performed, this document also hopes to benefit fellow musicians in their performing and
teaching careers.

Literature Review
Musicological reference materials guided the choice of song cycles to include in this
document. The Art of the Song Recital by Emmons and Sonntag contains a representative list of
songs having in common thoughts by and about children, 5 in a section of the book devoted to
programming song cycles. The vocal literature reference book Song: A Guide to Style and
Literature by Carol Kimball has a large section with lengthy discussions of selected works by
several composers organized by nationality, as well as an index of composers and selected works
at the end of the book.6 Sergius Kagens Music for the Voice lists selected works of significant
composers, organized by pre-nineteenth-century and post-nineteenth-century songs of different
nationalities. The lists include vocal range and appropriate voice type, with minimal remarks.7
Both Kimball and Kagen catalog the childrens songs of prominent composers along with their
more serious output. These reference materials, designed to further familiarity with various
composers works, served as invaluable resources in choosing repertoire for this study.

Emmons and Sonntag, 267.

Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Style and Literature (Seattle: Pst, 2000).
7
Sergius Kagen, Music for the Voice: A Descriptive List of Concert and Teaching Material rev. ed.
(Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968).
6

Few musicological sources address specific poetic or musical criteria by which the
childlike nature of text and music can be analyzed. The most comprehensive analyses exist in
Gloria Shafers book Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle8 and Ian Sharps Classical Musics
Evocation of the Myth of Childhood.9 Shafer examines and describes the childrens song cycle
repertoire, considering the textual and musical features distinctive in the genre. She concludes
that the primary factor distinguishing childrens song cycles is the subject matter chosen, a
statement based on Dwight E. Nofzingers dissertation, A Study of Selected Song Literature for
Children.10 In an article for Music Educators Journal, Shafer states that instead of formulating
their childlike conceptions from underlying psychological approaches, composers work from
their intuitive perception of a childs world.11 She concludes that childrens song cycles tend to
display similar rhythms and melodies, repeated phrases, extensive musical coloring, are about
subjects that employ textual imagery relevant to the childs world and evocative of a childs
interest. These employ textual coloring such as alliteration and onomatopoeia as well. 12 Her
findings aided the search for common poetic and compositional techniques among the chosen
repertoire. The present study goes beyond her work by considering the cycles in light of a childs
perspective, and by entertaining the question of what messages about children these songs
convey.
Ian Sharps book Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood explores musical
images of the phenomenon of childhood, analyzing both vocal and instrumental music. He
divides childrens music into categories involving sources of creation and performance (children
8

Gloria Shafer, Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle as a Musical Genre with Four Case Studies and an
Original Cycle (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989).
9
Sharp.
10
Dwight E. Nofzinger, A Study of Song Literature for Children (EdD diss., University of Northern
Colorado, 1967).
11
Gloria Shafer, Childrens Song Cycles Are for Everyone, Music Educators Journal 67, no. 9 (May
1981): 33.
12
Shafer, Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle, 71.

or adults), character (childlike or adult like), and intended audience (children or adults).13 His
discussion of modes of communication serves as a foundation for this analysis, as I apply his
theories to repertory he did not consider.
Biographical details concerning the poets and composers included in this study
contextualize these song cycles within their lives and output. Among the biographical sources
consulted were Lachlan Macbeans Marjorie Fleming: The Story of Pet Marjorie Together With
Her Journals and Her Letters,14 John Daverios Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic
Age,15 and Pierre Bernacs Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs.16 These biographies
pointed out relevant details in the poets and composers lives that informed their works.
Including biographical elements such as Schumanns interest in the musical education of
children, Feeneys radio addresses regarding children and God, Bernsteins Young Peoples
Concerts, and Brittens fascination with the corruption of innocence brings added meaning to
the song cycles considered in this document.
Explorations of poetic and musical collections, such as Mother Raspberry by Maurice
Carme,17 We Are the Children of God by Leonard Feeney,18 and The Collected Songs of
Theodore Chanler19 aided in gaining familiarity with the poets and composers style and output.
Mention of other vocal repertoire such as Chanlers Four Rhymes from Peacock Pie20 and

13

Sharp, 31.
Lachlan Macbean, Marjorie Fleming: The Story of Pet Marjorie Together With Her Journals and Her
Letters (New York: G. P. Putnams, 1904).
15
John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age (New York: Oxford University Press,
1997).
16
Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs trans. Winifred Radford (New York: W. W.
Norton, 1977).
17
Maurice Carme, Mother Raspberry (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1969).
18
Leonard Feeney, We Are the Children of God (Huntington, IN.: Our Sunday Visitor, 1942).
19
Theodore Chanler, The Collected Songs of Theodore Chanler: Medium/High Voice and Piano (New
York: G. Schirmer, 1994).
20
Chanler, The Collected Songs.
14

Schumanns Mdchenlieder,21 a setting of additional poetry by Elisabeth Kulmann, reveals these

composers continuing interests in childrens themes.
Musicological sources examining these song cycles melodic, harmonic, rhythmic,
textural, dynamic, and formal structural content or discussing their place in the development of
art song aided in the analyses. Among these sources are Rebecca Scharlene Ringers dissertation
Beyond the Year of Song, Text and Music in the Song Cycles of Robert Schumann After
1848,22 as well as Yugo Sava Ikachs document A Study of Selected Songs by Leonard
Bernstein Which Reflect His Contribution to the Evolution of Art Song in America,23 and
Annette Nicolais thesis Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies: Historical Survey,
Analysis and Performance.24

Methodology
This document examines the poetry and music of six song cycles from the nineteenth and
twentieth century that incorporate a childs perspective. Each chapter discusses of a pair of
cycles that share the same mode of communication, searching for nuances that emerge from
analyzing them together. The poetic analysis focuses on such aspects as word choice, sentence
structure, and recurring images or themes that contribute to the childlike quality of text. Musical
techniques such as sing-song melodies or syllabic text setting are considered with reference to
the composers individual styles to determine how they illuminate the childlike traits in the text.
Where applicable, the document includes an investigation of any personal beliefs or values about
21

Robert Schumann, Neue Ausgabe smtlicher Werke. Serie VI: Lieder (Mainz: Schott, 2009).
Rebecca Scharlene Ringer, Beyond the Year of Song, Text and Music in the Song Cycles of Robert
Schumann After 1848 (PhD diss., University of North Texas, 2007).
23
Yugo Sava Ikach, A Study of Selected Songs by Leonard Bernstein Which Reflect His Contribution to
the Evolution of Art Song in America (DMA doc., West Virginia University, 2003).
24
Annette Nicolai, Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies: Historical Survey, Analysis and
Performance (MA thesis, California State University, Long Beach, 1992).
22

children that the poets and composers instill in their works. Each cycle receives an interpretation
regarding how the specific mode of communication affects their musical development as well as
their resulting themes or teachings. The document also offers suggestions as to what performers
might do to enhance these childlike qualities and intended messages.
Chapter one considers song cycles with poetry written by children. They fit Sharps fifth
and sixth Routes of Musical Experience because children either retain a mode of childhood or
assume a mode of adulthood to relate to adults. Richard Rodney Bennett (b. 1936) composed A
Garland for Marjory Fleming in 1969. Marjory Fleming (18031811) wrote these texts between
the ages of six and eight in 18091811. In them she relates her observations about various family
members, friends and animals, all with a sense of youth and innocence. Robert Schumann
(18101856) composed Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104 in 1851, setting selected
texts of child poet Elisabeth Kulmann (18081825), published in 1835. Elisabeth describes her
lifes circumstances, complete with her childhood joys and hardships, culminating in the
anticipation of her imminent death.
Both cycles texts come from a true childs perspective, but at times the child poets
behave in an adult manner, thus altering the mode of communication to a child acting as an adult
and instigating a shift in the composers and performers responses. At times, Marjory imitates
the adults surrounding her, but the bulk of her poetry remains youthful, nave and simple, due to
her death at such an early age. Bennetts musical setting consequently focuses on illustrating her
immaturity and genuine childlike nature. Elisabeth lived nearly a decade longer than Marjory,
and her poetry reflects the maturation process she underwent during those formative years. A
comparison of these two cycles reveals how Schumanns setting enhances the idea of Elisabeths

growth and development, as he deliberately creates a musical portrait intended to describe this
idyllic woman.
Chapter two analyzes song cycles with poetry by an adult who assumes a childs identity,
corresponding to Sharps third Route of Musical Experience. American composer Theodore
Chanler (19021961) collaborated with the American Jesuit priest Leonard Feeney (18971978)
to create a cycle of childlike songs entitled The Children in 1945. Feeneys poems use children
as the collective narrator, describing their observations and feelings, but also including a didactic
element in which the children instruct adults regarding the proper way to treat them. The cycle
results in a symbolic or archetypal figure of childhood that serves to teach or set an example as
opposed to imitating genuine children. American composer, conductor, and pedagogue Leonard
Bernstein (19181990) wrote both the text and music for I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid
Songs for Soprano in 1943. These songs are written from the point of view of a ten-year-old
child named Barbara, relating her musings and opinions about science, music, and life in general.
Bernsteins set creates a more realistic child narrator and presents a less overt agenda than
Feeneys. Remaining much more playful and fun-loving in approach, Bernstein still includes the
subtle teaching that children are people too, a yearning for legitimacy echoed in Bernsteins
personal life. Examining the two cycles together provides the opportunity to compare the
different methods the poets and composers use to convey a childs perspective, as well as the
different messages presented by their songs.
Two cycles in chapter three with children as a poetic audience conclude this discussion of
childrens themes in art song based on modes of communication. These cycles match Sharps
first and second Route of Musical Experience, in which adults either assume a mode of
childhood or retain a mode of adulthood to relate to children. French composer Francis Poulenc

(18991963) wrote the cycle La courte paille setting texts by Belgian poet Maurice Carme
(18991978) in 1960. The poetry can be analyzed from the point of view of an adult talking to a
child, addressing him either in a direct way or through telling him silly or magical stories. The
cycle begins with a mother keeping a nighttime vigil at her ill childs bedside as he struggles to
fall asleep. She retains a mode of adulthood in this first song, as well as the rest of the oddnumbered songs, as she calms and soothes her child with magical stories, or reflects on the world
she envisions for his future. She alters her mode of communication in the even-numbered songs
as she assumes a more childlike mode of communication to tell silly, nonsensical fairy tales and
stories. Englishman Benjamin Britten (19131976) selected a diverse group of five texts each by
a different British poet to create the cycle A Charm of Lullabies in 1947. Each poem is a lullaby
of one sort or another, and as such, has the perspective of an adult addressing a child. The adults
in the cycle always retain a mode of adulthood in their lullabies. Their themes include soothing
and rocking a child to sleep, threatening a child with punishments for disobedience, and
envisioning the childs bright future. Exploring the various themes and images that the adults use
in addressing children throughout both cycles illuminates how these two modes of
communication evoke a consistent combination of love and tenderness, frustration, and
anticipation of the future.

Scope
This document does not attempt to provide an exhaustive formal or harmonic, stylistic, or
literary analysis of these song cycles. The focus remains examining childlike qualities of the
texts and music, while incorporating relevant biographical details from the poets and
composers lives that may have shaped their works. Though related to the topic of childrens

10

themes, this document also does not pursue any investigation of child psychology that existed
during the different time periods in which these works were composed. Too broad and
impractical for a study of this size, such research would nevertheless benefit the topic of art
songs with childrens themes by exposing any reason or potential bias behind the messages
conveyed.
Ideas for subsequent researchers who may be interested in analyzing these cycles in a
psychological context might involve comparing the Bernstein and Chanler cycles, two
contemporary American works created at the height of World War II, investigating how children
were regarded during this Post-Freudian environment. Other avenues for study include detailed
stylistic analyses of various composers lighter music (encompassing songs with childrens
themes) in comparison with their more serious works, with an eye toward identifying
compositional inconsistencies or alterations that correspond with their subject material and mode
of communication.

11

Chapter 1: Child Poets

Reading a childs own writings gives unrestricted access to their thoughts and feelings.
Such is the case in two song cycles each with poetry written by a child, Richard Rodney
Bennetts A Garland for Marjory Fleming and Robert Schumanns Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth
Kulmann, Op. 104. Marjory Fleming and Elisabeth Kulmann, both highly accomplished young
poets, utilize their skill with words to describe their childhood experiences, ranging from family
relationships to interactions with animals and thoughts on death. Composers Richard Rodney
Bennett and Robert Schumann set these childrens words to music, creating vivid portraits of
their subjects. The Fleming cycle produces a snapshot of a sweet, pure pre-adolescent girl who
tries to emulate her elders, often with comic results. Schumanns setting of Kulmanns poetry
reveals an imaginative child who grows through adversity into a thoughtful, mature young
woman. Using the mode of communication of a childs perspective allows composers to
emphasize the unique perceptions offered, resulting in a sense of gentle wistfulness, humor, or
admiration and esteem.

A Garland for Marjory Fleming

This short cycle of five songs contains the poetry of a young girl named Marjory
Fleming, penned between her sixth and ninth birthdays. Most of Flemings writings reveal her
innocent, precocious, fun-loving personality, as she describes the people and animals
surrounding her. This quality of her narration corresponds to Ian Sharps fifth Route of Musical
Experience, wherein a child retains a mode of childhood to relate to adults.1 At times Fleming
alters her mode of communication by acting in a more grown-up manner, imitating the adults

Ian Sharp, Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press,

2000), 31.

12

around her. When this occurs, her poetry fits Sharps sixth Route of Musical Experience because
she assumes a mode of adulthood to relate to adults. Bennetts setting exposes Flemings
youthful nature, emphasizing her affectionate, exuberant personality, while illuminating the
moments where she attempts to act with maturity beyond her age. The result is a realistic
portrayal of this captivating young girl.

Marjory Fleming
Marjory (sometimes mistakenly spelled Marjorie) Fleming was a child writer and poet,
born in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland in 1803. She died at the age of eight of meningitis, which had
developed from the measles, and is best remembered for her diaries that she kept for the last few
years of her life. As her third editor, Lachlan Macbean, put it,
her little span of life covered barely nine years. It was a brief career, and yet in
those few seasons Marjorie became The Immortal Child of all literature. . . .
Her artless writings have been classed with the wonders of the world, though
indeed she was often but a merry, inconsequent babbler, as every real child must
be.2
Though she did not travel more than thirty miles from home during her lifetime, Flemings
published journals have transported her thoughts and personality to readers across the world.
Fleming lived her short life surrounded by educated, literate people who fostered her
early schooling and hearty appetite for reading. Marjorys father, James Fleming, descended
from a family of ministers and worked as a successful accountant. Her mothers family included
many prominent surgeons who moved in the cultured circles of Edinburgh.3 The Flemings lived
in a three-story building above a book-sellers shop. Her parents loved books, and instilled the

Lachlan Macbean, Marjorie Fleming: The Story of Pet Marjorie Together with Her Journals and Her
Letters (New York: G. P. Putnams Sons, 1904), 12.
3
Frank Sidgwick, ed., introduction to The Complete Marjory Fleming: Her Journals, Letters & Verses, by
Marjory Fleming (New York: Oxford University Press, 1935), xiii.

13

same love in their children. Mr. Fleming had a well-stocked library, and when the children
performed their daily chores well, he rewarded them by reading aloud extracts from the best
authors. Marjory was given free access to any books she wanted to read, and she not only read
them, but often memorized many long passages.4 Marjory would often sit in the drawing room
and read, even before turning five years old. A hundred years after her death, Mark Twain
commented on Marjorys love of reading, saying, this wee little child has a marvelous range of
interests. She reads philosophies, novels, baby books, histories, the mighty poetsreads them
with burning interest, and frankly and freely criticizes them all. . . .5 This familiarity with a wide
range of literature finds expression in her journals, as she includes various historical and literary
anecdotes in her prose and poetry.
The highlight of Marjorys short life occurred when her cousin, Isabella Keith, visited
from Edinburgh in the summer of 1808 when Marjory was just five-and-a-half years old. Isabella
was extremely fond of Marjory, who, in turn, practically worshipped her cousin. This warm
relationship between the two girls resulted in Marjory spending most of her sixth, seventh, and
eighth years away from her home, under the care of her aunt, Marianne Keith, and the tutelage of
her seventeen-year-old cousin Isabella.6 Working together, Isabella instructed Marjory in a
variety of subjects including French, math, history, and the Bible.7 As part of Marjorys
education, Isabella encouraged her young pupil to take more care with her handwriting, and with
this in mind gave her the first of several journals in which to write whatever thoughts came into

Macbean, 15.
Mark Twain, Marjorie Fleming, The Wonder Child, in The Complete Essays of Mark Twain, ed.
Charles Neider (Cambridge: Da Capo Press, 2000), 460.
6
Sidgwick, xv.
7
Alexandra Johnson, The Drama of Imagination: Marjory Fleming and Her Diaries, in Infant Tongues:
The Voice of the Child in Literature, eds. Elisabeth Goodenough, Mark A. Heberle, and Naomi Sokoloff (Detroit:
Wayne State University Press, 1994), 87.
5

14

her wise little head.8 These journals cover nearly three years of her life, from the winter of
180809 to mid-summer 1811. They reveal her thoughts and reading habits, and quite often, her
misbehaving. As Macbean summarizes, all her writings reveal a fond, impulsive, affectionate
creature; frank and artless in her innocence, yet unconsciously showing signs of a generous
richness of nature.9 With the unguarded nature of a child, Marjory candidly writes about her
community and gives her opinions and judgments on all aspects of her life.
Marjory discloses her childlike nature through her choices of subject matter and her
guileless manner of expression. She devotes numerous pages of her journal to her idol, her
beloved cousin Isabell, praising her beauty and good nature. She also makes human-like
descriptions of the animals in her midst, finding joy in their silly antics and sorrow in their
tragedies. Void of any hidden agenda or underlying purpose in her writings, Marjory merely
describes her experiences and surroundings, as one would only expect from such a young author.
She often strings together ideas in amusingly random ways,10 as evidenced in an excerpt from
her first journal: Miss Potune is very fat she pretends to be very learned she says she saw a
stone that dropt from the skies, but she is a good christian.11 Making such judgments without
regard for social improprieties reveals her innocent obliviousness to tact and discretion. Her
comments do not seem critical or mean-spirited, however, for she habitually describes people as
fair or good Christians. She simply has not learned to refine her observations through a
socially acceptable filter.
From a technical standpoint, Marjorys writings also reveal her immaturity, especially in
her childish forced rhymes and inconsistent phrasing. The poetry of the entire cycle (and the

Macbean, 20.
Ibid., 13435.
10
Christine Heppermann, Training Wheels, The Horn Book Magazine 80, no. 5 (2004): 536.
11
Marjory Fleming, The Complete Marjory Fleming: Her Journals, Letters & Verses, 98.
9

15

majority of her poetic output) consists of groupings of rhyming couplets, with no variation. Her
common references to people as being fair and having good hair most likely results from a
desire to find an appropriate rhyme, rather than stemming from a true observation. Multiple
spelling mistakes and grammatical inconsistencies add to the mechanical flaws that indicate her
youth.
There are times, however, when all children aspire to be adults, and Marjory does this in
a few of her poems. Macbean describes this phenomenon, noting, It is always interesting to
watch children trying to wield the words of the adult world, much as a new apprentice wields the
tradesmans tools with a kind of amateur originality. But no one ever produced quainter effects
with common English words than does our Marjorie.12 She often includes religious terminology
more suited to adult expression than that of a young child. This habit probably reflects Marjorys
strong spiritual upbringing, stimulated by the stern Calvinistic Puritanism of Scottish theology of
that period.13 Marjory parrots moral lessons from her elders, such as in her journal entry stating
if people do not check their passion when they are young it will grow worse and worse when
they are old so that nobody will love them or obey them.14 Such instances of moralizing and
acting in an adult manner can be found in the song cycle as well.
Shortly after Marjorys death, Isabella Keith delivered Marjorys manuscripts to her
mother, but they remained unknown for nearly half a century. Then in 1858, a London journalist
and opera librettist named H. B. Farnie published the first booklet about the young author
entitled Pet Marjorie: A Story of Child Life Fifty Years Ago, and quoted approximately an
eighth of her prose and a quarter of her poetry.15 Thus began a series of more complete

12

Macbean, 42.
Ibid., 12.
14
Fleming, 129.
15
Sidgwick, xvii.
13

16

publications of Marjorys words, several with misspellings and omissions, along with the
growing legend of her close friendship with Sir Walter Scott, detailing how she would recite
Shakespeare on his knee. Her second editor, Dr. John Brown, included as a preface to her
writings a vivid sketch of Scott coming to the Fleming household nearly every day, shouting for
his friend Marjory. Brown recounts, In a moment a bright, eager child of seven was in his arms,
and he was kissing her all over.16 This delightful story brought fame to Marjorys name, but
their distant family connection (Scott was Marjorys aunts husbands first cousins son)17 as
well as a lack of mentioning each other in their journals, suggests more likely a mere possible
meeting at a family gathering.
Regardless of whether she had strong associations with fame during her lifetime, little
Marjory Fleming has captivated the hearts and minds of men and women over the past two
hundred years who revel in witnessing a child literally and figuratively finding her voice
through her words.18 Her words clearly affected Bennett enough to choose to set them in this
song cycle, providing another avenue for audiences to come to know and love this remarkable
young girl.

Richard Rodney Bennett

Knighted in 1998 for his services to music, Sir Richard Rodney Bennett is a versatile
modern musician, equally well-known for his classical and popular styles of composition. His
talents and accomplishments had their origins in the musical atmosphere of his home. Bennetts
father wrote childrens books and lyrics for songs, some of which were set by English composer
Eric Coates. Bennetts mother studied composition with Gustav Holst as a young woman, and
16

John Brown, Rab and His Friends (Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1863), 55.
Sidgwick, xviii.
18
Johnson, 91.
17

17

specialized in composing lyrical chamber music influenced by Claude Debussy and Maurice
Ravel in the early 1920s. After marrying Bennetts father she worked as a music reviewer and
accompanist.19 With such an artistically talented family, Bennetts musical skills were naturally
cultivated at a young age, and he began composing as a child. He grew up listening to
contemporary early twentieth-century English music as well as popular show tunes, eventually
becoming interested in avant-garde music. After studying at the Royal Academy of Music for
three years, Bennett received a scholarship from the French government to study with Pierre
Boulez from 1957 to 1959 in Paris.20 His compositional style never quite took on the complex
manner of that of Boulez, but according to commentator Anthony Burton, Bennett retained
elements of a neo-Romantic serialism closer to Berg than Webern.21
Bennett used this distinctive compositional style in his most famous opera, The Mines of
Sulphur, in 1963. Though he abandoned writing opera after 1970, Bennett continues to compose
in many other genres, including orchestral and choral works, instrumental solos, song cycles, and
film scores, bringing his melodic gift and ability to powerfully create a mood to them all.22 His
most famous film score, Murder on the Orient Express earned him an Academy Award
nomination in 1974.
Throughout his career Bennetts style evolved from serialist to more of a crossover or
jazz style. Beginning in the 1990s he developed a solo cabaret-style show with himself as pianist
and singer.23 Earlier in his career he favored French coloristic harmonies, but now he writes

19

Stewart Craggs, Richard Rodney Bennett: A Bio-bibliography, Bio-bibliographies in Music (New York:
Greenwood Press, 2002), 3.
20
Susan Bradshaw, Bennett, Sir Richard Rodney, Oxford Music Online,
http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com:80/subscriber/article/grove/music/02705 (accessed March 26, 2012).
21
Anthony Burton, Richard Rodney Bennett, Chester Music Novello Co, 44 (2005),
http://www.chesternovello.com/Default.aspx?TabId=2431&State_2905=2&composerId_2905=100# (accessed
March 31, 2012).
22
Ibid.
23
Bradshaw.

18

freely tonal works, characterized by extensive chromaticism, sophisticated simplicity, or soaring

lyricism, appealing more to the general public.24 His Garland for Marjory Fleming cycle, written
in 1969, fits chronologically into his serialist compositional time, but stylistically it belongs to
his later, tonal style, while still retaining elements of rhythmic complexity and extensive use of
chromaticism.
Perhaps because of his fathers vocation as a childrens author, Bennett has chosen the
subject of children for several of his compositions. He has written at least fifteen works intended
for children to perform. Among these are an opera for young people entitled All the Kings Men
in 1968, many songs, solo piano works, as well as solo instrumental, chamber and orchestral
compositions. Bennett wrote a group of songs for childrens performance to accompany the
narrated story The Midnight Thief, for the televised BBC series Making Music. He also
arranged several nursery songs for the Oxford Nursery Song Book in 1963.25 Most recently, his
song cycle of nursery rhymes, Songs Before Sleep, composed for baritone and piano in 2002,
resembles the Marjory Fleming cycle as it is a sophisticated piece intended for adults to perform.

Analysis of A Garland for Marjory Fleming

A Garland for Marjory Fleming consists of five short songs recounting Marjorys family
and childhood surroundings, and lasts approximately nine minutes in performance. In Isas Bed
begins the set, depicting Marjorys admiration for her favorite cousin Isabella. A Melancholy
Lay follows, in which Marjory describes the death of three turkeys, presumably killed for the
familys food. The third song, On Jessy Watsons Elopement expresses Marjorys astonishment
and dismay at the folly of such an improper deed. Sweet Isabell follows, with Marjory

24
25

Burton.
Craggs, 96104.

19

extolling her cousins virtues in contrast to the flawed Jessy Watson. Sonnet on a Monkey
finishes the cycle with a rousing poetic depiction of her aunts pet.
From the collection of poems at his disposal, Bennett chose five that clearly outlined
Marjorys personality: her love for her cousin, her humorous observations of animals, and her
attempts at putting on adult airs in chastising an older girls choice of marriage. Bennett includes
a note in the title page of the cycle, stating that the original spelling has been retained except
where it would affect the correct pronunciation of the words: christain, Etenity, etc.26
Preserving her childlike misspellings demonstrates his desire to allow Marjory to present her
authentic self with minimal alterations. Bennett recognized that the power of her diaries lay in
witnessing a child in the process of self-expression, while resisting the stuttering corrections of
self-consciousness.27 Clearly, Bennetts interests lay in creating a true rendering of this gifted
and unintentionally funny young girl. As a whole, the poems create a sketch of an innocent,
precocious child making observations about her world.
In the first song, In Isas Bed, Marjory outlines their sleeping arrangements, describing
how she lay at the foot of the bed in order to read Arabian Nights, consequently disturbing Isas
rest. As Marjory herself observed, . . . I disturbed her repose at night by contunial [sic] figting
and kicking but I was very contunialy [sic] at work reading the Arabin Nights entertainments
which I could not have done had I slept at the top.28 Marjory knows she should not bother her
cousin, and says of my follies [I] am repented. The obviously strained rhyme of lilys with
pillies (pillows) and lie with luxury create a humorous effect, exposing this young poets
unintentional wit.

26

Richard Rodney Bennett, A Garland for Marjory Fleming: Five Songs for Soprano and Piano, (London:
Novello, 1986), i.
27
Johnson, 85.
28
Fleming, 24.

20

I love in Isas bed to lie

O such a joy and luxury
The bottom of the bed I sleep
And with great care I myself keep
Oft I embrace her feet of lillys
But she has gotton all the pillies.
Her neck I never can embrace
But I do hug her feet in place
But I am sure I am contented
And of my follies am repented
I am sure Id rather be
In a small bed at liberty
Bennett uses clear melodic contours and mischievously unpredictable piano writing to
skillfully accentuate the childlike aspects of the text. He highlights Marjorys youthful
exuberance for her beloved cousin with the opening octave jump in the vocal line with its
unrestrained declaration I love in Isas bed to lie, combined with the merry, jaunty F Major
piano accompaniment in a dotted sing-song rhythm. These lively staccato rhythms, marked
mezzo forte and forte depict Marjorys fidgeting and squirming in bed, as well as her fun-loving,
capricious personality. The next section (mm. 711) changes to a secco, even eighth-note pattern
at a piano dynamic and much lower register as Marjory attempts to remain quiet to avoid waking
her cousin. She cannot stay quiet for long as she forcefully complains about Isabella having all of
the pillies (pillows). The opening motives return in the piano and vocal part, beginning in m.
12, as Marjory describes enthusiastically hugging Isabellas feet instead of her neck, then
suddenly repents of this outburst at m. 18 in the same soft, eighth-note pattern in the low register
as before. She finishes her song with an espressivo statement (m. 21) about her desire to be in her
own bed, at liberty to do as she wishes. The musical setting, with its sudden shifts from
unreserved expressions of love or frustration to the quiet, restrained fervor of trying to control

21

herself for Isabellas sake, clearly demonstrate the impulsive personality of this young, energetic
child.
Marjory has a knack for creating an almost human description of animals. In the second
song, A Melancholy Lay, she chronicles the death of three turkeys, while in the final song,
Sonnet on a Monkey, she recounts the antics of her aunts pet. Marjory characterizes all her
subjects as fair, whether they are men or women or turkeys. Twain notes that, she adores
animals, adores them all; none is too forlorn to fail of favor in her friendly eyes, no creature so
humble that she cannot find something in it on which to lavish her caressing worship.29 Animals
become equals as friends and companions in Marjorys view, and she treats them as such through
her poems.
A Melancholy Lay expresses Marjorys belief that animals are all swayed by the same
feelings as her readers by including the statement, they sigh and weep as well as you. Marjory
creates human-like relationships between the turkeys, imagining the parents mourning for their
beloved offspring, and the turkeys peers not despising their grace and beauty. She seems taken
aback that the departed turkeys mother emitted no sigh or let a single tear roll down her beak at
their death, and considers this callousness one of the saddest parts of the tragedy.30
Three Turkeys fair their last have breathed
And now this worled [sic] for ever leaved
Their father and their mother too
Will sigh and weep as well as you
Mourning for their offspring fair
Whom they did nurse with tender care
Indeed the rats their bones have cranchd
To Eternity are they launched
Their graceful form and pretty eyes
Their fellow fowls did not despise
29
30

Twain, 460.
Macbean, 113.

22

A direful death indeed they had

That would put any parent mad
But she was more than usual calm
She did not give a single dam
Here ends this melancholy lay
Farewell poor turkeys I must say.
Marjory maintains a childlike mode of expression through the majority of the poem. Her
fascination with animals and habit of treating them like people exposes her youth. Surely she had
encountered many fables and stories where animals speak, live in houses, wear clothes, and
generally act like humans. Marjorys childlike imagination would easily extend to the real
animals in her own environment, giving such storybook-like characteristics to their descriptions.
Her immature writing style appears with the rhymes breathed/leaved, and
launched/cranchd (crunched). Marjory briefly adopts an adult-like manner of expression
when she makes a religious reference in her description of the three turkeys fate with to
Eternity are they launched. Using such religious terminology in dealing with simple matters
demonstrates her propensity for mimicking the conversation of the adult world surrounding her.
Bennett creates an appropriately morose musical setting for the three turkeys in A
Melancholy Lay with its minor key and slow tempo. The sustained and harmonically static
piano accompaniment with dissonant tone clusters at the beginning sets the somber tone, fitting
the allegretto con dolore marking. The piano clearly establishes G Minor as the key, but the
lyrical vocal line floats above on the dominant, ultimately arriving on tonic at m. 15 at the final
note of the downward portamento on the word mourning. This hovering vocal line creates a
hushed, mournful, almost reverential tone, illustrating Marjorys sincere pain at the death of
these three creatures. Marked mf and solenne, the line Indeed the rats their bones have cranchd
/ To Eternity are they launched shifts down to a low register, setting off this unintentionally

23

humorous statement. Rests appearing in the vocal line, and (for the first time) in the piano part,
between the words are they launched give the text added emphasis without mocking their
sentiment.
The song returns to the original harmonically stationary piano motive with hovering
vocal line at m. 27, growing in intensity and volume (mm. 3438) as Marjory discusses the
turkeys parents feelings of anger. The piano becomes molto espressivo as the poetry reaches its
climax at m. 42, observing the mother turkey refraining from uttering a single dam (damn) for
her dead offspring. The tonality shifts to D Minor, which originally served as the dominant of G
Minor, for the post-script Here ends this melancholy lay / Farewell poor turkeys I must say.
The piano postlude concludes in D Minor, giving an open-ended quality to the song, perhaps
sending the turkeys off to another world. Throughout this sincere tribute, Bennett does not
ridicule the child and her earnest expressions of sadness, but rather gives them a fitting musical
voice.
Isa had given Marjory her journals for the purposes of improving her penmanship as well
as writing down the moral guidelines that a well-mannered girl should follow.31 Perhaps this
instruction explains why Marjory chooses to voice her scorn at the elopement of a servant girl in
the poem On Jessy Watsons Elopement. Marjory depicts Jessy, with her rash and unwise
decisions, as the antithesis of saintly Isabella. Even amidst this criticism, the guileless child
Marjory cannot help but positively illustrate Jessys physical characteristics as well, revealing
her youthful priorities by including praise for Jessys sparkling eyes and good hair.
Run of[f] is Jessy Watson fair
Her eyes do sparkle shes good hair
But Mrs Leath you now shal be
Now and for all Eternity
31

Ibid., 37.

24

Such merry spirits I do hate

But now its over and to late
For to retract such vows you cant
And you must now love your gallant
But I am sure you will repent
And your poor heart will then relent
Your poor poor father will repine
And so would I if you were mine
But now be good for this time past
And let this folly be your last
This seven-year-old girl certainly changes her mode of communication as she puts on a
mature persona to reprove Jessy Watson of her elopement. One can almost hear her echoing
adult criticisms and opinions as she lectures, Your poor poor father will repine, and so would I
if you were mine. She uses a somewhat condescending tone with the reprimand, I am sure you
will repent. Marjory ultimately instructs Jessy to go and sin no more, bestowing forgiveness
by concluding, be good for this time past, and let this folly be your last. In so doing, Marjory
takes on the role of a spiritual advisor or confessor by counseling Jenny to not repeat her sins.
This image of a young girl acting as an adult, believing she possesses the ability to forgive sins,
creates a delightfully comical moment for those observing her behavior.
The sharp rhythmic structure of this setting contrasts markedly from the other songs,
perhaps to convey how Marjory tries to act adult-like in shaming a transgression, instead of
merely behaving as her happy childish self. The song opens with brusque, accented, angular
dotted rhythms, showing Marjorys contempt for Jenny running off to get married. The second
line describing her sparkling eyes and good hair seem to function as an aside in this musical
surrounding, as if Marjory needed a rhyme for the first line, even though the text feels out of
character for her emotional outburst. The generally E Minor key shifts every few measures, and
contains so many chromatic alterations that it almost gives the impression that Marjory cannot

25

find her bearings in this adult world. She continually modulates freely through a series of
unrelated keys as she searches for a suitable way to express herself.
A contrasting middle section begins with a mezzo piano rising sequential passage made
up of even rhythms in the vocal line over a repeated tone cluster centering on C-sharp in the
piano. The soft dynamic level and tension grow with Marjorys mounting advice, describing how
Jenny cannot retract such vows and must love her husband, though she will surely repent of
her actions. Her lecture builds to an unexpectedly soft, high lyrical moment where she sorrows
for Jennys poor father with a portamento, much like the one highlighting the sadness of the
parent turkey in A Melancholy Lay. A subito forte statement marked con fuoco immediately
follows, in which Marjory declares she would treat Jenny the same way if she were her own
daughter, returning to the harsh, accented, dotted rhythms from the opening.
The final admonition to be good from now own musically depicts forgiveness as
Marjorys wrath subsides to a lower tessitura, with a gradual fading in the piano postlude to
repeated low, soft final chords evocative of the opening measures. This song distinctly shows
Bennetts musical tools used to shift the mode of communication to a child acting as an adult.
She self-righteously stomps through multiple keys, quietly deigns to give advice, lyrically
imitates the sorrow of a parent, followed by more dotted-rhythm indignation, and finally offers a
stern reproach with ultimate forgiveness through the piano conclusion.
Love for Isa, the one changeless theme of Marjorys thoughts, returns in the fourth song,
Sweet Isabell. As Mcbean describes, Isa is always the beloved, the learned witty and
sensible, . . . the benefactress whose services can never be repaid, the Venus de Medici, fair as a
Greek statue.32 In this poem, Marjory exalts Isabellas physical and emotional characteristics,
including her soft skin, fair face, pretty hair, neat nails, white teeth, and bright eyes. This pure
32

Ibid., 107.

26

and unabashed love for Isabella truly epitomizes Marjorys youth and wholesomeness. She has
not yet learned how to cloak her feelings or sense any sort of embarrassment or shame in making
such effusive statements about her cousin.
Here lies sweet Isabell in bed
Wearing a nightcap on her head
Her skin is soft her face is fair
And she has very pretty hair
She and I in bed lie nice
And undisturbed by rats or mice
She is disgusted by Mister Worgan
Although he plays upon the organ
A not of ribans [ribbons] on her head
Her cheak is tinged with concious red
Her nails are neat her teeth are white
Her eyes are very very bright
In a conspicuos town she lives
And to the poor her money gives
Here ends sweet Isabellas story
And may it be much to her glory
A post-script to the poem appears in Marjorys journal, stating all this is true and a full
description.33 This detail shows that Marjory was not trying to create an artistic treatment of her
subject as much as to do it complete justice, omitting nothing from the picture.34 She does not
attempt to embellish or persuade others to her point of view as an adult might do, but rather
merely observes and reports.
Bennett contrasts Marjorys negative portrayal of Jessy with her saintly cousin Isabell by
setting the poem with an almost music-box-like accompaniment in a high register, made up of
even quarter-notes, marked dolce semplice. This musical setting could also suggest a return to
the wide-eyed, adoring, innocent, childlike nature that Marjory resumes after putting on airs as a

33
34

Fleming, 103.
Macbean, 39.

27

scornful adult. Unlike the flighty, impulsive, ungrounded Jessy Watson who cannot remain in a
single key for more than two measures, Isabells music begins firmly rooted in F Major, clearly
outlining the tonic, where it remains for ten measures. The sequentially rising vocal line
enumerating Isabells desirable soft skin and pretty hair modulates to D Major. Some
chromaticism creeps into Marjorys description of Isabells disgust for Mr. Worgan who plays
upon the organ. The plagal cadence inserted here wittily mimics the church organ player, while
simultaneously reinforcing the saintly nature of Marjorys idol.
The middle section repeats similar melodic and structural ideas of the first section,
though now in E Major, finally cadencing back in F Major in m. 49 as Marjory finishes her
praise for Isabells charity in giving to the poor. Her final two lines, Here ends sweet Isabellas
story / And may it be much to her glory finish with the same music-box like accompaniment
from the introduction. Bennetts starkly contrasting accompaniment between this song and the
previous one shows Marjorys true nature as she happily and simply describes her idol, using
childlike rhythms, easily discerned rising sequential patterns, and clear harmonies. Sweetness,
purity, and a desire to emulate her cousin come through the musical setting of Marjorys words.
The final song, Sonnet on a Monkey, revisits Marjorys childlike fascination with
animals. The monkey receives eloquent and human-like descriptions such as lovely,
charming, graceful, and divine. He is a great buck and a bow [beau] with teeth whiter
than the snow, cheeks like the roses bloom and hair like the ravens plume, as well as
having a classically Roman nose and eyes that are more like a Christians than an ape.
O lovely O most charming pug
Thy graceful air and heavnly mug
The beauties of his mind do shine
And evry bit is shaped so fine
Your very tail is most devine

28

Your teeth is whiter than the snow

You are a great buck and a bow [beau]
Your eyes are of so fine a shape
More like a christians than an ape
His cheeks is like the roses blume
Your hair is like the ravens plume
His noses cast is of the roman
He is a very pretty weoman
I could not get a rhyme for roman
And was oblidged to call it weoman
Marjorys immature writing style appears again in this poem. She admits in the final
couplet of the poem that she could not get a rhyme for roman, and was oblidged to call it
weoman. Apparently Marjory thinks the joke is a good one, because she uses it again in another
poem (not included in this cycle). An additional instance of convenient rhyming such as this
occurs in her journals when describing James II of England being killed at Roxburgh. She says,
He was killed by a cannon splinter / Quite in the middle of the winter. Perhaps it was not at that
time / But I can get no other rhyme!35 Marjory seems to care more about preserving her rhyme
scheme than the historical account of James IIs death. Inconsistencies in narrative perspective,
such as referring to the monkey alternately as you and he, demonstrate her childish lack of
editorial skills, while simultaneously creating a thorny task of memorization for the performer!
Bennetts musical setting of Sonnet on a Monkey heightens Marjorys young,
impulsive nature. The constantly changing compound meter from 7/8 to 2/4 to 5/8 and 3/8
highlights Marjorys breathless enthusiasm at describing such an energetic and captivating
creature, while simultaneously conveying the unpredictable antics of the animal under her
scrutiny. Marked allegro giocoso like the opening song, Marjorys true nature appears once
again. She has tried on different emotions, such as sorrow/grief, righteous indignation and
35

Fleming, 151.

29

scholarly observer, but returns to her most natural statea happy, excited child full of wonder
and awe.
The song begins in G Major for the introduction and first four measures of the vocal line,
and then modulates approximately every four measures, returning again to tonic at the beginning
of every section. The changing keys serve to heighten Marjorys excitement at describing this
amazing animal, while providing a constancy of character as it returns to tonic over and over.
The ending admission that Marjory chose to describe the monkey as a weoman because she
could not find another rhyme for roman is highlighted by the accompaniment changing to
long, sustained chords for the first time in this song. The final word is set off by a rest on the
downbeat, bringing emphasis to this sweet, funny childish confession: a subtle yet effective way
of capping the entire cycle.
A Garland for Marjory Fleming aptly gives musical life to the imaginative writings of
this remarkable child poet. Through this cycle, listeners come to know Marjory as a smart,
sensitive, witty, precocious child who loves life and struggles with obedience. Due to the
relatively brief time that her writings span, she remains the same through the cycle, with little
apparent growth or maturity. She comes across as a unique child whose most notable
characteristic may not be that what she said was particularly profound, but that she recorded
these typically childish pronouncements.36 Reading her journals prompted Twain to describe her
as an intensely human little creature, exclaiming,
how vividly she lived her small life; how impulsive she was; how sudden, how
tempestuous, how tender, how loving, how sweet, how loyal, how rebellious, how
repentant, how wise, how unwise, how bursting with fun, how frank, how free,
how honest, how innocently bad, how natively good, how charged with quaint
philosophies, how winning, how precious, how adorableand how perennially
and indestructibly interesting!37
36
37

Heppermann, 536.
Twain, 455.

30

Such a powerful response can result from experiencing a childs perspective; and when paired
with a fitting musical setting, there exists the potential to produce compelling feelings of sweet
nostalgia, comic relief, and evocative wonderment.

For Performers
In performing these songs, the singer and pianist should try to enter the mind of this
young poet and express themselves as honestly as she does, attempting to encapsulate the wideeyed, unabashed love so characteristic of Marjory. The performers should certainly not mock or
poke fun at this little child genius, but they should show proper concern at the fate of the turkeys,
and treat the grown up parts with sincerity, no matter how funny they may seem to an adult
audience. In the final two lines of the cycle, however, the performers might indulge in laughing
at the rhyming joke in a self-satisfying manner.

Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104

Music with poetry from a childs perspective can serve to teach lessons gleaned from the
childs life. Robert Schumann accomplishes this in his setting of seven poems by Elisabeth
Kulmann, a young poetess of German and Russian descent who died at the age of seventeen.
Unlike the Fleming cycle where the poetry remains simple and nave because of the poets youth,
Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann grows in maturity as the poet ages. With texts written by a
child who at times acts youthful and carefree, then subsequently expresses herself as the mature
young woman she has become, the cycle correlates with Sharps fifth and sixth Routes of
Musical Experience. Where Bennetts musical setting of Flemings words creates a humorous,
candid snapshot of a sweet and innocent child, Schumanns portrait of Kulmann highlights the

31

young girls admirable qualities, demonstrating her wisdom and emotional progression from the
first to the last song.

Elisabeth Kulmann
Elisabeth Kulmann lived a fairly quiet life of obscurity. She was born in St. Petersburg,
Russia, on the July 17, 1808. Her father served as an officer in the Russian army, and her seven
brothers all followed in his career path. 38 The youngest brother died in battle when Elisabeth was
five years old, and her father and six other brothers all succumbed to tuberculosis at some point,
including three brothers who died before she was born.39 As her remaining brothers and only
sister had already left home when Elisabeth was a child, her German mother remained her closest
companion. They lived together in poverty on Vasilevskii Island in a dilapidated house which
had been rented for them by a relative.40 Elisabeths mother taught her accurate German along
with Russian, and helped her to maintain a cheerful outlook on life, regardless of their severe
financial hardships and other difficulties.41
At an early age, Elisabeths linguistic talents attracted the attention of a kindly, idealistic
tutor named Dr. Karl Friedrich von Grossheinrich, a young lawyer who had been brought to
Russia from Germany to teach the children of a local Count. He gave Elisabeth her first book,
Baumgartens World of Animals when she was five, encouraging her to learn all of the animals
names in five languages. At the age of six she mastered German grammar and began writing at

38

E. Andrews, Elisabeth Kulmann: Poet and Linguist, in Good Words for 1883, ed. Donald Macleod
(London: Ibister, 1883), 465.
39
Thomas Dormandy, The White Death: A History of Tuberculosis (London: Hambledon, 1999), 88.
40
Bonnie Marshall, Kulmann, Elizaveta Borisovna, in Dictionary of Russian Women Writers (Westport:
Greenwood Press, 1994), 344.
41
Andrews, 465.

32

seven.42 Elisabeth had made good progress in French and Italian before the age of ten, following
Grossheinrichs unique teaching methods, described as follows:
He gave her a short manuscript grammar containing only the outlines of the
declensions and conjugations. When she had leaned these thoroughly, he read to
her a translation of some work with the contents of which she was already
familiar, making her repeat the words after him. After she had acquired the
pronunciation of the language, he encouraged her to discover the meaning of as
many words as possible by their resemblance to those in a kindred language.
Where she failed, he translated the passage, rarely allowing the use of a
dictionary, but explaining carefully the grammatical construction. He made his
pupil modify the sentences by varying the moods and tenses of the verbs, and
changing the prepositions and pronouns.43
Following these techniques, Kulmann was usually able to converse in a modern language after
three months study, though the grammatical difficulties of Latin and Greek required more time
to master. She enjoyed studying English, acquiring it with ease, and translating portions of
Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained into German. She added Spanish and Portuguese to her
repertory at the age of fourteen.44
When the relative who had been paying their rent died, family friend Petr Meder, the
director of the local mining college, came to their rescue. With Meders blessing, Father
Abramov, the colleges military chaplain, allowed Elisabeth and her mother to move into an
empty room in his house at the school. There, Elisabeth had access to Meders extensive library
and joined his two daughters in studying music and dance, as well as physics, drawing,
astronomy, botany, mineralogy and mathematics.45
Kulmann familiarized herself with the best German authors and set her mind to becoming
a poet after writing her first German verses at age ten. She intended to use her poetry to describe
the world and mankind, adding that my world consists of the sky overhead, my own and our
42

Marshall, 344.
Andrews, 465.
44
Ibid., 46566.
45
Marshall, 345.
43

33

landlords garden, the courtyard, and the road, while of mankind, I hardly know thirty people.
Now, may I not give speech and life to the objects around me, and make birds, trees, flowers,
and stones talk, each of course after its own fashion?46 Her poetry reflects this view, not
attempting to create moral fables, but rather literally delivering her own simple thoughts about
her humble living situation as well as meditations on God and the afterlife. Kulmanns poetry
contains incredible accuracy and beauty, as well as purity and depth of thought. Purity, industry,
and prayer could be considered the motto of her life. She excelled at creating poetical
descriptions of scenery in every part of the world, though she did not physically travel to these
exotic locations. European and Russian folk tales, Greek myths and legends, and poetry on
scriptural subjects rounded out her extensive output.47
Though Kulmann is little-known today, her poetry did gain the attention and admiration
of important figures during her lifetime. Dr. Grossheinrich made a selection of thirty of
Elisabeths German poems, along with several in French and Italian, and sent them to the great
German masters Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Jean Paul Richter in order to obtain their
opinions of her works. These poems met with great praise from both men. Goethe even ventured
to prophesy for her an honorable rank in literature, in whichever of the languages known to her
she chooses to write.48 Her poetry also gained recognition from the court. At age thirteen,
Kulmann sent translations of several odes of Anacreon into five and then eight languages to the
Empress Elisabeth, for which she received a diamond necklace and a yearly pension of two
hundred rubles for her incredible achievements.49 Unfortunately, Kulmanns fame did not last

46

Kulmann, quoted in Andrews, 466.

Marshall, 345.
48
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, quoted in Marshall, 345.
49
Hendrik Clemens Muller, Lectures on the Science of Literature: Partly Delivered in Edinburgh (Summer
Meeting, 1898) (Haarlem: Vincent Loosjes, 1904), 186.
47

34

long after her lifetime. In reference to her current underrated value as a poet, Bonnie Marshall
states
Kulmanns dedication to classical perfection of form and content earns her an
honorable place in the history of Russian literature. After her death, her work was
published in Russia and Germany, thanks to the tireless efforts of her mentor
Grossheinrich. She captured the attention of Russia mainly as a rare child genius
and was actually better received in Germany. . . . It cannot be denied that both the
quantity and quality of her writings were amazing for her years, that she was
clearly a genius, and that she has been sadly underrated in her native land.50
Kulmanns current lack of popularity does not result from poor quality in her work, as evidenced
by the acclaim she received from literary and political figures during her life.
Having experienced so much death in her young life, Kulmann was intimately familiar
with the concept of her own mortality. She maintained a positive attitude even after falling ill,
making the most of every minute she had. Her fatal battle with consumption resulted from cold
and exposure occurring during the extensive flooding of the Neva River in St. Petersburg on
November 7, 1824. By the end of the year, physicians feared for her life. Even in her weakened
state she produced an epic work, The Magic Lamp, set in Persia and loosely based on Arabian
Nights.
Kulmann had aspirations to shed new luster on her native land and sing the deeds of its
mightiest heroes and desired to complete her unfinished work and achieve her dreams of
fame.51 She hoped to travel to Italy to improve her health, but she did not have enough money for
the journey, even with her stipend from the court.52 With difficulty, she put aside future
ambitions and made peace with leaving the friends and mother she loved, succumbing to her
early death, requesting let no murmuring, no ungrateful thought disquiet my last hour.53

50

Marshall, 34546.
Andrews, 468.
52
Marshall, 345.
53
Kulmann, quoted in Andrews, 468.
51

35

Kulmann died on November 19, 1825 at the age of seventeen. The Empress Alexandra
Fedorovna and the Grand Duchess Helena Pavlovna had an impressive marble monument
erected at her grave in Smolensk Cemetery in St. Petersburg, with an inscription in ten languages
stating, The first Russian female to learn Greek, know eleven languages, and speak eight of
them, and though but a young girl, was nevertheless an excellent poetess.54 These impressive
qualities attracted Schumann not only to her writings, but to her life. His song cycle illuminates
her desirable attributes and strives to teach others to emulate her character.

Robert Schumann
Schumanns life and work epitomize the aesthetics of Romanticism. Among the
Romantic ideals was the concept of childhood, viewed as a symbolic return to the natural, poetic,
and sublime soul of man. This idolization of childhood permeated Schumanns personal life and
artistic inspiration. His own childhood, his interest in childrens literature, his close relationship
with his children, and his desires to create music both for childrens musical instruction as well
as for adults nostalgia all contributed to Schumanns output of music with childrens themes. As
Dong Xu observes,
[Schumann] ventured repeatedly into the world of childhood as a source of
inspiration, demonstrating his delight in fantasy and sympathy with childlike
imagination. Schumanns compositions for and about children, both musical and
literary, are examples of his inner reflections of his personal life, and they are
Schumanns personality that animates them. By depicting the childhood emotions
musically Schumann must have recognized himself after all still a child at heart.55
Exploring the sources of inspiration in Schumanns personal life helps to better understand his
compositions involving childhood.
54

Gerhard Dietel, liner notes from Schumann: Frauenliebe und leben; Gedichte der Knigin Maria
Stuart, trans. Neil Coleman, Sibylla Rubens, Soprano, Uta Hielscher, Piano, Naxos CD, 2008.
55
Dong Xu, Themes of Childhood: A Study of Robert Schumanns Piano Music for Children (DMA
doc., University of Cincinnati, 2006), 19.

36

Memories of Schumanns happy youth served as a motivation for including childhood

themes in his music. Born on June 8, 1810 in beautiful and tranquil Zwickau, Germany,
Schumann enjoyed a comfortable upbringing as the youngest of five children. His bookseller
father, August Schumann, encouraged Roberts musical and literary talents and carefully
watched over the development of his favorite son.56 His mother, Johanne Christiane, devoted
herself with tenderness to him. She loved to sing, and when she realized that music would calm
her son, she would persuade young Robert to sing back to her, which he did with remarkably
accurate pitch and rhythm.57 When his mother became ill with typhus, Schumann had to leave
home and live with the Ruppius family between the ages of three and five. He held great
affection for Elenore Ruppius, whom he later described warmly as a second mother.58 Later in
life, Schumann described his childhood in idyllic terms, remembering how happy he was then,
playing the piano, picking flowers, and writing poetry and prayers.59
The fascination with childhood in German Romanticism gained strength through a
revival of childrens literature. Des Knaben Wunderhorn, a collection of old German folk songs
and verses, as well as many childrens songs written by the editors Achim von Arnim and
Clemens Brentano, became quite popular during the Romantic Era. These collections helped to
renew Germanys rich folk heritage and stimulated compositions by many German Romantic
musicians.60 Fairy tales, or Mrchen, with their imaginative character and supernatural
atmosphere matching the philosophies of the Romantic age, also developed and flourished in

56

2007), 8.

John Worthen, Robert Schumann: Life and Death of a Musician (New Haven: Yale University Press,

57

Peter Otswald, Schumann: The Inner Voices of a Musical Genius (Boston: Northeastern University Press,
1985), 1516.
58
John Daverio, Robert Schumann: Herald of a New Poetic Age (New York: Oxford University Press,
1997), 21.
59
Otswald, 137.
60
Clayton Koelb and Eric Downing, eds., German Literature of the Nineteenth Century, 18321899 The
Camden House History of German Literature, vol. 9 (Rochester: Camden House, 2005), 5253.

37

Germany during Schumanns lifetime.61 German Romantics often turned to Mrchen as a way to
immerse themselves in the childs simplicity and refresh themselves at the source of the childs
primitive innocence.62 They sought to bring poetry and song together into one art form as had
existed in Greek and medieval cultures, inspiring the use of the term poet-musician for song
composers.63
Schumanns extensive familiarity with literature certainly qualified him as a poetmusician, and his love of childrens literature influenced compositions incorporating their
stories and themes. Given Schumanns fathers profession, literary pursuits were strongly
encouraged at home. Schumann enjoyed reading the classics, lives of poets, dramatic works, and
contemporary poetry and fairy tales. He read the tales of the Grimm brothers, Hans Christian
Andersen, Ludwig Tieck, Novalis (Friedrich von Hardenberg), E. T. A. Hoffmann, and von
Arnim, both for his own enjoyment and later to entertain his children. These stories inspired him
to produce many musical counterparts, such as the Mrchenbilder for viola and piano, Op. 113;
Mrchenerzahlungen, Op. 132, for clarinet, viola, and piano; and Waldszenen, Op. 82, a series of
eerie forest pictures for piano, recreating in music their enchanted, fairy-tale mood.64
Another source of inspiration for Schumanns music with childrens themes came from
his experiences raising his own children. Robert and Clara Schumann had eight children in their
nearly fourteen years together, and he was a loving and devoted father. As biographer Eric
Jensen describes,
Schumann enjoyed spending time with his children. He read to them, went on
walks with them, picked flowers with them, and accompanied them on sledding
61

Gillian Rodger, The Lyric, in The Romantic Period in Germany, ed. Siegbert Prawer (New York:
Schocken Books, 1970), 147.
62
Xu, 1516.
63
Linda Siegel, trans. Music in German Romantic Literature: A Collection of Essays, Reviews and Stories
(Novato, CA: Elra, 1983), 4041.
64
Eric Frederick Jensen, Schumann (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 324.

38

expeditions. While this may not seem all that unusual by modern standards, it
would not have been common for fathers in the Germany of Schumanns day to
participate so actively in their childrens lives.65
When their eldest child, Marie, celebrated her first birthday, Schumann gave her a booklet in
which he had documented the events of her life. A few years later he created one collective
album for all of his children, entitled A Little Book of Memories for Our Children, wherein he
recorded their births, characteristics at various ages, as well as their childlike thoughts and
experiences. This booklet describes Schumanns life with his children and his immersion in their
world, demonstrating an intuitive understanding of their minds. Through observing his children,
Schumann was able to relive his own happy childhood, recapturing and retaining for himself the
essence of an idealized childhood that served as a source of inspiration for his music.66
Several of Schumanns compositions involving childhood themes were written with the
intent of teaching musical skills. A gifted pedagogue, in 1848 Schumann recognized the critical
need for well-written, entertaining piano music for children to play.67 Motivated by his oldest
daughter, Marie, who was seven at the time, Schumann composed a group of forty-three short
piano pieces titled Album fr die Jugend, Op. 68, with each piece addressing a problem of
technique or musical expression. Encouraged by the success of the Album, Schumann composed
a vocal counterpart the next year, called Liederalbum fr die Jugend, Op. 79. Other music
Schumann composed for childrens instruction include the solo piano pieces, Drei KlavierSonaten fr die Jugend, Op. 118, and the three sets of piano duets: Zwlf vierhndige
Klavierstcke, Op. 85, Ballszenen, Op. 109, and Kinderball, Op. 130.
Though clearly associated with childhood, Schumanns Kinderszenen, Op. 15 for piano,
are poetic and retrospective views of childhood by a grown-up person, but by no means pieces
65

Ibid., 318.
Ibid., 320.
67
Ibid., 221.
66

39

for children.68 Schumann created musical tone pictures to depict events and occurrences in the
world of children in a simple, unpretentious manner. In the Kinderszenen, he nostalgically
produced a loving and insightful representation of childhood for adults.69 Using his ability to
place himself in a childs mind, Schumann expressed his yearning for childhood through his
music.70
Schumann once again delved into the world of a child in his song cycle Sieben Lieder von
Elisabeth Kulmann, Op 104, in which he attempted to musically convey the life and admirable
qualities of this young poetess. The trajectory of outlining a womans life through song can be
found in two other Schumann cycles, namely Frauenlieben und leben, Op. 42 and Gedichte der
Knigin Maria Stuart, Op. 135. The Kulmann songs are similar to Schumanns Kinderszenen in
that they convey an adults sentimental portrayal of a child and almost all require accomplished
and artistic performers.
In 1851, Schumann discovered the poetry of Elisabeth Kulmann through Grossheinrichs
publication of 1835, and became completely absorbed by her works.71 He urged his friends and
colleagues to discover her talents and share in his enthusiasm.72 Not only was Schumann
attracted to Kulmanns poetry, but he was also so fascinated by her life that he kept a portrait of
her in a special place by the desk in his home in Dsseldorf. 73 Part of his interest in Kulmann
stemmed from a cultural fascination with the death of children or young women that extended

68

Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski, Life of Robert Schumann, trans. A. L. Alger (Detroit: Information
Coordinators, 1975), 123.
69
Jensen, 162.
70
Daverio, 166.
71
Olga Lossewa, who has studied the life and works of Elisabeth Kulmann extensively, questioned how
much of the poetry had been heavily edited, completed, or simply fabricated by Grossheinrich. See Olga Lossewa,
Neues ber Elisabeth Kulmann, in Schumann und seine Dichter, Schumann Forschungen, ed. Mathias Wendt
(Mainz: Schott, 1993), 4:78. While this controversy may be important to acknowledge, Schumann had no reason to
doubt the veracity of Kulmanns poetry or of her lifes story when he set her words to music in 1851.
72
von Wasielewski, 170.
73
Jensen, 326.

40

from the Romantic era into the early twentieth century, as evidenced by Gustav Mahlers settings
of Friedrich Rckerts poetry in his Kindertotenlieder.74 Schumann considered Kulmann a
wonder child whose appeal was even more compelling because of her premature death and her
significant output.75 She embodied the Romantic ideals of prodigy combined with tragedy, and
personified a private ideal of Schumanns: a child acting as poet.76 He published a total of eleven
songs on her texts: four duets as the Mdchenlieder, Op. 103; and seven songs for solo voice as
Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104. Schumanns intention for his cycle to teach
values delivered by the mouth of a child while chronicling her growth and maturation motivated
him to include epigraphic inscriptions and dedications about Kulmann before each of the seven
songs of Op. 104.
Some critics have claimed that Schumanns later compositions, including the Elisabeth
Kulmann songs, are not up to par with his earlier works because of Schumanns declining mental
state. They cite his interest in Kulmanns poetry as the result of failing powers of judgment,77
and consider his musical stylistic shifts as evidence of deteriorating creative capabilities. This
criticism reflects a stigmatization of mental illness as well as misunderstanding of Schumanns
intentions during this later period of his life. More recently, however, biographers and
musicologists have attempted to change this perception. Lindsay Ann Moore defends his choice
of setting obscure poets such as Kulmann by asserting:
Schumanns choice to showcase the work of lesser-known poets cannot be
attributed to the failing of his faculties. Perhaps Schumann felt he had exhausted
the work of the major poets in his younger days, and sought inspirational verse
from minor poets. Whatever the reason, Schumann cannot be faulted for
74

21516.

Jon Finson, Robert Schumann: The Book of Songs (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2007),

75

Rebecca Scharlene Ringer, Beyond the Year of Song, Text and Music in the Song Cycles of Robert
Schumann After 1848 (PhD diss., University of North Texas, 2007), 125.
76
Jensen, 327.
77
Martin Cooper, The Songs, in Schumann: A Symposium, ed. Gerald Abraham (London: Oxford
University Press, 1952), 118.

41

exhibiting the works of these poets. He had been successful earlier in his life at
revealing the works of unknown composers to the music-loving population
through the Neue Zeitschrift fer Musik; the same principle also applies to his
choice to set the poems of lesser-known poets in his late Lieder.78
Refuting the claim that Schumanns creative powers were failing, Rebecca Scharlene Ringer
examines Schumanns songs across all periods of his life that demonstrates a consistent level of
compositional skill, noting a conscious shift in the musical style of his latter works.79 Schumann
composed for a specific audience of amateur singers and pianists during this final stage of his
life, and deliberately created accessible music that made it possible for him to communicate his
desired messages.80 Singer and pedagogue Richard Miller argues that this late Schumann cycle
deserves more attention, stating:
His Kulmann settings have simplicity and childlike grace many removes from the
expansive Mignon Lieder of the same period. These gentle Lieder prove that in
his last creative years the composer flexibly bent an always intense sensibility to
poetic sources by devising an aptly diverse compositional mode for each.
Classification of these Lieder as the product of a mind in deterioration is
unacceptable.81
Understanding the purposes Schumann had in setting Kulmanns poetry can help audiences
enjoy the simple, childlike words of the narrator. Through following the mode of communication
of a child, they can participate in her journey to maturity, while learning from her experiences
along the way.

78

Lindsay Ann Moore, Robert Schumanns Illnesses and the Stylistic Shifts in his Lieder (MA thesis,
University of Victoria, 2002), 4041.
79
See Moore, Robert Schumanns Illnesses, for a thorough discussion of stylistic musical analysis from
Schumanns early, middle, and late Lieder.
80
Rufus Hallmark, German Lieder in the Nineteenth Century (New York: Schirmer, 1996), 103.
81
Richard Miller, Singing Schumann: An Interpretive Guide for Performers (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1999), 198.

42

Analysis of Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104

Schumann selected seven poems spanning Kulmanns life to comprise his cycle,
outlining her growth and development. He includes a written dedication at the beginning, and
intersperses texts between each song delineating his purposes in choosing each poem. Such a
detailed written program, specifically designed to accompany a song cycle, was atypical for
Schumann. Including these texts demonstrates his strong desire to convey specific concepts to
his audience. The seven songs create a sketch of Kulmanns personal trajectory from innocence
to maturity, and their musical settings follow suit by beginning conservatively and simply,
growing more intricate and complex as she ages.
The cycle begins with Schumanns dedication, the English translation appearing in the
score as follows:
These unpretentious songs are dedicated to the memory of a girl who departed
from us long ago, and whom very few know by name. And yet she was perhaps
one of those wondrously gifted beings who appear only very rarely on earth. The
most sublime teachings of wisdom, expressed here with the utmost poetic
perfection, are found here coming from the mouth of a child; and it is in her
poetry that we read how her life, spent in quiet obscurity and the greatest poverty,
became richly happy. These few small songs, chosen from several thousand, of
which only a few lend themselves to composition, cannot give even an
approximate notion of her character. I have been able to select only a few
individual moments from this rich existencean entire life that was poetry.
If these songs could help introduce the poetess to some circles where she
is still unknown, their purpose will have been fulfilled. Sooner or later she will
certainly be greeted in Germany too, as she was thirty years ago by some in the
north, as the bright star that will eventually shine forth across every country.
Dsseldorf, June 7, 185182
Schumann clearly sets forth his intentions to use poetry coming from the mouth of a child, as a
mode of communication to teach valuable lessons from her life. He also displays his admiration
for Elisabeth Kulmann as a person, someone whose entire life . . . was poetry. This desire to

82

The translations of all the added texts and the poetry are found in the score, Robert Schumann, Neue
Ausgabe smtlicher Werke. Serie VI: Lieder (Mainz: Schott, 2009).

43

examine her personal life fits with biographer John Daverios description of Schumann as a
lyric poet who focuses on the inner life of his subject instead of merely the words she has
written.83
The first song, Mond, meiner Seele Liebling (Moon, My Souls Beloved), describes
an episode in which young Kulmann steps outside to pause from caring for her sick mother,
seeking comfort by pouring her heart out to the moon. Schumanns text preceding the song
describes her close relationship with her mother in the context of her experiences involving the
death of many family members.
The poetess, who was born on 17 July, 1808, in St. Petersburg, lost her father
and six of her seven brothers at an early age, the latter on the battlefield during
the wars of 181214. Only her mother, whom she revered and loved until she
died, survived. The following poem has been selected from the many that were
addressed to her mother.
Beginning Kulmanns life story with a poem about sorrow and concern for her mother
foreshadows the cycles sad ending, culminating in Kulmanns angst at leaving her mother
behind upon her own imminent death. The similar themes of the first and last songs create the
opportunity to observe Kulmanns evolving response to the topic of death and suffering. At the
beginning of the cycle she mournfully looks to her companion, the moon, for comfort. By the
end, she stoically accepts her fate and focuses her attention on her mother whom she leaves
behind.
This poem belongs to Kulmanns early youth, as evidenced by her childlike friendship
with the nature. This relationship with nature flourishes throughout the cycle, developing along
with her poetry. Dedication to family relationships is of central importance in this young girls
life, and she projects this value onto heavenly bodies as well. She speaks to the moon, asking
why she looks so pale today. Has one of her children fallen ill? The lonely child gives the moon
83

Daverio, 463.

44

human qualities as she addresses it as a sympathetic friend. She uses a rather nave poetic image
of the moons pale countenance resulting from sadness and suggests a human relationship with
the sun as the moons spouse.84 She derives comfort in her own struggles with caring for her sick
mother by recognizing that even one of the worlds rulers cannot always be happy.
Mond, meiner Seele Liebling
Wie schaust du heut so blass?
Ist eines deiner Kinder,
O Mond, vielleicht unpass?

Moon, darling of my soul

Why do you look so pale today?
Is one of your children,
O moon, perhaps unwell?

Kam dein Gemahl, die Sonne,

Vielleicht dir krank nach Haus?
Und du trittst aus der Wohnung,
Weinst deinen Schmerz hieraus?

Did your husband, the sun, come

Perhaps ill to you at home?
And you stepped out of your house,
Weeping your pain out here?

Ach guter Mond, ein gleiches

Geschick befiel auch mich.
Drin liegt mir krank die Mutter,
Hat mich nur jetzt um sich!

Oh good moon, one similar

Fate also befell me.
Indoors lies my mother ill,
Has only me around her!

So eben schloss ihr Schlummer

Das Aug ein Weilchen zu;
Da wich, mein Herz zu strken,
Vom Ort ich ihrer Ruh.

Just now in slumber she closes

Her eyes for a short while;
I left to strengthen my heart,
The place of her rest.

Trost sei mir, Mond, dein Anblick,

Ich leide nicht allein:
du bist der Welt Mitherrscher,
Und kannst nicht stets dich freun!

Console me, Moon, by your sight,

I suffer not alone:
Youre one of the worlds rulers.
And cant always be happy!

Schumanns conservative musical treatment sets this tender, poignant text in G Minor,
with a simple 2/4 meter. To reinforce this aura of simplicity, the voice enters without
introduction, with the syllabic text setting using straight-forward rhythms and minimal
syncopations. The accompaniment remains economical and bare, rarely calling attention to itself
with a steady chordal pattern comprised nearly entirely of quarter notes and eighth notes. As the
child describes her mother lying ill with only herself as nurse, Schumann adds a series of
84

Miller, 199.

45

diminished chords (mm. 1215) within the G Minor context, outlining her grief. A brief move to
D Major occurs when Kulmann describes the moment of peace she experienced as her mother
closed her eyes for a short while. The song ultimately moves to the parallel G Major at m. 25 as
she finds comfort from her conversation with the moon upon realizing she is not alone in her
suffering. These key changes show how this young child is not prone to wallow in melancholy.
With youthful resilience, she cheers herself up and moves forward with renewed energy, buoyed
by her invented relationship with nature.
Kulmann again reveals her childlike, imaginative relationship with nature in the second
song: Viel Glck zur Reise, Schwalben! (Good Luck On Your Journey, Swallows!). She
addresses a flock of migrating swallows as friends who are about to embark on an exciting
journey, bidding them farewell with wishes of good luck on their travels. Kulmann feels a strong
sense of wanderlust, as she longs to accompany them to the warm south. As evidenced by her
other poetry vividly describing the wonders of the world such as Africa or the Middle East, the
poetess dreams of traveling abroad someday, yearning to see with her own eyes the incredible
places she has read about in books.85
Along with this desire to travel comes a strong sense of home, as Kulmann concludes that
no matter how far she might roam, she would always return home to the fatherland she knows
and loves. Schumann chooses to highlight this value of patriotism in the paragraph preceding the
song by writing, Although she was of German origin and wrote in German as well as her
mother tongue, the poetess remained an ardent patriot; many passages in her writings praise the
beauty of the northern skies, as the following poem illustrates.

85

Andrews, 467.

46

Viel Glck zur Reise, Schwalben!

Ihr eilt, ein langer Zug,
Zum schnen warmen Sden
In frohem, khnen Flug.

Good luck on your trip, swallows!

You hurry, a long train,
To the beautiful warm south
In bold, cheerful flight.

Gern mchte wohl die Reise

Ich einmal thun mit euch,
Zu sehn die tausend Wunder,
Die darbeut jedes Reich.

Gladly would I undertake

The trip with you one time,
To see the thousand workers,
Present there in each realm.

Doch immerkam ich wieder,

Wie schn auch jedes Land
Und reich an Wundern wre,
Zurck ins Vaterland!

Still Id ever come again,

However fair each land,
And rich in wonders may be,
Back to the fatherland!

Here Schumann uses similar compositional techniques to Viel Glck zur Reise,
Schwalben (no. 1) in portraying Kulmanns youthful exuberance. He chooses a simple 2/4
meter in the relative B-flat Major, and includes many staccato notes in the simple, direct vocal
line and piano accompaniment. The uncomplicated nature of the accompaniment is reminiscent
of Schuberts Die Forelle, characterizing the lighthearted, cheery tone of the poetry. Schumann
creates a depiction of the flying birds with a jolly, upward-reaching thirty-second note flourish in
the piano that recurs throughout the song. Written in ABA form, the lilting melody transforms
only briefly during the middle section, with a quasi-recitative parlando passage in mm. 1114 as
Kulmann admits her secret desire to travel with the birds sometime. The excitement returns with
an even livelier childlike outburst as she describes the thousand wonders of the world she would
like to see, and her strong affirmation that she would always return home to her fatherland of
Russia. Schumann repeats the last two words, ins Vaterland two more times, marked
crescendo, to drive home his teaching regarding the nobility of patriotism. The musical setting
creates a clear portrait of a young, energetic girl expressing her innermost desires in simple,
unpretentious terms.

47

Kulmann and her mother lived in a small cottage on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, and so
great was their poverty that they sometimes found it difficult even to purchase oil for the lamp.
On one occasion a friend asked Kulmann what she had for breakfast. Only bread today, for
mother had no tea in the house, was the reply.86 Undoubtedly, poverty posed a significant
problem for young Elisabeth. Schumanns textual addition preceding Song no. 3, Du nennst
mich armes Mdchen (Poor Girl, You Call Me), illustrates this theme of confronting
adversity with the words, Many uncomprehending children probably reproached her for her
poverty; the following song is her reply. Kulmann does not like to hear others speak of her
difficult circumstances, whether in sympathy or teasing, and boldly responds that she is not poor.
Schumann emphasizes the admirable quality of facing adversity by including this poem, perhaps
intending to enhance Elisabeths emerging maturity resulting from her trials.
Du nennst mich armes Mdchen;
Du irrst, ich bin nicht arm.
Entreiss dich, Neugier halber,
Einmal des Schlafes Arm,

You call me a poor girl;

You err, I am not poor.
Escape, for curiositys sake,
For once the arms of sleep

Und schau mein niedres Httchen,

Wenn sich die Sonne hold
Am Morgenhimmel hebet:
Sein Dach ist reines Gold!

And see my lowly cottage,

When the fair sun rises
In the morning heavens
Its roof is purest gold!

Komm Abends, wann die Sonne

Bereits zum Meere sinkt,
Und sieh mein einzig Fenster,
Wies von Topasen blinkt!

Come evenings, when the sun

Sinks already toward the sea,
And see my only window,
Gleaming with topazes!

Du nennst mich armes Mdchen;

Du irrst, ich bin nicht arm.

You call me a poor girl;

You err, I am not poor.

As Marshall notes, even in a world so restricted that it consisted of a small house with
windows that looked out onto a poplar tree and two jasmine bushes, a glade, and the sky, nature

86

Ibid., 465.

48

provided material to fire Lizas imagination.87 Kulmann invites her critics to come and see her
home at sunrise, so they can witness her roof glittering with gold, while her windows that face
the sea gleam with topazes at sunset. This magical, fairy-tale like description of her living
conditions shows Kulmanns youthful, optimistic outlook on life, her inspiration derived from
nature, and her ability to find joy in the face of hardship. While still retaining these childlike
qualities, Kulmanns maturity begins to emerge in the elegant way she handles adversity. She
does not wallow in self-pity or berate those who tease her. This song foreshadows her changing
mode of communication as she beings her transformation from a child to an adult.
Schumann creates a simple, conservative tone reminiscent of the first song, which also
describes a lonely girl struggling with adversity. Set in the original G Minor key of the cycle, an
exposed vocal line enters a beat before the accompaniment. Kulmanns words recounting the
insensitivity of others receive a recitative-like treatment with only minimal, bare chordal
accompaniment, enhancing the idea of a young child feeling hurt and alone. Elisabeth ventures
into the world of make-believe and magical thinking in the middle section beginning in m. 8
where she imagines her idealized living conditions. The key center shifts to E-flat Major (a key
that will hold significance as the cycle unfolds), though with several chromatic alterations. The
tempo accelerates, while the accompaniment becomes energetic, upward-running sixteenth-note
arpeggios. The tempo relaxes back to the original at m. 21, and the minor key and sparse
accompaniment reappear with the restatement of the opening line, You call me a poor girl. You
err, I am not poor. Schumann gives this repeated text the exact same musical setting as in the
first four measures of the song to show her return to reality. Elisabeth comes back from her
enchanted rhapsody in which her bejeweled house is portrayed with lyrical melodies presented in
a major key underscored by thick, arpeggiated piano music, to her true existence as a simple,
87

Marshall, 344.

49

poor child, defending her meager living conditions. Schumanns musical setting mirrors
Kulmanns budding maturity with his lush middle section, highlighting her altering mode of
communication as she gracefully responds to her critics. His return to simplicity in the final
section shows that she still remains a child at this point in the cycle.
The fourth song, containing the most obviously childlike poem, Der Zeisig (The
Finch), describes a bird who invites a young child to cast aside her schoolbooks and sing
together. The paragraph preceding this fourth song reads, A song written when she was a young
girl, perhaps in her eleventh year. Around a hundred of other poems written at this time are
similarly nave and charming. She always reflects reality in the profoundest way. Once again,
the idea of having a personal relationship with elements of nature appears in this poem. This time
Elisabeth chooses to write from the point of view of the bird. The finch seems almost like a
human companion as it calls to the child, inviting her to join in singing. By the second stanza the
song becomes a friendly competition between the animal and child to see who sings better.
Referencing May-time and the desire to cast off schoolwork and play outdoors that students
habitually feel during that time of year fits neatly into a childs environment.
Wir sind ja, Kind, im Maie,
Wirf Buch und Heft von dir!
Komm einmal her ins Freie,
Und sing ein Lied mit mir.

We are, child, indeed in May,

Put aside book and drills!
Come out into the open,
And sing a song with me.

Komm, singen frhlich beide

Wir Einen Wettgesang,
Und wer da will, entscheide,
Wer von uns besser sang!

Come, let us both sing

In a merry contest,
And whoeer wants to, decide,
Which of us better sang!

Schumann highlights the joyful reaction the child feels toward the finchs song contest.
This short, rhythmically and melodically simple song in B-flat Major creates a sense of charm
and innocence, indicative of the mode of communication of a child. The staccato sixteenth-note

50

melodies, marked piano are traded between voice and piano in a canonic manner, portraying the
small, unthreatening nature of both child and bird. The bird begins the second stanza by deciding
that their singing is not just a playful game, but a competition. The harmonies become more
complex than the first verses tonic-dominant patterns by including a series of dominant seventh
chords marked forte, rising in intensity, leading to E-flat Major at m. 17.
The key of E-flat has appeared briefly in the previous song, and will return as the key of
the final song of the cycle. This key shift may hold significance, as Rebecca Ringer argues, by
encapsulating the idea of competition with nature. She notes that the first six songs are either in
G Minor or its relative B-flat Major, but the last song is in E-flat Major. In this final song,
Kulmann struggles with the angry sea: a metaphor to her struggle with her impending death. This
concept of combating nature is foreshadowed by the passage in E-flat, setting the competition
with the finch. In Der Zeisig the rivalry remains friendly, but by the end of the cycle Kulmann
will lose the battle with nature and give in to death.88 Ringers analysis does not take into
account the brief movement to E-flat Major in Du nennst mich armes Mdchen, though one
could infer that the conflict she experienced with poverty relates to her overall struggles
encapsulated by this harmonic shift.
After this movement to E-flat Major, the accompaniment quickly returns to the tonic of
the piece for the final repeated statement which of us sang better! in playful, staccato chords,
remaining relatively light and carefree. With only a hint of the struggle to come, this song
remains firmly in the childs innocent and untroubled world: a world that will soon change in the
next three songs.
The fifth song of the cycle, Reich mir die Hand, o Wolke, (Reach To Me Your Hand,
O Cloud), acts as a sort of turning point in both the poetry and music. In this poem, Kulmann
88

Ringer, 13437.

51

introduces the idea of death and a desire to transcend this earthly life, pleading with the cloud to
lift her up to the heavens where her father and brothers are. The paragraph that precedes the song
emphasizes this theme of impending death. How often in her poetry, she concerns herself with a
visionary depiction of her deceased family. She clings to this world with heart-felt love, to the
flowers, the gleaming stars, the noble human beings she met during her brief stay on earth. But
she has a foreboding that she will soon have to leave them. Where Kulmann used to be a child,
singing with the birds and dreaming of magical homes or visiting far-distant lands, she now
recognizes the brevity of life and feels an ominous premonition that her own time on earth will
be short.
The human-like aspects of nature factor in this poem in a similar way as the moons
family relationships in Mond, meiner Seele Liebling, and the birds invitations to sing and
compete in Der Zeisig. In this poem, Kulmann gives the cloud a physical hand and begs it to
lift her up to the heavens to see her brothers and father who have died. Jon Finson notes that
such sentiments consoled the living as much as the mortally ill, since they provided assurances
that the person dying would have company on her journey and would reunite with the previously
loved and lost.89 Just as she had sought comfort by discussing her mothers illness with the
moon in the first song, she now talks about her dead family members with the clouds, combining
themes of family relationships with the idea of impending misfortune. She experienced much
personal tragedy in her short life, and family relationships were clearly fundamental to her life
experience. This rather complex combination of themes gives Kulmanns writings a sense of
maturity not found in Marjory Flemings poetry.

89

Finson, 218.

52

Reich mir die Hand, o Wolke,

Heb mich zu dir empor!
Dort stehen meine Brder
Am offnen Himmelsthor.

Reach me your hand, oh cloud,

Lift me up to you!
There stand my brothers
At heavens open gate.

Sie sinds, obgleich im Leben

Ich niemals sie gesehn,
Ich seh in ihrer Mitte
Ja unsern Vater stehn!

It is they, although in life

I never saw them once,
I see in their midst
Yes, our father standing!

Sie schaun auf mich hernieder,

Sie winken mir zu sich.
O, reich die Hand mir, Wolke,
Schnell, schnell erhebe mich!

They look way down at me,

They beckon me to them.
Oh, reach me your hand, cloud,
Quickly, lift me quickly!

Schumann reflects the shift in Kulmanns mode of communication from childlike to

mature through his musical setting. Where transparency, simplicity, and calmness once reigned,
now complexity and tension abound. This song and the final Gekmpft hat meine Barke, are
the most technically demanding of the set. In startling contrast to the conservative chordal
accompaniment of the first four songs, the forte-marked, quickly oscillating sixteenth notes in
the right hand of the piano cause an agitated, constant motion not previously heard. Schumann
creates unrest by avoiding the tonic, beginning instead in C Minor, and not cadencing on G
Minor until m. 5. A harmonic struggle between G Minor and G Major occurs throughout the
song, further strengthening the feeling of unrest. This struggle mirrors Kulmanns personal battle
between remaining on earth (G Minor) and yearning to transcend this life and join her family in
heaven (G Major).90 The song resolves in G Major, foretelling her fate and untimely passing. The
sweeping vocal line reinforces the idea of yearning and reaching for the heavens as several
opening phrases begin on high, long pitches, such as on the words reach and lift. The piano
postlude completes this idea of reaching with expressive leaps up an octave marked sforzando,
90

Ringer, 143.

53

striving for the clouds. The final cadence in the parallel G Major suggests that Kulmann did
indeed achieve her goal of transcendence, leaving this earthly life and, at least symbolically,
resting in another world.
The final two songs of the cycle have a strong air of inevitable doom about them, though
manifest in different ways. In the sixth poem, Die letzten Blumen starben, Kulmann equates
herself with nature; specifically the dahlias, poplars, and roses. Schumann includes the following
description: A poem full of the presentiment of death, probably dating from the last year of her
life. Next to her hut there was a little garden, in which she grew flowers year after year. There
was also a poplar nearby. Kulmann philosophically recognizes in this poem that she is mortal,
just as all nature is, and that she will die like the flowers and trees of her garden. Where she once
looked to nature as a source of comfort or play, now it becomes a symbol of her death.
Die letzten Blumen starben,
Lngst sank die Knigin
Der warmen Sommermonde,
Die holde Rose hin!

The last flowers have died,

Long since faded the queen
Of the warm summer months,
The fair, sweet rose away!

Du hehre Georgine,
Erhebst nicht mehr dein Haupt!
Selbst meine hohe Pappel
Seh ich schon halb entlaubt.

You noble dahlia,

Lift up your head no more!
Even my tall poplar
I see half stripped of leaves.

Bin ich doch weder Pappel,

Noch Rose, zart und schlank,
Warum soll ich nicht sinken,
Da selbst die Rose sank?

Yet I am neither poplar,

Nor rose, tender and slim,
Why should I too not perish,
As even the rose perished?

Written in G Minor and marked langsam, mit tiefer Empfindungen (slow, with deep
emotion), this delicate song returns to the stark, hollow accompaniment evocative of Mond,
meiner Seele Liebling, the first song of the cycle. Covering the range of a tenth, the pianissimo
vocal line lies in a low tessitura, and consists of haunting, other-worldly, repeated notes
reminiscent of the final song of Frauenliebe und leben, Nun hast du mir den ersten Schmerz

54

getan. If Kulmann has indeed transcended to another world in the previous song, her voice here
could be seen as ghost-like or at essentially untethered from this world. The shortest of the cycle,
this song acts as structural upbeat to the final song, with very little harmonic activity occurring.
The tonality moves briefly through E-flat Major, foreshadowing the key of the final song, as
Kulmann remarks that she should perish even as the rose did. The last three measures of the
accompaniment are identical to the opening three, creating a sense of the cycle of life, where
ashes indeed return to ashes and dust to dust.
The theme of impending death continues in the final song, Gekmpft hat meine Barke
(My barque has struggled), as Kulmann recognizes that she cannot avoid death and, furthermore,
that she has no choice in the matter. The introductory paragraph preceding the song reads,
Probably written shortly before her death. She seems certain of her imminent end; only the
thought of the mother she leaves behind causes her profound pain. The value of strong family
relationships persists as Kulmanns main concern about dying is not fear for herself, but rather
involves the pain and suffering her mother will feel after she is gone. She wishes that her mother
will not feel too oppressed by grief, and promises that upon reaching the other side of the sea of
death, Elisabeth will keep a vigilant watch for her mother and welcome her when she arrives.
The mature seventeen-year-old who wrote this poem handles the concepts of death and family
relationships in a much more elegant, refined way than the younger, weaker version of herself
who wrote the first poem about her mothers illness.
Gekmpft hat meine Barke
Mit der erzrnten Fluth.
Ich seh des Himmels Marke,
Es sinkt des Meeres Wuth.

My barque has struggled

With the angry waters.
I see heavens marker,
The raging sea abates.

55

Ich kann dich nicht vermeiden,

O Tod nicht meiner Wahl!
Das Ende meiner Leiden
Beginnt, der Mutter Qual.

I cannot avoid you,

O death, not my choice!
The end of my suffering,
Begins mothers anguish.

O Mutterherz, dich drcke

Dein Schmerz nicht allzusehr!
Nur wenig Augenblicke
Trennt uns des Todes Meer.

O mothers heart, may pain

Not oppress you too much!
Only a few moments
Parts us from the sea of death.

Dort angelangt, entweiche

Ich nimmermehr dem Strand,
Seh stets nach dir und reiche
Der Landenden die Hand.

Arriving there, I will be

Leaving the strand nevermore,
Ever looking for you and
Giving you my hand on landing.

Nature has become the adversary as Kulmann struggles with the angry waters and the
sea of death. Where Die letzten Rosen starben dealt with nature as a symbol of death in an
almost inhuman, detached, and emotionless way, Gekmpft hat meine Barke, approaches that
same subject with much more force and vibrancy. Gone is the simple, folk-like, chordal
accompaniment of childhood found in the first four songs. Schumann has developed his musical
language to replicate the growth and maturity of his human subject. Composed in the previously
foreshadowed key of E-flat Major, melodic and harmonic ninths, as well as augmented intervals
abound, as if Schumann is trying to create appropriate harmonic space and grandeur befitting this
epic struggle with death. The piano part regains the sense of energy and movement heard in song
number five as the first three measures of chords occur on off-beats, continuing with pulsing
eighth-notes. The waves that Kulmann contends with are not rocking or lilting, but rather they
relentlessly pound her boat through this firm rhythmic figure.91
The vocal line rises and swells with the unfolding melodrama as Kulmann describes the
struggles her boat has had with the raging ocean as she tries to outwit death. Her promise to
91

Miller, 200.

56

remain on the shore, looking for her mother after reaching heaven receives the same soaring
setting as the beginning, showing Kulmanns determination to ease her mothers sorrows, even
in her last moments. The vocal line ends rather unsettlingly on the third scale degree instead of
on the tonic, as if the ending came too quickly for Elisabeth. Schumanns piano line finishes in
the postlude what the poet could not, resolving to the tonic at the last possible moment, on the
second beat of the last measure, as if delaying the inevitable as long as possible, and finally
coming to terms with her death.
The journey from childhood to maturity found in the cycles poetry receives a musical
setting reflecting this same trajectory. Contrasting with the simple and straightforward settings of
the first four songs, the sophisticated, lyrical nature of Kulmanns final swan song with its
graceful melodic shapes and expressive harmonies, serves as a theatrical culmination of her
growth and development. Following the last song, Schumann includes this epilogue:
She died, being creative and writing poetry to the very end, on November 19,
1825, in her 17th year. Among her late poems is the remarkable A Vision after
my Death, in which she describes her own death. It is perhaps, one of the most
sublime masterpieces in all of poetry. Thus she departed from us, as gently as an
angel passing from one shore to the other, but leaving behind her in luminous
strokes, the traces of a heavenly vision.
As Schumann selected the poems for this cycle from a larger collection, he did so with the
intention of teaching his audience specific lessons that he felt Kulmanns life represented. He
used the mode of communication of a child developing into an adult to elucidate the values of
strong family relationships; patriotism; strength through adversity; nature as a source of comfort;
friendship and identity; and selfless compassion for the suffering of others. He arranged the
poetry in such a way as to show youth and naivety progressing towards maturity and
sophistication. The musical setting of the entire cycle emulates Kulmanns growth, moving from
simple, transparent music toward increasingly complex, refined songs.

57

For Performers
Performers of this cycle should pay attention to the shift in poetry and music that occurs
at the fifth song, Reich mir die Hand, o Wolke. Prior to this song, the characterization of the
piano and voice are youthful, innocent, and nave, and the texts are concerned with typical
childhood matters. A sense of purity and simplicity will aid the appropriate performance of these
first four songs. The final three songs show Kulmanns maturity and journey towards acceptance
of her fate. The vocal color should become appropriately fuller and richer, while the piano
accompaniment develops in a proportionally supportive and intense manner. If performers can
grow along with the poet in these final songs, then Schumanns intention of creating a portrait
of a child genius who life embodied admirable qualities will come to fruition.

Conclusions
A Garland for Marjory Fleming and Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann both set
poetry written by highly achieving young girls. The modes of communication of these two
children diverge slightly because Fleming occasionally imitates the actions of the adults around
her, while Kulmann grows and develops into a mature young woman. Their poetry shares some
thematic characteristics, especially in terms of strong relationships with family members and
nature, as well as their purity and innocence. The extensive differences between the two cycles,
however, occur because of the contrasting tones of the poetry, and the particular purposes each
composer had in creating the cycles. Bennett took a handful of delightful poems from the pen of
a young girl who made comical observations of the world around her while trying to put on airs
of a grown-up, and created a sweet, funny cycle intended to entertain. Marjory never had the

58

chance to show real growth and maturity in her poetry, which is perhaps reflected by the
consistent style of the musical setting. Bennett points out her comical turns of phrases befitting
her young age, as well as her imitations of the adult world surrounding her. His musical language
remains constant through the cycle. He found a way to remain true to Marjorys youthfulness and
genuine feelings without belittling her, patronizing her, or making her seem forged or false.
Schumann selected seven poems by an accomplished young woman that would highlight
her various qualities such as her awareness of mortality, her desire to comfort others, and her
struggles against adversity, attempting to recreate in song her entire life [that] was poetry. 92
Initially, Kulmann reveals her thoughts and feelings in a childlike manner, but becomes
increasingly more adult-like throughout the cycle. Schumanns dedication indicates his intention
to introduce her to the world and help his audience to appreciate her as he did. For this reason,
her development and progress play a more prominent role in the cycle, forming an entirely
different picture than the snapshot of a childs mind created in A Garland for Marjory Fleming.
The apparent inconsistencies in tone and style of Schumanns cycle might be cause for criticism
if analyzed alone. But in viewing the cycle through the lens of mode of communication, and
placing it alongside Bennetts, one can see Schumanns wisdom and sensitivity in altering the
music to fit the developing persona of this maturing young woman.

92

Quoted from the dedication paragraph of the score. Schumann, Neue Ausgabe smtlicher Werke.

59

Chapter 2: Adult Poet Acting as a Child

When a poet writes from the point of view of a child, he has a specific purpose in
selecting that particular poetic voice. He may want to create a silly, juvenile text that would seem
more genuine or appropriate coming from a childs mouth. Perhaps he wishes to portray a certain
level of innocence and purity more commonly found in childrens thoughts and speech. A desire
to instruct readers regarding various topics that would carry more weight when introduced by a
child may influence his choice of narrator. Among the many song cycles that contain poetry by
an adult who assumes a childs identity are Theodore Chanlers The Children and Leonard
Bernsteins I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano. Both composers seek to
portray genuine childlike qualities through the text and music, though their specific messages for
their audiences differ.

The Children
The poetic voice of Chanlers cycle, The Children, contrasts with Bennetts A Garland
for Marjory Fleming and Schumanns Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann, Op. 104 because
the adult poet, Leonard Feeney, adopts the persona of a child. This mode of communication
corresponds to Ian Sharps third Route of Musical Experience, in which an adult utilizes a mode
of childhood to relate to adults.1 When this specific route occurs, analysts should consider the
purpose the adults have in assuming the mode of childhood. Sharp clarifies, Childhood can be
re-interpreted by adults, who thereby derive vicarious pleasure (or pain) from reliving its real or
imagined experiences. From the adult standpoint any conscious decision to relate to children . . .
usually represents a calculated position. . . . Their view of childhood is selective and often

Ian Sharp, Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood, Studies in the History and
Interpretation of Music 78 (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000), 31.

60

idealized.2 Differing from the previous routes of musical experience explored in Chapter One,
in which a child merely acts as a child, or a child puts on grown-up airs in order to imitate adults
or imagine what the future might be like, adults have already experienced childhood in their own
past. In deciding to present their material from the perspective of a child, adult writers hope to
achieve a specific goal with their texts. In the case of The Children, the messages of recognizing
the transience of life as represented by childhood, finding joy and wisdom through a childs
perspective, and cherishing children as God does, find expression in both the poetry and musical
setting. The poet of this cycle, American priest Father Leonard Feeney, wrote and spoke
extensively about the importance of treating children with Godly love throughout his life.

Leonard Feeney
As one of Americas most influential Jesuit intellectuals and theologians, Feeney enjoyed
a celebrated career as a writer, lecturer, and editor. Born in 1897 in Lynn, Massachusetts, he
entered the Society of Jesus in 1914 and was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1928. After completing
graduate studies at Oxford, Feeney quickly rose to prominence in the United States. His book
Fish on Friday, containing sketches and stories on Catholic themes, became a national best seller
in 1934, finding its way into Catholic households all over America. As a popular author, poet,
and speaker, Feeney was often called upon to preach and give lectures. NBC Radio aired a series
of his talks on their weekly program, The Catholic Hour.3
Feeneys teachings became progressively more abrasive and antagonistic throughout his
life. In 1942 his superiors assigned him to work at the Saint Benedict Center in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, two years after its founding. The Center provided Catholic literature, discussion
2

Sharp, 23.
The Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, About Father Leonard Feeney, M. I. C. M.,
http://www.catholicism.org/author/fatherleonardfeeneymicm (accessed July 16, 2012).
3

61

groups, and lectures for students attending non-Catholic universities in the area. While there,
Feeney focused his efforts on teaching his central message of no salvation outside the church.
Intent on promoting this core belief, Feeneys congregation became the Slaves of the
Immaculate Heart of Mary, a strictly conservative Catholic group.4 Using an aggressive
method of street-corner preaching, Feeney publicly and forcefully condemned those of other
faiths, particularly Jews and Protestants, refusing to soften his position when called upon by his
superiors. This behavior caused his alienation from the Catholic Church, culminating with his
excommunication in 1953.5 Upon separating with the Church, Feeney established a commune
outside the town of Harvard, Massachusetts with approximately fifty of his followers, dubbed
Feeneyites by the press. The Vatican ultimately removed its censures from Feeney in 1972,
reinstating him as a priest.6 He lived in his cloistered environment with his followers until his
death in 1978.
Feeneys poetry assembled in The Children predates his estrangement from the Catholic
Church, with themes involving much less controversial subjects than no salvation outside of the
church. He includes ideas of learning from children and treating them with love, and expresses
these ideas using the voice of a child. These concepts also appear in a set of radio addresses
Feeney gave in 1942 entitled We are the Children of God. Regarding the importance of
recognizing our identity as children of God and everything that relationship entails, Feeney
taught:
We are the children of God. I say so because God said so first, because it is
religions first lesson, and because around this central and graceful truth is built
up all contact between God and man in the beautiful theology of the Catholic
Church. The more effort we make to realize what we are in Gods sight, and to
4

Elliott Alfred Nordgren, An Analytical Study of the Songs of Theodore Chanler (19021961) (PhD
diss., New York University, 1980), 29.
5
James Carroll, Practicing Catholic (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009), 69.
6
Dave OBrian, Father Feeney: A Heretic Courted By the Church, The Boston Phoenix, October 8, 1974.

62

act upon it, the dearer we become to ourselves and others, the more bearable to
live with, and the more missed and remembered when we die.7
Feeney believes that our simple status as Gods child is the foundation in us of everything
beautiful we know: of friendship and romance and marriage and babies: of art, song, gaiety, and
laughter.8 He affirms that in the deepest part of our soul, we are always a child, who always
knows that all is well. . . . Way down deep there is the very sanctity of our personality, to which
religion makes its appeal, and to which God speaks pleadingly when He asks us to call Him Our
Father.9 According to Feeney, understanding this identity and connection with a Heavenly
Father is critical to finding faith and hope of a life beyond this one: of an eternity awaiting us
with our Father in Heaven.
Another theme that emerges from Feeneys radio addresses regards children teaching
adults valuable lessons. He urges adults to study children, to learn from them, and to become like
them in order to find happiness and success in this world, and to reach the ultimate goal of
entering the Kingdom of Heaven, as taught in the popular Bible verse Matthew 18:3. Their
unspoiled, innocent outlook on life can help adults escape their jaded, cynical tendencies as they
look around for lifes joyful explanation with the unprejudiced vision of a child.10 Feeney
gave these radio addresses during World War II, at a time when Americans witnessed much
death and suffering, and could easily slip into hopelessness. He professed the timely sentiment
that children symbolize optimism for the future. Life will go on and the human race will triumph.

1942), 6.

Leonard Feeney, The Child in Us, in We Are the Children of God (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor,

Feeney, The Child in Us, 4.

Leonard Feeney, Our Eternal Childhood, in We Are the Children of God (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday
Visitor, 1942), 11.
10
Feeney, The Child in Us, 5.
9

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On a related topic, Feeney teaches that children can remind adults of the precariousness
of life, and of the wisdom needed in choosing how to spend this precious time on Earth. He
states,
There are some days when it is marvelously marvelous just to be alive! But
heres the rub, and the children know it, and its the burden of all their gay-sad
songs. Out we go from all this in a few years! And the prospect of death leads us
to ask ourselves some desperately pointed questions when we are alone.11
Feeney connects the concept of observing children and the brevity of their youth to the idea of
the transience of life, teaching that focusing on mortality will encourage people to make better
choices.
Another tenet that Feeney promotes in his lectures avows that God became a child
because the child is the truest reflection of God.12 Humans can relate to God as a child, and that
relationship should teach them the correct way to treat the children surrounding them, an
essential aspect of Christianity. Feeney expresses concern about the social war on the home and
family that he perceived in the 1930s and 1940s, and urged adults to avoid these tendencies.
If you have a distaste for the child, for his small behavior and the artless ways in
which he can be pleased, then it is impossible for Christianity to take hold of you.
. . . Much of the anti-Christian sentiment in so-called Christian lands, is due to
our dislike, our disdain, and even our dread of the child.13
He further describes these three cultural problems, dislike, disdain, and dread of children.
Dislike of the child is bound to come where father and mother are not sure of
their love, and do not even want to make sure of it. . . . As a possible nuisance he
comes into the world, if he comes at all. As a nuisance he is handed over to a
nurse, who, not being his mother, cannot always be expected to understand him
with a mothers sympathy. As a nuisance he is sent off to school, not to be
educated, but to be gotten out of sight.

11
12

Feeney, Our Eternal Childhood, 9.

Leonard Feeney, God as a Child in We Are the Children of God (Huntington, IN: Our Sunday Visitor,

1942), 19.

13

Feeney, God as a Child, 16.

64

Dislike for the child is bad enough, but disdain for the child is devilish
and such a spirit obtains among those who have been taught to put little more
than an athletic value on their little ones. . . .
The last great emotional refusal of the child in the un-Christian
dispensation of Christian lands, is dread; the dread of him as an economic
hardship.14
According to Feeney, adults should provide a loving environment for children, being willing to
sacrifice their time and money to properly care for their little ones. They should love each child
equally regardless of his individual talents or strengths.
Feeney synthesized his themes by affirming that as humans, we all have worth because
We are the children of God. And we are also the children of men. Despite the fact
that we are not marvelous physical specimens, neither too good-looking, too
brilliant, or even at times, too wellsomeone once believed in us. We were once
welcomed into a mothers and fathers heart. We were nobodys nuisance,
nobodys misfit, nobodys economic bother. Our parents never regarded us as
something that arrived annoyingly, and had to be paid for like the gas bill. Is there
anywhere in our hearts a remembrance of this charitya charity extended to us
when we were small and silent and sleeping in the cradleupon that
remembrance religion will build, God will come to us, and Jesus, the little Infant
of Bethlehem, will be our God.15
As a priest, writer, and public speaker, Feeney sought to teach the world important moral lessons
regarding children. His longtime collaboration with composer Theodore Chanler provided yet
another vehicle for transmitting these messages.
Theodore Chanler
Chanler (19021961) began his studies of music at a time when American composition
and pedagogy had shifted from a strong German influence to a preference for a French
aesthetic.16 According to Virgil Thomson,

14

Ibid., 1718.
Ibid., 19.
16
Alan Howard Levy, Musical Nationalism: American Composers Search for Identity (Westport, CT:
Greenwood Press, 1983), 30.
15

65

As viewed from America, the musical prognosis for Europe was so clearly
favorable to France that well before World War I the brighter young Americans
had begun to go there for studies. . . . German study had unquestionably been of
value to the rise of American musicians into a higher level of artistic behavior. . .
. It was through their French contacts, however, that they first tasted freedom.17
Chanler belonged to the generation of American composers who gained valuable instruction in
France and then returned home to pursue their careers. Though he received several prestigious
awards and earned the respect of his fellow composers during his lifetime, Chanlers music has
not found a lasting place in the standard American repertory.
Chanlers path to France followed a rather circuitous route. The youngest of eight
children born to Winthrop Astor Chanler and Margaret (Terry) in Newport, Rhode Island on
April 29, 1902, Chanler commenced his musical training at home. Receiving encouragement
from his mother, herself a pianist, Chanler began piano lessons at age six and composition at
fifteen.18 According to friends and family, though he was talented, bright, and witty, Chanler was
a reluctant scholar. After two years studying piano and counterpoint at the New York Institute of
Musical Art, he followed mentor Ernest Bloch to the newly founded Cleveland Institute of Music
in 1920. He then traveled to Oxford to continue his studies, spending two unsatisfactory years
there before ultimately following in the footsteps of other promising American composers and
going to France to pursue composition under Nadia Boulanger.19
Boulanger earned a reputation as a highly sought-after teacher of American composers in
the 1920s. A professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatory, Boulanger also taught counterpoint
and organ at the cole Normale de Musique. Some of her American students during the 1920s
included Marc Blitzstein, Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, Roy Harris, Douglas Moore, and

17
18

1976), 4.

19

Virgil Thomson, American Music Since 1910 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), 3.
Bruce Lanier Kolb, The Published Songs of Theodore Chanler (DMA doc., Louisiana State University,
Nordgren, 26.

66

Bernard Rogers, and Thomson. Both Copland and Thomson observed that her value to her
students lay in giving them instant criticism by quickly identifying a pieces expressivity.20
At a time when the field of music history was relatively underdeveloped, Boulanger
possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of musical literature.21 She believed in the importance
of familiarity with music of the past combined with a genuine appreciation for contemporary
practices. Boulanger introduced Chanler and her other students to the work of her teacher
Gabriel Faur, whose influence permanently affected Chanlers style of composition. Chanler
states that he admired the subtle simplicity of Faurs thought, the unexpectedness that is yet
always logical, and most of all, how much he could say with a few notes.22 Contrasting with
contemporary innovators such as Schoenberg and Webern, who formulated new ways of creating
music, Chanler gained strength not by rebelling against the past, but rather by openly
proclaiming Faur as his master. He emulated Faurs techniques of developing rhythm out of a
regular pulse, and of writing highly lyrical vocal melodies with restricted ranges and intervals.
Chanler adapted these techniques to his own style by allowing his melodies to contradict the
meter more persistently than even Faur had done.23 Perhaps Chanlers music has fallen into
obscurity because it did not advance new techniques of song composition. However, according
to Nordgren, his contribution to the musical life and heritage of America as a conservative
composer in an era largely characterized by radical experimentation has not been fully
recognized.24

20

Ibid., 2627.
Levy, 53.
22
Theodore Chanler, Gabriel Faur: A Reappraisal, Modern Music 22 (MarchApril 1945): 16569,
quoted in Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Seattle, Pst, 2000), 252.
23
Hans Nathan, A History of Song, ed. Denis Stevens (New York, W. W. Norton, 1970), 43940.
24
Nordgren, 10.
21

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Upon returning to the United States in the early 1930s, Chanlers career as a composer,
music critic, and teacher took shape. He made a significant name for himself as a music
reviewer, contributing regular articles to the periodical Modern Music until its demise in 1947.25
This quarterly magazine served American composers by providing awareness of what their
colleagues were doing, while attempting to create broader public recognition of the creative
achievements of American music.26 He also had a short career as a columnist at the Boston
Herald, but was fired after writing several negative reviews of the Boston Symphony. His other
accomplishments include receiving a Guggenheim fellowship in 1944, as well as teaching at the
Peabody Conservatory from 1945 to 1947, followed by a position at the Longy School in
Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1949 to 1959.
Chanlers compositions include a ballet, a chamber opera, a violin sonata, and some
organ and piano works, but above all he preferred to write art songs. With less than fifty song
compositions to his credit, Chanler nevertheless demonstrated his expertise as a lyric
miniaturist by achieving a heightening of poetry and music through each one. This inclination
towards song contrasted with the prevailing practice among American composers at the time.
According to musicologist Hans Nathan,
The majority of American composers who established their reputation between
the late twenties and the forties, channelled their energies into instrumental,
chiefly orchestral, and choral works. Among them were Aaron Copland, Roger
Sessions, Roy Harris, Walter Piston, and William Schuman. Their neglect of the
art-song resulted partly from their hostility towards a form that was a favorite
vehicle of the romantic period, partly from the conviction that a professional
career in America was possible only with large-scale statements, and, finally,

25

Helen Lightner, Class Voice and the American Art Song: A Source Book and Anthology (Metuchen, NJ:
Scarecrow Press, 1991), 104.
26
Eric Salzman, Modern Music in Retrospect, Perspectives of New Music 2, no. 2 (SpringSummer,
1964): 14.

68

from the availability in many American cities, of good orchestras and choral
groups.27
Thomson agreed with this assessment of contemporary American composition, and
asserted that English-language art song had not yet reached the level of German or
French equivalents. He admonished, Let us all try very hard to write English songs; by
all means let us try. But I have yet to see a break-through in the matter, something as
radically alive and different from its predecessors as Schuberts flexible and flowing
songs are from the stiff layouts of Mozart and Beethoven.28 Against this backdrop,
Chanler worked and thrived as a composer of petite miniatures, or art songs.29
Chanler believed song writing consisted of a hierarchy of diverse elements, fusing
together to create a single form. He states his philosophy as follows:
The text is the cantus firmus, something given, that we are not responsible for,
and that, like fate, we can bend to our will only if we accept its terms. . . . Next, in
a descending scale of autonomy, comes the melody. . . . Its length, its rhythmic
design, even its general contour, are all in one way or another conditioned by the
text. Yet in spite of this, if it is to deserve the name of melody it must have a
recognizable and relatively independent musical shape. . . . Next in the hierarchy
comes the accompaniment, serving to support the usually frail structure of the
melody. Woven into the accompaniment may be ornamental and contrapuntal
designs of almost any degree of complexity. But its basic structure should again
be clear and solid in itself, having as much autonomy as its doubly conditioned
status allows.30
Chanler continued the idea of the primacy of the text by calling the text the parent of the
melody and the accompaniment its nurse. Consequently, either despite its dependence and
frailtyor because of itthe melody draws upon itself the clearest focus of attention.31 Chanler
stated that his purpose in creating this hierarchy was to help song writers avoid composing
27

Nathan, 437. Nathan notes that Roger Sessions suggested to him the idea about a professional career in
America being possible only with large-scale statements.
28
Thomson, 88.
29
Kolb, 2.
30
Chanler, quoted from an unnamed source in Robert Tangeman, The Songs of Theodore Chanler,
Modern Music 22, no. 4 (MayJune, 1945): 227.
31
Ibid., 229.

69

songs that are primarily piano pieces (and bad ones at that) with obbligato voice parts.32
Fellow composer William Flanagan observed this hierarchy of text, melody, and accompaniment
in Chanlers works, and described the result as an all-too-rare rightness of poetic inflection
(through correct, but not fussy, prosody), a sense of the inevitability of the musical whole, and a
style that, if it is not too striking in itself, is the result of meticulous, honest craftsmanship.33
This careful attention to poetic inflection and supremacy of melody can be found in The
Children.
Chanler enjoyed poetry with childrens themes, setting many poems by renowned English
poet and novelist Walter de la Mare, including one of his more famous cycles, Four Rhymes
from Peacock Pie. This cycle was commissioned as part of the League of Composers Town Hall
Award which Chanler earned in 1940. As musicologist Robert Tangeman describes, the fantasy,
humor, and gentleness of Chanlers gift come to full flower in the Peacock Pie songs. . . .
Assorted animals are included in the cycle with at least one imaginary creature, Tillie, never
clearly described, for whom the composer has written an engaging, graceful waltz.34 Chanlers
short opera, A Pot of Fat, also has ties to childrens themes, with the libretto adapted from a
Grimm fairy tale called The Cat and The Mouse in Partnership.
Chanlers propensity for childrens themes continued with his settings of texts by Feeney,
his other preferred poet. Chanler met the priest in the mid-1930s, and consequently became very
involved at St. Benedict Center. This friendship and collaboration lasted approximately ten
years. Feeney would often write poetry expressly for Chanlers use, while at other times Chanler
would create the music first and ask Feeney to provide a fitting text.35 The artistic collaboration

32

Ibid.
Flanagan, quoted in Kolb, 1920.
34
Tangeman, 231.
35
Ibid., 229.
33

70

between Chanler and Feeney worked well, for Feeney provided Chanler with the very short
poetry he preferred for his song lyrics, combining sensitivity, appropriate reserve, musicality and
craftsmanship.36
Their personal relationship did not conclude as positively, however. Chanlers family
noticed a decline in his emotional well-being during the decade they worked together, observing
that Feeneys strong personality too easily dominated Chanlers rather submissive nature.
Chanler ended their friendship when Feeney encouraged Chanler to leave his wife and then
eventually became excommunicated from the church.37
Chanler died on July 27, 1961, ending a distinguished career as a composer of small but
exquisite works, which Virgil Thomson considered among the finest of our time in English.38
Describing Chanlers style, Flanagan states, What it lacks in bravery and dimension it makes up
for in genuine modesty, probity, and conscientious workmanship. One thing is certain: We have,
or have had, no American composer who has produced more indefectibly [i.e., flawlessly]
idiomatic songs.39 His song cycle The Children uses such conscientious workmanship to
illuminate the messages in Feeneys poetry, as communicated through the voice of a child.

Analysis of The Children

The Children contains nine songs of varying lengths, all of which employ the plural
children as narrator. Chanler originally intended for the songs to be sung by a unison
childrens choir, but the publishers neglected to mention that fact in the score.40 Currently, the
cycle is performed by solo voice (presumably an adult) and piano. Fellow composer Arthur
36

Kolb, 96.
Nordgren, 32.
38
Virgil Thomson, American Music Since 1910 (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971), 131.
39
Flanagan, 23.
40
Arthur Berger, Scores and Records, Modern Music 23 (Spring, 1946): 134, quoted in Kolb, 77.
37

71

Berger believes that Chanler has found an excellent solution to the problem of achieving
simplicity without sacrificing subtlety. . . Chanler also operates on two levels. The voice parts
are clearly for children, but the accompaniments provide many elements a sophisticated public
will linger over affectionately.41 Chanlers vocal style, modeled after the accessibility of Faur,
lends itself to simplicity and openness required by the text. Combined with an imaginative
accompaniment, he produces a cycle that effectively encapsulates the childlike features of the
poetry.
The cycle as a whole delivers a comprehensive message of Feeneys religiously-based
lessons about childhood. It is unknown whether Feeney first provided the texts from which
Chanler selected specific poems, or whether Chanler requested that he specifically write them for
the set. Given the personal working relationship between poet and composer, they most likely
collaborated together on the overall structure, choosing which poems to include and the general
architecture of the cycle. If this is the case, then they likely shared the same purposes for using
the mode of communication of childrens perspectives to present their messages. Feeneys
notoriously persuasive personality and Chanlers rather passive demeanor combined to form a
cycle espousing many of the values found elsewhere in Feeneys writings.
The first and last songs present overtly religious or moral teachings, while the middle
seven exhibit themes of innocence and joy found in childrens perspectives on nature, family,
and silly nursery rhymes. The cycle teaches that fleeting childhood can provide hope for the
future, that adults can learn valuable insights from children, and that people should treat children
with love and respect as God would have them do. The manner in which the children narrators
deliver both the didactic messages and simple observations creates a symbolic, archetypal

41

Ibid.

72

representation of childhood, as opposed to the realistic depiction of a specific child found in the
Marjory Fleming cycle.
The first song of this cycle, also called The Children, sets the tone for the group as a
whole by establishing the concept of transient childhood. The thought of children growing older
and leaving home often fills adults with a sense of loss or sadness. Furthermore, in the context of
war (a daily concern during the early 1940s), the continual stream of young men leaving the
safety of home to fight, perhaps not to return again, produced a sense of futility and despair. The
children narrators offer a measure of hope for the future by reminding the audience that even
though they will grow up and leave the home, whether for school, war, or to start their own
families, more children will take their places. They also teach that childhood should be cherished
because if adults will look to children, they will discover love and laughter.
We are the children who play in the park
All the day long from the dawn till the dark;
We are the children.
We will grow older, as evryone knows,
And when we grow older, what do you suppose
Will become of the children?
Will there be children again,
When we who are children are women and men?
Yes! Surely the world will love children no less;
Children will come when we children are gone,
Out of the darkness and into the dawn,
Taking our places,
Bearing our brightness and lightness of limbs,
And our laughter and love in their faces.
Using children to voice these adult sentiments comes across as rather unrealistic. They
articulate mature, adult-like thoughts and feelings about aging and the circular nature of life that
would most likely never occur to actual children. By using this mode of communication, Feeney

73

creates a pedagogical representation of children as youth who declare words of wisdom and
comfort for adults.
Chanlers musical setting depicts an idyllic atmosphere of a childs world. A rollicking,
playful, and carefree mood overlays this poignant text about mortality. As these innocent
children display wisdom beyond their years, they do so within the context of simplicity and play.
The introduction establishes a skipping rhythmic pattern, a proper backdrop for this playground
song. The cheerful tone established by the piano combines with an essentially stepwise eighthnote pattern in the voice, suggesting running children at play. Chanler marks the text, We are
the children! with a forte dynamic, emphasizing that they will be the speakers for the cycle and
will not let themselves be ignored. A melodic fragment from the nursery rhyme Pop Goes the
Weasel recurs twice, in mm. 1518 and mm. 6568. The only musical reflection of the
potentially grave mood of the text occurs when the key briefly changes form bright and happy C
Major to the relative A Minor, with a thinner piano texture, highlighting the words, Will there
be children again / When we who are children are women and men? C Major immediately
returns with the emphatic answer, Yes! Hope shall return with the passage of time and more
children will fill any perceived void. The song ends with both the vocal line and the upper hand
of the piano codetta finishing on the dominant scale degree, resulting in a rather open-ended,
fleeting feeling, emphasizing the life-lessons in the poetry. The final bass note of the piano
sounds the tonic in the last three measures, bringing the song to a calm resolution.
The next seven songs have a less moralizing agenda as they describe elements familiar to
childrens surroundings. Often the children narrators make observations that seem out of
character for their age and experience, and sometimes they overtly aim to teach adults how to
behave, but on the whole, the tone remains joyful and innocent.

74

The text for Once Upon a Time consists of multiple humorous allusions to fairy tales,
fables, and historical events that would be common to a childs storybook repertory.
Once upon a time, Mary went to call the cattle home;
Once upon a time, Nero played a fiddle while they burned down Rome;
Once upon a time,
Noah built the Ark when it started to rain,
Launcelot loved Elaine,
Christopher Columbus grew tired of Spain,
Once upon a time.
Once upon a time, the dish ran away with the spoon;
Once upon a time, the butterfly came from the cocoon,
Once upon a time.
There wasnt any you and there wasnt any I,
But Washington never told a lie,
And four and twenty blackbirds were baked in a pie,
Once upon a time.
Once upon a time, a turtle beat a rabbit in a race,
Once upon a time; evrything remarkable always took place
Once upon a time;
Someone wrote a song about an old grey mare,
Simple Simon met a pieman going to a Fair;
Isnt it unfortunate we couldnt have been there?
Once upon a time.
These familiar references belong to childrens education and experiences, and produce a sense of
nostalgia or longing in the adult audience. However, a few lines seem to exhibit a feeling of
wistfulness beyond the childrens years, particularly There wasnt any you and there wasnt any
I, as well as Isnt it unfortunate we couldnt have been there? Perhaps children would pine for
times of fairy tales, but more likely they could imagine themselves participating in the stories
without any sense of loss for their actual reality. In these instances, the true adult nature of the
poet emerges from behind the mode of communication of his children narrators. His sense of

75

long for the world of make-believe belongs to a more mature awareness than these children
possess.
Chanler sets this imaginative text with traditional tonal music, but includes several
instances of chromaticism and multiple key changes (ten modulations in sixty-one measures) to
accompany the aimlessly wandering thoughts of children. These sudden, brief key changes
constitute harmonic vignettes for the various rhymed verses. Pentatonic tonalities in mm. 4350
suggest a childs dreamy reflections, generating a sense of other-worldliness. Following natural
speech cadences, Chanler repeats the same rhythmic pattern every time the words once upon a
time appear, building a strong unifying factor in this through-composed song, even as the
harmonies constantly change. This technique produces a patter song effect, which supports the
choice to not use arching melodies, but rather level or ascending contours. These musical
techniques combine to create a spontaneous, stream-of-conscious narrative of youthful stories
and nursery rhymes.
Wind (no. 3) is one of several songs in the cycle, along with The Rose (no. 5), and
Moo is a Cow (no. 8), that presents childlike portrayals of nature and animals. Wind is a
breezy, descriptive song that is both humorous and evocative. The text outlines childhood
thoughts and experiences with wind:
Wind is to show
How a thing can blow,
And especially through trees;
When it is fast
It is called a blast,
And its otherwise known as a breeze.
It begins somewhere in the sky,
Like a sigh,
Then it turns to a roar,
And returns to a sigh once more.

76

Wind is the air in your hair

When you stand
On the sand
By the shore.
Wind will shake the lattices late at night,
It will make the clouds go by;
Anything easy thats hard to do,
It is pretty sure to try:
Blow down a pine,
Clothes from a line,
Tumble a chimney top.
Wind is the general sound
You hear around,
That suddenly likes to stop.
Nature receives a blustery musical setting in Wind, until the ending when the wind
finally dies down. The rapid tempo and fast-moving notes of this through-composed song create
a feeling of movement and energy, at times playful and at other times harmful. Chanler uses
every possibility of soundstaccato, accents, tenuto, sforzando, diminuendo, slurs, etc.to
highlight the various experiences with wind. He sets the text with longer melodic arch shapes
spanning two phrases to carry the listeners along with the wind, and adds several syncopated
rhythms to create an appropriately jostling atmosphere. Musical sounds matching the text, such
as a sudden decrescendo on sigh (m. 31) and crescendo on turns to a roar, (m. 34) as well as
sixteenth notes in dissonant seconds on the word blast, (m. 18) animate the childrens vivid
descriptions. The sudden, final halting of wind occurs in the piano postlude (mm. 9197) with a
slowing harmonic rhythm and lento conclusion. The song creates an overall effect of excited
children relating their personal experiences with nature in animated tones.
Children assume the role of teachers as they sing a lullaby to adults in the next song,
Sleep (no. 4). The text contrasts the attitude of adults with that of children toward sleep. Adults

77

worry, try to figure out how to fall asleep, and use tools such as counting sheep, but children are
simply confident, sink easily into sleep, and immediately stop remembering who they are.
Sleep is not something you worry about;
Sleep is just something you do.
Dont make resolutions to figure it out,
But love it like children and sleep will come true.
We never go to sleep to dream;
We go to sleep to go to sleep.
Unusual as it may seem,
We never spend our time counting sheep.
A little confidence does the trick
When we climb into our beds,
Instead of filling our heads
With a lot of animals and arithmetic.
We love the way we love to go to sleep;
To sink into a slumber that is always pretty deep,
To go sailing off to a star,
To be buried in a field of hay,
To stop remembering who we are
When were finished with our prayers and our play,
After we have given you a good-night kiss
And closed our eyes like this:
Its an awful lot of fun,
And its restful too;
Do you see how its done?
Do you?
By having children teach adults how to fall asleep, Feeney forsakes a real childs persona in
favor of an archetype or symbol of what children represent. He believes that adults should
emulate the less cluttered life of a child in order to find peace and rest. Feeney includes a subtle
religious teaching when the children state, when were finished with our prayers and our play,
once again making children the example for adults in how to behave.

78

A dreamlike quality occurs in Sleep, with its 6/8 meter and constant rippling sixteenth
notes. The undulating arpeggiation of the tonic chord with an added sixth gives the opening
measures a tranquil, reflective quality. Within the four-bar introduction, Chanler establishes a
trance-like motion of accented first and fourth notes, resulting in an effect both relaxing and
reassuring. The mood changes only once, when repeated tritones reinforce the text in the third
stanza that refers to arithmetic, as if the children become momentarily distracted from their
narrative by this unpleasant topic.
The piano accompaniment fluctuates between its upper line doubling the voice part and
moving completely independently of the vocal melody. Throughout the song, whether doubling
or acting alone, the piano maintains a strong function as commentator with a character of its
own, personifying sleep itself. Three extended piano interludes, atypical of Chanlers style, occur
after the first, third and fifth stanzas of poetry (mm. 2030, 5972, and 11429), with a fourth
interlude (mm. 13545) between the second and third lines of the final stanza. They serve to
prolong the trancelike mood between sections of text, while giving the song continuity. A
moment of silence occurs in m. 130 after the children have closed their eyes and to demonstrate
the ease of falling asleep. The piano changes to a chordal accompaniment for the next five
measures when the children re-open their eyes and continue, Its an awful lot of fun, and its
restful too before resuming its undulating arpeggios representing sleep to the conclusion. The
gentle and delicate music carries the message of calm and tranquility, serenity and wisdom
offered by the children narrators.
The theme of nature returns with the song The Rose (no. 5). This time, however, the
rose characterizes more than childrens experiences with the outdoors; instead it becomes a
symbol or an allegory. Feeney does not clarify in his poem what he intends the rose to represent,

79

but in the context of the cycle, one can interpret that it involves children in some way. Some
insight may be gained from examining a 1939 publication by Feeney entitled Youd Better Come
Quietly, in which he makes a comparison between a rock and a rose. He states,
For heres what a rose is which a rock isnt. It is a little unity of being, each part
succulently united to another in a way no piece of rock could be to any other
piece. It works in the short space of what we are pleased to call its life, as a
small pseudo-self in the realm of matter. It can grow, nourish itself, reproduce its
kind. No rock can do that. . . .
All the magnificence and power of the inanimate world packed into one
display could not begin to adequate the wonderfulness of performance in one
small rose, acting as a unified being, exercising itself in the marvellous functions
of growth, nourishment and reproduction, putting forth its little challenge of
thorns. Because the time will come when you can say of the rose, It is now
dead! You cannot say that of any rock that ever existed, from the tiniest pebble
on the beach to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.42
Feeney continues, I am like a flower in that I nourish myself, grow, and can reproduce my
kind.43 With this comparison in mind, the rose probably represents a person, most likely a child,
with Feeney esteeming human life far above the merits of any inanimate object one can possess.
In other words, no matter what the child looks like (any hues you choose), or in whatever
situation (amid sunlight and shadows and showrs), every child deserves adults time and care.
The complicated concepts embodied by the text seem entirely out of the realm of
childrens thoughts or imaginations. One cannot truly envision children using such intricate
phrases as these:
Superimpose
On the petals of a rose
Any hues
You choose,
And see if you can find
What a garden has in mind,
Thats rose inclined.

42

Leonard Feeney, Youd Better Come Quietly: Three Sketches, Some Outlines and Additional Notes
(Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries, 1939), 65, 67.
43
Ibid., 71.

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Go review your hearts horticulture,

Amid sunlight and shadows and showrs;
Take a book
That you took
From the library, and look
Up the fascinating history of flowrs.
Forgetfulness
You will have to confess,
If you placed
In haste
An insufficient stress
On the blossom set above
The leaf and thorn of love,
On the stem that grows
Us a rose.
The Rose introduces a deeper level of symbolism and intricate imagery than found in the rest
of cycle. Feeney presents the idea of showing love while caring for a child (symbolized by the
rose) with phrases such as your hearts horticulture and the blossom set above the leaf and
thorn of love. In talking about placing in haste an insufficient stress on the rose, Feeney warns
adults to beware of their rushed, hurried lives that may cause them to not pay enough attention to
the children in their care. Because Feeney chose children to deliver this complex comparison,
rife with concepts belonging entirely to adults, the poem again achieves the effect of archetypal
children narrators as opposed to authentic ones.
Just as audiences might have difficulty imagining a child uttering the text due to the
mature nature of the language (i.e. superimpose, horticulture, and insufficient), Chanlers
musical setting also lacks child-like qualities. According to Bruce Kolb,
The Rose is more effectively performed as a separate song than as part of The
Children. The text seems to contain elements of retrospect and specific intent that
is uncharacteristic of a song to be performed by children. Stylistically, the poem
and the music are not representative of the cycle as a unit, and the question may
be raised concerning whether or not the poem was originally included in the
poetic cycle.44
44

Kolb, 8586.

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Kolb accurately observes the reflective nature of The Rose and its specific purpose to convey a
message that seems too mature for children to comprehend. This analysis leads to his conclusion
that the song does not fit well in the cycle. However, he does not consider the entire group of
songs through the mode of communication of an adult acting as a child. Sharps statement,
included earlier in this chapter, reveals a common thread that unites several of the songs in this
cycle. He affirms that from the adult standpoint any conscious decision to relate to children . . .
usually represents a calculated position. . . . Their view of childhood is selective and often
idealized.45 While the level of complexity and symbolism in The Rose distinguishes it from
the rest of the songs in this cycle, Feeneys message of paying sufficient attention to children fits
with the other didactic songs, especially The Children (no. 1), Sleep (no. 4), and One of
Us (no. 9). He certainly uses a selective and idealized view of childhood as the vehicle for
carrying his explicit messages to his intended audience.
Chanler reflects the deeper, more esoteric imagery of the poetry through his musical
treatment of the text. He deviates from his preferred through-composed form by utilizing a
modified ternary setting with a slower vocal line and accompaniment, giving the song a defined,
measured quality, enhanced by lush chromaticism. The two-measure contrapuntal introduction
evokes an image of layered petals, illustrating this symbolic flower. Sevenths, ninths, and
elevenths all suggesting the luxury and fragrance of the flower, are used frequently. The
subdued, undulating melody starts piano, follows only two crescendo markings, and ends
pianissimo, conjuring a hushed atmosphere. The piano accompaniment follows vocal line more
closely than any other song, coloring the images set forth in the vocal line, while strengthening
the importance of the text. Whatever the precise meaning of this rather enigmatic poem, its
45

Sharp, 23.

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delicacy and complexity embodied by its vocabulary, the image of a rose blossom, and the
relationships between adults and children, are reflected in the elegance and intricacy of the
counterpoint and other musical elements.
Family relationships feature as the central concept in the following song, Grandma.
The narrator observes a grandmother, describing her likes and dislikes, her appearance, her
activities, and her religious teachings. The description proceeds in an objective, almost detached
way, focusing on the grandmother as she currently is (old, with white hair and poor eyesight),
while revealing childlike obliviousness to her former youth. A change occurs in the last stanza,
however, when the child makes a more personal connection with the grandmother, realizing that
she was once a child like just the narrator, and that she had her own grandmother too.
Grandma is old
And she does not like the cold;
She prefers the spring and summer to the fall;
And the winter she prefers the least of all.
Grandmas hair is white;
And she loves to sit in her rocking chair,
And knit
And talk
And almost rock,
And see you dimly with her poor eyesight.
Grandma says
That God is good,
But that His ways
Are odd
And cannot be always
Understood.
But after she has taken a cookie from the shelf,
And given it to you
And smiled,
You know that she herself
Was once a little child,
And had a grandma too.

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One senses in Feeneys descriptive verses of the kind, benevolent grandma, the beauty of
growing old gracefully. The final stanza teaches that all people are alike, regardless of age, and
they should try to find commonalities in their human experience. His message may also be one
of respecting the elderly along with children. The text seems genuine and realistic for childrens
thoughts and speech.
Chanler demonstrates the childs analysis of his wise, old grandmother with accented offbeats within a waltz that appeared in his earlier cycle Four Rhymes from Peacock Pie.46 The
rhythm establishes a strong rocking feeling in the song, fitting the grandmas actions. Arching
vocal lines again complement the natural speech rhythms of the text. Chanler creates a fitting
harmonic color by a fleeting emphasis on major with quick return to minor, suggesting the
bittersweet quality of growing old. The word smiled occurs exactly at the turning point where
the child realizes that grandmas were once young too, and Chanler sets this rather shocking
awareness with a subito piano marking. Within this through-composed structure, the final four
measures, in which the child realizes that his grandma had a grandma too, have a melodic and
harmonic progression almost identical to the first statement, Grandma is old. This textual and
musical connection strengthens the childs newfound understanding, while simultaneously
creating cohesion in the songs musical architecture.
The following song, Spick and Span, has only six lines of text, the preferred length for
Chandlers miniature settings.47 In general, Chanler favored short poetry, and his style
incorporated a gift for economy that Ned Rorem praised for setting the inevitable minimum of
notes to the right words in the right order, making them sing independent of accompaniment.48

46

Tangeman, 231.
Broughton, 15.
48
Ned Rorem, The American Art Song, 19301960: A Personal Survey,
http://www.newworldrecords.org.liner_notes/80243.pdf.
47

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Examples of Chanlers other miniatures include Ann Poverty from his Eight Epitaphs cycle, a
song requiring only thirty-five seconds to make its pathos and tenderness completely
convincing.49 Regarding the five-measure song A One-Eyed Tailor from Chanlers Three
Epitaphs, Rorem states, Chanlers genius of brevity was extreme. No one in history, not
Dowland or Satie or Webern, ever more convincingly carried a hearer from doubt through
heartbreak to resolution in a span of five bars.50 Chanler uses this gift of efficiency in Spick
and Span to illustrate a completely nonsensical poem that would appeal to childrens sense of
humor, existing solely for the fun of the rhymes and the fancy of the thoughts.
Spick and Span
Is a clean little man
Who bumped his head
And said:
Black and blue,
I know you!
This tiny, humorous, barely narrative poem receives a fittingly simple musical setting.
The piano introduces the vocal line with a one-measure scale passage. The texture remains light
and thin, except when four diminished seventh chords depict the bumping of the little mans
head, surely the childrens favorite moment in the poetry. Too short to merit any formal
organization, the little song stays in F Major, with a final forte polychord marked secco. This
concluding chord gives the effect of punctuation like an exclamation point at the end of the
poem, perhaps also illustrating the childrens laughter at their own silly text.
The cycles shortest song is followed by its longest, Moo is a Cow. It is also the only
song with an optional added vocal line, creating a duet. Feeneys poetry consists of sounds
translated into words, mimicking the way young children often identify objects and experiences
by the sounds they create. Children observe nature, family relationships, and other elements in
49
50

Tangeman, 230.
Rorem.

85

their environment, resulting in humorous and sometimes clever interpretations. The poetry
evokes images that are at once playful, alliterative, onomatopoetic, and energetic.
Moo is a cow
When she makes a bow
To a meadowfull of hay;
Shoo is a hen
When shes back again
And you want her to go away;
Peek-a-boo
Is maybe I dont see you,
But Im sure you cant see me;
Splash is a stone
When a big ones thrown
In a river or lake or sea.
Snap is a twig;
Grunt is a pig,
Baa is the tune of a sheep;
Theres a melody hid
In the katydid,
And the cricket that likes to peep.
Hush is your lip
When your fingertip
Says you shouldnt make a sound;
Hop is a toad
Right across the road,
Without stopping to look around;
Pit-a-pat is rain
On the windowpane;
Buzz-a-buzz a busy bee;
Creak is a stair,
When you ask Whos there?
And theres no one to say Its me.
Tick is a clock,
Click is a lock
After youve closed the door;
And a soft tiptoe
Is to let you know
You have fallen asleep once more.

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Bounce is a ball
Up against a wall,
When youve given it a throw.
Rip is a tear
In a thing you wear,
That your mother will want to sew;
Rub-a-dub-dub-dub is a drummer boy,
When a band goes marching by,
Twinkles a bright
Little star at night,
Or a funny look in your eye.
Ouch is a pain,
Toot is a train,
Sneeze is perhaps a cold;
And a My, oh my
Is: I wonder why
You will never do what youre told!
Chanler groups the poem into three strophes, each comprised of three stanzas of text.
Unlike the rest of the cycle, in which the songs are either through-composed or modified ternary
forms, Moo is a Cow receives a modified strophic setting. The vocal lines for each strophe
remain practically identical, with only a few minor deviations of rhythms or pitches to highlight
details in the text. The piano accompaniment maintains a similar character and harmonic
progression in each strophe, yet with more pronounced differences underlining and reinforcing
the spirit of specific words.
Examples of altered accompaniments include a rolled chord on splash in m. 18, and an
imitation of a drum and a bugle call in mm. 8283 after the text rub a dub dub dub is a drummer
boy as the band goes marching by. The only two measures where Chanler eliminates the second
optional voice occur on the text, Creak is a stair when you ask whos there? (mm. 4950),
magnifying the feeling of fearful isolation created by that image. These two measures are further
enhanced by a minor ninth progressing to a tritone in the piano accompaniment at whos there?

87

showing the anxiety inherent in that question. The only meter change also occurs in m. 50 (from
2/4 to 5/8) as Chanler adds a beat while the child waits for the response in the stillness, creating
an eerie mood. Ouch (m. 89) uses a dissonant F major seventh interval to depict pain, and the
piano musically sneezes with a high minor second played sforzando in m. 91 on the words
sneeze is perhaps a cold. Through expressive, madrigalistic musical details such as these,
Chanler brings to life the feeling of childlike delight in sounds of ordinary experiences.
The cycle ends with a correspondingly didactic quality as it began, with the children
narrators resuming the role of examples and teachers for adults. The sentiments from Feeneys
radio addresses regarding beliefs about God and children appear prominently in the final song,
One of Us. Feeney begins the poem by addressing husbands and wives and fathers and
mothers with a series of rhetorical questions in the first stanza. He then makes statements about
God as a child that span the second stanza and beginning of the third, concluding with more
questions intended for these adults to ponder.
Husbands and wives!
Are we not your little lives?
Fathers and mothers!
Who but we will be your others?
Why do you fear us, freeze us
Out of your heart?
One of us was Jesus;
He played our part,
In His little manger,
Smiling in His smallness,
To protect us from the danger
Of nothing-at-all-ness.
One of us was God.
Has this not been told abroad,
To some by song,
To some by star?
Then when will we be known
For what we are?

88

Feeneys poem asks why childhood and individual children are not accepted, respected,
and treated with dignity, since God was willing to identify with childhood to the extent of
becoming a child. The poem describes how Christ came to earth as a child to protect all children
from this wretched position of disdain or dread. Feeney stated in a radio address, When God
assumed our human nature, as He did nineteen hundred years ago, in order to help us solve the
problem of our aloneness. . . . [He] became a child because the child is the truest reflection of
God.51 Perhaps Feeney chooses to deliver his adult words through the persona of harmless
children in hopes that his audience would more likely heed them. However, such adult gestures
as asking husbands and wives, are we not your little lives? do not ring true, and Feeney creates
an element of artificiality or perhaps even manipulation, striving to sway his listeners emotions
by having innocent children voice his fervent opinions.
Chanler sets the most overtly religious song in the cycle like a hymn, written in the style
of a four-part chorale, creating sober setting for the penetrating questions of Feeneys verses. The
voices move slowly within this chordal construction, with suspensions further enhancing the
chorale-like mood. Chanler illustrates the text, nothing-at-all-ness (mm. 2627) by using a
high tessitura in both the vocal and piano lines, and a decrescendo, resulting in an appropriately
thin, light tone quality. Chanlers musical setting strengthens Feeneys desire to encourage
contemplation and change in his listeners by ending the entire cycle on a half cadence, setting the
open-ended question in the text, Then when will we be known for what we are? This problem
of mistreating children extends beyond the cycle, and the music drives the point home to the
listeners.

51

Feeney, The Childs Sacrament, in We Are the Children of God, 12.

89

In creating a cycle where invented children adopt the role of narrator, Feeney and
Chanler created an environment in which their audience can see the world through the childrens
eyes. Simple ideas, such as experiences with nature, family relationships, and silly stories or
fairy tales, receive a touch of childlike innocence and guileless perspective as the children
narrators describe their thoughts and feelings. Feeneys poetry strongly declares specific
concepts and ideals found in his other teachings. He puts his words in the childrens mouths as
they serve as instructors, teaching the audience how to be like them, outlining profound
messages of recognizing the transience of life as represented by childhood, taking appropriate
time to care for children, and cherishing children as God does. Such unconcealed moralizing
creates the effect of archetypal children, as opposed to realistic ones. Chanlers clear, descriptive
settings of the poetry, using an accessible style gleaned from Faur, provide further illumination
and insight into the childrens world and their didactic messages.

For Performers
When performing this cycle, singers and pianists should be aware that they are portraying
more of a model or idealized child than an actual child, especially in the songs The Children,
The Rose, and One of Us. In these three songs, the performers may choose to embody more
of an adult tone quality and posture, and contrast this with the more childlike facial expressions
or simplicity of tone chosen for the other songs. The concern here is not with getting inside the
mind of actual children, but rather with clearly presenting Feeneys intended message. Even
though the vocal part was originally written for children, singers should not attempt to make their
voices sound unrealistically childlike, but rather deliver the text and music in a clear, honest
manner to fit the tone of the set. They can and should instill sincerity into their performance and

90

invite audience reflection and contemplation on the questions posed at the conclusion of the
cycle.

I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano

Leonard Bernstein serves as both poet and composer as he invents the persona of a tenyear-old girl named Barbara to deliver the song cycle I Hate Music! The mode of communication
corresponds to Ian Sharps third Route of Musical Experience, in which an adult assumes a mode
of childhood to relate to adults. While this mode of communication is the same as in Chanlers
The Children, the respective composers methods and messages differ. Bernstein does not create
an archetypal figure of childhood, replete with religious wisdom and deliberate instructions for
adult behavior, but rather constructs a realistic, individual young girl, and allows her to voice her
thoughts and opinions in a genuine way. He combines the insightful and humorous revelations
from Barbaras youthful perspective with a more subtle message to treat children with respect.
The child narrators search for validation echoes Bernsteins own struggle for acceptance as a
legitimate composer, with his unorthodox (for the time) technique of combining classical and
popular elements in his music.
Leonard Bernstein
Bernstein (19181990) earned celebrity status as a world-famous conductor, composer,
pianist, teacher, television personality, author, and recording artist. His outgoing disposition
found many outlets for communication through his accessible musical compositions, his dynamic
orchestral conducting, as well as his passionate teaching practices. According to composer Lukas
Foss, Bernsteins life defied convention:
In an age of specialization, Leonard Bernstein dares to excel in performance as
well as in composition, in the classical idiom as well as the popular one. In an age

91

of impersonal music, and often impenetrable music, Leonard Bernstein dares

to be personal, human, even vulnerable. Indeed his music has the rare quality of
instant communication.52
Figuring prominently among his interests were bridging the gap between art music and
popular music in his compositions, as well as guiding children to an understanding of
music through his teaching methods.
As a child, Bernstein discovered music both as a source of joy and of strength in facing
adversity. Born in 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts to Russian-Jewish immigrants, Bernstein
had a somewhat troublesome childhood. A thin, sickly child, Bernstein suffered from asthma,
and the painful fear of anti-Semitic neighborhood gangs. His problems seemed to change
instantly, however, when his aunt Clara loaned Bernsteins family her piano while she was going
through a divorce. Bernstein fell in love with music, and desired to devote his life to its study,
much to the dismay of his father, Sam.53 Sam Bernstein had fled Russia as a teenager to pursue
the American dream, working his way up from cleaning fish in Manhattan to becoming a
prosperous beauty supply businessman in Boston.54 Not yet comprehending the extent of his
sons talent, Sam refused to believe that he had gone through so much to give his family a good
life in the United States in order for his firstborn son to waste his time as a lounge pianist.
Luckily Bernstein received support from his mother, Jennie, and his two younger siblings,
Shirley and Burton. Over the years, Bernsteins father warmed to the idea of his son as a
musician, taking Leonard to concerts at the Boston Pops and even buying him a grand piano in
1931.55

52

Lukas Foss, Leonard Bernstein: A Complete Catalog of His Works Celebrating His 60 th Birthday, August
25, 1978, ed. Jack Gottieb (New York: Amberson Enterprises, 1978), 5.
53
Joan Peyser, Bernstein: A Biography, Revised & Updated (New York: Billboard Books, 1998), 2022.
54
Paul R. Laird, Leonard Bernstein: A Guide to Research, Routledge Music Bibliographies (New York:
Routledge, 2002), 1.
55
Peyser, 25.

92

Bernsteins interests in both classical and popular styles of music began in childhood,
continued throughout his education, and profoundly impacted his professional career. While
Bernstein ultimately desired recognition as a formal classical musician, he began his studies by
reconstructing the popular music of the day on his piano.56 This familiarity with popular Bebop
and jazz styles shaped his understanding of music and his compositional style throughout his life.
In his bachelors thesis written at Harvard, Bernstein concluded that jazz was the most important
phenomenon in American twentieth-century music.57 He expressed this jazz vernacular through
his rhythmic language, including choice of meter, syncopations, and accent displacement. He
also used vocal melodies that sounded improvised, and favored texts with comical everyday
language, intended to engage all listeners, as opposed to weighty poetry.58 Describing
Bernsteins ability to cross musical boundaries, composer John Adams stated, Bernsteins great
gift was that he could operate with total ease and naturalness in both worlds, that of high art and
that of American popular culture. No one since has quite been able to straddle the two worlds
with such ease, although many have tried.59 This idea of straddling two worlds also finds
expression in I Hate Music! as Barbara balances on the border between childhood and maturity.
Bernsteins overall musical style straddles the classical and popular worlds by employing
complicated rhythms, lyrical, yet disjunct melodies, and essentially tonal harmonies with
extensive chromaticism and modality to create a distinctive sound. Speech rhythms are the most
important influence on Bernsteins text settings.60 Borrowing from the jazz idiom, he favors the

56

Ibid., 23.
Ibid., 45.
58
Yugo Sava Ikach, A Study of Selected Songs by Leonard Bernstein Which Reflect His Contribution to
the Evolution of Art Song in America, (DMA doc., West Virginia University, 2003), 7.
59
John Adams, An American Voice, in Leonard Bernstein: American Original. How a Modern
Renaissance Man Transformed Music and the World during His New York Philharmonic Years, 19431976, ed.
Burton Bernstein and Barbara B. Haws (New York: Philharmonic-Symphony of New York, 2008), 196.
60
Laird, 26.
57

93

asymmetric 5/8 and 7/8 meters for imitating American speaking patterns.61 Bernsteins inherent
lyricism often conceals his unusual melodic construction. His frequent use of wide intervals
gives his themes an angularity not often associated with lyrical beauty.62 Bernsteins primarily
triadic tonal vocabulary includes the generous addition of modal inflections, borrowed chords,
chromaticism, and dissonances to communicate emotional distress.63 He briefly experimented
with the twelve-tone compositional method, mainly in his Kaddish Symphony of 1963, but even
in that instance he used the technique as a means to convey agony, with tonality and diatonicism
triumphing in the end.64
Bernsteins preference for an accessible musical style correlated with his strikingly
extroverted personality and his powerful desire to communicate. In his compositions, his
combination of lyrical melodies, essentially tonal harmonies, and strong vernacular references
enable him to establish a clear connection with his audience. This desire to communicate also
dictated his choice of genre, as his most enduring works were written for the Broadway stage, a
commercial genre requiring immediate comprehension for success.65 It also influenced his
decision to participate in a series of fifty-three television broadcasts from 1957 to 1973, designed
to teach audiences across the country about music. These instructional concerts, called the New
York Philharmonic Young Peoples Concerts with Leonard Bernstein, became one of his
proudest legacies. Growing out of his Omnibus program, a lecture series from the early 1950s,
the Young Peoples Concerts were highly acclaimed by critics, becoming the first and longest
running series of classical music programs ever shown on commercial television. Bernstein took

61

Leonard Bernstein, Findings (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1982), 8287.
Laird, 19.
63
Ibid., 37.
64
Peyser, 34344.
65
Laird, 15.
62

94

over the concerts from Ernest Schelling on the condition that they would be televised, helping
him to reach an infinitely wider audience.66
The Young Peoples Concerts not only accomplished Bernsteins desire for
communication, they gave him the opportunity to teach young people, a lifelong pursuit.
Bernstein believed that all children have an instinctual musical gift, and contended that musical
training ought to be an integral part of education instead of being considered a luxury. 67 Often
called a natural teacher by his colleagues, friends, and members of his family, he had a gift for
explaining musical concepts in a way that non-musicians could understand.68 Bernstein wrote his
own material for The Young Peoples Concerts and presented it in a simple, unpretentious
manner, using language that was immediately understood. While the programs were entertaining
and often amusing, involving the participation of his audience, Bernsteins purpose remained to
teach serious musical messagesthe meaning of music, the influence of folk origins, the
structure of a fugue, what makes music symphonicto children and parents alike.69 Bernstein
remarked,
These concerts are not just concertsnot even in terms of the millions who view
them at home. They are, in some way, the quintessence of all I try to do as a
conductor, as a performing musician. There is a lurking didactic streak in me that
turns every program I make into a discourse, whether I utter a word or not; my
performing impulse has always been to share my feelings, or knowledge, or
speculations about musicto provoke thought, suggest historical perspective,
encourage the intersection of musical lines. And from this point of view, the
Young Peoples Concerts are a dream come true, especially since the sharing is
done with young peoplethat is, people who are eager, unprejudiced, curious,
open, and enthusiastic. What more could an old incorrigible pedagogue ask for? I
hope I shall never have to give these concerts up; they keep me young.70
66

Tim Page, Leonard Bernstein and Television: Envisioning a Higher Purpose, in Leonard Bernstein:
American Original. How a Modern Renaissance Man Transformed Music and the World during His New York
Philharmonic Years, 19431976, ed. Burton Bernstein and Barbara B. Haws (New York: Philharmonic-Symphony
of New York, 2008), 9197.
67
Secrest, 24447.
68
Laird, 910.
69
Paul Myers, Leonard Bernstein, 20th-century Composers (London: Phaidon Press, 1998), 114.
70
Bernstein, quoted in Page, 101.

95

Bernsteins unparalleled achievement in the world of childrens programming was enriched by

his relationships with his own three children.71 According to his daughter Jamie, Bernstein said,
If my children have done nothing else, they taught me how to translate music to other children
and to make it fun.72 Bernstein professed that his key to success with children lay in treating
them like legitimate people and not talking down to them, a theme that he explores in I Hate
Music!
Bernstein found the inspiration for this song cycle from an event in his life occurring in
the fall of 1942, at the beginning of his musical career. Having completed his studies at Harvard,
Curtis, and Tanglewood, Bernstein obtained a five-year publication contract, allowing him to
move to an apartment on West Fifty-Second Street in New York City that he shared with an
artist named Edys Merrill.73 He had a Steinway grand piano in his room on which he would play
constantly, coaching opera singers, improvising, and clowning around. Merrill worked in a
manufacturing plant for the war effort and did not appreciate the noise at home after working at a
factory all day. When she had to pass through this room to use the bathroom, she would shout, I
hate musicla dee da dee da! while covering her ears, walking around the room.74 Bernstein
must have found her outbursts memorable, for they inspired the name for this cycle, as well as
the central song, also titled, I Hate Music! One can only speculate how much of Merrills
personality Bernstein infused into the cycles narrator; certainly her silly imitations of singing
find expression through Barbaras childlike voice.
Bernstein faced obstacles in convincing others of the cycles worth as he attempted to
have it premiered, a situation that correlates with his personal struggle to gain respect as a
71

Meryle Secrest, Leonard Bernstein: A Life (New York: A. A. Knopf, 1994), 244.
Bernstein, quoted in Peyser, 289.
73
Myers, 35.
74
Burton, 10304.
72

96

legitimate composer. In the summer of 1943, Boston Symphony conductor Serge Koussevitzky
introduced Bernstein to mezzo soprano Jennie Tourel, who had recently come to the United
States from Paris. She asked Bernstein to accompany her in a recital at the Public Library in
Lenox, Massachusetts. This concert began a long collaboration between Bernstein and Tourel, as
she grew to be his favorite interpreter of his vocal compositions and a featured soloist in his
symphony concerts.75 Bernstein requested that Tourel sing I Hate Music! on the recital, but
Koussevitzky disapproved of the jazz-infused cycle and forbade its performance. Bernsteins
publicist Friede Rothe agreed with this negative assessment of the set, describing the music not
as art songs, but cute little songs that should be sung at a house party.76 Tourel and Bernstein
decided to perform the set anyway, presenting it as an encore.77 Tourel gave the cycle its first
genuine performance as part of her New York debut at Town Hall on November 13, 1943, the
night before Bernsteins famous surprise conducting debut with the New York Philharmonic.78
The cycle met with positive reviews, being called witty, alive and adroitly fashioned.79
According to Bernstein, people yelled and stamped and cheered and I had to take a bow.80
Since its premiere, the cycle has enjoyed numerous recordings and recital performances, often
serving as a lighter set of songs to round out weightier programmed music.

Analysis of I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano

Lasting merely seven minutes, this set of five rather short songs for soprano and piano
presents a fictitious child narrator who wavers between asserting her legitimacy as a person and
75

Peter Gradenwitz, Leonard Bernstein: The Infinite Variety of a Musician (New York: St. Martins Press,

1987), 33.

76

Rothe, quoted in Peyser, 124.

Myers, 37.
78
Peyser, 11314.
79
Burton, 113.
80
Peyser, 115.
77

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behaving her chronological age. Though these kid songs (as Bernstein calls them) are intended
for adults to perform, the cycle fits Sharps third Route of Musical Experience by employing a
youthful perspective. Bernstein uses intellectual wit and humor to produce a credible portrait of a
nave, unaffected girl named Barbara relating her thoughts and feelings. He simultaneously
includes discreet teachings about the value of children through her words. The cycle can be
interpreted as a loose narrative, unfolding as Barbaras discussion with a group of unidentified
houseguests. Much as in The Children, the first and last songs offer the most obvious didactic
themes, with the middle songs focusing on gentle humor and a perceptive look into the nature of
a child.
The cycle begins with My Name is Barbara, a song in which the young protagonist
discusses the various explanations she has received from her mother regarding where babies
come from. In a childlike, stream-of-conscious manner, Barbara finishes the song with a nonsequitur, introducing herself to the group.
My mother says that babies come in bottles;
But last week she said they grew on special baby-bushes.
I dont believe in the storks, either!
Theyre all in the zoo, busy with their own babies!
And whats a baby-bush, anyway!?
My name is Barbara.
The idea of a ten-year-old girl having questions about the origin of babies is realistic and
genuine. Bernstein related a similar experience he had when he was fourteen, around the time his
younger brother was born, saying I was crazed with curiosity. I would look up childbirth in
the Jewish encyclopedia, the only encyclopedia we had at the time, but there wasnt much to
learn from that.81 Bernstein mirrors in Barbaras speech the frustration he must have surely felt
by not having answers to his own questions. Barbara grows impatient with adults treating her
81

Ibid., 28.

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differently or dishonestly, exclaiming that she does not believe in the various theories that her
mother has told her thus far. In this song Bernstein echoes the belief that enabled his success in
the Young Peoples Concerts, namely, that adults should not talk down to children. They are
often more perceptive than adults realize. Through Barbaras heartfelt frustrations with feeling
deceived by her mother, Bernstein subtly promotes his conviction that parents should treat their
children as legitimate people and talk to them with age-appropriate honesty.
Bernsteins music enhances the childlike qualities of the text as well as his message. He
creates a spontaneous feel to Barbaras words by overlaying a sparse piano texture with a
recitative-like, disjunct melody that nevertheless flows in lyrical arching shapes. The song
remains primarily in the dorian mode until the final E Major chord, occurring at the end of
Barbaras emotional journey, which Bernstein helps to outline with interpretive markings. A
plodding rhythmic accompaniment begins the song, suggesting the girls conscientiously polite
delivery of her thoughts, marked mezzo piano and contemplative at m. 3 when relating her
mothers conflicting explanations for where babies come from. Her discourse rises vehemently
to forte at m. 10 when she states her disbelief in the stork theory. Bernstein highlights Barbaras
agitated exclamation by setting the text with the highest pitch of the vocal line and abandoning
the previous accompaniment pattern in favor of sustained chords, while also including many
accents and tenuto markings. This dramatic change in music shows Barbaras brief foray into a
realm of defiance, nearly throwing a tantrum at the thought of being treated like a gullible child.
The initial rhythmic motive returns in the piano accompaniment as her passionate outburst
subsides almost resentfully at m. 15 when she questions the truthfulness of a baby-bush.
Trying to act more grown-up, Barbara remembers her manners and concludes by introducing
herself sweetly at m. 18. The musical setting magnifies Barbaras frustration at being treated

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like a child, even as she lapses into childlike behavior. She tries to gain added respect and dignity
as an intelligent, mature person, yet remains partially in the world of childhood.
Bernstein puts Barbaras quest for validation into greater relief as he includes instances of
her simply acting as a genuine child. Her imaginative personality shows itself clearly in the
second song, Jupiter Has Seven Moons. Barbara excitedly describes Jupiter and Saturn and
their multiple moons, comparing them with the Earths single moon. She makes creative and
clever connections between the number of moons and their effects on the Earth, including
enhanced romantic possibilities, the effect on baying dogs, multiple tides in the Atlantic Ocean,
and the size of the Man in the Moon.
Jupiter has seven moons or is it nine?
Saturn has a million, billion, trillion sixty-nine;
And evry one is a little sun, with six little moons of its own!
But we have only one!
Just think of all the fun wed have if there were nine!
Then we could be just nine times more romantic!
Dogs would bay til they were frantic!
Wed have nine tides in the Atlantic!
The man in the moon would be gigantic!
But we have only one!
Only one!
Barbaras animated speculations about how life on Earth would change with multiple
moons show her authentic, guileless character. In relating her knowledge about Jupiter, she
reveals some factual flaws, for she cannot remember if Jupiter has seven moons or nine. She then
childishly declares that Saturn has a million, billion, trillion sixty-nine, a huge overstatement
that would be suit a young girls wildly exaggerative personality. By including Barbaras lunar
associations with non-scientific elements, such as romance and the Man in the Moon, Bernstein
demonstrates her youthful realm of thought. The text of this song creates a depiction of a nave,

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energetic, imaginative young girl who takes newfound knowledge and applies it to her
understood truths in a creative way.
Written in a predominantly major mode, the music follows Barbaras sequence of
thoughts through a series of fluctuating dynamic levels and tempo markings, varying according
to her particular mood. The light, fast, complicated, eighth-note piano accompaniment that
occurs during Barbaras animated descriptions of Jupiter, Saturn, and the theoretical implications
of many moons appropriately changes to slow, sustained chords as Barbara laments the Earths
inferior status. Syllabic text setting within a pattern of vacillating 5/8 and 4/8 meters follows her
natural speech rhythms, and creates a skipping quality to the music, perfectly suiting a ten-yearold girls playful imaginations. These musical elements help create a picture of an emotional preteenager who is still categorizing her knowledge about the universe and making intriguing
connections, without any effort to conceal her emotions as she does so.
The next song, I Hate Music! holds a doubly-central place as the third song in this
group of five and with its opening line comprised of the phrase that inspired the cycles
composition. Barbara emphatically proclaims that she hates music, but seemingly contradicts
herself by stating that she loves to sing. She clarifies her opinions by describing what the word
music means to her, and then reaffirms her love for singing.
I hate music!
But I like to sing:
La dee da da dee; la dee da dee.
But thats not music, not what I call music.
No, sir.
Music is a lot of men in a lot of tails,
Making lots of noise like a lot of females;
Music is a lot of folks in a big dark hall,
Where they really dont want to be at all;

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With a lot of chairs, and a lot of airs,

And a lot of furs and diamonds!
Music is silly!
I hate music!
But I like to sing:
La dee da da dee: la dee da dee: la dee da dee.
With the keen perception of a child, Barbara deftly distinguishes between hating the type
of music that adults have artificially constructed to signify attending concerts in dark halls,
while wearing their best clothes and pretending to enjoy themselves, with loving the purity of
singing. She uses the childlike nonsense syllables la dee da da dee to illustrate her positive
feelings about singing. This demonstration embodies music at its purest form, coming from the
mouth of a child, without words or a preconceived melody, simply emanating from her soul.
Barbara possesses the honest candor that allows her to reveal the silly traditions and facades that
pretentious concert-goers adopt. Adults are seemingly too decorous to either recognize or point
out these peculiarities themselves. Another analysis of the text could include Bernstein using a
childs voice to speak out against those musical elitists who do not consider his music worthy of
their high standards, due to his affinity for including vernacular elements.
Bernstein begins Barbaras emotional tirade with an accented, forte melodic line that
leaps upward a minor ninth on the word hate. Wide intervals occur in many of Bernsteins
melodies, but this particular instance brings added emphasis to Barbaras impudent outburst.
Presented in a dramatic, recitative style over sustained piano chords, this surging declaration
reveals her immaturity by using such a harsh word in a social situation.
Bernstein removes any residual feeling of meter or pulse with an unaccompanied setting
of her nonsensical text, la dee da da dee at m. 4. He reinforces the improvisational quality of
her tune by marking the disjunct, syllabic vocal line freely, rather tonelessly and carelessly.

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This melody has no basis in any particular scale or mode, and uses nine of the possible twelve
tones. While clearly imitating Edys Merrills mocking parody of music, perhaps Bernstein is also
ridiculing the twelve-tone compositional practices of his contemporary composers by suggesting
that a child could write the equivalent.
Barbara then begins a fast-paced, breathless, angry section in which she describes her
observations of music (meaning the concert-going experience) with quickly ascending triplet
sixteenth-note patterns in the piano, over which her melody grows progressively higher and
louder to the fortissimo climax on diamonds! Bernstein could be making a negative social
commentary regarding the pseudo-sophisticated concert-going public through this section. This
section may also include an element of self-parody, as Bernstein belongs to the classical, tailwearing class of musicians himself. Barbara concludes by reaffirming her opening hatred of
music followed by a slightly longer depiction of her definition of singing. The relaxed,
freely improvisational melody creates a pure, childlike depiction of true music. As a whole, this
song encapsulates a young girl displaying wisdom beyond her years, while portraying her
emotions in a rather ill-mannered, uncouth fashion.
Barbara displays her sharp sense of humor and desire to entertain as she tells a riddle in
A Big Indian and a Little Indian. Supremely confident of her cleverness, she enjoys stumping
her audience, taking great pleasure in giving them two measures to discover the correct answer.
A big Indian and a little Indian were walking down the street.
The little Indian was the son of the big Indian;
But the big Indian was not the father of the little Indian:
You see the riddle is, if the little Indian was the son of the big Indian,
But the big Indian was not the father of the little Indian,
Who was he?
Ill give you two measures:
His mother!

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Retelling jokes and finding glee in feeling smarter than her peers fits right into Barbaras tenyear-old persona. Bernsteins age-appropriately innocent, humorous text creates a glimpse into
an authentic childs mind.
This simple, childlike riddle receives a rhythmically sophisticated setting. Comparable to
the approach in Jupiter Has Seven Moons, Bernstein uses rhythmic complexity to portray the
speech-like qualities of this text. As stated previously, Bernstein believed that rhythmic groups
of five and seven produced the best imitation of American speech. In this song, he freely moves
through 7/8, 8/8, 5/8, 3/8, and 9/8 meters depending on what the text dictates. Adding to the
complexity of the song, the contrapuntal left and right hands of the accompaniment contain
rhythmic displacement, with accents falling on different beats from each other, as well as
diverging from the accents of the vocal line. This practice can be traced to the rhythmic
innovations in the jazz style of Bebop.82 Such an intricate musical setting incorporating jazz and
popular styles disproves the contention of Bernsteins publicist that these songs should be
considered simplistic parlor music. The technical expertise required to navigate such complex
rhythms and meter changes clearly move this work out of the amateur performers abilities and
into a sophisticated, professional realm.83
The complicated rhythmic structure of A Big Indian and a Little Indian does not
obstruct the melodic clarity or childlike nature of the text, however. To counter-balance the
songs rhythmic dominance, the vocal line retains a simpler, more triadic outline. Bernstein
creates a caricature of the Indian element of the text with a pentatonic feel in the introduction,
and a drumbeat pattern during the interlude before the spoken text, marked pesante, like
Indians. He applies a theatrical gesture as Barbara speaks the second stanza in which she
82

Barry Kernfield, Bebop, in The New Harvard Dictionary of Music (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap
Press of Harvard University Press, 1986), 86.
83
Ikach, 46.

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outlines the details of the riddle, generating a moment of extremely accessible communication,
unimpeded by any musical participation. After giving the audience the promised two measures
to contemplate the answer to her riddle, Bernstein sets Barbaras final statement, his mother!
with an upward leaping octave, highlighting the triumphant manner in which she delivers the
punch line. The animated musical setting enhances her unabashed delight in childlike humor.
Bernstein ends the cycle by delivering in his most straightforward manner the philosophy
that children should be treated as equals in Im a Person Too. Young Barbara tells her listeners
that she recently discovered she is a legitimate person despite her age, and describes the
confusion and frustration she feels when adults treat her differently.
I just found out today that Im a person too, like you:
I like balloons; lots of people like balloons:
But evryone says, Isnt she cute? She likes balloons!
Im a person too, like you!
I like things that evryone likes:
I like soft things and movies and horses and warm things and red things:
Dont you?
I have lots of thoughts; like whats behind the sky;
And whats behind whats behind the sky: [emphasis original]
But evryone says, Isnt she sweet? She wants to know evrything!
Dont you?
Of course Im very young to be saying all these things
In front of so many people like you;
But Im a person too!
Thought Im only ten years old;
Im a person too, like you!
Barbaras words illuminate her pre-adolescent status of straddling the worlds of
childhood and adulthood. She admits that she is young and that she likes seemingly childish
things such as balloons and horses, but wonders how different that makes her from adults. She
grows tired of adults finding her cute and sweet simply because of her age. If adults can like
the same things she likes, and if they can desire to know everything just as she does, why is she

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singled out and treated differently? In this song, Barbara refers to grown-ups talking about her in
the third person as if she is not present or cannot hear them. She boldly reminds the adults in the
room that children are people too and should not be ignored. The message Bernstein conveys
through his text is that children are smarter than adults often recognize, and they should not be
dismissed simply because of their age. He seems to identify with Barbaras situation and
empathize with her feelings. As Ikach asserts,
Obviously, there is a bit of Bernstein in the little girl. She is precocious,
rebellious, irreverent, and unpredictable, but she is not yet an accepted member of
the adult population. This parallels Bernsteins insecurities as a composer. He
shared and enjoyed her childlike qualities, but longed for respect among the
learned music cognoscenti and critics. Above all, he wished to be considered a
serious composer.84
Bernsteins identification with this fictitious girls situation enables him to create a realistic
depiction of her in both words and music.
In this final song, the lyrical vocal line begins without piano introduction, as if Barbara
inserts herself into a conversation without a proper invitation. The accompaniment follows the
voice much more closely than in any of the previous songs, giving added meaning and strength
to Barbaras words. Bernstein sets her opening text earnestly with march-like quarter-note
declarations, supporting her heartfelt discovery that she is a person too. Barbara follows this
assertion with a recitative-like melody marked resigned over oscillating chords as she
describes her likes and observations about the treatment she receives from adults. These two
types of musical passages continue to alternate, fluctuating between boldness and timidity, while
growing in intensity and rising in pitch to the climax of the song. The music reaches a fitting
conclusion as it slows in tempo and the vocal line leaps an octave to a high A with Barbaras
dramatic reiteration of Im a person too! three times. This wide interval, even when enveloped
84

Ibid., 45.

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in lyricism, emphasizes the theme of the final song, and indeed, of the entire cycle. Barbara has
arrived upon the message she wants to give adults, though she may have traveled there in an
indirect way, and she states her opinion firmly at the end.
Barbara follows a trajectory through these five songs that exemplifies her situation in life
and parallels Bernsteins own creative path. She expresses frustration at being treated with
dishonesty or condescension, revels in imagination and creativity, communicates outrage at
others pretensions, finds simple joy in entertaining, and asserts her rights as a person. Written at
the outset of his career, the cycle showcases Bernsteins own frustration, creativity, outrage, joy
and assertiveness as he struggles to find validity among his peers and critics. Though the songs
may not fit every critics definition of art music, their intricate technical demands combined
with their insightful messages lift them out of the realm of casual entertainment. By using this
mode of communication to create an authentic, childlike protagonist with unconcealed emotions
and opinions, Bernstein charms his audience while cleverly sharing his messages of legitimacy.
He embodies Sharps belief that adults who re-interpret childhood derive vicarious pleasure (or
pain) from reliving its real or imagined experiences85 as he takes his alter-ego Barbara along a
journey seeking legitimacy, corresponding to his own quest for respect as a cross-over musician.

For Performers
In searching for advice or suggestions for performers of I Hate Music! one needs to look
no further than Bernsteins own instructions in the published score. He advises, In the
performance of these songs, coyness is to be assiduously avoided. The natural, unforced
sweetness of child expressions can never be successfully gilded; rather will it come through the

85

Sharp, 23.

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music in proportion to the dignity and sophisticated understanding of the singer.86 This
suggestion fits naturally with Bernsteins philosophy regarding the ideal treatment of children.
The singer and pianist should take the opportunity to showcase the moments where Barbara acts
childlike, whether through her romanticized fantasies and riddles, or through her immature
outbursts and tantrums. They should consciously contrast these moments with her more mature
instances of insightful commentary and quests for authenticity. By doing so, they will
appropriately convey the themes of the text through the perspective of a believable child.

Conclusions
Both The Children and I Hate Music! utilize an invented childs perspective, but they
differ in the delivery of their messages. Feeney and Chanler construct a narrator of archetypal
children to explicitly instruct their adult audience on issues such as how to fall asleep and how
to treat children in a manner pleasing to God. Some of their childlike songs feel genuine and
realistic, especially the ones describing childrens observations of the world around them.
Humorous insights couched in illustrative musical settings, such as in Wind, Spick and
Span, and Moo is a Cow, create a sense of sweetness, innocence and purity. However, texts
such as The Children, The Rose, and One of Us, seem awkward or disingenuous coming
from the mouths of children, resulting in an unconcealed moral lesson from the poet and
composer. The inclusion of these uncharacteristically mature concepts and emotions belonging
outside the realm of a childs understanding adds a sense of forged sentimentality to their
message.

86

Leonard Bernstein, I Hate Music! A Cycle of Five Kid Songs for Soprano (New York: M. Witmark &
Sons, 1943), i.

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In contrast, Bernstein chooses to treat his invented narrator Barbara consistently as an

authentic, real child, allowing her to convey her thoughts and feelings in a credible and sincere
way. In Jupiter Has Seven Moons Barbara lets her imagination run wild, while in A Big
Indian and a Little Indian, she takes pleasure in telling a joke. Bernstein sometimes uses her
voice to respond to his own critics and peers, such as her quasi-imitation of a twelve-tone row
and her mockery of the elitist concert-goers in I Hate Music. His cycle also includes teachings
about treating children equally in Im a Person Too and not talking down to them in My
Name is Barbara, achieving these results without sounding blatantly preachy.
While The Children contains an obvious, clear agenda of presenting specific concepts to
adults regarding how to be more like children and to treat them well, Bernsteins cycle employs a
more subtle approach through a credible voice of a ten-year-old child. Applying Sharps words,
Chanlers cycle uses the mode of communication of an adult acting as a child to create a
selective and idealized version of childhood, while Berntseins use of a childs perspective
enables him to vicariously relive the experiences of his own life. Each composer utilizes
musical techniques consistent with his individual style to depict the fictive perspective of a child,
resulting in an entertaining cycles that simultaneously promote thought and change.

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Chapter 3: Adult Poet Addressing a Child

Adults interact with children in a variety of situations. Parents, teachers, and caregivers
instruct, entertain, discipline, praise, soothe, and express affection for the children in their care.
When talking with children, adults naturally alter their manner of speech, whether by changing
their word choice, tone of voice, or subject material, in order to communicate more clearly.
When adults speak to a child under their care, they often recount amusing stories, express love
and tenderness, and describe their hopes for the childs future. Poets consider these issues as they
write from the point of view of an adult speaking to a child. Two song cycles, Francis Poulencs
La courte paille and Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies, both set texts in which an adult
addresses a child. Though they contain light subject material and a high level of accessibility that
may cause some critics to dismiss them as insignificant, both cycles offer sophisticated, wellcrafted music, incorporating entertainment along with poignant sentiments.

La courte paille
A fictional mother acts as the narrator of La courte paille, addressing her child with a
series of magical, silly, and introspective texts. In the odd-numbered songs, the mother relates to
her child in an adult-like way, but in the even-numbered songs, she addresses him in a childlike
manner. These two modes of communication correspond to Ian Sharps first and second Routes
of Musical Experience, in which adults either assume a mode of childhood or retain a mode of
adulthood to relate to children.1 The audience plays the role of the imaginary child, prompting
the particular modes of communication from the adult narrator. The fanciful poems, written by
Belgian Maurice Carme, incorporate relatively simple, direct imagery combined with silly,

Ian Sharp, Classical Musics Evocation of the Myth of Childhood (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press,

2000), 31

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fantastical stories that amuse and entertain. The mothers tender feelings of love and concern for
the child permeate the poetry, especially in her meditative texts. Poulencs accessible style of
composition maintains an open manner of communication desirable when speaking with
children. He offers a fitting musical illustration of the poetry, with two distinct styles
corresponding to the more subdued or introspective poems and the playful, fantastical stories.
Poulenc creates variety through his lyrical treatments of the mothers adult-like ruminations,
along with his imaginative and energetic settings for the humorous poems where she acts in a
childlike manner.

Maurice Carme
Called the Mozart of poetry by Tristan Klingsor, Maurice Carme excelled in
recreating the world of a child through his magical, comical texts.2 His propensity for childlike
themes has also earned him the labels, the poet of joy, the poet of peace, and the poet of
children.3 Despite receiving acclaim as one of Belgiums master poets, Carme has been
generally overlooked in studies of modern French literature.
Carmes interest in poetry began at a young age. Born on May 12, 1899 in Wavre,
Belgium, Carme lived a modest but happy childhood. His father, Joseph, made his living as a
painter and decorator, and his mother, Henriette, ran a small grocery shop. They had five
children all together, though only Maurice, his sister Germaine, and younger brother Georges
survived past infancy. Finding inspiration from his childhood girlfriend, Bertha Detry, Carme
began writing poetry in 1914. Upon receiving a scholarship that same year, he entered the

Marie-Georgetter Steisel, French Poetry for Children: A Selected, Annotated Bibliography, The Modern
Language Journal 48, no. 3 (1964): 129.
3
Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs, trans. Winifred Radford (New York: W. W.
Norton, 1977), 164.

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teacher training college, the cole Normale de Tirlemont, where he studied with Julien Kuypers,
a professor who introduced him to contemporary poetry and encouraged his writing.4
Before becoming a full-time writer, Carme spent his professional life as an educator of
children. He left Wavre upon completion of his studies in 1918 to teach primary school in
Anderlecht, Brussels. He married fellow teacher Andre Gobron in 1924, and in 1933 they
moved into a house he had built, which became known as la Maison Blanche. In 1943 Carme
gave up teaching in order to devote his time to writing. The many years he spent in the company
of children influenced his writing style. Fluency and accessibility characterize his poetry, often
containing recognizable subject material presented in a charming, pleasurable way.5
At a time when the predominant approach to poetry included complexity and obscurity,
Carme ultimately decided not to follow that path. Though he briefly flirted with surrealism and
modernism in his early career, which colored aspects of his future works, Carme chose to
abandon experimentalist writing, aiming instead for childlike clarity, even when conveying a
dark message.6 A statement by Carme gives insight into his goals as a writer, and can be
considered his poetic credo: Poetry that is at once extremely simple, extremely lyrical, and
extremely movingand mysterious enough to maintain poetrys magic. With all my heart, I
hope that some day Ill write the poem which resembles the one Ive dreamt of from the day I
began to write.7 His style incorporated brevity and lilting sonorities, while still retaining enough
mystery to preserve the magic inherent in poetry as a genre.8
Biographer Jacques Charles notes that Carmes poems do not always appeal to modern
tastes because of their perceived navet. This perception likely stems from the fact that much of
4

Maurice Carme, Defying Fate, ed. Jean Boase-Beier (Todomorden, UK: Arc Publications, 2009), 147.
Martin Sorrell, introduction to Defying Fate, 14.
6
Ibid.
7
Carme, 14.
8
Christopher Pilling, preface to Defying Fate, 10.
5

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Carmes poetry is written in a whimsical style appropriate for children.9 Nicknamed the poet
of children, many of his writings are intended for a young audience. Among these works are
Pomes de gosses et Proses denfants (1936), The Magic Lantern (1947), Mother Raspberry
(1969), and The Paper Mill (1973).
Carmes writings include more than eighty books, novels, short stories, fables and
essays, and poems, with a collection of poetry published almost every year from 1947 to 1975.
Some of his award-winning works include Mre (1935), which won the Prix Triennal de Posie,
and La maison blanche (1949), which won the Prix de lAcadmie Franaise. He succeeded Jean
Cocteau as Prince des Potes in Paris in 1972, and won several other prizes in Belgium and
abroad. He worked until the last day of his life, January 13, 1978. His home became the location
for his charity, The Maurice Carme Foundation, in 1975 as well as the Maurice Carme
Museum upon his death.10

Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc developed his compositional style during a time when Paris served as a
significant base of artistic development, producing modern advancements in literature, visual
arts, and music. The Post-Romantic tradition of Claude Debussy yielded in the early twentieth
century to the neoclassicism of Igor Stravinsky and the satire of Erik Satie. Collaborations
between writers such as Jean Cocteau, artists like Pablo Picasso, and choreographers such as
Sergei Diaghilev brought a sense of novelty to this cultural center. Within this innovative
atmosphere, Poulenc incorporated elements of all these influences to create his own distinctive
musical language.

Jacques Charles, Maurice Carme (Paris: Pierre Seghers, 1965), 29.

Jean Boase-Beier, ed., Defying Fate, by Maurice Carme, 147.

10

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Poulencs oft-noted dual personality of piety mixed with hedonism can be traced to his
childhood. He was born in Paris on January 7 of the same year as Maurice Carme, 1899. His
father, mile, a strictly religious Catholic from the south of France, gave him the serious, devout
side of his personality. The other side came from his mother, Jenny Royer, a Paris native who
held independent views and a strong love of the arts.11 She exposed him to such diverse
composers as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Frdric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Franois
Couperin, Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel, Stravinsky, and Arnold Schoenberg.12 An
accomplished amateur pianist, Royer began teaching her young son the piano at the age of four.
Poulenc spent countless hours at the piano, working to develop his own technique and has said,
When I recall my childhood I see myself always sitting at a piano.13
Poulencs early exposure to the music hall and cabaret scene of Paris greatly influenced
his compositional style. His propensity for diatonicism and lyrical melodies likely resulted from
this light music that he so frequently heard early in his life.14 His mother encouraged him to keep
an open mind to every kind of music, particularly to works by contemporary composers and
those who would follow.15 Poulenc spent his childhood summers in the nearby village of
Nogent-sur-Marne, fondly describing it as, paradise to me, with its open-air dance halls, its
French-fry vendors, and its bals musettes. . . . The bad-boy side of my music, you see, is not
artificial as is often believed, because it is associated with my very dear childhood memories.16
Poulenc used musical allusions of the popular waltzes and dance-hall tunes he heard in childhood
11

Gloria Shafer, Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle as a Musical Genre with Four Case Studies and an
Original Cycle, (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989), 42.
12
Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc, Oxford Studies of Composers (New York: Oxford University Press,
2003), xi.
13
Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs, trans. Winifred Radford (New York: W. W.
Norton, 1977), 22.
14
Keith Daniel, Francis Poulenc: His Artistic Development and Musical Style (Ann Arbor: UMI Research
Press, 1982), 17.
15
Ibid., 2.
16
Francis Poulenc, Entretiens avec Claude Rostand (Paris: R. Julliard, 1954), 1718.

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in order to create a carefree or nostalgic mood. This style complemented Carmes playful poetry
to create a fittingly impetuous-sounding cycle in La courte paille.
In the context of contemporary experimentalist composers, Poulencs music remains
fairly conservative, yet individual enough to be recognized after hearing the first several
measures. 17 He did not follow the paths of serialism and atonality, choosing instead to deepen
and distill his own personal style.18 As longtime collaborator Pierre Bernac described, His
harmonies perhaps belonged to everyone, but he used them as no one else.19 Rich harmonies
including seventh, ninth, and thirteenth chords often remain unresolved, serving as consonant
chords, much like Ravels music. His melodies, constructed in smooth lines of step-wise and
triadic motion, have a sense of tunefulness and lyricism influenced by the popular music of Paris.
Strong Neo-Classical trends affect Poulencs accompaniments, often consisting of Alberti bass
figures, arpeggios, triadic chords, and scalar passages. Poulenc organizes most of his music into
standard forms consisting of short phrases either repeated in new keys or contrasting with
another motive, linked by subtle key shifts.20 Once he had composed music for a line of a poem,
he never transposed the key in order to make his task easier, because of the potential negative
effects on the poetry. This resulted in numerous and inventive modulations, often with little or no
preparation, that Poulenc described as passing at times through a mouse hole.21 Frequent meter
changes facilitate a flexible musical style corresponding to every passing change in mood,
uniquely responding to the demands of the texts of his vocal music.

17

Kirk A. Severtson, Poulencs Development as a Piano Composer: A Comparison of the Solo Piano
Works and the Mlodies (DMA thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2005), 12.
18
Daniel, 98.
19
Bernac, Francis Poulenc, 50.
20
Elizabeth Nolan, The Mlodies of Francis Poulenc: A Selective Musico-literary Study (MA thesis,
Dublin Institute of Technology, 1998), 2324.
21
Francis Poulenc, Diary of my Songs, trans. Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, 1985), 87.

115

Poulenc wrote a significant portion of his music for the voice, including choral and
operatic works, as well as 152 mlodies, or art songs. Nothing affected Poulencs song-writing
more than his twenty-five year recital partnership with baritone Pierre Bernac. In 1935 Poulenc
and Bernac formed their collaboration, after which Poulenc composed two-thirds of his total
output of songs.22 Poulenc in fact claimed that everything he knew about songs came from
accompanying Bernac, stating,
All of the evolution that took place in my mlodies was due to Bernac. Just as
Vies had revealed to me certain secrets of pianistic writing, Bernac showed me
the possibilities of singing, and since singing is my greatest love, I need say no
more as proof of my happiness during these years of collaboration.23
Bernac returned the compliment, lauding Poulencs exceptional sense of French declamation, his
incredible ease in modulating from one key to another, his gift for melody, and the luminosity
given to previously hidden meanings in his texts. He felt that Poulenc gave the best of himself
in his vocal music, and believed that in these works Poulenc is most likely to confront
successfully the test of time.24
Along with the care he took in composing individual songs, Poulenc paid great attention
to the ordering of songs within a cycle. He arranged each song so that it contrasted well with the
next in the same way a painter displays his artwork, stating, It is all a question of the hanging,
as essential in music as in painting.25 This led to a tendency in his song cycles to order his songs
slow-fast-slow, calling the swift scherzo-like movements which lead in and out of more lyrical
numbers trampoline songs.26 Poulenc uses this format to organize La courte paille, giving a

22

Carl B. Schmidt, Entrancing Muse: A Documented Biography of Francis Poulenc (Hillsdale, NY:
Pendragon Press, 2001), 182.
23
Poulenc, quoted in Daniel, Francis Poulenc, 37.
24
Bernac, Francis Poulenc, 38.
25
Poulenc, Diary of My Songs, 79.
26
Graham Johnson, A French Song Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 353.

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sense of variety to the cycle by illuminating different emotional aspects and the two possible
modes of communicating with children.
Poulencs love of the voice matched his love of great poetry, which developed during his
teenage years when he formed lasting associations with several avant-garde poets who gathered
at a famous Parisian bookstore. Among these were James Joyce, Max Jacob, Guillaume
Apollinaire, and Paul luard.27 In his songwriting, Poulenc preferred to set texts by such
contemporary poets, paying careful attention to the prosody, mood, and tone of his musical
settings, which were always rooted in an intimate understanding of the poetry.28 Poulenc
described his compositional method as follows:
When I have chosen a poem, the musical realization of which often does not
follow until months later, I examine it from all angles. . . . I listen to it, I look for
traps, I sometimes underline the difficult parts of the text. I note the pauses. I try
to discover the internal rhythm through a line which is not necessarily the first.
Then I try setting it to music, bearing in mind the different densities of the piano
accompaniment.29
The poets themselves praised his musical settings for maintaining the integrity of the text,
calling him the poets musician for his music that often lent a new clarity and significance to
their sometimes obscure and elusive modern verses.30
Poulenc composed music with childrens themes throughout his career. The lesser-known
song cycle Quatre chansons pour enfants (1934) uses a lively, music-hall vocabulary to depict a
boisterous group of greedy daughters who reject a series of elaborate Christmas gifts in favor of
une petite soeur (a little sister) and later deux soeurs exactement pareilles (two identical

27

Schmidt, 2627.
Severtson, 2.
29
Daniel, Poulenc, 249 (emphasis original).
30
Nolan, 19.
28

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sisters).31 The inspiration for another work with childrens themes, LHistoire de Babar, le petit
elephant (1945), came from Poulencs piano improvisations during a reading of the popular
childrens story, at the request of his young niece, much like Ravels Ma mere loye (Mother
Goose).32 Babar involves piano and speaker in the manner of Sergei Prokofievs Peter and the
Wolf, but with a much funnier and more unpredictable text, according to Poulenc.33 Though
mostly consisting of comical illustrations of the words, the music is at once touching and
entertaining, in a style anticipating Poulencs last set of childrens songs, La courte paille.
Poulenc created La courte paille, his final song cycle before his death, in 1963. He was
drawn to the direct imagery and accessibility of Carmes texts, especially after spending
decades setting the esoteric poetry of Apollinaire and luard.34 Poulenc chose seven whimsical
poems from two collections of Carmes poetry, La cage aux grillons (The Crickets Cage) and
Le voleur detincelles (The Thief of Brightness), and asked the poet to provide an overall title for
the cycle. Carmes choice of La courte paille, meaning The Short Straw, refers to the
childrens game of drawing straws. According to Poulenc, As for the title, La courte paille
symbolizes my little musical game exactly.35 Poulenc does not clarify what he means by a
musical game, but this description certainly epitomizes the childlike, fun-loving, capricious
quality of the cycle.
Poulenc dedicated the cycle to his close friend and longtime colleague, soprano Denise
Duval. Of the many women who influenced Poulenc during his career, none had more significant
impact than she. Inspired by her voice, Poulenc wrote several major works for her. She sang the

31

Keith E. Clifton, Beyond Childhood: Poulenc, La courte paille, and the Aural Envelope, College Music
Symposium 49 (2009): 33435.
32
Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: University Press, 2003), 173.
33
Poulenc, quoted in Schmidt, 312.
34
Clifton, 33536.
35
Poulenc, quoted in Schmidt, 442.

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role of Thrse in the Apollinaire farce Les mamelles de Tirsias (The Breasts of Tirsias), as
well as Blanche in Dialogues des Carmlites and Elle in the one-act monologue opera La voix
humaine.36 Poulenc referred to her as his ideal muse and the adorable one.37 After Bernacs
retirement, Poulenc accompanied Duval on many concert tours throughout Europe and the
United States.38 He hoped for her to sing the songs of La courte paille to her six-year-old son,
and intended for her to premiere the cycle during a concert tour of Italy. To his surprise, Duval
disliked the cycle and never performed it in its entirety. Instead, Colette Herzog and Jacques
Fvrier gave the premiere at the 1961 Royaumont Festival.39

Analysis of La courte paille

La courte paille incorporates images of childhood from adults perspective. The cycle
does not tell a narrative story; rather it consists of seven songs a mother sings to her child. Even
without a narrative quality, the songs may be properly considered a cycle due to the careful
alternation of slow and fast tempos and the similarity between the first and last songs.40 The
poetry sometimes conforms to Sharps second Route of Musical Experience by retaining a mode
of adulthood to relate to a child, while at other times it assumes a more childlike manner in
relating to the child, corresponding to the first Route of Musical Experience. Sometimes the
mother sings to soothe the child to sleep or dreamily muses on his future, while at other times
she relates funny or magical stories and fairy tales. In the odd-numbered songs, when the mother
relates to her child in an adult manner, the texts still contain vivid and magical images, but they
36

Clifton, 335.
Francis Poulenc, Francis Poulenc, Echo and Source: Selected Correspondence, 19151963, ed. Sidney
Buckland (London: Victor Gollancz, 1991), 303.
38
Susan Joanne Musselman, Cohesion of Composer and Singer: The Female Singers of Poulenc (DMA
document, Ohio State University, 2007), 47.
39
Poulenc Diary of My Songs, 148.
40
Severtson, 143.
37

119

are presented in a relatively subdued and sophisticated manner. The soothing, lyrical musical
settings reflect this more adult-like mode of communication and storytelling. When she relates to
the child in a childlike manner in the even-numbered songs, her texts include more nonsense
words and ridiculous concepts, and the musical setting parallels this more whimsical, energetic,
silly, childlike tone.
The first and last songs of this cycle use the mode of communication of an adult
addressing a child in an adult manner with comparable themes and settings, both expressing the
musings of a mother on a sleepless moonlit night. Le sommeil (Sleep) opens the set with a
depiction of a mother who has been rocking her crying and presumably ill son all evening, trying
to coax him to sleep. The text alternates between anxious thoughts from the parent unable to
calm the child, and childlike imagery describing nocturnal elements of nature.
Le sommeil est un voyage,
Mon Dieu! O est-il parti?
Jai beau bercer mon petit;
Il pleure dans son lit-cage,
Il pleure depuis midi.

Sleep has gone off on a journey. 41

Gracious me! Where can it have got to?
I have rocked my little one in vain;
He is crying in his cot,
He has been crying ever since noon.

O le sommeil a-t-il mis

Son sable et ses rves sages?
Jai beau bercer mon petit;
Il se tourney tout en nage,
Il sanglote dans son lit.

Where has sleep put

Its sand and its gentle dreams?
I have rocked my little one in vain,
He tosses and turns, perspiring,
He sobs in his bed.

Ah! Reviens, reviens, sommeil,

Sur ton beau cheval de course!
Dans le ciel noir, la Grande Ourse
A enterre le soleil
Et rallum ses abeilles.

Ah! Come back, come back, sleep,

On your beautiful race horse!
In the dark sky, the Great Bear42
Has buried the sun
And rekindled his bees. 43

Si lenfant ne dort pas bien,

Il ne dira pas bonjour,
Il ne dira rien demain

If baby does not sleep well,

He will not say, good day,
He will have nothing to say

41

The translations are from Bernacs Francis Poulenc: The Man and His Songs.
i.e., Ursa Major.
43
i.e., The Milky Way.
42

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A ses doigts, au lait, au pain

Qui laccueillent dans le jour.

To his fingers, to the milk, to the bread

That greet him in the morning.

Poulenc paints this familiar scenario with a dreamlike ostinato pattern in the bass, bathed
in pedal, imitating the act of rocking. Combined with the low dynamic and hypnotic vocal line
staying mostly within the range of a fifth, this ostinato creates a soothing mood reminiscent of a
lullaby. The recurring syncopations in the piano and chromatic movement in the voice line hint
at the childs restlessness, while the rocking motion in mm. 3, 78 and 1113 illustrate the
mothers continued attempts to calm him. The mothers plea for sleep to return in mm. 1115
rises to forte, showing her exasperation at her situation. The last six measures change meter
twice, producing the loss of a sense of time; a phenomenon that might occur after staying awake
all night. The song closes on an ambiguous g7 sonority, suggesting that the child has hopefully,
finally fallen asleep. Bernac suggests that Le sommeil, should be interpreted with rather great
simplicity, and all the tenderness (a little anxious) of a young mother who does not know how to
get her baby to sleep.44 Poulencs musical setting generates a soothing, calm, ethereal
atmosphere, perfect for a mother relating to a child in an adult-like manner.
The next song, Quelle aventure (What Goings-on!), as well as the other evennumbered songs are considered trampoline songs, with their more fanciful and animated tone.
The poetic voice is clearly that of a child, but Quelle aventure can be interpreted as a mother
telling a preposterous bedtime story of a child who swears he witnessed some astonishing events,
but worries that his mother will never believe his tale. The poems absurdity, bordering on the
surreal, imitates a childs manner of communication, and surely appeals to the child listening to
the story.
Une puce, dans sa voiture,
Tirait un petit lphant
44

A flea, in its carriage,

Was pulling a little elephant along

Bernac, Francis Poulenc, 164.

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En regardant les devantures

O scintillaient les diamants.

Gazing at the shop windows

Where diamonds were sparkling.

Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!

Quelle aventure!
Qui va me croire, sil mentend?

Good gracious! Good gracious!

What goings-on!
Who will believe me, if I tell them?

Llphanteau, dun air absent,

Suait un pot de confiture.
Mais la puce nen avait cure,
Elle tirait en souriant.

The little elephant was absent-mindedly

Sucking a pot of jam,
But the flea took no notice,
And went on pulling with a smile.

Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!

Que cela dure
Et je vais me croire dment!

Good gracious! Good gracious!

If this goes on
I shall really think I am mad!

Soudain, le long dune clture,

La puce fondit dans le vent
Et je vis le jeune lphant
Se sauver en fendant les murs.

Suddenly, along by a fence,

The flea disappeared in the wind,
And I saw the young elephant
Make off, breaking through the walls.

Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!

La chose est sure,
Mais comment la dire a maman?

Good gracious! Good gracious!

It is perfectly true,
But how shall I tell Mummy?

Marked trs vite with a quarter note equaling 132, this song emulates the mothers
effusive narration, illustrating the altered, more childlike manner of speech that she uses to
entertain her son. With its lightning-fast syllabic text declamation, this mlodie serves as a good
example of Poulencs patter songs.45 The loud dynamics and accented textures contribute to
the excited delivery of text. The melodic line consists of mock-serious chromaticism combined
with exaggerated vocal leaps of an octave on the words Mon Dieu! as the protagonist in the
story wonders aloud who will believe such nonsense.
The third song, La reine de coeur (The Queen of Hearts) describes a darker
dimension of childhood fantasy, perhaps more appropriate for a parent relating scary ghost
stories to a child around a campfire. In the poem, a fairy-tale queen, described by Benjamin Ivry
45

Daniel, 251. Daniel divides Poulencs music into six broad categories, including prayer-like songs,
tender, lyrical songs, and dramatic songs.

122

as an ice maiden as dangerous as Schuberts Erlknig,46 regally beckons to the child as she
presides over a court of lovers, including the young dead. This enigmatic, more mature poem,
replete with ominous and somewhat sinister sentiments, demonstrates that though Carmes style
might appear simple, the same is not necessarily true of his subject matter.47 The complex
imagery in this poem fits the mode of communication of an adult retaining a mode of adulthood
to relate to a child.
Mollement accoude
A ses vitres de lune,
La reine vous salue
Dune fleur damandier.

Gently leaning on her elbow

At her moon windows,
The queen waves to you
With the flower of the almond tree.

Cest la reine de coeur.

Elle peut, sil lui plat,
Vous mener en secret
Vers dtranges demeures

She is the queen of hearts.

She can, if she wishes,
Lead you in secret
To strange dwellings

O il nest plus de portes,

De salles ni de tours
Et o les jeunes mortes
Viennent parler damour.

Where there are no more doors,

No rooms nor towers,
And where the young who are dead
Come to speak of love.

La reine vous salue;

Htez-vous de la suivre
Dans son chteau de givre
Aux doux vitraux de lune.

The queen waves to you,

Hasten to follow her
Into the castle of the hoar-frost
With the lovely moon windows.

Poulenc returns to the reflective tone of the first song (Le sommeil) as he sets the
mystical images of the queen in her castle of hoar-frost with the lovely moon windows with
alternating 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 meters, creating a dreamy, otherworldly waltz. Liquid, legato vocal
lines and rich harmonies featuring seventh and ninth chords create a mysterious, haunting
depiction of this menacing queen. The smoothly arching legato melody gently ascends in m. 5

46
47

Benjamin Ivry, Francis Poulenc (London: Phaidon Press, 1996), 212.

Sorrell, 16.

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like a wave of a courtly hand.48 Beginning and ending pianissimo, the song grows to forte in
m. 6, yet never disrupts the calm, steady triplets embodying the magical feeling of the text. The
E Minor tonality contains few chromatic alterations, and then seamlessly shifts to the parallel
major in the final measure with the addition of a Picardy third. Mellers likens this striking
gesture to the sudden appearance of the Queens shining castle,49 perhaps adding a hint of a
happy ending to this cryptic fairy tale.
The next song, Ba, be, bi, bo, bu, returns to the mother entertaining her child in a
childlike manner by telling a silly story involving Puss-in-Boots, a well-known fairy-tale
character. The cat chooses not to focus on his studies, electing instead to play, dance, and sing.
The poetry incorporates a rhyme familiar to French school children, teaching them a series of
words that make their plural with x instead of s. The mothers use of the nonsense words, ba,
be, bi, bo, bu, b and rikketikketau mimics childrens wordplay games, with no added
meaning intended beyond the pleasure derived from their sounds.
Ba, be, bi, bo, bu, b!
Le chat a mis ses botts,
Il va de porte en porte
Jouer, danser, danser, chanter.

Ba, be, bi, bo, bu, be!

The cat has put on his boots;
He goes from door to door,
Playing dancing, singing.

Pou, chou, genou, hibou.

Tu dois apprendre lire,
A compter, crire,
Lui crie-t-on de partout.

Lice, cabbage, knee, owl. 50

You ought to learn to read,
To count, to write,
They cry to him on all sides.

Mais rikketikketau,
Le chat de sesclaffer
En reentrant au chteau:
Il est le Chat bott!

But rikketikketau,
The cat bursts out laughing,
And goes back to the castle:
He is Puss-in-Boots!

48

Mellers, 174.
Mellers, 174.
50
Words that form their plural with an x instead of an s.
49

124

Lasting only about twenty-three seconds, the patter song Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu
breathlessly races by at a tempo marked follement vite (crazily fast), requiring little subtlety.
With a childlike setting much like Quelle aventure, the thrillingly, dangerously fast melodic
line predominantly consists of chromatic half steps punctuated by the occasional leap,
highlighting important words in the text. The majority of the song is played without pedal,
except for mm. 7 and 8 where adults are telling Puss-in-Boots that he must learn to read and
write. This slight change in delivery could be interpreted as the mother trying to make the child
laugh by imitating the authoritative way adults speak to children. The final revelation of Puss-inBoots identity occurs in accented chords over a cascading chromatic bass line, leading to an
abrupt conclusion, creating a comically scary effect in the way children treasure.51
Examining the next poem as if an adult were addressing a child in an adult manner
provides a possible interpretation of a mother pacifying a sullen child who cannot play outside in
wet weather. The mother placates the child with descriptions of the sweetness of rainfall, using
enchanting imagery in Les anges musicians (The Angel Musicians). She creates a surreal
portrait of visionary Thursday angels playing on their harps, while Mozart splashes in drops
of blue joy as the rain falls from the sky.
Sur les fils de la pluie,
Les anges du jeudi
Jouent longtemps de la harpe.

On the threads of the rain

The Thursday angels52
Play all day upon the harp.

Et sous leurs doigts, Mozart

Tinte, dlicieux,
En gouttes de joie bleue.

And beneath their fingers, Mozart

Tinkles, deliciously
In drops of blue joy.

Car cest toujours Mozart

Que reprennent sans fin
Les anges musiciens

For it is always Mozart

That is repeated endlessly
By the angel musicians,

51
52

Mellers, 176.
Thursday is traditionally the school half-day holiday in France.

125

Qui, au long du jeudi,

Font chanter sur la harpe
La douceur de la pluie.

Who, all day Thursday,

Sing on their harps
The sweetness of the rain.

Using the neoclassical technique of quoting from Classical and Baroque works in
contemporary music, this song opens with a striking imitation of Mozart created by a quasiAlberti bass and diatonic legato melody. Poulenc had a special affinity for Mozart, stating, I
have a fondness for the melodic line, and I prefer Mozart to all other musicians.53 In fact, the
opening measures provide a near quotation of the second movement of Mozarts Piano Concerto
in D Minor, K. 466.54 This quotation does not last long, as the harmonies soon leave the realm of
Classical imitation and return to a twentieth-century style. The constant eighth-note rocking
motion perpetuates a mood of sweetness and childlike innocence. Perhaps Poulenc draws on his
own childhood memories of his mother playing Mozart on the piano to create this soothing
image in song. The piano postlude ends with a barely-audible E7 chord, simulating the ringing
sound of harps.
A fanciful story involving a cast of supernatural characters follows in Le carafon (The
Baby Carafe). An inanimate container possesses human-like qualities in this poem, as it
bemoans its childless state and yearns aloud for the companionship that living animals enjoy.
The inclusion of nonsensical and magical beings like the sorcerer riding on a phonograph and
legendary Merlin, along with clever wordplay associating carafes with giraffes (working
equally well in French and English) add to the merriment and childlike mode of communication
embodied by the text.
Pourquoi, se plaignait la carafe,
Naurais-je pas un carafon?
Au zoo, madame la girafe
Na-t-elle pas un girafon?
53
54

Why, complained the carafe,

should I not have a baby carafe?
At the zoo, Madame the giraffe-Has she not a baby giraffe?

Poulenc, quoted in Schmidt, 197.

Clifton, 339.

126

Un sorcier qui passait par l,

A cheval sur un phonographe,
Enregistra la belle voix
De soprano de la carafe
Et la fit entendre Merlin.
Fort bien, dit celui-ci, fort bien!
Il frappe trios fois dans les mains
Et la dame de la maison
Se demande encore pourquoi
Elle trouva, ce matin-l,
Un joli petit carafon
Blotti tout contre la carafe
Ainsi quau zoo, le girafon
Pose son cou fragile et long
Sur le flanc clair de la girafe.

A sorcerer who happened to be passing by

Astride a phonograph,
Recorded the lovely soprano voice
Of the carafe
And let Merlin hear it.
Very good, said he, very good!
He clapped his hands three times
And the lady of the house
Still asks herself why
She found, that very morning,
A pretty little baby carafe
Nestling close to the carafe
Just as in the zoo, the baby giraffe
Rests its long fragile neck
Against the pale flank of the giraffe

One can easily imagine a mother playfully reenacting this story in a childlike manner,
complete with accompanying gestures and facial expressions, to amuse her young child. Poulenc
sets this whimsical text with specific musical characterizations of the narrator, Merlin, and the
carafe by giving each of them distinct vocal ranges and styles in the manner of Schuberts
Erlknig. The carafes wailing cries consist of fast, prattling eighth notes and sixteenth notes in
an uncomfortably high tessitura. This contrasts with the lower, slower, and brusque declarations
by Merlin, sung in an almost parlando manner. The narrators voice follows the contours of the
story, including a humorous description of the carafes lovely soprano voice that can be
exaggerated to the point of parodying a bad opera singer. The characteristic fast tempo and rapid
text delivery of this trampoline song combines with numerous sudden harmonic shifts and
successions of ostinato patterns to carry the intricately unfolding narrative. The last eleven
measures descend to a pianissimo dynamic, the sweet and tender ending preparing the listener
for the final lyrical song of the cycle.
Poulencs instruction for a very long silence before Lune davril (April Moon)
indicates the importance he placed on the final song of the cycle. The poem uses the mode of

127

communication of an adult addressing a child in an adult manner similar to the opening setting in
which a mother ponders during a sleepless night. It differs from the previous six songs, however,
because of its surrealistic images and oblique references to war and desolation. The narrator can
only dream of a country that is once again bright and sunny, complete with a peach tree with a
heart of saffron and fish that laugh like sleet. Evidently, these fantastical descriptions of her
country do not belong to the mothers reality, for she alludes to the current devastation with
references to the dead, and she hopes for a future where they have destroyed all the guns. The
mother looks toward the childs future with a mixture of apprehension and hope, nostalgia and
optimism.
Both Carme and Poulenc were greatly affected by witnessing the results of the violence
of two world wars. Martin Sorrell describes Carme as a gentle man who was never required to
fight a war, yet he was gripped by feelings and premonitions of waste, desolation, and even
violence.55 Poulenc belonged to a group of French musicians who actively participated in the
resistance efforts of World War II through various compositions and performances.56 Upon
visiting his childhood summer retreat of Nogent-sur-Marne in 1943, Poulenc discovered it
devoid of the dance halls and other pleasures of his youth. The themes of tragedy, loss, and
cautious hope for the future pervade the final song of this cycle.
Lune,
Belle lune, lune dAvril,
Faites-moi voir en mon dormant
Le pcher au coeur de safran,
Le poisson qui rit du grsil,
Loiseau qui, lointain comme un cor,
Doucement rveille les morts
Et surtout, surtout le pays
O il fait joie, O il fait clair,
O soleilleux de primevres,
55
56

Moon,
Beautiful moon, April moon,
Let me see in my sleep
The peach tree with the saffron heart,
The fish who laughs at the sleet,
The bird who, distant as a hunting horn,
Gently wakens the dead
And above all, above all, the land
Where there is joy, where it is light,
Where sunny with primroses,

Sorrell, 16.
Schmidt, 302.

128

On a bris tous les fusils.

Lune, belle lune, lune davril
Lune.

All the guns have been destroyed.

Beautiful moon, April moon,
Moon.

Carmes message in his poetry does not sink into melancholy, despair, or sermonizing,
however; as Sorrell explains, What he says may be disturbing, but the way in which he says it
remains well-mannered.57
Poulencs setting of Lune davril with its similar dynamics, tempo, color, and tonalities
as Le sommeil, creates a musically unifying architecture to the cycle that complements
Carmes recurring poetic themes. The slow tempo and repeated, syncopated c1 pedal in the
opening seven measures of the piano accompaniment unfold nearly identically to the first song,
creating an ethereal atmosphere for this invocation to the moon. That static pedal point,
combined with a soft, prayer-like, restrained vocal line evokes a sense of time standing still
during this mothers reverie. Her emotions build in pitch and dynamics to a fortissimo climax at
mm. 1620 as she imagines a world full of joy and brightness, then descends an octave to a
pianissimo delivery of the most important line of text, they have destroyed all the guns. The
vocal line finishes with an exact restatement of the opening four measures, replicating the chantlike character. The piano postlude extends the c1 pedal for eight more measures at a whispering
pppp marking, prolonging the ethereal stillness of the music into the night. The final C7 chord is
described by Mellers as one that suspends the child in time, waiting for ensuing lifeand for
inevitable death.58
Analyzed through the lens of a mother addressing her son, La courte paille encapsulates
the wide range of feelings and attitudes that adults may adopt in their communication with
children. Poulencs choice of alternating lyrical songs employing a mode of adulthood with more

57
58

Sorrell, 17.
Mellers, 178.

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spirited settings using a mode of childhood offers a kaleidoscope of images and themes
correlating with the interactions betweens adults and children. The adult-like songs retain a sense
of sophistication and intrigue while the childlike numbers incorporate absurdity and silliness.
The cycle begins with a sense of worry, concern, and despondency in caring for a sick child. The
next five songs embody juvenile entertainment, mysterious peril, and soothing placation,
oscillating between child-like and adult-like manners of expression, yet all with fanciful concepts
and tones appropriate for childrens stories. The last song explores the mothers reflections on
the current violent state of the world and her hopes for a better future for her child. Considering
the importance of this final song, the entire cycle could be interpreted as a prayer for peace. The
mother desires to preserve the innocence of her child through telling silly stories and relating
magical tales, while hoping for a better future than the one that currently exists.

For Performers
These seven songs have been dismissed by critics as neurotic cradle songs that
communicate lax abandonment or edgy nervousness,59 or as merely simple, childlike
songs,60 but if interpreted well, they have the capacity to entertain and affect all who experience
them. Poulenc gives valuable wisdom in his Diary of My Songs, stating, These sketches, by
turns sad or mischievous, are unpretentious. They should be sung tenderly. That is the surest way
to touch the heart of a child.61 Singing all of the songs as if to a child will help in creating
appropriate energy and mannerisms in the performers.
Performers bear the responsibility of portraying the poetry and music in the way Poulenc
intended. Emulating his method of composition, singers and pianists should realize that a cycle
59

Ivry, 212.
Daniel, 250.
61
Poulenc, Diary of My Songs, 109.
60

130

by Poulenc is always a poetic event before being a musical piece. They can accurately decipher
this music only after achieving a detailed understanding of the text. They should follow
Poulencs clear instructions regarding mood, tempo, and lack of rubato. The adult-like, lyrical
songs demand a wide range of vocal timbres to convey various emotional states, including
frustration, mystical storytelling, and reminiscing. Performers need to resist the temptation to
become over-indulgent on last song, however, as the French style requires slightly reserved
emotions, with reason and intellect at the forefront. The trampoline songs have a playful, silly
tone, full of childlike mischief and energy. Despite their rapid tempi, singers must take care to
make all of the words understood. This can be accomplished with percussive diction, and clear
contrasts between dynamics, as well as variation between rhythmic phrases and melodic ones.
The singer and pianist can also experiment with varied inflections, especially when portraying
the three voices in Le carafon. By maintaining the consistent perspective of an adult
addressing a child, alternating between mode of adulthood and retaining a assuming a mode of
childhood, the performers can effectively interpret all of the emotional nuances and technical
details involved in this mode of communication.

A Charm of Lullabies
Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies also examines the diversity of interplay
between adults and children, specifically within the context of helping children fall asleep. As
the title indicates, all of the songs in this cycle are some sort of lullaby. With poetry written from
the point of view of an adult singing to a child, they fit Sharps second Route of Musical
Experience, in which adults retain a mode of adulthood to relate to children. Musicologist Walter

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Bernhart classifies this cycle as a loose cycle with a weak form of coherence,62 but the fact that
the songs are all lullabies with the same inherent mode of communication gives the cycle a great
sense of unity. The texts for these songs come from five different British poets who lived from
the Elizabethan to the Romantic era. Specific concepts recur in the poetry, such as calming or
soothing, expressions of love and concern for the childs safety, preserving the childs innocent
state, and thoughts about the childs future. Their musical settings enhance these returning
themes, while simultaneously highlighting the unique aspects of each poem.

Benjamin Britten
Born in 1913, Benjamin Britten began his musical studies amidst a renaissance of English
music initiated by the previous generation of composers. Edward Elgar helped to establish a new
English tradition of large-scale works such as symphonies and concertos, while composers such
as Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gustav Holst promoted folk music in modern composition. A
renewed interest in English music of the past led to revivals of Purcells stage works, especially
The Fairy Queen, as well as performances of John Gays The Beggars Opera. Without merely
imitating the styles of former composers, Britten integrated elements of English nationalism in
his music. Musicologist Christopher Headington summarizes, Britten, as his whole work
demonstrates, was national without being nationalist in the folk-oriented way of Vaughan
Williams in England, Falla in Spain or even Gershwin in America. His music is English in the
same way as that of Bach and Beethoven is German. 63 Establishing a modern, individual style

62

Walter Bernhart, Three Types of Song Cycles: The Variety in Brittens Charms, in Word and Music
Studies: Essays on the Song Cycle and Defining the Field, ed. Walter Bernhart and Werner Wolf (Atlanta: Rodopi,
2001), 216.
63
Christopher Headington, Britten (London: Eyre Methuen, 1981), 75.

132

based in English tradition, Britten became one of the most celebrated British musicians since
Purcell.
Brittens musical language assimilated certain European styles along with his English
nationalism. While he respected the musical genius and inventiveness of Schoenberg and Berg,
Britten chose not to follow their methods. He esteemed the lucid technique of Mozart and the
warm compassion of Schubert. He admired Stravinskys clear-cut style and the harmonic
richness of Wagner and Mahler. Incorporating all of these influences, Britten remained
connected to conventions of the past, while attaining a characteristic style of his own.64 Britten
also adopted the musical trait of clarity from his early composition teachers, Frank Bridge, John
Ireland, and Arthur Benjamin, resulting in a higher level of accessibility to audiences than most
contemporary composers.65 This ability to connect to audiences through a musical medium that
combined technical brilliance, freshness of outlook and clarity, while seeming both national and
cosmopolitan, brought him success both at home and abroad.66 This uncomplicated style
illuminates poetry spanning more than three centuries of English literary tradition in A Charm of
Lullabies, with distinctive musical settings for the different attitudes and emotions of each poem.
Britten possessed a keen sensitivity to the relationship between words and music that led
him to write more than half of his entire output for the voice. Aaron Copland remarked that
Britten had an outstanding gift for vocal musicknowing well how to write for voice and
voices in combination, and that his music had a decided singing quality.67 Biographer Eric
Walter White attests that unlike some composers, Britten did not feel inhibited by words, but

64

Lennox Berkeley, The Light Music, in Benjamin Britten: A Commentary on His Works From a Group
of Specialists, ed. Donald Mitchell and Hans Keller (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972), 287.
65
Percy Young, Britten, Masters of Music (New York: David White, 1966), 9.
66
Ibid., 55.
67
Aaron Copland, quoted in Phillip Ramey, Benjamin Britten: November 22, 1913December 4, 1976
Opera News 41 (February 5, 1977): 3637.

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could assess the different values of the syllable, the word, and the idea behind the word, giving
them a musical gravity of their own.68
During his extensive studies of Purcells vocal compositions, Britten discovered, Purcell
is a great master at handling the English language in song and I learned much from him.69 Like
Purcell, Britten preferred declamatory vocal lines over the lyrical Italian bel canto style, and
utilized techniques such as word painting, contrapuntal devices, ostinato and canonic imitation.
He combined these Baroque elements with modern features such as quartal harmonies, chord
clusters, sparse textures influenced by Stravinsky, as well as free use of all twelve tones to create
a thoroughly contemporary style.70 Lifelong companion and musical collaborator Peter Pears
summed up Brittens vocal style:
Britten has never claimed to be an innovator; the generation of revolutionaries
was the previous one to his. . . . He learnt that as a result of the explosions in the
musical world of the first decades of this century, the younger composer had to
build his own tradition. In endeavouring to do this, Britten has gone to the purest
stream of modern music. Monteverdi, Purcell, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert,
Verdi and, of later figures, Mahler, Berg and Stravinskyfrom all these he has
learnt much in his search for the classic virtues of a controlled passion and the
bounding line. But if Britten is right, and he has made no actual innovations,
there blows in his vocal music at least (and that is all that concerns us here) a
strong revitalizing south-east wind which has rid English song of much
accumulated dust and cobwebs, and has renewed the vigor of the sung word with
Purcellian attack. If Britten is no innovator, he is most certainly a renovator, and
having thus cleansed his house, he has a right to feel at home in it.71
Brittens renovations of English vocal music have resulted in some of the most celebrated
English art song and opera compositions of the twentieth century.

68

Eric Walter White, Benjamin Britten: His Life and Operas (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1970), 9091.
69
Headington, 40.
70
George Richard Tibbetts, An Analysis of the Text-Music Relationship in Selected Songs of Benjamin
Britten and its Implications for the Interpretation of His Solo Song Literature, (EdD diss., Columbia University,
1984), 134.
71
Peter Pears, The Vocal Music, in Benjamin Britten: A Commentary on His Works From a Group of
Specialists, ed. Donald Mitchell and Hans Keller (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972), 73.

134

Brittens musical output, particularly his vocal music, was heavily influenced by his
childhood. With the exception of a few years spent in the United States during World War II,
Britten lived the majority of his life in the same area of England where he grew up. Biographer
David Matthews notes, Staying near to where he was born helped him maintain contact with the
childhood world to which he so often returned in his music.72 Britten was the youngest of four
children born to Robert, a dentist, and Edith, an amateur singer and member of the local choral
society. His mother played the piano and sang songs by composers such as Schubert and Roger
Quilter at home. Britten suffered from poor health, including a congenital heart condition (that
ultimately resulted in his premature death) and severe pneumonia at the age of three months. He
did not sleep well as a child, often relying on his mothers mezzo-soprano voice to sing him to
sleep. According to Matthews,
It is almost impossible to exaggerate the importance of this archetypal maternal
practice to Brittens psyche and his later artistic development. Brittens unease
with the outside world was extreme and his music reveals it: his world is a place
of danger and often of terror, where innocence is readily corrupted. There can be
temporary reassurance in beauty and in love, but sleep is the only sure place
where security and trust may be regained. The image of sleep as a refuge is
something that Britten returns to again and again in his music: in the Serenade,
the Nocturne, the War Requiem.73
One could easily add A Charm of Lullabies to the above list of compositions, as its subject
embodies images of a mother singing a child to the safety and security of sleep.
The themes of both the preservation and the corruption of innocence pervade A Charm of
Lullabies, as well as the majority of Brittens musical output, prompting many to explore the
extent to which his own childhood experiences may be represented in his music. Comments

72
73

David Matthews, Britten (London: Haus Publishing, 2003), 1.

Ibid., 4.

135

made by Britten regarding being raped by a school teacher,74 as well as vague references to
traumatic sexual experiences in his childhood,75 have led some to conclude that operas such as
Peter Grimes, The Turn of the Screw, and Death in Venice were based on autobiographical
events. Donald Mitchell, Brittens publisher for the last twelve years of his life, responds to these
theories as follows:
Was Ben fantasizing, perhaps? We shall never know, I guess; never know what
he meant by rape, if he used the word. . . . The greatest danger in all this, it
seems to me, would be to build some enormous superstructure of speculation on
such a flimsy basis. We should certainly take note of it, but it would be wise not
to throw caution to the winds, above all to desist from thinkingeven if the
rape proved to be well foundedthat it would provide us with a key to, a
readymade explanation of, the music. It doesnt.76
An interviewer from The Guardian asked Britten about his preoccupation with innocence
outraged.77 Britten admitted this fascination must exist because so many people had mentioned
it. The interviewer clarified Brittens response, stating, [Britten] is never aware of himself
thinking, Heres a nice story about innocence destroyed again, but he supposes he does have an
instinctive tug towards it.78 Clearly Britten was drawn to texts with themes of childhood and
lost innocence, whether inspired by his own experiences or not.
Britten loved being in the company of children, becoming so like a little boy79 when he
was among them. This preference for entering into their realm as opposed to remaining in his
adult world led Britten to write many compositions for their education and performance.
Violinist Yehudi Menuhin remarked on Brittens eternal youthfulness, saying, There was
something extremely boyish about him. It accounts for his identification with young people and
74

Eric Crozier, quoted in Humphrey Carpenter, Benjamin Britten: A Biography (New York: Charles
Scribners Sons, 1992), 20.
75
Beata Mayer, quoted in Carpenter, 20.
76
Donald Mitchell, quoted in Carpenter, 23.
77
Unidentified reporter, Guardian, June 7, 1971, quoted in Carpenter, 534.
78
Ibid.
79
Briony Duncan, quoted in Carpenter, 343.

136

for how much of his work was written for children.80 Singer Nancy Evans felt that this ability to
empathize with children manifested itself in his music: He sensed ways in which they could do
things which other composers would think were too difficult for them, because he could fit into
their mentality and their spirit. It was a sort of Peter Pan thing.81 Brittens music assistant
Imogen Holst believed Britten treated his childrens music with the same care he reserved for his
other compositions, never falling into the error of writing for children as if their language were
different from his own.82 One of Brittens most famous works for children was the educational
film teaching about the instruments of the symphony, entitled The Young Persons Guide to the
Orchestra, created in 1946 with librettist Eric Crozier. This collaboration with Crozier led to
other young persons pieces. His opera Albert Herring, the cantata Saint Nicolas and the opera
The Little Sweep all have roles for children and librettos by Crozier.83
Brittens professional relationship with Crozier also resulted in the composition of A
Charm of Lullabies. Crozier and Britten worked together in Brittens newly formed
Glyndebourne English Opera Company at the end of World War II. When the companys
production of The Rape of Lucretia was being staged in Holland in 1947, one of the two
Lucretias was Nancy Evans, who later became Croziers wife. Evans was invited to return to
Holland for a recital tour in January of 1948, and Britten offered to write some songs for her to
include in her recital program. Britten found the texts for the cycle in an anthology edited by F.
E. Budd, A Book of Lullabies 13001900, a volume that might have been purchased while

80

Yehudi Menuhin, quoted in Headington, 148.

Nancy Evans, quoted in Carptenter, 343.
82
Imogen Holst, Britten and the Young, in Benjamin Britten: A Commentary on His Works From a
Group of Specialists, ed. Donald Mitchell and Hans Keller (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1972), 279.
83
Headington, 83.
81

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Britten and Crozier were in Dublin.84 He titled the cycle A Charm of Lullabies, with the word
charm, meaning a collective noun for a flight of goldfinches.85

Analysis of A Charm of Lullabies

This cycle of five songs incorporates lullabies by William Blake, Robert Burns, Robert
Greene, Thomas Randolph, and John Philip, British poets spanning the Renaissance to the
Romantic era. Britten enjoyed setting poetry from different time periods, as evidenced by his
cycles of Renaissance sonnets by Michelangelo and John Donne, Romantic poetry of Arthur
Rimbaud, and contemporary poetry by Walter de la Mare and W. H. Auden. Each song has a
different tone or character, but they are all connected by virtue of being lullabies.
Finding five lullabies sufficiently contrasting in mood and style to keep the audience alert
and interested presented quite a challenge for Britten, and setting them with correspondingly
interesting music produced its own difficulties. Pears reasons, If this is not such an impressive
cycle as the others, it is at least partly due to the subject matter. Love and Death may easily be
viewed from different angles, but a lullaby isa lullaby, sonst nichts or almost nichts.86 Budd
has a somewhat different opinion about the inherent possibility for variety in lullabies. He asserts
that the adoption of a conventional poetical form does not necessarily involve the adoption of a
set of stereotyped emotions and images. On the contrary, the characteristic tastes of these

84

Benjamin Britten, Letters From a Life, ed. Donald Mitchell (Berkeley: University of California Press,
1991) 3: 343.
85
Crozier, Introduction to A Charm of Lullabies: For Mezzo-Soprano and Piano, Op. 41 by Benjamin
Britten (London: Boosey & Hawkes, 1994), 2.
In this context, flight as defined by Oxford Dictionaries, refers to a group of creatures or objects flying
together, in particular a flock or large body of birds or insects in the air, especially when migrating.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/american_english/flight?region=us&q=flight (accessed July 14, 2012).
86
Pears, 72.

138

individual authors appear clearly in their lullabies.87 Britten chose texts that all relate
thematically as lullabies, while retaining sufficient individuality to create variety.
Lest these poems be considered frivolous or childish works, Budd is quick to point out
that
English lullabies are predominantly serious poems. They are not nursery rhymes
or mere verbal incantations to conjure up sleep. Written by adults for the reading
of adults, and in substance often quite beyond the scope of childish
comprehension, they are for the most part lyric songs which, under the guise of
what has grown to be an established poetic convention, illustrate definite
emotional or philosophic attitudes to life based on experiences which fall to the
lot of the majority of human beings.88
A child still serves as the poetic audience of a lullaby, but adults become the real audience as
they read the poetry and listen to the musical settings. The adult audience members can reexperience their former juvenile state as they listen to these lullabies. Conjuring up peaceful
memories of childhood, audiences regain access to the childhood bliss of being the object of a
mothers desire.89
These lullabies all use the same mode of communication of an adult addressing a child in
an adult manner to illustrate the various experiences associated with the bedtime routine. Usually
the adults act as protectors and comforters, finding bittersweet joy in tending for these small
children. They recognize that the children are blissfully unaware of the dangers around them and
the challenges that lie ahead. The adults, with perspective that comes with age, often imagine the
childrens potential with a mix of pleasure, pride, and apprehension. While looking to the future
they are also firmly rooted in the present task of getting the children to sleep, sometimes with

87

F. E. Budd, ed., A Book of Lullabies: 13001900 (London: Scholartis Press, 1930), 18.
Ibid., 1.
89
Karen M. Bottge, Brahmss Wiegenlied and the Maternal Voice, 19th-Century Music 28, no. 3
(Spring 2005): 198.
88

139

frustration and impatience, yet often with genuine love and concern, willing them into a state of
peace and serenity.
Explorations of textual and musical aspects of Johannes Brahmss lullaby, Wiegenlied,
can likewise inform a study of Brittens Charm of Lullabies. Musicologist Karen Bottge
identifies recurring poetic themes, musical techniques, and characteristic emotional qualities
resulting from the special bond formed as the adult (usually a mother) soothes a child into a
safe, pleasurable interior within which to ease the drop into sleeps oblivion.90 She describes
an aural envelope that enfolds the mother-child dyad in a ring of sensual pleasure,91 referring
to psychologist Guy Rosolatos description of the mothers voice as a blanket of sound that
surrounds the infant from all sides.92 Britten generates an appropriately soothing blanket of
sound through his musical settings of these poems, particularly in the first and last songs of the
cycle.
A Cradle Song, with poetry by William Blake, begins this set of lullabies. According
to Budd, No man was ever better qualified to sing of children than Blake, for the simple reason
that he never ceased to be a child himself . . . .93 Blake (17571827) lived a life of hard work,
poverty and obscurity, not achieving widespread fame for his engravings, paintings, and poetry
until many years after his death. Considered a mystic and a social revolutionary,94 Blake
explored significant issues in religion, politics, and psychology through his art and poetry. Some
prominent works include Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), two

90

Ibid., 205.
Ibid., 187.
92
Guy Rosolato, La voix: Entre corps et langage, Revue franaise de psychanalyse 37 (1974): 81, quoted
in Bottge, 187.
93
Budd, 16.
94
James King, William Blake: His Life (New York: St. Martins Press, 1991), 27.
91

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collections of poetry that contrast the nave guilelessness of innocence with the embitterment of
experience.95
The persistent theme in Blakes poetry of extolling innocence and lamenting its loss
coincides with Brittens sentiments. Consequently, Britten set many of Blakes texts throughout
his career. Beginning with A Nurses Song, which Britten composed at the age of sixteen,
Blakes poetry appears in various songs and as inspiration for works such as his childrens opera
A Little Sweep. Brittens largest and most famous cycle of Blakes writings is Songs and
Proverbs of William Blake, setting poetry from Blakes Songs of Innocence and Songs of
Experience, written in 1965.
Blake treats innocence as an idealized landscape in which children are nurtured.96 The
text of A Cradle Song fits Blakes theme of preserving innocence as it depicts a mother
rocking her baby to sleep, lovingly admiring every feature and smile. She reiterates the word
little four times, emphasizing the smallness of everything connected to her baby, including the
childs heart, sorrows, and pretty wiles, giving a sense of adoration and protectiveness over her
tiny, helpless infant. Within this seemingly idyllic setting, premonitions of danger or peril creep
in with the inclusion of cunning wiles and dreadful lightnings
Sleep, sleep, beauty bright,
Dreaming o'er the joys of night;
Sleep, sleep, in thy sleep
Little sorrows sit and weep.
Sweet babe, in thy face
Soft desires I can trace,
95

Brian Wilkie, Blake, William (17571827), in Encyclopedia of World Biography, Gale Biography in
Context (Detroit: Gale, 1998)
http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?failOverType=&query=&prodId=B
IC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupName=Reference&limiter=&currPa
ge=&disableHighlighting=false&source=&sortBy=&displayGroups=&action=e&catId=&activityType=&scanI
d=&documentId=GALE%7CA148412377&userGroupName=usc13562&jsid=8188bd1aa04ef254ee36246ae82d1ae
3 (accessed July 15, 2012).
96
King, 65.

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Secret joys and secret smiles,

Little pretty infant wiles.
O! the cunning wiles that creep
In thy little heart asleep.
When thy little heart does wake
Then the dreadful lightnings break,
From thy cheek and from thy eye,
O'er the youthful harvests nigh.
Infant wiles and infant smiles
Heaven and Earth of peace beguiles.
Budds interpretation of A Cradle Song (the second poem to which Blake gave this
title) takes into account both Blakes nostalgia for innocence as well as his remorse that
experience severed precious links with childlike simplicity and guilelessness.97 Using this
context, night symbolizes experience, which casts its shadow over a sleeping baby girl, filling
her with dreams of her future charms. The cunning wiles that creep and beguile Heaven and
Earth of peace refer to maturity that will inevitably come to this innocent child when she wakes,
perfecting the pretty wiles of infancy into instruments of conquest.98 The mother knows she
has precious little time with her child as an innocent baby. All too soon her child will grow up
and consciously use her wiles and smiles for her own purposes.
Britten creates a dreamy nighttime atmosphere through his gently undulating VI pattern
in the bass, combined with a predominantly conjunct murmuring upper piano melody, spinning
an ambient protective circle around the childs slumber, guarding against the unknown terrors
of the night.99 The fast-moving upper piano line often clashes in intervals of seconds with the
slower vocal line. This collision of a semitone, in Brittens harmonic language, always suggests

97

Budd, 16.
Ibid.
99
Bottge, 199.
98

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some sort of tension or contradiction, in this case the inevitability of lost innocence.100 The two
musical lines share a parallel, close movement, typical of Brittens style, giving the effect of the
piano following the voice but never catching it.101 The music changes as the mother describes the
cunning wiles that creep with an almost chant-like melody over a bitonal accompaniment, rife
with harmonic tension. The clashing seconds return with the dreadful lightnings at a
heightened dynamic level, bringing added significance to the mothers worries for her childs
impending maturity. Brittens setting enhances the message of Blakes text, that fleeting
innocence should be protected and cherished.
The second poem of the cycle, The Highland Balou, was written by the celebrated
Scottish poet Robert Burns (17561796). Burns recorded aspects of farm life, traditional culture,
class distinctions, and religion in his poetry. His sensitivity to nature combined with the high
value he placed on freedom, individuality, and emotion have caused some scholars to label him
as a pre-Romantic.102 His poems and folk-songs written in the Scottish vernacular have helped to
sustain Scotlands traditions and identity, stimulating his reputation as a political as well as a
poetical figure, and his designation as the national poet of Scotland.103
Traditional Scottish tunes have appeared in English song-books for hundreds of years,
prompting many composers to write their own Scotch songs, characterized by lyrics with
typical Scottish names and subjects, and using the rhythmic gesture called the Scotch snap.
Scottish poets such as Burns and Sir Walter Scott participated in a heightened literary trend in
100

Carpenter, 338.
Pears, 7273.
102
Robert Burns, Concise Dictionary of British Literary Biography 3, Gale Biography in Context
(Detroit: Gale Research, 1992) http://ic.galegroup.com/ic/bic1/ReferenceDetailsPage/ReferenceDetailsWindow?fail
OverType=&query=&prodId=BIC1&windowstate=normal&contentModules=&mode=view&displayGroupNa
me=Reference&limiter=&currPage=&disableHighlighting=false&source=&sortBy=&displayGroups=&action=e&a
mp;catId=&activityType=&scanId=&documentId=GALE%7CK1655000041&userGroupName=usc13562&jsid=2d
3ff3620e15e1d6443fc7f5884b5307, (accessed July 15, 2012).
103
Maurice Lindsay, Robert Burns: The Man, His Work, the Legend (New York: St. Martins Press, 1979),
34243.
101

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the late eighteenth century of gathering authentic Scottish tunes and writing new texts to the old
melodies.104 Britten followed in the tradition of composing new Scottish songs, arranging
several of Burnss collected folk-tunes, and setting Burnss original poetry in others, including
his last cycle, A Birthday Hansel, in 1975. This poem, called a balou (Scottish for lullaby) is
a versification of a Gaelic nursery song, complete with its own music. A Highland lady
communicated both the text and melody to Burns.105 Britten modeled his own composition after
the melody Burns had used nearly two hundred years before.106
A theme emerges in The Highland Balou of a mothers pride in her child, especially
when thinking about his future accomplishments. As the poem is written in Scottish vernacular,
its meaning can be difficult to decipher. Crozier explains, This is a lullaby sung by an entirely
different type of mother from the restshe is a wild Scottish Highland lass who is highly proud
of the man-child the chief of the clan has fathered upon her and who looks forward to the day
when he will grow up and become the scourge of the Lowlanders.107 She lovingly refers to her
child as my sweet wee Donald and goes on to describe her hopes for his future. She proudly
envisions him stealing a horse and traveling through the country, thro the Lawlands, oer the
border, bringing home a Carlisle cow.
Hee Balou, my sweet wee Donald,
Picture o' the great Clanronald!
Brawlie kens our wanton Chief
What gat my young Highland thief.
(Hee Balou!)

104

Denis Stevens, A History of Song, rev. ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1970), 146.
Robert Burns, The Poetry of Robert Burns, ed. W. E. Henley and T. F. Henderson (New York: AMS
Press, 1970), 3: 685.
106
Robert Burns, The Poems and Songs of Robert Burns, ed. James Kinsley (Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1968), 2: 685.
107
Eric Crozier, personal correspondence to Annete Nicolai, on April 3, 1989, quoted in Annette Nicolai,
Benjamin Brittens A Charm of Lullabies: Historical Survey, Analysis and Performance (MA thesis, California
State University, Long Beach, 1992), 44.
105

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Leeze me on thy bonnie craigie!

And thou live, thou'll steal a naigie,
Travel the country thro and thro,
and bring hame a Carlisle cow!
Thro the Lawlands, oer the Border,
Weel, my babie, may thou furder!
Herry the louns o' the laigh Countrie,
Syne to the Highlands hame to me!
This poem fits the cycles overall mode of communication of an adult relating to a child
through lullabies, featuring the joy and pride felt in the childs potential. His musical setting
evokes images of the rugged Scottish Highlands through his bagpipe drone of the bass and
highly syncopated piano and vocal melody lines. These dotted rhythms create a strong rhythmic
pulse, and combined with the andante maestoso markings, the song conveys a fervent sense of
pride of a mother for her child. She holds great aspirations for her baby, the son of the clan chief,
and sings of her bold prophecies for his future adventures. Britten further develops the Scottish
musical idiom by including a Scotch snap in conjunction with important words of the text,
especially the boys name Donald, the great Clanronald, as well as thief, and naigie
(horse). In a manner contrary to the typically soft and calm nature of a lullaby, the mothers pride
builds to forte in m. 14 as she imagines the child bringing home a cow, and again in m. 24 as she
concludes her vision of her child returning home after many adventures. These musical details
emphasize the wild Scottish countryside setting of the poem, where a mother might find pride in
her son stealing horses, rounding up cattle, and traveling far and wide.
English prose writer and dramatist Robert Greene (15581592) authored the next poem,
Sephestias Lullaby. A prolific and versatile Elizabethan writer, Greene completed thirty-eight
publications, including prose romances, pamphlets, and dramas, with a style exemplifying the

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literary activity of his time.108 Most of Greenes poems are lyrics that appear within his
romances, often without relation to their context. This practice, typical of the time, provided his
poetry with a means of publication, which would probably not have happened otherwise.
Sephestias Lullaby, however, actually does fit in the novel in which it appears, entitled
Menaphon.
Sephestia, the heroine of the novel, is probably the most familiar of all of Greenes
characters, and her lullaby ranks among the best known of his poems.109 Lullabies were fairly
rare poetic forms in Elizabethan poetry, and Greenes biographer, John Clark Jordan, notes that
one does not expect to find an example, so exquisite an example, among the poems of
Greene.110 The novels rather convoluted plot uses many conventions derived from Greek
dramas. It involves banished royalty who become separated, then live in disguise among
shepherds until their complicated reunion, fulfilling an enigmatic prophecy.111 The lullaby occurs
fairly early in the story, as Sephestia entreats her infant son to stop crying and describes her own
sorrows regarding her exodus from her homeland and her separation from her husband during the
voyage into exile. She expresses the mix of emotions she feels both for her son and for her
future, a combination of apprehension and joy.
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.
Mothers wag, pretty boy,
Father's sorrow, father's joy;
When thy father first did see
Such a boy by him and me,
He was glad, I was woe;
Fortune changd made him so,

108

John Clark Jordan, Robert Greene (New York: Columbia University Press, 1915), 6, 10.
Ibid., 50.
110
Ibid., 141.
111
Ibid., 3840.
109

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When he left his pretty boy,

Last his sorrow, first his joy.
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee;
When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.
The wanton smiled, father wept,
Mother cried, baby leapt;
More he crowd, more we cried,
Nature could not sorrow hide:
He must go, he must kiss
Child and mother, baby bliss,
For he left his pretty boy,
Father's sorrow, father's joy.
Weep not, my wanton, smile upon my knee,
When thou art old there's grief enough for thee.
This poem revisits the theme of a mothers concern for her childs future, though within a
different emotional context than that of the previous lullabies of the cycle. Sephestia seems
preoccupied by her own struggles while trying to calm her crying baby. Her pleas of weep not,
my wanton seem intended to soothe herself as much as her child. She articulates a sense of
foreboding for her sons fate by reiterating, When thou art old, theres grief enough for thee
three times, speaking from her own experiences with misfortune. She appears less concerned
with the childs destiny than with recollections of his fathers sad parting from them both. These
sorrowful images of separation and tears combine with her blissful memories of delight in caring
for her baby boy. This juxtaposition of such conflicting emotions result in an almost manic feel
to the poetry, adding to the mothers heightened emotional state.
Brittens music enhances this duality of feelings found in the mothers poetry by
providing a strikingly different musical setting for the descriptions of future grief to contrast with
the sections of nostalgic recollection. Marked piangendo, a weeping motive occurs in the lento
piano refrain, as accented quarter notes functioning as V7 chords resolve up a half step to the

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tonic in a weeping motive. Britten repeats this one static chord progression throughout the fourmeasure refrain, over which he lays a dolce vocal line. The mothers lyrical melody includes a
dramatic downward portamento of a seventh on the text theres grief, suggesting her own
weeping along with her childs. The contrasting allegretto sections have a leggiero vocal line
combined with a gently accented eighth-note piano accompaniment that matches the pitch
outlines of the vocal line. The upper piano part contains grace notes that resolve upward in a
brisker imitation of the previous weeping motive, forming a connection between the faster and
slower sections. The musical setting creates the effect of a mother fluctuating between different
emotions while soothing her childs cries. Sometimes she gently dances her baby around the
room, trying to make him smile and laugh, while other times she pauses to wallow in her
familys present and future grief.
Thomas Randolph (16051635), author of the fourth poem, A Charm, was a brilliant
scholar and prolific writer, known for his humor and wit, especially in his poetry.112 Randolph
mirrored contemporary lifes vices and virtues in his comedies, reflecting human nature in a
comical way in order to stimulate moral education. His plays, such as The Muses Looking Glass
(1638) were deeply shaped by classical dramas in terms of plot, character, and satire. His
familiarity with Greek mythology accounts for the many mythological references found in A
Charm, from his play The Jealous Lovers.113
In the context of the play, A Charm is actually not a lullaby at all, nor is it directed
towards a child. In the scene, characters Techmessa and Tyndarus lie in coffins, while Sexton

112

John Jay Parry, ed., introduction to The Poems and Amyntas of Thomas Randolph (New Haven: Yale
University Press, 1917), 2123.
113
Jill L. Levenson, Thomas Randolph, Jacobean and Caroline Dramatists, ed. Fredson Bowers (Detroit:
Gale Research, 1987) Dictionary of Literary Biography 1, no. 58
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CH1200003512&v=2.1&u=usc13562&it=r&p=LitRG&sw=w
(accessed July 15, 2012).

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and his wife Staphyla approach the open coffins to steal the clothes off them, thinking they are
dead. Techmessa and Tyndarus sit up in the coffins and curse Sexton and his wife with threats
involving mythological beings before placing them in the coffins from which the singers have
just risen. Taken out of its dramatic context, this poem provides an interesting example of a
lullaby of the terrifying order.114 As part of the cycle, A Charm fits the narrative of an
exasperated mother trying desperately to get her child to sleep, resorting to warnings of
punishments for disobedience. Unlike in the title of the cycle, here the term charm is used in
the sense of a spell or enchantment.
Quiet!
Sleep! or I will make
Erinnys115 whip thee with a snake,
And cruel Rhadamanthus116 take
Thy body to the boiling lake,
Where fire and brimstones never slake;
Thy heart shall burn, thy head shall ache,
And evry joint about thee quake;
And therefor dare not yet to wake!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!
Quiet!
Sleep! or thou shalt see
The horrid hags of Tartary,117
Whose tresses ugly serpents be,
And Cerberus118 shall bark at thee,
And all the Furies that are three
114

Budd, 123.
All of the descriptions of mythological references come from Thomas Bulfinch, Bulfinchs Mythology
(New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1947). The Erinnyes, or Furies, were three goddesses who punished by their
secret stings the crimes of those who escaped or defied public justice. The heads of the furies were wreathed with
serpents, and their whole appearance was terrific and appalling. Their names were Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera.
Bulfinch, 10.
116
Radamanthus is the son of Jupiter and Europa. He reigned in the Cyclades with such impartiality, that
at death he was made one of the judges of the infernal regions. Bulfinch, 718.
117
Tartary is the infernal regions of classical mythology; used as equivalent to Hades by later writers, but
by Homer placed as far beneath Hades as Hades is beneath the earth. Bulfinch, 722.
118
Cerberus is a watch dog at the entrance to Hades; offspring of Typhaon and Echidna; generally
represented with three heads, a mane of serpents heads and a serpents tail. Bulfinch, 692.
115

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The worst is called Tisiphone,119

Shall lash thee to eternity;
And therefore sleep thou peacefully
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet, sleep!
Quiet!
A Charm incorporates a completely different motivation behind the experience of
quieting a child, adding a bit of humorous reality to an often-idealized situation. This mother has
lost all patience with the bedtime routine and warns every imaginable negative consequence for
disobedience. She demands, Quiet, sleep! and threatens all manner of mythological tortures.
Every adult who has dealt with an unruly child who refuses to comply with the bedtime routine
can relate to the frustration demonstrated by this frazzled mother.
Britten musically depicts the mothers aggravation by setting this atypical lullaby at a
prestissimo furioso tempo with sharp vacillations between dynamic levels and tempi, emitting
outbursts of anger alternating with controlled suppression. The fz opening rolled chord sets the
tone for the vocal exclamation Quiet! Immediately the voice drops to a piano dynamic and
begins to breathe out threats against the errant child. The soft piano tremolo underscores the
pent-up irritation the mother must feel, as well as her urges to control her temper. As she
describes the ghastly fates awaiting her child, her vocal line creeps higher and louder, with the
piano accompanying with staccato eighth notes. The final climax occurs during the highest and
loudest fortissimo passage, in mm. 1112 with the charge, And therefore dare not yet to wake!
The second half of the song has similar text, and receives the same musical treatment. This half
climaxes with the humorously impossible mandate to Therefore sleep now peacefully, after
filling the childs head with fear and trembling. Brittens musical details create a vivid image of
a mother at the end of her patience, trying every possible tactic to will her child to sleep.
119

Tisiphone is one of the Furies. Aeneas saw her in the infernal regions apply her whip of scorpions to
offenders whose guilt had not been revealed during their life on earth. Bulfinch, 723.

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John Philip, author of the final poem, The Nurses Song, was a minor Elizabethan
playwright who flourished between 1566 and 1591, and the most obscure of the five authors
represented in the cycle. Multiple spellings of his name, including Phillips, Philips, Phillip, and
Phillyps, contribute to the confusion regarding his identity.120 A student of divinity121 and
member of Queens College, Cambridge, Philip authored several tracts, pamphlets, elegies, and
ballads.122 His spiritual background accounts for the religious tone of The Nurses Song. The
play from which this lullaby is taken, The Play of Patient Grisell, was published in 1565. It
disappeared until 1907 when a single copy was found and subsequently reprinted by the Malone
Society.123 The plot comes from Boccaccios tale of the patient and obedient Griselda who
represents heroic steadfastness in the face of adversity,124 but also includes a political emphasis
relevant to Philips time.125
The Nurses Song completes the cycle in a similar mood as it began with A Cradle
Song by expressing the gentle warmth of a loving nurse singing a baby to sleep, while hinting at
the theme of safeguarding the innocent child. Both poems describe a caregivers verbal promises
of protection, warding off harm by creating a defensive wall of sound to shelter the child from
danger.126 References to peril appear more subtly in The Nurses Song than in A Cradle
Song as the nurse calls down heavenly protection, with the words The gods be thy shield and
comfort in need.
Lullaby baby,
120

W. W. Greg, John Phillip: Notes for a Bibliography, The Library: The Transactions of the
Bibliographical Society s31, no. 3 (July 1910): 303.
121
Ibid., 310.
122
Budd, 121.
123
Crozier, quoted in Nicolai, 82.
124
Arthur F. Kinney, ed. The Cambridge Companion to English Literature, 15001600 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2000), 148.
125
Louis B. Wright, A Political Reflection in Phillips Patient Grissell, The Review of English Studies 4,
no. 16 (Oct.1928): 428.
126
Bottge, 211.

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Lullaby baby,
Thy nurse will tend thee as duly as may be.
Lullaby baby!
Be still, my sweet sweeting, no longer do cry;
Sing lullaby baby, lullaby baby.
Let dolours be fleeting, I fancy thee, I . . .
To rock and to lull thee I will not delay me.
Lullaby baby,
Lullaby-laby-laby baby,
Thy nurse will tend thee as duly as may be
Lullaby-laby-laby baby
The gods be thy shield and comfort in need!
The gods be thy shield and comfort in need!
Sing Lullaby baby,
Lullaby-laby baby
They give thee good fortune and well for to speed,
And this to desire ... I will not delay me.
This to desire ... I will not delay me.
Lullaby lullaby-laby baby,
Thy nurse will tend thee as duly as may be.
Lullaby-laby-laby-laby baby.
A Nurses Song imitates the authentic manner in which most lullabies are sung by
beginning and ending with an unaccompanied vocal refrain. As opposed to performing lullabies
in a concert hall, in reality mothers are usually alone with a child, singing unaccompanied
lullabies in the privacy of a bedroom. They might improvise a rather random series of notes and
words that eventually form into defined rhythms and melodies. This last song in A Charm of
Lullabies depicts that spontaneous experience.
Britten connects the final song of the cycle to the opening one by giving it a
complementary musical setting. He returns to the gentle VI rocking pattern in the bass lines of
the piano accompaniment, and the serene, legato vocal style he used previously to depict
peaceful crooning. When the idea of danger appears at the nurses text let dolours be fleeting

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in m. 8, Brittens musical setting remains blissfully calm. This may seem odd to maintain a
serene musical setting while referencing pain in the childs future, but this practice actually
occurs throughout the lullaby genre. According to Bottge,
One stanza may reassure the child with close holding and rocking whereas the
next threatens disaster by dropping, splitting into pieces, even death: when the
bough breaks. The poem or narrator does not always express a wish to protect the
child but, rather, may articulate fear with a soothingly calm voice that conjures it
into the home, into the cradle, into childhood itself.127
Britten uses his music to once again create a protective barrier around the child, keeping the baby
safe from the inevitable pain and tragedies of the future.
All does not remain calm during this lullaby in the contrasting middle section, however.
The music rises in intensity at the subsequent iterations of Lullaby-laby-laby baby, becoming
louder and more agitated as the song progresses. The piano abandons its rocking motive at m. 14
and m. 24 in favor of sixteenth-note flourishes at this recurring refrain. The nurses repeated
invocations to the gods for protection receives a louder dynamic, increased harmonic tension,
and a higher vocal tessitura, followed by a forte appassionato repeat of the lullaby-laby-laby
text. After that climactic moment, the lullaby gradually returns to a fittingly calm close while the
nurse completes her task of soothing the baby to sleep. Britten culminates the song and the cycle
with the voice intoning the word lullaby-laby-laby, trailing off into the darkness, suspending
the childs innocent slumber in infinity.
Britten selects a group of lullabies from poets representing several time periods to design
a cycle outlining the many possible emotions involved in singing children to sleep. He uses the
mode of communication of an adult retaining a mode of adulthood in addressing a child to
illustrate the love, care and concern, and apprehension parents feel for their innocent and helpless
children. He begins the cycle with tender professions of love combined with subtle fears for the
127

Ibid., 20607.

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eventual loss of innocence. The poetry then explores themes of pride in future accomplishments,
preoccupation with grief and trials, and frustration with disobedience before concluding with
expressions of soothing and protecting. The musical setting of A Charm of Lullabies effectively
captures these diverse aspects of childhood by highlighting the nuances of these adults words
directed toward children. The cycle, like many other compositions written throughout his career,
exemplifies the importance Britten placed on the theme of preserving innocence.

For Performers
When performing this cycle, both pianist and singer should try to conjure the nighttime
atmosphere appropriate for lullabies. Remembering that all of the texts address children, they
should exhibit genuine love and concern for protecting these innocent beings. Performers should
embody the sense of parental pride and optimism combined with trepidation for the childrens
futures. Always keeping in mind the appropriate ambience required for children falling asleep,
the dynamic level should be softer in general, but with enough variety within that context to
maintain the interest of the audience. Both singer and pianist should strive for a gentle, caring
demeanor, except for during A Charm, with its multiple lobbied threats. Performers who can
portray authentic emotions directed toward the imagined audience of children will find success
in their depiction of this song cycle of lullabies.

Conclusions
La courte paille and A Charm of Lullabies portray various interactions between an adult
and a child through song. In both cycles, the majority of the poetry is clear, accessible, and easily
interpreted, as expected when speaking to children. The adult narrators use similar language and

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concepts when they follow the mode of communication of addressing children in an adult-like
manner. Their poetry includes imagery and magical language appropriate for youthful
sensibilities. They both talk about their hopes and dreams for the childrens future, alluding to
the difficulties of this world full of danger. In every instance, the adults genuinely love the
children they care for, and show that emotion through their tender words and gentle delivery.
Both Poulenc and Britten achieve variety in their cycles by choosing texts with diverse
moods and giving them distinctive musical settings. The odd-numbered poems in Poulencs
cycle present lyrical depictions of a mother trying to quiet her restless child through the mode of
adulthood, telling him soothingly magical fairy tales and musing about his future. The evennumbered trampoline songs contrast with these ponderous texts by utilizing a more animated,
childlike mode of communication, creating a sense of fun and fantasy as the mother relates
nursery rhymes and nonsense stories to the child. Brittens group of lullabies presents a similar
trajectory as adults hush the tired and fretful children in their care, though the mode of
communication remains adult-like through the cycle. The first and last songs employ calming
melodies and rocking rhythms to ease the crying children. Britten balances these soothing songs
with contrasting emotions in the second through fourth songs to bring diversity and interest to
the cycle as a whole. The regal pride, frantic agitation, and frustration depicted in the middle
songs help keep the audience from falling asleep along with the imaginary children.

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Conclusion
Analyzing art songs with childrens themes based upon their mode of communication
accentuates different aspects of childhood within each cycle. Depending on whether the poetry
was written by a child, an adult acting as a child, or an adult addressing a child, each composers
musical treatment emphasizes the specific themes found in the text. Comparisons of pairs of
song cycles with the same mode of communication reveal greater depth and insight into the
compositions than could be discovered alone. While each set of songs exhibits a unique response
to its particular mode of communication, recurring themes and techniques appear throughout
these works, giving a sense of continuity to this sub-genre. Specific modes of communication
tend to correspond to certain issues such as didacticism or imitation of childhood, though these
concepts can span multiple modes. Though critics and performers sometimes dismiss these
works as being too light-hearted or frivolous to merit serious analysis or discussion, valuable
messages and insights can be gained by their study, and truly sophisticated poetic and musical
constructions can be found.

Textual Characteristics
Alice G. Thorn lists several recurring subjects that consistently appear in childrens
music in her book Music for Young Children. Among these are themes of nature, lullabies,
animals and birds, people and activities, chants and games, nonsense songs, Mother Goose,
hymns, nursery songs, and fairy tales.1 Every cycle discussed in this document, regardless of its
mode of communication, uses some of these subjects in its poetry. A Garland for Marjory
Fleming and Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann both display topics of animals with humanlike characteristics, while family relationships serve as subject material in all six cycles. Nature
1

Alice G. Thorn, Music for Young Children (New York: C. Scribners Sons, 1929), 1213.

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features prominently in songs such as Wind and The Rose in The Children, as well as many
of the songs in Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann. Lullabies pervade A Charm of Lullabies
and also occur in Sleep from The Children and Le sommeil from La courte paille. One of
Us from The Children, has a hymn-like setting, and Lune davril in La courte paille, could be
considered a musical prayer. References to religion exist throughout A Garland for Marjory
Fleming and The Children, as well as The Nurses Song from A Charm of Lullabies. Magical
fairy tales and nursery songs occur in several songs in La courte paille and The Children. Chants
and games appear in The Children and in A Big Indian and a Little Indian of I Hate Music,
while ridiculous stories occur in Spick and Span from The Children, and in the even-numbered
songs of La courte paille.
Song cycles in each mode of communication display childlike concepts and poetic
techniques. Imagery relevant to a childs world, as well as poetic devices such as childish rhyme
schemes or syntax, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and nonsense syllables consistently occur in all
the song cycles. A Garland for Marjory Fleming has forced rhymes, childlike misspellings, and
an amateurish, undeviating rhyme scheme through the entire cycle. The invented child narrator
Barbara introduces herself with a childlike non-sequitur in My Name is Barbara and delivers
her thoughts in a stream-of-conscious fashion throughout I Hate Music. Nonsense syllables
appear in I Hate Music, La courte paille, and A Charm of Lullabies, with instances of alliteration
and onomatopoeia in The Children. Childlike images comparing the moons paleness to a
distraught mother in Mond, meiner Seele Liebling or imagining a bird instigating a singing
contest in Der Zeisig occur in Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann. Descriptive phrases
depicting the smallness and helplessness of children occur in the majority of the poetry in A
Charm of Lullabies. Long lists of storybook events in Once Upon a Time as well as literal

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translations of sounds in Moo is a Cow appear in The Children, and absurd situations
involving fantastical creatures pervade the trampoline songs of La courte paille.
While much of the subject material and technical details in the poetry reflects a youthful,
nave tone, deeper themes and poetic images recur in the cycles that add another level of
meaning to the works. Complex and obscure symbolism can be found in The Rose in The
Children, as well as La reine de coeur and Lune davril in La courte paille. Several poems in
Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann explore the somber themes of adversity and death,
including Du nennst mich armes Mdchen, Die letzten Blumen starben, and Gekmpft hat
meine Barke. An intricate depiction of the impending loss of innocence occurs in A Cradle
Song from A Charm of Lullabies. The inclusion of such mature subject material and complex
poetic techniques elevate these cycles out of the level of frivolous entertainment into the realm of
art song.

Musical Characteristics
Gloria Shafer notes in her discussion of childrens song cycles that they tend to have
similar rhythms and melodies, repeated phrases, and extensive musical coloring.2 Musicologist
Keith Clifton characterizes music depicting childhood as making limited technical demands and
having accessible melodies, diatonic harmonies, and periodic formal structures.3 Their
assessments accurately fit the majority of songs discussed in this document, regardless of their
modes of communication. Most cycles have relatively conservative musical settings in relation to
the overall musical style of the composers. All of the cycles have predominantly diatonic

Gloria Shafer, Origins of the Childrens Song Cycle as a Musical Genre with Four Case Studies and an
Original Cycle (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press, 1989), 71.
3
Keith Clifton, Beyond Childhood: Poulenc, La courte paille, and the Aural Envelope, College Music
Symposium 49 (2009): 333.

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harmonies, with instances of chromaticism or modality used to color the text, such as in Marjory
Flemings Sweet Isabell or Spick and Span, from The Children. Speech-like rhythms and
clear melodies enhance the childlike nature of the texts in songs such as Chanlers Once Upon a
Time and all of Bernsteins songs. Rocking motions depicting the text are generated by ostinato
bass patterns in both Le sommeil and Lune davril from La courte paille, as well as in A
Cradle Song from A Charm of Lullabies. Childlike sing-song melodies feature in The
Children and In Isas Bed from Marjory Fleming. Word painting occurs throughout the six
cycles, notably in The Childrens Moo is a Cow and Marjory Flemings A Melancholy Lay.
Huge melodic leaps accompany child narrators expressing strong emotions such as when
Marjory Fleming proclaims, I love in Isas bed to lie, when Bernsteins Barbara exclaims, I
hate music! and when the mother in Poulenc imitates a childlike excitement with Mon Dieu!
Though all of the cycles feature mostly straightforward, accessible musical settings, some
intricate, complex musical devices also exist. Complicated rhythms within meters that imitate
American speech patterns occur in Jupiter Has Seven Moons and A Big Indian and a Little
Indian in I Hate Music. Similarly, Sonnet on a Monkey from Marjory Fleming and the
trampoline songs in La courte paille have elaborate, complex rhythmic patterns. Bi-tonality and
clashing half step relationships occur in Brittens A Cradle Song, and intricately developed
piano interludes in Chanlers Sleep bring a sense of refinement to the music. The first half of
Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann present her childlike poems in a simple, conservative way,
yet increasingly difficult technical demands pervade the later songs of Schumanns cycle.
Sophisticated counterpoint and thick chromaticism in Chanlers The Rose reflects the
complexity and symbolism of the text. These refined musical elements defy the expectation of
simplicity that listeners intuitively associate with songs cycles containing childrens themes.

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Modes of Communication
When analyzing song cycles based on their modes of communication, certain recurring
ideas regarding illustrating childrens themes emerge. Sometimes of these issues are unique to a
specific mode of communication, while others appear in multiple modes. Identifying
commonalities among cycles with similar perspectives sheds light on the composers possible
purposes in choosing specific modes of communication for their cycles.
One of the main criteria for defining song cycles with childrens themes is that they
express childrens experiences and emotions. Among the cycles studied in this document, those
with real child poets and adult poets acting as children fill that requirement most clearly. The
songs in which an adult addresses a child do not truly exhibit the childrens thoughts or feelings
because children act as the audience instead of the narrators. In these situations, the childrens
experiences and sensibilities can be inferred by the subject material and manner of expression
that the adult narrators use when addressing them.
Most modes of communication focus on capturing the personalities of the real or
invented children. In the cycles where a true child acts as narrator, Bennett creates a realistic
snapshot of a young girl without any overt agenda, while Schumann chooses to infuse his
depiction of his child author with teachable elements for his audience. This didactic pursuit
corresponds with the song cycles in which an adult narrator assumes a childlike persona. Both
Chanler and Bernstein imitate childlike mannerisms for a mixture of entertainment and
education, though with varying degrees of conspicuous instruction. Imitations of childlike
innocence also occur in moments where an adult relates to a child by assuming a mode of
childhood, such as in the trampoline songs of Poulencs cycle. By having an adult narrator

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imitate childlike stories and mannerisms, these songs achieve the same goal of illustrating a
youthful personality, though they lack the didactic quality of the invented child narrators.
The most distinctive mode of communication occurs when an adult addresses a child
while retaining a mode of adulthood, particularly in A Charm of Lullabies. These narrators
express love and concern for the children in their care, but do not imitate childlike speech
patterns or include whimsical stories. They tend to focus on concern for the childrens well-being
and future challenges, and apply an instinctive attitude of shielding and protecting them from
harm.

Messages
As opposed to merely offering a collection of childlike texts set to music, each of the six
song cycles studied in this document exhibits a sense of purpose or a comprehensive message.
This phenomenon is hardly unique to songs with childrens themes or to any musical genre, as
the argument could be made that there would be little value in grouping any poetry or music
without a purposeful concept or significance. In this particular sub-genre, however, the messages
tend to lie under the surface, not becoming readily apparent at first glance because of the
inherent charm and seeming navet of the texts. By seeking to uncover deeper meanings within
the poetry and musical settings of songs with various modes of communication, one discovers a
body of literature that offers depth and poignancy along with sweetness and entertainment.
Several of the cycles have messages that stem from the poets or composers personal lives, and
the strongest statements of their themes consistently occur in the first and last songs of each
group, providing a strong architecture to each of the cycles.

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Bennetts A Garland For Marjory Fleming has the most simple purpose of the group:
realistically depicting a young girls childish thoughts and feelings as stated in her own words.
Bennett treats the sweet eight-year-old Fleming with kindness and tenderness, exposing her
youthful perspectives and opinions with a simple and open tone mirroring her nave and
unsophisticated personality. When she acts more adult-like, Bennetts musical reaction to this
shift in mode of communication contrasts with the settings of her more childlike words, while
remaining consistent in style. The most authentic poems that portray her genuine, childlike self,
as opposed to her brief forays into the world of adults, occur in the first song, In Isas Bed, and
the last song, Sonnet on a Monkey. As a whole, Bennetts musical treatment does not seek to
moralize or influence his audiences opinions of this child poet. Rather, he effectively highlights
her multi-faceted personality, complete with impulsive, tender, precocious, and vivacious
qualities. No personal details from Bennetts life could be found to support any argument that he
set her poetry with a specific purpose in mind, though his continuing interest in music with
childrens themes is evidenced by his arrangements of nursery songs for the Oxford Nursery
Song Book and his cycle of nursery rhymes, Songs Before Sleep.
Schumanns Sieben Lieder von Elisabeth Kulmann uses the poetry of a child to outline a
portrait of a maturing young girl. As she develops through her difficulties, her mode of
communication changes from childlike to adult-like. Schumann sets Kulmanns words with a
distinct purpose in mind. As his dedication and supplemental texts reveal, he intends for this
cycle to teach valuable lessons and promote admirable character traits found in the poetry of this
developing young woman. Feeling an intimate, personal connection with Kulmann, Schumann
attempts to delve into her inner life and create a portrait of this idealized young prodigy. He
accomplishes this task by setting her more youthful poetry in a conservative, simple way, and

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creating increasingly complex musical settings for her more mature texts. The over-arching
theme of facing adversity and the inevitability of death with increasing wisdom finds expression
in the first song, Mond, meiner Seele Liebling, and the final Gekmpft hat meine Barke.
Chanlers The Children employs the fictitious children narrator to convey the teachings
that children are a representation of God and adults should try to be like them. Sometimes the
children act in a genuine way by expressing entertaining observations through nursery rhymes
and realistic anecdotes, yet in many of the poems, the children act more like a symbol, an
archetype, or a representation of an ideal to teach wise life-lessons to adults. Feeneys
religiously-based, personal convictions about the fundamental value of children have their
strongest outlets in the first and last poems, The Children, and One of Us. Chanlers musical
representations of these two sides of this youthful perspective fittingly illustrate both the playful,
silly children along with the symbolic, didactic representation of childhood. He uses emulative
musical techniques to replicate the juvenile tone of words and images in the genuinely childlike
songs, while his vocabulary changes for the instances involving teaching lessons. Incorporating
realistically childlike elements in a visibly moralizing cycle creates a mixture of charming
entertainment and erudite artificiality.
In I Hate Music! the capricious commentary of ten-year-old Barbara insightfully teaches
adults to value children as equals. Bernstein does not present his themes as directly as Feeney
does in The Children. Instead of featuring a symbolic or archetypal child, Bernstein maintains his
narrators authenticity and individuality through her telling riddles, throwing tantrums, and
singing songs. Bernsteins precocious narrator voices his own personal convictions about talking
to children as legitimate people, a concept related to his professional desires to find acceptance
from his peers. The cycles message presents itself in the first and last songs, as Bernstein

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suggests the idea of treating children with honesty in My Name is Barbara, and states his
agenda in its most obvious form in the assertive finale, Im a Person Too. Even while sending
these messages, Bernsteins music captures Barbaras personality, complete with her fun-loving,
petulant, dreamy, and curious sides. His musical setting combines jazz elements within a
classical style to depict a child straddling the worlds of childhood and adulthood.
Poulencs La courte paille promotes the message of concern about the condition of the
world that adults have provided for children combined with a hope for a better tomorrow within
the context of a mother addressing her son. Carmes poetry presents a mixture of whimsical,
fanciful texts and dreamy, poignant reflections to encapsulate this mode of communication.
Sometimes the mother acts in a childlike way as she refers to fantastical events and characters
from nursery rhymes with poetry that would appeal to a childs sensibilities. These trampoline
songs occur in alternation with more lyrical poetry as the mother acts in an adult manner,
sustaining the magical atmosphere while bringing a soothing, gentle tone to the cycle. The
mothers most direct interactions with her child occur in the first and last songs, exhibiting the
message of the cycle. Le sommeil provides an intimate portrait of a concerned mother
worrying about what tomorrow will bring for her ill child, and Lune davril echoes Poulencs
desire for peace as the mother reveals her hopes and concerns for her sons future. The dualnature of the cycle, with calm, smooth, dream-like settings interspersed with cabaret-influenced,
raucous flights of fancy is consistent within Poulencs output, ranging from the pious to the
burlesque.
Brittens A Charm of Lullabies focuses on the message of preserving childlike innocence
and protecting the infants from the adversities that are to come. He sets five lullabies with adult
narrators who address children in an adult manner, while embodying various emotions and

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attitudes toward the bedtime routine. The cycle explores a mothers pride in her child, concerns
about a childs future, and frustration and exasperation felt when dealing with disobedience. The
main theme of preserving innocence finds expression in the opening A Cradle Song and the
final The Nurses Song. Both of these songs convey words of comfort and peace, infused with
references to shielding their helpless babies from the dangers of the world. Brittens musical
settings fit the sentiments of the words, with rocking and soothing elements accompanying
expressions of love for the child, and appropriately proud, frenzied, or distraught settings
corresponding with the various attitudes of the mothers. The cycles theme reflects Brittens
personal life, specifically his lifelong concern with the preservation of childhood and the
corruption of innocence.

Legitimacy
A secondary purpose of this document is to introduce other singers and teachers to this
repertoire, some of which is not widely performed. Initially the exploration of these cycles came
about as a means to find a contrasting set of songs that would round out a recital program. The
light subject material and accessible music may cause performers to think that song cycles with
childrens themes are merely fun, frivolous works. However, upon closer inspection, greater
meaning and deep messages can be uncovered. The musical settings do not just create imitative
representations of childlike aspects of the texts. Rather, they enhance the thematic and often
didactic elements of the poetry, creating works of art with depth and purpose. Musicians have the
opportunity to explore this literature not just as a fun way to lighten up a recital program, but for
their inherently deep or poignant messages and sophisticated musical settings.

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Summary
The six song cycles with childrens themes considered in this document present pervasive
childlike topics such as family relationships, interactions with nature, storybook or magical
creatures, nonsensical texts, and details from schoolwork or play. The vast majority of poems
present their messages about children in a straight-forward, uncomplicated manner. The
composers enhance the poetry through their correspondingly accessible musical settings
involving fairly standard forms, clear melodies, diatonic harmonies, and inventive music-text
relationships. Methods including speech-like text settings, sing-song melodies, and word
painting bring out the childlike characteristics of the poetry. These juvenile aspects of both
poetry and music combine with subtle sophistication to create works of art as opposed to simple
parodies of childhood. Mature themes in the poetry such as treating children with respect,
learning from their examples, and ruminations on mortality and death pervade this literature.
Instances of complex symbolism or elegant poetic construction add to the refined quality of the
texts. Sophisticated musical settings involving complicated rhythmic patterns, harmonic
relationships, and accompanimental gestures strengthen the artistic value of these cycles. All of
the poets and composers have specific agendas in creating their works, often weaving in ideas
and messages that coincide with their personal beliefs.
The effective execution of these cycles corresponds to the level of authenticity generated
by singers and pianists. Performers of this repertoire should strive to portray the children with
appropriate technique and interpretation, taking care to avoid creating a caricature or false image.
When the modes of communication vary, singers and pianists should respond accordingly. They
can assume different tone colors when Marjory Fleming acts more grown-up, when Elisabeth
Kulmann matures into a young woman, when Chanlers narrators act as either authentic children

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or teachers, and when Poulencs mother narrator assumes a childlike manner. Depicting honesty,
openness, and purity of expression in interpreting the words of an actual child narrator, an adult
acting as a child, or an adult addressing a child should be the goal of all performers. As more
singers and pianists familiarize themselves with this body of literature, they will find a
refreshingly light, sweet genre with all the sophistication and intricacies of other high-quality art
songs.

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