'Who in the world she might be': A contextual and stylistic approach to the early music of Joni Mitchell [and] 'The Art of Eating': Seven songs on texts about food by contemporary women writers (M. F. K. Fisher, Katherine De Lorraine, Carla Drysdale, Co

“Who in the world she might be”: A contextual and stylistic approach to the early music of Joni Mitchell. Over the course of a career spanning more than three decades, Joni Mitchell (b. 1943) has established herself as a musician of consistent innovation and sophistication. Mitchell's artistic ethos, as well as the course of her career, is inextricably connected to the turbulent times during which she achieved, in short order, success as a professional musician and stardom. Her work from this period, 1968–1974, remains the music with which she is to this day most readily identified, due primarily to its continued radio airplay and extensive record sales, excellent craftsmanship, and resonance with both the musical and sociopolitical issues of its era. This dissertation is an effort both to illuminate Mitchell's technical accomplishment, and to uncover the rich web of meaning that lies at the crossroads of the style and contexts of some of her most acclaimed music.; My project considers the early years of Mitchell's career, centered on chapter-length close readings of three songs: “I Had a King” 1968); “The Last Time I Saw Richard” (1971); and “Court and Spark” (1974).; “The Art of Eating”: Seven songs on texts about food by contemporary women writers. The Art of Eating was initially inspired by the writings of M. F. K. Fisher, from whose volume of collected works the cycle's title is borrowed. In addition to two texts by Fisher (“When a Man is Small” and “Scrambled Eggs”), poems by Katherine De Lorraine (“Clear View”), Carla Drysdale (“Gobble Gobble” and “Les Amants”), Collette Inez (“Midwest Albas”) and Alison Jarvis (“I Imagine I Answer Your Letter”) are set. Although at first I thought that my sole subject matter would be food, I very quickly came to realize that this topic is inseparable from the numerous other themes that comprise the fabric of our daily lives. In my search for food-related poetry and prose, I was particularly struck by the degree to which ideas about food are inextricably linked to ideas about gender. My decision to use only texts by women writers enabled me to explore this connection, and challenged me to identify and cast aside my male perspective. The work is scored for piano and soprano, and is approximately twenty-three minutes in duration. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...