| This thesis will focus on six solo vocal works that feature mezzo-soprano by the British composer John Nicholas Maw. The purpose of the study is to show Maw as an accomplished vocal as well as instrumental composer. The six works (Eight Chinese Lyrics, Nocturne, Six Chinese Songs, Scenes and Arias, The Voice of Love, and Roman Canticle) are arranged chronologically and will be discussed primarily in terms of general style and compositional technique with emphasis on Maw's unique synthesis of contemporary compositional ideas with elements of traditional tonality, melody and form. Special consideration will be paid to how the texts influenced melody, harmonic language, voicing, textures, and mood and word painting.;Chapter one deals briefly with the renaissance of English music from 1900-1960 and which embraced vastly different composers from Elgar to Britten. The second half of the chapter discusses two groups of composers (Goehr, Maxwell-Davies, and Birtwhistle; Musgrave, Bennett, and Cardew) that came to prominence during the 1960s and who, with Maw, forged a new more cosmopolitan style of British music. Chapter two incorporates a list of works within a biographical sketch. Chapter three is an analytical chapter that discusses the music in detail. Numerous musical examples illustrate salient features. Chapter four summarizes the composer's compositional development which unites a love of melodic writing with an intense chromatic harmony. |
