ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to establish Louise Talma's songs for solo voice and piano as important and fascinating works of art created over the course of the composer's career, often depicting her life through choice of texts and their musical settings. By reading Talma's writings—primarily letters—and scores together, it is possible to perceive connections between her personal life and her projects at the time. Talma began working on a grand opera with writer Thornton Wilder in 1954 after the two met at the MacDowell Colony. Talma composed the bulk of the opera during visits to the American Academy in Rome and to the MacDowell Colony. In Talma's works, dis/continuity can often be traced through specific compositional elements, such as tonality or pitch center, rhythm, texture, and motifs. As part of her concern for dis/continuity, Talma conceived unique methods for developing melodic and structural ideas. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
