“Jephthah’s Daughter” Эми Бич: библейское слово в устах женщины

Abstract

The article examines from the positions of musical content by means of analysis of the musical and poetical the composition “Jephthah’s Daughter” by Amy Beach, an American composer of the late 19th and early 20th century, a member of the “Boston six” — a group of American composers of the turn of the century, also known as the New England School, among which Amy Beach was the only woman. “Jephthahʼs Daughter” is a concert aria for voice and orchestra, which is interesting in the context of the composer’s musical legacy, as well as an exemplary composition of its era. The aria is devoted to the Biblical subject matter or, more precisely, the well-known Old Testament plot of the sacrifi ce of the daughter of the Israelite judge Jephthah. Besides the analysis of the musical fabric, the article examines the author’s approach to the subject of the principle of the choice of the material and the work with the textual sources — the Biblical story and the French poem, which comprised the basis of the aria’s text. As a result, the conclusion is arrived at about the composer’s artistic intentions and about the conceptual component of the work. The article contains information about Amy Beach’s biography, her artistic approach, her attitude to religious subject matter and social problems of the society contemporary to her, in particular, the issues of equal rights for women.