Abstract
American composer Amy Beach wrote over a hundred art songs, many of which comprise compelling hybrid formal designs that fuse principles of modified strophic form with other formal schemes. In order to explore form in Beach’s art songs that resist simple classification, I develop a new model for interpreting song form that situates songs based on the nature of recurring material, from strophic (maximal recurring material) to through-composed (minimal recurring material). Analyses of “Within Thy Heart” (op. 29, no. 1) and “Forgotten” (op. 41, no. 3) demonstrate additions to and departures from strophic design. An analysis of “Ah, Love, but a Day!” (op. 44, no. 2) highlights complex principles of strophic modification in which the melody preserves strophic structure but the harmony and texture depart from strophic design. Finally, analyses of “Sweetheart, Sigh No More” (op. 14, no. 3) and “Wind o’ the Westland” (op. 77, no. 2) explore blurred boundaries and quasi-parallel constructions within sectional formal designs.
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