A poet revealed: Elizabeth Barrett Browning as portrayed in Libby Larsen's

Abstract

Composers Libby Larsen and Dominick Argento have each written song cycles based on the texts of Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Larsen's Sonnets from the Portuguese, for soprano and chamber orchestra, is a setting of six of the forty-four poems from Browning's amatory sequence of the same name. Argento's Casa Guidi, for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, is a setting of excerpts from letters written by Browning, primarily to her sister Henrietta, during her years in Florence. This study examines the two composers' images of Browning, and how those images are portrayed through choice of text and musical setting. The image of Browning depicted in Larsen's cycle is that of a woman who moves from a fear of love to an acceptance and embracing of it. The love that she comes to know is a love that recognizes the necessity of moving on in spite of unresolved issues. This image was gleaned from Browning's sonnets by Larsen and soprano Arleen Auger, who worked closely together to create a cycle that would speak of mature love, in contrast to the youthful love in Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben. Three of the six sonnets in the cycle are analyzed for Larsen's use of compositional devices that reinforce the themes of the recognition and acceptance of love and of trust in non-resolution. The texts chosen by Argento were based on his desire to depict the feminine and vulnerable aspects of Browning during her years in Florence. Although the letter excerpts are not arranged in chronological order, they accurately reveal a woman who delighted in her home and family. The last three of the five songs are examined to show how Argento's careful text setting and use of orchestral color and motives enhance Browning's words and the overall mood of the letters.