Abstract
American composer, pianist, and pedagogue Fred Coulter enjoyed an extensive career beginning in the 1950s, mostly as a pianist while simultaneously developing his skills as a composer. His output ranges from small and large-scale instrumental and vocal works to ballets and award-winning film scores. Coulter's life's study in the compositions and compositional techniques of his contemporaries led him to a mastery of classical and modern music theory and composition, a field that was the basis of his pedagogical pursuits.
Chamber Music, completed and premiered in 2006, is a cycle of thirty-six songs composed using James Joyce's poem collection of the same name for four-part mixed voices and piano. The earliest recorded realizations of these settings began in the early 1950s and are representative of Coulter's evolving use of harmony and melody. The songs range from the very traditionally tonal XVI "O Cool Is The Valley Now" to the almost serial II "The Twilight Turns From Amethyst."
This paper offers a general analysis of this piece with regards to its performance, its performance history, and other considerations. Also included in the appendices is a catalogue of Coulter's work.