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ABSTRACT

Extramusical Elements in Selected Viola Music by Libby Larsen:
Representation, Suggestion, and Abstraction

by

Katherine J. Lewis

Throughout her career, American composer Libby Larsen has drawn on a wide
variety of extramusical influences in both her texted and non-texted compositions. This
thesis focuses on the manner in which Larsen has incorporated these extramusical
influences into selected chamber works with viola. It traces the progression from
representational and programmatic works written at the beginning of Larsen’s career
through a middle period of “suggestive” compositions (roughly coinciding with an
important residency with the Minnesota Orchestra in the mid 1980’s), to abstract
compositions written in recent years. Additionally, it illustrates that while the way in
which Larsen has incorporated outside sources in her works has changed, her
compositional interests continue to be heavily drawn from American musics, the rhythm
and pitch contour of American English, and American landscapes.

To demonstrate this progression, four works from Larsen’s catalog, Black Roller
(1981), Cajun Set (1980), Black Birds, RedHills (1987/1996), and the Viola Sonata
(2001) have been identified and analyzed with reference to her use of extramusical
elements. General features of Larsen’s style are highlighted and compositional

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