Renowned composer Jennifer Higdon is best known for her symphonic pieces blue cathedral, Concerto for Orchestra, City Scape, Concerto 4-3 and Violin Concerto (2010 Pulitzer Prize). These compositions illustrate her breadth of style and avant-garde technique. The author examines these works—with commentary by Higdon—as well as the music of her first opera, with a focus on compositional history, musical characteristics, formal analysis and critical reception.

Christina L. Reitz is an associate professor of music at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, North Carolina. Her research on Jennifer Higdon has been published in the Grove Dictionary of American Music, the International Alliance for Women in Music Journal, and the North Carolina Literary Review.

Christina L. Reitz
Foreword by Marin Alsop
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 261
Bibliographic Info: 91 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2018
pISBN: 978-1-4766-6406-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-3314-5
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments vi
Foreword by Marin Alsop 1
Preface 3
One. Biography and Orchestral Compositional Traits 7
Two. blue cathedral 24
Three. Concerto for Orchestra 39
Four. City Scape 80
Five. Concerto 4–3 107
Six. Violin Concerto 133
Seven. Cold Mountain 168
Eight. Cold Mountain: The Music 184
Codetta 225
Chapter Notes 229
Bibliography 244
Index 251

Winner, Pauline Alderman Award for Outstanding Scholarship on Women in Music—The International Alliance for Women in Music