Degree

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

Department

The School of Music

Document Type

Dissertation

Abstract

Clémence de Grandval was a late-Romantic composer whose extensive body of work, high profile performances, and numerous accolades should have garnered prominent placement among her contemporaries. Yet her vast collection of orchestral, choral, operatic, and other stage works have been all but forgotten.

Grandval’s Stabat Mater counted among her most popular works. Though the extant score for choir, harmonium (or organ), and piano explicitly references orchestral accompaniment1 , none of the parts or full score are available. Rather than providing a conductor’s guide or chord-by-chord analysis of Grandval’s work, this document breathes new life into this lost masterpiece by orchestrating the Stabat Mater using French, late-Romantic orchestral idioms and justifying the decisions made therein. In so doing, this document honors the memory of a gifted composer and brings long-overdue interest to a magnificent work that belongs in the choral-orchestral repertoire.

In Montmartre Cemetery, Clémence de Grandval is buried among some of the most well-known musicians and artists, including Lili and Nadia Boulanger, Hector Berlioz, Vaslav Nijinsky, Jacques Offenbach, Léo Delibes, and many others, yet her name does not appear on any list of notable occupants. Even the Grandval family plot marks the names of her husband, daughters, and other relatives, but not hers. That omission provides inspiration for this document’s title.

The dissertation itself contains three chapters. The first is a brief discussion of Grandval’s life and works followed by a structural analysis in chapter two, including charts of both the overall work and each movement. Chapter 3 contains the full score of the new orchestration.

Date

7-3-2023

Committee Chair

Alissa Rowe

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