Meisel Room
Westminster Presbyterian Church

Maggie Hinchcliffe, Trees and the Anthropocene in Art Song
In the poetry of art song repertoire, images of trees can symbolize an internal personal reflection or cultural association, allowing for interpretation on the concert stage. In German lieder, the linden tree symbolizes centuries of religious and mythological stories, while in American song repertoire, forests represent nostalgia or personal beliefs. In the twenty-first century, song composers often engage with the dissonance between idyllic natural scenes and ecological threats due to climate change and human disruption. This presentation explores the representation of trees in art song repertoire from Schubert to Ricky Ian Gordon and each composers’ approach to setting poetry that engages with their contemporary environments, and it concludes with a discussion of how trees and our everyday relationship with trees are affected by disruptions to the environment.