Date of Graduation

8-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Music (MM)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

Music

Advisor/Mentor

Mueller, Robert K.

Committee Member

Cholthitchanta, Nophachai

Second Committee Member

Knighten, Christopher

Keywords

Sylvia Plath; The Bell Jar; Soloist; Bass clarinet

Abstract

THE FIG TREE is a sonic representation of Sylvia Plath’s 1963 novel The Bell Jar. Within the story, the character of Ether Greenwood describes a vision of a fig tree, a representation of all that was and can be. Within THE FIG TREE are the representations of Plath’s text. The piece is broken into three distinct parts, held together by the soloist bass clarinet line. The first section is a slow buildup, an arrival to the fig tree. The ostinato in the low brass and reeds represents a steep incline to the tree itself. The middle section is within the fig tree itself. Just like how the futures seen within the story are fleeting and varied, so too are the motifs within this section. Passages will come and go, hurtling past the lister before they have a chance to latch onto them. The section ends with a great noise, as if to see all the futures present all at once, both frightening and beautiful at once. The last section is a retelling of the first, with the distinction of the oncoming death of each one of the figs. The intro takes snippets of the middle section and twists them as they fall off and are lost forever within the sea of sounds. The solo bass clarinet line acts as the tie between all three sections, acting as Greenwood’s - or perhaps Plath’s - inner monologue. The rhythmic structure of the solo line is a representation of the words within the paragraph above. Full range and power is necessary for the soloist to be heard within the fig tree. THE FIG TREE is intentionally ambiguous and inconclusive. The quiet beginning and ending depict a passage, coming and going from this life to the next, with no knowledge of which decision was right or wrong. With the joy of possibility comes the responsibility of choice; the fig tree serves as a reminder of this.

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