Dissertation
Liminal landscapes: women composing pastoralism in twentieth-century Britain
University of Iowa
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
Spring 2026
Abstract
There have been many interpretations of the pastoral mode throughout history across multiple artforms, but the majority agree that it has always had a deep connection with social concerns and values. This dissertation combines musicological methodologies with analysis of socio-cultural ideology to better understand the multiple uses of pastoralism in twentieth-century British music by women composers through case studies of Ruth Gipps’s Cringlemire Garden (1952), Elizabeth Maconchy’s The Land (1929), and Ina Boyle’s Glencree (In the Wicklow Hills) Symphony No. 1 (1924–27). Each study explores the intersection of pastoralism as a mode of creation, the social construction of nature, and the influence of encultured ideology as specifically represented by the selected composers’ works. Gipps’s Cringlemire Garden reveals both conventional and innovative uses of pastoralism, despite its composition after the mainstream rise and fall of the mode. “Retreating” into the garden provides a space for Gipps to explore expressions of identity and wrestle with personal ideology. Similarly, Maconchy’s The Land builds upon expectations of pastoralism by using the themes in Vita Sackville-West’s poem of the same name to craft a modernist response to multiple aspects of modern life including rapidly disappearing rural traditions and uncertainty about the direction of English music. As an early composition, it also reflects her own growth from student to professional in many ways mirroring the experiences of contemporary life. The Land indicates that pastoralism can engage with modern life and scrutinize concerns outside the mainstream. Finally, Boyle’s Glencree Symphony defies easy categorization stylistically and ideologically. With its depictions of a natural landscape and ambiguous epigraph texts, the encultured ideologies that influenced Glencree are not as readily obvious; however, as an upper-class, Irish composer, Boyle’s positionality influenced her interpretation of the landscape, and her symphony demonstrates that implicit beliefs in pastoral works also provide a productive avenue of examination.
The three case studies reveal that much is lost when only the technical aspects of pastoralism as a genre or style are considered; women composers become peripheral to established mainstream because their compositions do not neatly fit the expected criteria for the pastoral mode. Their music demonstrates the need for a flexible model and definition of pastoralism that draws on the “constellation” or “family resemblances” model proposed by Ludwig Wittgenstein to put pastoral works in dialogue with each other and identify larger trends. Applying this model to the selected composers demonstrates multiple interpretations of nationalism, developments to the pastoral mode more broadly, and a more complete picture of how social beliefs surrounding nature, music, and gender influenced both the three women and their pastoral music.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Liminal landscapes: women composing pastoralism in twentieth-century Britain
- Creators
- Rebekah Marie Erdman
- Contributors
- Marian Wilson Kimber (Advisor)Lori Branch (Committee Member)Nathan Platte (Committee Member)Sarah Suhadolnik (Committee Member)
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), University of Iowa
- Degree in
- Music (Musicology)
- Date degree season
- Spring 2026
- Publisher
- University of Iowa
- Number of pages
- xii, 196 pages
- Copyright
- Copyright 2026 Rebekah Marie Erdman
- Language
- English
- Date submitted
- 04/17/2026
- Description illustrations
- color illustrations, music
- Description bibliographic
- Includes bibliographical references (page 183-195).
- Public Abstract (ETD)
In this dissertation, I use three case studies to better understand the multiple uses of pastoralism in twentieth century British music by women composers. While there have been various representations of the pastoral mode, I define it as a mode of creation in which the creator examines social and/or political beliefs or problems by bringing them to a natural space. As a result, each study explores how pastoralism is being conveyed musically, how society thinks about nature and how thoughts change, and what beliefs are influencing the compositions. The first case study, Cringlemire Garden by Ruth Gipps, shows both expected uses of pastoralism and new ideas as Gipps explores identity and personal beliefs. In the second case study, Elizabeth Maconchy also builds on typical expectations but instead uses The Land to respond to what is happening in modern life. Finally, the case study on Ina Boyle’s Glencree Symphony demonstrates that even unspoken or unrecognized beliefs can be studied to better understand how pastoralism is used in a composition. Each of these compositions do not neatly fit into the expectations of pastoralism, which shows that a flexible model that allows for individual difference and larger comparisons is necessary. Such a model allows scholars to find trends and continue expanding our understanding of the uses of pastoralism.
- Academic Unit
- School of Music
- Record Identifier
- 9985176872202771
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