“The Last Words of a King’s Wife”: an exploration of the characters of the wives of King Henry VIII of England through the Art song of Libby Larsen

• Main Author: Tingle, Morgan G.
• Format: Others
• Published: Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University 2017
• Subjects: Try Me Good King; Libby Larsen; Vocal Performance; Characterization; King Henry VIII; Anne Boleyn; Jane Seymour; Katherine of Aragon; Katherine Howard; Anne of Cleves; Music; Music Performance
• Online Access: https://dc.etsu.edu/honors/354; https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1357&context=honors

The intention of this thesis is to describe the process of putting together a performance of a lecture recital on the song cycle Try Me, Good King: Last words of the wives of Henry VIII by modern composer Libby Larsen, and to conduct an in depth exploration of the characters of the first five wives of King Henry VIII of England. Each wife’s character will be investigated in relation to their roles in this song cycle which draws its’ text from the final words of these five women. Each wife’s character will be investigated from three perspectives, that of history, that of Libby Larsen, my own perspective (Morgan Tingle). The ultimate result will be a solid developed character for each wife that is the culmination of my studies portrayed by myself, soprano Morgan Tingle, in the final lecture recital.