Pygmalion: An Opera in One Act. Storytelling, Music, and Meta-Creativity

by Kudisch, Erica Rachel

Pygmalion is the second chamber opera I have written, but the largest and most ambitious work of mine to date that will be performed publicly. As such, I consider it a culmination of all I have learned in the Master of Music: Composition Program here at the University of Pittsburgh. In addition to the relevance of the Pygmalion subject to the craft of composition, and to the field of music itself, there are several converging factors that contribute to the relationship between this work and my own education. What follows is a musicological and theoretical discussion of the processes involved in the creation and construction of this opera; its thematic and musical conception, the libretto, the composition, the instrumentation, and ultimately the relationship between the composer and the work.