Morgan Lynne Markel Nikolov has written “Voice Leading in Golden Age Musical Theater Songs,” an excellent PhD dissertation from the Eastman School of Music, 2022. Her two topics are “common voice-leading strategies for ending on a high note and opening and closing in two different keys in Golden Age musical theater songs composed between 1943 and 1960.” After the opening chapter, which includes discussion of the repertoire and its contexts as well as the traditional literature review, chapter 2 looks at how upper-register closes can be analyzed in terms of “five [familiar] voice-leading transformations: initial ascent, octave coupling, ascending register transfer, reaching-over, and cover tones.” Chapter 3, then, takes up the question of “those songs whose concluding high notes could not be accounted for” by those means, the answer being “that these songs . . . feature a background ascending ^5-^6-^7-^8 [or ^6-^7-^8] line.” A particular strength of Markel-Nikolov’s study is the detailed and convincing way she demonstrates how “voice leading and lyrics work closely together to create dynamic trajectories towards important moments in the song form.” (The quotations in this paragraph are from her concluding chapter, pp. 159-160.)
On pp. 210-211 is a table of songs “that end with a clear ^5-^6-^7-^8 closing gesture in the melody line”: 53 numbers from 22 musicals; and those with a ^6-^7-^8 background: 9 songs from 8 musicals.
Needless to say, I am delighted by this work, which was carried out with strong analytical and interpretative skills based on real sympathy with and knowledge of the repertoire. At present, I am preparing two more entries for the New Historical Survey: Music for the Stage, 1860s-1889 and Music for the Stage, 1890-1928. These might be thought of as documentary pre-histories, or “prequels,” to Markel-Nikolov’s more contemporary and engaging narrative.
