Includes bibliographical references, pages 144-151
While the music of George Crumb (b. 1929) has long held the analytical interest of music theorists and other scholars, his twenty-first century works have not yet received the analytical treatment they merit. The present study includes analyses of eight selected movements from two of Crumb's twenty-first century song cycles: The river of life (2003) and The ghosts of Alhambra (2008). The analyses serve as gateways into addressing larger questions about the structure and organization of Crumb's music. In the eight movements analyzed, there emerges a frequently occurring phenomenon: different entities--such as intervals, sets, or collections--juxtaposed across multiple dimensions. The juxtaposition of contrasting entities can take place within a single section or across multiple sections, can play out across the vertical and horizontal dimensions, and can involve both the local and the large-scale. The juxtaposition of contrasting materials is not unique to Crumb. In his works, however, it is diverse, pervasive, and integral to the musical language. Among other roles, contrasts in Crumb's music often contribute to an overarching narrative, help to articulate the levels of tension across a movement, and create cohesion among seemingle unconnected materials. Beyond the analyses of individual movements, the present work categorizes and catalogues the characteristic ways in which juxtapositions appear in Crumb's music.