| Song Title | The Hired Girls (Search)
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| Composer(s): | Libby Larsen |
| Composer Underrepresented Group | Woman (Search) |
| Author(s): | Willa Cather |
| Author Underrepresented Group | Woman; LGBTQ+ (Search) |
| Keyword(s) & Features: | Dancing; Fascination; Folk music; Girls; Handsome; Joking; Lena; Loving; Norwegian; Poetry; Tongue-in-cheek; Waltzes |
| First Line | Now you're Lena, are you? (Search) |
| Average Duration | 1:30 (Search) |
| Year of composition |
2000 (Search) |
| Larger Work | My Ántonia (Search) |
| Musical Form | Ternary (Search) |
| Original Language | English (Search) |
| Score Source |
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/my-ntonia-9780193867215?cc=us&lang=en&#
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| Audio Source |
https://libbylarsen.com/works/my-antonia/
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| Difficulty Level | College (Search) |
| Voice part suggested by composer | Soprano or Tenor |
| Range: | D3 - G4 (Search) |
| Original Key | G Major (Search) |
| Premiered By | Jane Dressler, soprano, and Linda Jones, piano (Search) |
| Commissioned By | Jane Dressler (Search) |
| Notes | Jim Burden is fourteen years old in this song. He is speaking to the immigrant girls - the "hired girls - who now work in town. Although he has known the girls for some time, he has come to view them romantically as a burgeoning sexuality accompanies his entrance into adolescence. The main tune of the song is a Norwegian folk tune. (Search) |
| Recommended Printed Source | Oxford University Press (Search) |
| Sources Cited | "Libby Larsen's My Ántonia: The Song Cycle and the Tonal Landscape of the Prairie," a dissertation by Gregory Zavracky, https://open.bu.edu/handle/2144/12254. "A Guide to Libby Larsen's My Ántonia," Gregory Zavracky, Journal of Singing, https://www.nats. (Search) |
| Contributor | GTM , Gregory Zavracky (Search)
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| Contributor Affiliation | University of Connecticut, Brown University (Search) |
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