This thesis examines the piece Skin (2016) by British composer Rebecca Saunders for soprano and thirteen instruments. The first part introduces the composer, her compositional approach, and the piece’s place within her body of work. The central part of the thesis presents an analysis of the piece’s formal and musical structure. The development of the musical material is based on three main musical ideas: a duet between the soprano and the bass flute, a duet between the soprano and the trumpet, and six “textual images” based on Rebecca Saunders’s own texts and an excerpt from Molly’s monologue in Joyce’s Ulysses. Special attention is given to the role of the voice, which functions simultaneously as the vehicle for the text and as an equal sonic element within the instrumental texture.
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