In March 1983, the Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer Dominick Argento completed the final revision of his forty-minute, thirteen-song cycle for baritone and piano The Andrée Expedition, based on an ill-fated 1897 Swedish expedition to the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon. For song texts Argento excerpted portions from Andrée's Story, an English translation of a complete report of the expedition which included the texts from journals and letters written by the explorers. Published in 1930 by the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography, Andrée's Story served as the text source for nine songs of Argento's song cycle, and Argento wrote the texts for the four other songs, basing them on accounts from Andrée's Story.
This document examines the song texts, comparing them with the original material in Andrée's Story, provides musical analyses of the songs, and delineates various technical abilities required for a successful performance. The material of the document is meant to aid the performer by providing a historical background and brief musical suggestions to enhance future performances of the song cycle. This document also provides a list of Argento's vocal works in an appendix.