The majority of repertoire catalogs for singers, printed and digital, often list works by voice type, language, and/or genre. The 21st century has seen an emergence of online classical music catalogs where the user can seek repertoire by searching composers from underrepresented communities (i.e., women, Black, LGBTQ, Latinx). What does not currently exist is a resource that catalogs songs for solo voice dealing specifically with gay subject matter. This dissertation surveys seventeen 21st century gay-themed art songs by four living American composers: David Del Tredici, Ben Moore, Clint Borzoni, and Gary Schocker. Each chapter introduces a different composer and a select representation of their gay-themed art songs. Each entry includes text analysis based on the composer's and author's intentions and a brief analysis to determine pedagogical and musical difficulty. It is my intent that this document will facilitate a much-needed resource and encourage further study, promotion, and performance of voice works with gay themes. Moreover, I hope that it will serve as a tool for the applied voice teacher to assist in the vocal and artistic development of their students through broader repertoire choices.

Emil Behnke was a highly esteemed vocal pedagogue of the late nineteenth century. Perhaps rare for the time, the art and science of teaching vocal methods of speech and singing was a Behnke family business, one that Emil shared with his wife and daughter, who were both named Kate. Indeed, Emil's daughter, Kate Emil Behnke, was equally regarded and valued in the field of vocal pedagogy, carrying her father's teachings into the twentieth century. Meanwhile, the elder Kate Behnke, wife to Emil and mother to Kate Emil, was responsible for administering and building upon her husband's innovative methods of speech therapy, establishing her own reputation as a speech healer. The Behnke family published no less than fourteen books, cumulatively. Largely forgotten today, the purpose of this document is to provide a comprehensive overview of the biography and the pedagogical methods and works of the Behnke family, and to contextualize these methods within the framework of trusted vocal pedagogy, both historic and current.