Dominick Argento (1927-2019) was an American composer known for his lyric operatic muisc in the twentieth century. The majority of his compositions are for vocal music. A big portion of Argento’s art songs are presented in the form of a set of songs, with the music converging perfectly with the poetic rhythm in English. Argento’s music style is full of passion, humor and drama. He is renowned as an American classical music composer.

The "Six Elizabethan Songs" was created in 1957, at age of 30 when Argento was studying in Florence, Italy. Entrusted by his doctoral classmate to create this set of "Six Elizabethan Songs". The poems of this work are selected from the "Golden Treasure" poetry edited by Palgrave. A total of six poems by five Elizabethan poets are included: Nashe, Daniel, Shakespeare, Constable, and Jonson.

The thesis is composed of five chapters. The first chapter states the purpose and structure of this study. The next chapter introduces Argento’s life and musical style, and describes the evolution of American art songs. The third chapter discusses the background of the "Six Elizabethan Songs". The forth chapter analyzes and interprets the "Six Elizabethan Songs". A conclussion of this study is set forth in the final chapter. Via studying the contemporary American composer Argento and his song cycles, the author learned the "Six Elizabethan Songs" in depth. It enables the author performing this song cycle toward the excellence.