Question: Who wrote an eight-part song cycle for an English mezzo-soprano born in 1933?
Context: Nancy Evans OBE (19 March 1915 – 20 August 2000) was an English mezzo-soprano who had a notable career as a concert and opera singer.  She is particularly associated with Benjamin Britten who wrote his song cycle, "A Charm of Lullabies", and the role of Nancy in his opera "Albert Herring" for her. Les nuits d'été ("Summer Nights"), Op. 7, is a song cycle by the French composer Hector Berlioz, setting six poems by Théophile Gautier.  The cycle, completed in 1841, was originally for soloist and piano accompaniment.  Berlioz orchestrated one of the songs in 1843, and did the same for the other five in 1856.  The cycle was neglected for many years, but during the 20th century it became, and has remained, one of the composer's most popular works.  Of the many recordings made in the 20th and 21st centuries, most are of the orchestrated version and are sung by a soprano or mezzo-soprano. Ralph Vaughan Williams' Four Last Songs cycle is made up of four songs: "Procris," "Tired," "Hands, Eyes, and Heart," and "Menelaus."  All of the songs were composed between 1954 and 1958.  The cycle is best suited for mezzo-soprano, although, the original program note from the cycle's 1959 premiere acknowledges that all of the songs may be sung by a baritone, except for "Hands, Eyes, and Heart" "which is a woman's song."  It is suggested that the four songs were originally intended to be two separate song cycles with "Menelaus" and "Procris" belonging to one cycle and "Tired" and "Hands, Eyes, and Heart" belonging to another.  However, there is debate in the scholarly community about this proposed song cycle grouping.  Renée Chérie Clark in her essay, "A Critical Appraisal of Four Last Songs" suggests, citing a letter from the composer to a friend at Cornell University, that Vaughan Williams actually intended for "Menelaus" and "Hands, Eyes, and Heart" to be grouped together.  The composer's death in 1958 left both cycles unfinished, and in 1960, they were assembled by the composer's widow, Ursula Vaughan Williams, and published as set by Oxford University Press.  The texts of all four songs are poems written by Vaughan Williams' wife Ursula who penned several books of poetry throughout her lifetime as well as a biography of her late husband.  "Procris" and "Menelaus" deal with figures from ancient Greek and Roman mythology and epic poetry while "Tired" and "Hands, Eyes, and Heart" depict images of love between a husband and wife. "Songs of Youth and Discovery" is a five-part song cycle written by composer Jerrold Fisher and lyrics by Lawrence Leritz.  The cycle had its beginnings with the "Dance Celebration" company which premiered in New York City at the Priory Theatre, with the number "Worth A Song" a standout.  "Worth A Song" was later performed in Paris, with Lawrence Leritz, dancer, Elaine Bunse, soprano and New York City Opera's Bruce Norris, pianist.  In 2007, four more songs were added and the song cycle was formed.  On June 3, 2007, the world premiere concert of the "Songs Of Youth And Discovery" debuted at the historic Sherman Cymru formally the Sherman Theatre in Shroudsburg, PA. by the Pocono Choral Society. From the Diary of Virginia Woolf is an eight-part song cycle written by Dominick Argento in 1974 for the English mezzo-soprano Janet Baker.  The work won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 1975. A Birthday Hansel, Op. 92, is a song cycle for 'high voice' and harp composed by Benjamin Britten and set to texts by Robert Burns.  The last song cycle that Britten wrote, it was composed in honour of the Queen Mother's 75th birthday, at the request of her daughter, Elizabeth II. One Sweet Morning is a four-movement song cycle for mezzo-soprano solo and orchestra by the American composer John Corigliano.  The work was jointly commissioned by the New York Philharmonic and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks.  It was given its world premiere on September 30, 2011, by the mezzo-soprano Stephanie Blythe and the New York Philharmonic under the conductor Alan Gilbert.  The piece is dedicated to the memory of Natalie and Serge Koussevitzky. Cinq mélodies "de Venise", Op. 58, is a song cycle by Gabriel Fauré, of five mélodies for voice and piano.  Composed in 1891, the cycle is based on five poems by Paul Verlaine, from the collections "Fêtes galantes" and "Romances sans paroles".  According to Fauré himself, the song cycle contains a number of musical themes which recur from song to song.  He used a similar technique for his later song cycle "La bonne chanson", which was also based on Verlaine's poetry. Dame Janet Abbott Baker (born 21 August 1933) is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer. The English mezzo-soprano Carolyn Watkinson (born 19 March 1949) is a well-known singer of baroque music.  Her voice is alternately characterized as mezzo-soprano and contralto.
Answer: Dominick Argento