An Art Song Is a Musical Composition for
What is Fine art Vocal?
Today we call them art songs, but when this specific genre first appeared in the late 18th century, they were only "songs," almost always scored for what is now a classic combination: piano and voice. At the time, the Industrial Revolution was helping to create a new form of music lovers. The new Middle Grade was wealthy enough to desire access to musical entertainment at home, but not wealthy enough to hire live-in court musicians like the aristocratic classes. What they could afford was the perfect new domestic instrument: the piano.
The ability to play the piano and sing became a status symbol for middle and upper middle class families, especially among women (as you might know from the novels of Jane Austen or the Brontë sisters). This made home music a lucrative market for composers. The earliest Lieder [pronounced "leader"], or German art songs, were written for phonation and elementary pianoforte accompaniment, then that home musicians could accompany themselves or their friends at the piano.
Throughout the 19th century, the genre of art song adult into a sophisticated art form for the concert stage also as for the home. Nevertheless, in i sense, it's never abased its domestic beginnings: most fine art songs are even so scored for voice and pianoforte. In this post, we'll take a lightning bout of fine art vocal history, featuring a few of the countless great works in this genre. In improver to the videos, click on the text links to listen to a few more art songs.
Classical Lieder
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) was one of the first composers to explore the expressive capabilities of the Lied [singular of Lieder, pronounced "leet"]. Many of Mozart's Lieder were composed for the growing domestic vocal marketplace. His Lieder offer the same natural vocal writing he brought to opera – and the same wide-ranging dramatic sense. For instance, his "Abendemfindung" (Evening Thoughts) is a tender reflection on mortality; in contrast, his "Das Veilchen" Grand. 476 (The Violet) is a playful, rather snarky setting of a poem by Goethe near a dramatic violet'southward tragic love for an oblivious shepherdess.
Other Classical composers who wrote in the burgeoning Lied genre include Louise Reichardt, Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven, who invented the vocal bike (more on that next!).
"Das Veilchen" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Schubert and the Song Cycle
In 1816, Ludwig van Beethoven had the idea of writing a ready of six Lieder with an overarching narrative: his An dice ferne Geliebte (To the Distant Love). This new genre came to be known as a Liederkries, or in English language, a vocal cycle. Some vocal cycles tell a story, some have a mutual theme, and some are merely meant to be sung in a series for aesthetic reasons. They're a bit like the 19th century'due south version of the record album.
Franz Schubert (1797–1828) was a master of the Lied. He composed more 900 Lieder, many of which had their premieres at musical home gatherings which Schubert's friends delightfully called Schubertiades. Schubert perfected the vocal bicycle in works like his narrative wheel Die schöne Müllerin (The Beautiful Miller Maid), every bit well as cycles linked by a common author, like his Op.52 settings from Sir Walther Scott'south Lady of the Lake. Perchance his greatest vocal wheel is Winterreise D. 911 (Wintertime Journeying), a psychologically profound exploration of loss.
"Gute Nacht" from Winterreise by Franz Schubert
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The Romantic Lied
As the 19th century progress, composers like Robert Schumann, Johannes Brahms and Hugo Wolf added increasingly sophisticated song cycles and private Lieder to the repertoire. Many Lieder became increasingly circuitous for the average home musician: the solo recital was condign a popular style of operation, thanks to Franz Liszt, who invented the term, and composers were writing for the skills of professional recitalists also as for amateurs.
However, the Lied was all the same an entrenched home music genre, and that gave a special edge to women composers in the 19th century. Many women who wrote symphonic music or chamber music in the Romantic period struggled to promote interest in their piece of work, just since the Lied was considered a domestic genre, women faced fewer barriers to be accepted as composers of fine art song.
Women took reward of this artistic outlet to produce glorious fine art songs, many of which differ from the male person-equanimous repertoire by examining love and life from a woman'south perspective. Some notable composers include Josephine Lang, Clara Schumann, and Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805–1847), whose "Warum sind den die Rosen so blass" is an elegant case of the Romantic Lied.
"Warum sind denn die Rosen so blass" Op. 1 No. 3 by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel
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French Art Song: Mélodie
German language-speaking composers did much of the early work developing the art song genre, but it spread among composers of many languages. For instance, French art song is known as mélodie.Countless French composers made gorgeous additions to the genre through the 19th century and across, including Pauline Viardot, Henri Duparc, Ernest Chausson, Cécile Chaminade, and Claude Debussy.
If nosotros were to crown a French Schubert, whose stature in mélodie resembles that of Schubert in Lieder, information technology might be Gabriel Fauré (1845–1924). Fauré composed more than 100 art songs, including both individual songs and song cycles. His masterful, text-sensitive writing for both vocalism and piano brand his art songs perennially pop with singers.
"Clair de Lune," Op. 46 No. ii by Gabriel Fauré
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Orchestral Songs
Traditionally, art song is scored for phonation and piano, but music genre rules have never been set in stone, especially during the experimental Romantic period. One early Lied-scoring exception is Schubert's "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen" D.965 (The Shepherd on the Rock), which is scored for voice, piano, and clarinet.
In the mid-1800s, orchestral songs began to grace the concert stage. Unlike opera or oratorio arias, these songs were not intended as part of a larger ensemble piece of work, but were simply standalone fine art songs or song cycles using orchestral accessory instead of piano.
An early on example of Romantic orchestral song was Hector Berlioz'southward orchestration of his vocal cycle Les nuits d'ete Op. vii (Summer Nights, pub. 1856). Many Romantic composers contributed to the genre of orchestral song, especially in the form of orchestral song cycles. Examples include Richard Strauss'southward Vier letzte Lieder and Alma Mahler-Werfel'south Four Songs for Soprano and Orchestra (1915).
Perhaps the all-time-known composer of Romantic orchestral Lieder was Gustav Mahler (1860–1911), whose orchestral song cycles remain staples of the repertory. HisDes Knaben Wunderhorn (The Youth's Magic Horn, pub. 1905) consists of orchestral songs for mezzo soprano and baritone. The texts are High german folk poems that range from nighttime musings, to cynical allegories, to charming fairy tales.
"Wo die Schönen Trompeten blasen" from Des Knaben Wunderhorn by Gustav Mahler
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The 20th Century and Art Vocal in English
Around the same time that German composers were diving into orchestral Lieder, English speaking composers were starting to requite special attention to art vocal. The rhapsodic songs of George Butterworth and Ivor Gurney helped singers give vocalization to the trauma surrounding the First Earth War. Ethel Smyth, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten and many other English composers contributed to the 20th century's flowering of English language song.
English-language art vocal flourished in the United States as well, in the works of composers like Amy Beach, Aaron Copland, and Samuel Barber. Folk vocal inspired many American composers of fine art song, including Harry T. Burleigh and John Jacob Niles.
I remarkable partnership in American art song was that betwixt poet Langston Hughes and composer Florence Price (1887–1953). Both were pivotal figures in the Chicago Renaissance, and Price ready Hughes'southward poetry in several masterful art songs, which were championed by Leontyne Price, Marian Anderson and other great Black singers.
"Songs to the Dark Virgin" (1941) by Florence Price
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Gimmicky Art Song
The art vocal genre continues to flourish in the works of recent and contemporary composers: to name only a few, Adolphus Hailstork, Jennifer Higdon, Kim Dong Jin, Libby Larsen, Morten Lauridsen, Yoshinao Nakada, and Rhian Samuel.
In fact, there's such a wealth of art song by gimmicky composers that I could never choose one favorite to cease this listing. Let's proceed things local with a gorgeous vocal by Portland-based composer and usher Joan Szymko (b. 1957). Her "Eli, eli," is an example of the fine art vocal genre's continual transformation. Scored for solo phonation accompanied past solo cello, "Eli, eli" is a setting (in both Hebrew and English language) of a moving prayer by Hannah Szenes, a poet and resistance fighter who was executed by the Nazis in 1944.
"Eli, eli" (1994) by Joan Szymko
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For Further Reading
Art song is a rich and vibrant genre, and we've only scratched the surface in this commodity. Below are some resources to continue learning. Another wonderful mode to experience art song is to nourish academy vocal recitals: they're usually free, full of repertoire you lot'd rarely hear in a concert hall, and an excellent way to support the next generation of singers.
The Art Song Projection: http://theartsongproject.com/
Hampsong Foundation: https://hampsongfoundation.org/most/
Johnson, Graham, and Richard Stokes. A French Song Companion. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Kimball, Carol.Vocal: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature .Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Hal Leonard, 2006.
Olson, Margaret.Listening to Art Song: An Introduction .Britain: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015.
Oxford Lieder: https://www.oxfordlieder.co.britain/
Simmons, Margaret R., and Jeanine Wagner.A New Album of Art Songs by African American Composers .United Kingdom: Southern Illinois Academy Printing, 2004.
Stokes, Richard, and Ian Bostridge. The Book of Lieder .United Kingdom: Faber & Faber, 2011.
Special cheers to Arwen Myers of Northwest Art Song for her insightful research advice.
Source: https://www.allclassical.org/what-is-art-song/