Two men in tuxedos walk out onto a brightly lit stage. One stops at the center, but the other takes a few more steps and seats himself at an ebony Yamaha. The one standing bows to an audience of hundreds; the pianist nods and smiles. After a short pause, the pianist lowers his head. His fingers begin to flutter over the keyboard. The standing man straightens himself. His eyes narrow, and he suddenly seems overcome by something, lost in a moment of reflection. His voice begins to fill the theatre with soft classical sounds of sadness, each sound responded to with a synonymous tone from the piano. Within moments the audience is enraptured by what can best be described as a whispered musical conversation. After some minutes, the singer closes his eyes, and the pianist lifts his hands. Then a smile crosses the faces of the two musicians as the audience breaks out into applause, and for a moment the emotion of their music fades to a pastel shade of itself.
What's the Essential Difference?
The above scene is more than familiar to the world's classical nuts, and it's only growing more common as more classically trained singers opt for a career that doesn't involve complicated stories, rolling around on the floor, and being suspended five meters above a stage in a superhero suit (Check the news, Stemme fans. This is happening!). It's not because they're lazy. In fact, the no-frills genre they take up requires the development of two skills that opera singers often live out entire careers either not bothering to learn or not having to learn, skills that vocalists can take years of performing to polish: intimacy and subtlety. Some of the greatest concert singers have said that while opera forces one to belt and project, Art Song forces one to actually sing. Of course, that's up for debate, but there's no denying that Art Song, carved out of the operatic genre, is something special, and it's not only so because everything sung in its style is sung with the voice alone.
Let Me Explain...
As a rule, a piano and a voice are the only two instruments required for an Art Song performance, and the hand gesturing that opera singers do is eschewed (fun word, isn't it?) by an Art Song singer. I know... It sounds a little rigid. Why can some of us (me, me, ME!!!) not get enough of this seeming stiffness? Beauty. Yup, that's the real core of it. The balance between the soft and the loud that an Art Song singer is required to keep puts it among the most beautiful of all classical forms. Why make this balance a stipulation? Well, it comes down to poetry. Most of the most famous Art Song is set to great poetry and designed completely around it so that a singer has to tone his or her vocal stylings up a little or down a lot in order to make the words mean in music what the poets meant in letters... and maybe add a bit more color and atmosphere. There is no other classical form that places just as much importance on words as on notes.
Some of the Great Singers and Composers
Franz Schubert's is arguably the most famous Art Song ever composed, and it was he who made the form what we know it to be. Being that his songs were written in German, they are called "lieder." However, there are several other composers who contributed extremely notable art songs, including Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, Richard Strauss, Hugo Wolf, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Faure, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hans Hotter, Thomas Quasthoff, and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf were some of the most famous singers of German Art Song (lieder). Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Boris Christoff, Gerald Finley, Martti Talvela, and Galina Vishnevskaya were and are some of the most famous champions of the Russian branch. Susan Graham is presently one of the outstanding interpreters of French Art Song (melodie). There are styles of Art Song that were developed in Italy, Spain, China, and other nations, too, which have and have had their champions!
The world of Art Song is, indeed, growing, and a rich world it is! If you have a favorite, leave it in a comment below! If you'd like to hear more Art Song, "Like" Everyone's Opera's Facebook page! Until next time, my friends, happy classical listening!
Image: Hartwig HKD Blowing in the Wind
What's the Essential Difference?
The above scene is more than familiar to the world's classical nuts, and it's only growing more common as more classically trained singers opt for a career that doesn't involve complicated stories, rolling around on the floor, and being suspended five meters above a stage in a superhero suit (Check the news, Stemme fans. This is happening!). It's not because they're lazy. In fact, the no-frills genre they take up requires the development of two skills that opera singers often live out entire careers either not bothering to learn or not having to learn, skills that vocalists can take years of performing to polish: intimacy and subtlety. Some of the greatest concert singers have said that while opera forces one to belt and project, Art Song forces one to actually sing. Of course, that's up for debate, but there's no denying that Art Song, carved out of the operatic genre, is something special, and it's not only so because everything sung in its style is sung with the voice alone.
Let Me Explain...
As a rule, a piano and a voice are the only two instruments required for an Art Song performance, and the hand gesturing that opera singers do is eschewed (fun word, isn't it?) by an Art Song singer. I know... It sounds a little rigid. Why can some of us (me, me, ME!!!) not get enough of this seeming stiffness? Beauty. Yup, that's the real core of it. The balance between the soft and the loud that an Art Song singer is required to keep puts it among the most beautiful of all classical forms. Why make this balance a stipulation? Well, it comes down to poetry. Most of the most famous Art Song is set to great poetry and designed completely around it so that a singer has to tone his or her vocal stylings up a little or down a lot in order to make the words mean in music what the poets meant in letters... and maybe add a bit more color and atmosphere. There is no other classical form that places just as much importance on words as on notes.
Some of the Great Singers and Composers
Franz Schubert's is arguably the most famous Art Song ever composed, and it was he who made the form what we know it to be. Being that his songs were written in German, they are called "lieder." However, there are several other composers who contributed extremely notable art songs, including Piotr Illyich Tchaikovsky, Modest Mussorgsky, Sergei Rachmaninov, Richard Strauss, Hugo Wolf, Claude Debussy, Gabriel Faure, and Dmitri Shostakovich. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Hans Hotter, Thomas Quasthoff, and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf were some of the most famous singers of German Art Song (lieder). Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Boris Christoff, Gerald Finley, Martti Talvela, and Galina Vishnevskaya were and are some of the most famous champions of the Russian branch. Susan Graham is presently one of the outstanding interpreters of French Art Song (melodie). There are styles of Art Song that were developed in Italy, Spain, China, and other nations, too, which have and have had their champions!
The world of Art Song is, indeed, growing, and a rich world it is! If you have a favorite, leave it in a comment below! If you'd like to hear more Art Song, "Like" Everyone's Opera's Facebook page! Until next time, my friends, happy classical listening!
Image: Hartwig HKD Blowing in the Wind
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