The Art Song: A Comprehensive Guide to Its History and Development
German Review Questions
Define “Lied” :
A: A poem intended to be sung.
Origins of the Romantic Lied :
A: Folk Song
Define ”Volkslied” and Who coined the term?
A: German Folk Song coined by Johann Herder
Who is Friedrich Schlegel and what Impact he had on German Lied?
A: German poet, philosopher, philologist, literary critic.
Founded journal Athenaeum. Laid out the principles of “Romanticism”
Define “Volksseele” and Who coined the term?:
A: “Soul of the People”, The Brothers Grimm
What is “Des Knaben Wunderhorn” which men assembled it.
A: A collection of German folk songs. Achim Von Arnim and Clemens Brentano
Identify impactful German Lied composers who preceded Schubert: (Zelter, Zumsteeg, Reichardt)
A: Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Schubert
French Melodie
What type of solo song was popular in France prior to the “Melodie?
A:
Romance (descendent of Troubadour songs)
What style of French song, also influential on the development of the English Lute song, influenced the development of the “Romance.”
A: Ballade
How did Rousseau describe the “Romance?”
A: A type of love story that is often tragic.
Describe the typical musical style of a Romance according to Rousseau
A: A natural, rustic melody; nothing mannered.
Provide the title and composer of a typical French “Romance”:
A: Martini, “Plaisir d’amour”
How/why did 19th century French publishers coin the term “Melodie?”
A: They used it to describe the French editions of Schubert’s songs to differentiate them from the French “Romance.”
Who composed Neuf Mélodies Irlandaises? Who was the poet of this work?
A: Composed by: Berlioz Poet by: Thomas Moore
Name the Swiss-born French composer that Saint-Saens described as the forerunner of the French “Melodie.”
A: Louis Niedermeyer
Poets associated with the French Romantic movement name one, and Provide a few terms that describe their style of writing
-Victor Hugo: Imaginative realism (combines realistic elements with eaggerated symbolism)
-Alphonse de Lamartine: Neoclassical Style (highly decorative and elaborate, characteristically separate from Romanticism)
-Alfred de Musset:
Poets associated with the Parnassian movement (name one), and Provide a few terms/phrases that describe the Parnassian style of writing.
Theophile Gautier:
Charles Leconte de Lisle:
Louise Ackermann:
Théodore de Banville:
Sully Prudhomme:
Stéphane Mallarmé:
Poets associated with the Symbolist movement (name one), and Provide a few terms/phrases that describe the Symbolist style of writing:
Charles Baudelaire (1821 – 1867),
Paul-Armand Silvestre (1837 – 1901),
Paul Verlaine (1844 – 1896),
Arthur Rimbaud
Name the French poet who coined the term “Surrealism.”
A: Guillaume Apollinaire
Music styles of the “Les Six” ? (Be specific about their similarities and their differences.) Know names of poets that each of them set to music.
(I suggest that you share with each other information from your individual assignments!).
-Darius Milhaud (poet: Rene Chalupt)
Francis Poulenc( poet: Guillaume Apollinaire)
Arthur Honegger(poet: Apollinaire)
Georges Auric (poet: Jean Cocteau)
Louis Durey (poet: Jean Cocteau)
Germaine Tailleferre (poet: idk)
Name of the poet/provocateur who founded/organized the group “Les Six”:
A: Jean Cocteau
Name of the French composer who served as a mentor to the group:
A: Erik Satie
British Isles
In 18th Century England popular song was associated with theatrical entertainments.
Composers associated with the style of music: Thomas Arne and his son Michael Arne
FACT: Thomas Moore, collector of Irish folk poems and melodies, His collections inspired musical settings by Beethoven, Berlioz, Haydn, and many more.
Victorian Era
The Early type of song was called the “Drawing Room” or “Parlor” ballads: Strophic, sentimental; very commercial and popular with the general public.
First “serious” style of English Art songs:
A: English Ballad
Influenced by great Victorian poets: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Alfred Lord Tennyson
Early exponent composers of English Art Song:
A: William Balfe (influenced by Schubert and Schumann)
Edwardian Era
who are “Frankfurt Group” :
A: Also known as the “Frankfurt Five” was a group of English composers and friends who studied composition under Ivan Knorr at Hoch Conservatory in the 1890’s.
Know a few of their names and Describe their musical style:
–Roger Quilter: Melody is the primary element of his song style, harmonic elements integrated but never outshone text. Also a great sense of prosody. Gentle, elegant composition style.
–Cyril Scott: free rhythms through the expansion of musical motifs
–Henry Balfour Gardiner: well-crafted songs in romantic style.
Late 19th & Early 20th century British Composer:
–Ralph Vaughan Williams:
-Collector and arranger of English folk songs.
-made musical settings of contemporary poets & Shakespeare.
Influential Poets (know the names of composers who set their poems to music):
-Robert Louis Stevenson (Ralph Vaughan Williams set music to his poems)
Ex: The Vagabond, Let Beauty Awake, The Roadside Fire
-Thomas Hardy: Benjamin Britten
Ex: The Little Old Table, Before Life and After
–A. E. Houseman: Composers (George Butterworth, Charles Wilfred Orr)
Ex: Loveliest of Trees, When I was one-and-twenty, Is my team ploughing?
United States
Describe American Music (Kimball’s description, and explain)
A: The development of American music has been “sporadic”, but mirrors the American credo of individualism above all. Many composers studied in Germany and France(with Nadia Boulanger)
What does she mean by (“individualistic”):
A: -The lack of strong centuries-long shared heritage
-Immigration
-constant flow of new national groups
Name the unique aspects that influenced the growth of American Art Song in the 19th century (good and bad, and explain):
Sentimental parlor songs that idealized plantation life (slavery)
The Negro Spiritual (H. T. Burleigh, Hall Johnson, Jester Hairston)
Import of German Lieder in English translation
Idealization of native Americans as “noble savages”(explain)
Antonin Dvorak and H. T. Burleigh (who influenced whom? How?):
A: the melodies of H. T. Burleigh influenced Dvorak
American composers who studied in Germany:
A: Edward MacDowell, George Whitefield Chadwick, Charles Griffes
Terms that describe style of composition of Charles Ives:
A: Innovative, experimental,, poly-tonalism, tone clusters)
What did Schoenberg say about him?
A: he has solved the problem of how to preserve one’s self-esteem and to learn.
He responds to negligence with contempt
Early 20th century
Post World War I Generation (French Influence)
American composers of Art Song who studied with Nadia Boulanger: Aaron Copland, Virgil Thomson, Theodore Chanler.
Ned Rorem:
Kimball states that he (Ned Rorem) was the first 20th century composer to focus almost entirely on Art Song. His influence inspired other Americans to take the art song more seriously.
PowerPoint Projects
Be prepared to name a late 20th century American composer of Art Song and describe his/her “Style” (style sheet information)
Like W. Ackerman
Russia
Name the 18th century Russian ruler who brought western art music and culture to Russia?
A: Catherin II
Give an example of how this was done. Name a non-Russian composer associated with this effort?
A: Giovanni Paisiello, Domenico Cimarosa, Giuseppe Sarti
How does Kimball describe the unique qualities of Russian folk song?
A: called “romans”
Highly emotional and demonstrative, exhibit realism (express life of people), rich melodies & lyrics.
Name the 19th century Russian “national poet” credited with creating the “modern Russian language.”
A: Alexander Pushkin
Kimball mentions Mikhail Glinka “expressive” vocal writing (influenced by Bellini’s operatic writing). He frequently set poems of Pushkin. Name the title of the song played in class that shows a Spanish influence
A: “Bolero”
Names of the “Mighty Five” (or “Mighty Handful”) Russian composers.
A: César Cui, Aleksandr Borodin, Mily Balakirev, Modest Mussorgsky, and Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov
What was their organizing purpose?
A: to formalize a “national Russian style of music free from western European influences like Italian opera or German lieder.
How does Kimball describe Modest Mussorgsky’s style of text-setting?
A: pitched expression
Know the title (in English) of one of his famous song cycles:
A: Songs and Dances of Death, Sunless, The Nursery
Scandinavia
Know the music antecedents that influenced most of the countries.
A: folk songs and dances; Protestant church hymns; classical music developments in other countries
Know the literary influences and inspiration for Scandinavian vocal music.
A: national myths & legends; fairy tales; folk poetry; nature & supernatural.
Norway
Most famous composer:
A: Edvard Grieg
Kimball’s description of his style:
A:extremely sensitive to poetry and correct musical setting of words
Most famous and influential poet of Norway: Henrik Ibsen
Finland
Identify at least one famous composer of Art Song
A: Jean Sibelius, Yrjo Kilpinen
Kimball’s description of that person’s unique style of composition:
A: SIbelius- focus on nature and mythology, vocal parts technically demanding(broad in phrase), sparse texture in accompaniment.
Sweden
Identify at least one Swedish composer of Art Song from the Kimball book:
A: Wilhelm Stenhammer
Describe that composer’s unique style of composition:
A: Attracted to texts that depicted nature and the supernatural. Among the most authentic of Swedish composers.
Denmark
Identify at least one Danish composer of Art Song from the Kimball book:
A: Carl Nielsen
Describe that composer’s unique style of composition
A: Lovely, pure, disarmingly simple melodies. Accompaniments are also unassuming.
Name the most famous and influential Danish national poet:
A: Hans Christian Andersen
Besides poetry, what style of literature is he most famous for:
A: His literary fairy tales.
Spain
Name one of the most influential collectors and publishers of Spanish Folk Song:
A: Felipe Pedrell, Joaquin Nin y Castellanos
Renaissance & Baroque era Solo Vocal Music (Antecedents of Art Song in Spain)
A:-Accompanied by guitar or vihuela
-Incorporation of folk-dance rhythms
-Not as musically elaborate as in Italy:
-Less emphasis on virtuosity
-Ornaments used sparingly
-Simplicity and directly expressive musical settings of the text
3. Prominent composer of the era:
A: Jose Marin
4.17th to 18th century
A: Kimball describes the prominent and most popular style of vocal music as “theater music”.Exemplary composer – Sebastian Duron
5. 18th to 19th century
A:- Foundress of the Madrid Conservatory (1830)
– Queen Cristina (from Italy)
– Insisted on providing “Italian” music training for Spanish composers & musicians.
– Most of the vocal music reflected the “bel canto” style of writing.
6. Most composers focused all their vocal writing on theater music
A: Zarzuelas, Tonadillas
7. The “Spanish Idiom”
A: The exciting and exotic rhythms heard in Spanish theatrical music became popular in
other European countries. Influenced composers like Glinka, Berlioz, Bizet, etc.
8. Early 20th century
A: Pedrell’s influence on a national revival of Spanish music.
His published collections of folk songs inspired young composers to arrange them
or compose their own “folk-like” original songs.
9. Read Kimball’s discussions of Spanish composers for this era and their specific
styles/influences.
A: Albeniz-
Granados- (influence: Felipe Pedrell) miniaturist, exceptional accompaniment with voice, use of guitar, spanish vocal idioms
De Falla- (influence: Pedrell) authentic spanish style + classical style, dance/folk rhythms, vibrant textures
Turina-(influence: Debussy) intensely rhythmic, sensitive text settings, use of guitar figurations for piano
Mompou-(personification of Catalan song, not complex
Obradors-
Rodrigo-
Monsalvatge-
South America
Be able to identify composers associated with the national schools of these countries:
-Brazil: Carlos Gomes
-Mexico: Manuel Ponce
-Cuba: Nicolas Guillén
– Argentina: Carlos Guastavino
-Uruguay: Alfonso Broqua
– Peru: Andres Sas
-Venezuela: Juan Baptiste Plaza
-Colombia: Guillermo Uribe Holguín
20th & 21st Century Modernism
Be able to identify one contemporary “modernist” composer and describe his/her style of
composition
A: Luciano Berio
What elements in their writing define them as a “modernist” composer?
A:Combines lyric and expressive musical qualities with electronics and improvisational sections.
Does the composer employ extended vocal technique? If so, describe.
A: Spoken word, inhaling, yodelling, vocal fry, growling, mumbling.
Provide the title of a solo vocal piece that supports your argument.
A: Luciano Berio’s “Sequenza”