Art Song - Linking Poetry and Music

ISBN 978-1-6177-4080-0
Copyright © 2013 by Carol Kimball
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kimball, Carol (Mezzo-soprano)
Art song : linking poetry and music / Carol Kimball.
pages cm
ISBN 978-1-61774-080-0
1. Songs--Analysis, appreciation. 2. Songs--Interpretation (Phrasing,
dynamics, etc.) 3. Songs--History and criticism. I. Title.
MT120.K55 2013
782.42168--dc23
2013014322
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Contents
Foreword 9
Acknowledgements 13
1 What is Art Song? 15
Art Song: A Unique Hybrid 15
Art Song and Popular Song 16
Why Sing Art Songs? 17
Poetry as the Basis for Art Song 18
Creating a Musical Framework for Poems 19
Composers: On finding the right poem 19
Working With Art Song: The Singer’s Task 22
A Roadmap for Working With an Art Song 23
2 Poetry Basics for Singers 27
What Is Poetry?27
Who’s Afraid of Poetry? 28
The Power of Language29
Perks from Poetry30
Beginning to Look at Poems31
Guidelines for Beginning Readers of Poetry 32
Things to Notice:33
How does it look? 33
An Unusual Poetic Form 33
Important Basics35
Word Sounds 36
Texture 37
Imagery 37
Rhythm and Rhyme 40
Noticing Dramatic Qualities42
Reading Poetry—Pleasure Through Sound42
Reading Poetry—Pleasure Through Association43
Hearing Poems—Pleasure Through Listening43
Reading and Memorizing Poems44

Some Helpful Resources44
Websites to Visit 44
Poetry Books w/Recordings or Videos (Selected) 45
Some Foreign Language Resources for
Listening to Poetry 46
Applications for Electronic Devices 47
Selected Bibliography for this Chapter 47
3 Working With Poetry 51
Making Poetry a Part of Your Preparation 51
The Sounds of Words 52
Speak the Speech, I Pray You… 53
Reading Poems Aloud 53
Working With Foreign Language Texts 55
Exercises for Working With Texts 57
Descriptors 57
Five American Poems for Defining Descriptors 58
Five British Poems for Defining Descriptors 60
Five German Poems for Defining Descriptors 63
Five French Poems for Defining Descriptors 67
Five Italian Poems for Defining Descriptors 71
Five Spanish Poems for Defining Descriptors 73
Getting in Touch With Your Speaking Voice 76
Texture = Sound Quality 76
Be a Poetry Detective 81
Reciting to Music 82
Take the Poetry Pledge: Read a Poem a Day 83
Recommended American Poetry for Reading Aloud 84
Recommended British Poetry for Reading Aloud 87
Reading Poetry in Foreign Languages 89
Recommended German Poetry for Reading Aloud 90
Recommended French Poetry for Reading Aloud 91
Recommended Italian Poetry for Reading Aloud 92
Recommended Spanish Poetry for Reading Aloud 94
A Selected List of Helpful Poetic Terms 95

4 Working With Music 105
The Musical Framework for the Poem 105
The “Why” of the Musical Setting 106
Setting Words to Music 107
When Composer and Poet Collaborate 109
The Music of Art Song: A Vocabulary List 111
Style in Art Song 113
Components of Style 114
Melody 114
Harmony 115
Rhythm 117
The Piano in Art Song 119
Form 121
Exercise: An Examination of Three Musical Settings 121
Cultural/Artistic Contexts for Studying Art Songs 122
Art Song Study Sheets 125
Charles Ives: The Circus Band 125
Dominick Argento: Winter 128
Aaron Copland: Heart, we will forget him 131
Samuel Barber: A Nun Takes the Veil (Heaven-Haven) 133
5 Working With Repertoire: Formatting Recitals 139
The Recital Template: Building Programs 139
Creating a Cohesive Program 139
Some Parameters and Guidelines 141
Variety Is the Spice of Life 144
Encore! 144
Choosing Repertoire 146
Be a Pro-active Planner 146
Wise Choices for Your Voice 147
A Caveat for Recital Planners 148
A Word on Gender-Specific Texts 148
A Word on Transpositions 150
Arias on Recitals? 150
Repertoire Checklist 151
Creating Song Groups 151
Opening Groups 153
Opening Groups in Italian, English, Spanish 153
Examples of Weaker Groups 154

Song Choices for Different Occasions 155
Ramping Up the Song Recital: Thinking Outside the Box 158
Making Imaginative Choices 158
Song Groups with Different Designs 159
Shakespeare 159
One-poet Groups 159
Groups that Feature One Character/
Linked Characters 162
Adding Instruments to the Mix 163
Selected List of Vocal Works With Instruments 163
Women Poets/Women Composers 166
More Design Topics on the Subject of Women 168
Theme Recitals 171
Crossovers in the Concert Hall 173
What do you want the audience to remember? 175
Adding props, costumes, or staging to the art song 176
6 The Performance of Art Song 179
The Artistic Quest 180
What Do You Put First? Yourself or the Music? 180
The Singer as a Conduit 181
The Final Goal: An Organic Performance 183
Interpretation and Individuality 184
Imagination and Creativity 185
Shaping Phrases Creatively 187
Performance Is a Collaborative Effort 187
The Singer-Pianist Duo 188
Working With the Composer 189
Matters of Style 191
The Art Song Recital: Art or Entertainment? 192
How Much Is Too Much?—Thoughts on Dramatization 193
Le bon gout? 193
Example: Ravel’s Histoires naturelles 194
Are You a Good Storyteller? 196
Some Thoughts on Interpretation 198
Some Models of Artistry in Recital Performance 201
Envoi… 204

7 A Selected List of Vocal Literature for
Collegiate Voice Majors (Undergraduate) 207
Building an Art Song Library 207
Criteria for Choices 208
American Art Song 209
German Lieder 223
French Mélodie 237
British Art Song 246
Italian Art Song 253
Spanish and South American Art Song 257
Crossover Repertoire 262
Choosing Literature 263
Afterword 269
Appendix 1: The Poetry Poll 271
Appendix 2: The Printed Program: Guidelines 289
General Format: The Look of the Program 289
Cover Page, Program Page, Program Notes 290
A Word About Fonts 291
What to Leave Out 295
Sundry Slip-Ups 296
Setting the Tone: Program Notes 299
Paraphrasing 300
Translations 303
Credit Where Credit is Due 304
Are Any of These Yours? 304
Proofread Your Program! 306
A Proofreader’s Quiz 306
Guidelines for Song Titles 306
Guidelines for Printed Material: Suggested Reading 308
Appendix 3: A Selection of Various Recital Programs 311
Some Junior Voice Recitals 311
Some Senior Voice Recitals 316
Some Masters Voice Recitals 323
Some Doctoral Voice Recitals 331
A Theme Recital 340

A One-Language Theme Recital 342
A Doctoral Recital Contrasting Two Cycles 344
A Musical Theatre Program in “Recital” Format 346
Dame Janet Baker: An Artist Recital 349
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau: A One-Poet Recital 350
Joy in Singing Award Recital 352
Victoria de Los Angeles: An All-Spanish Recital 356
Poulenc: Le Travail du peintre
(notes for a Multi-Media Recital) 357
Poetry Permissions 361
A Selected Bibliography 369
General Studies of Song Repertoire and History 369
Poetic Studies and Translations 373
Performance Preparation 381
Diction 383
Repertoire Studies and Style 385
German Lieder 385
French Mélodie 387
American Art Song 391
British Art Song 392
Italian Art Song 393
Spanish Art Song 394
South American Art Song 394
About the Author 397

Chapter 3: Working With Poetry
Take the Poetry Pledge: Read a Poem a Day
Poetry is a river; many voices travel in it; poem after poem
moves along in the exciting crests and falls of the river waves. 12
—Mary Oliver
Below is a list of poems that can serve as practice material for
reading poetry aloud. These were chosen because all of them have
been set as art songs. Many of these can be found in poem anthologies,
others may be accessed by individual poet in library catalogs or on the
Internet. As a beginning goal, pick a poem every day or so for your
“reading practice.” It will be easiest to begin with poetry by American
or British poets and then move on to foreign language texts. Take the
poetry pledge: try to work your way up to reading a poem every day.
As daily reading becomes a habit, you will soon identify poets whose
work you enjoy reading, who are “on the same wave length.” Perhaps
you will be drawn to a specific historical period and a group of poets,
or one specific poet who wrote at that time. These discoveries are useful
in building recital groups and/or programs.
Reading a poem daily becomes a habit that yields excellent results
in our study of songs. If singers took the time to read poems aloud
each day, just as they schedule time in the practice room to warm
up their voices, and to learn and practice their music, imagine what
cumulative dividends it would pay in terms of their performances.
Choose any poem to begin your work. Do not feel you have to
complete the entire list. Do not be in a hurry to move on to another
poem until you are satisfied that you have done a thorough job with
the poem you are working with and have mastered reading it aloud.
As you work, it might be useful to record yourself; it might also be
valuable to read aloud for another person (perhaps another singer also
engaged in reading poetry aloud) so that you can gather constructive
comments on your reading.
Although many of these poems have been set by several composers
(some are listed in parentheses after the poem’s title), this list is for
practice reading the poems aloud, and this goal should be accomplished
apart from any musical setting. Copy the poem apart from the musical
score or read it from a poetry anthology. Do not use the musi-
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Art Song: Linking Poetry and Music
cal score for your reading practice! Remember, you are reading aloud
for fluency and for pleasure. Derek Attridge advises in his book Poetic
Rhythm: “When possible, read aloud. Even when you read a poem
silently, it should take up the same amount of time reading aloud
would give it.” 13
A list of books to help further your goals of reading poetry may be
found in the Bibliography at the back of the book (see “Poetry: References
for Study”). An abridged glossary of helpful poetic terms can be
found at the conclusion of this chapter.
Recommended American Poetry for Reading Aloud
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882)
The Children’s Hour
(Charles Ives)
Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
Beginning my studies
To what you said
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)
Dear March, come in!
Wild nights! Wild nights!
It’s all I have to bring today
Will there really be a morning?
There came a wind like a bugle
I’m Nobody! Who are you?
Heart! we will forget him
Ample make this Bed—
Robert Frost (1874–1963)
The Rose Family
Stopping by the Woods on a
Snowy Evening
The Pasture
(Lee Hoiby)
(Leonard Bernstein [Songfest])
(Aaron Copland, Lori Laitman)
(Ernst Bacon, Lee Hoiby, Lori Laitman,
Richard Pearson Thomas)
(Ernst Bacon, Lori Laitman)
(Ernst Bacon, Ricky Ian Gordon,
Richard Hundley, Vincent Persichetti,
André Previn, Lori Laitman)
(Aaron Copland, Ernst Bacon
[titled “A wind like a bugle”],
Lee Hoiby, Thomas Pasatieri)
(Lori Laitman, Arthur Farwell,
Vincent Persichetti, Ernst Bacon)
(John Duke, Arthur Farwell,
Aaron Copland, Richard Hundley)
(Daron Hagen, Jake Heggie,
Arthur Farwell, Gerald Ginsburg)
(John Musto, Elliott Carter)
(Ned Rorem)
(Charles Naginski, Henry Cowell)
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Chapter 3: Working With Poetry
Carl Sandburg (1878–1967)
Omaha
Fog
James Joyce (1882–1941)
In the dark pine-wood
I hear an army charging
upon the land
Strings in the earth and air
Sara Teasdale (1884–1933)
The Metropolitan Tower
The Mystery
Elinor Wylie (1885–1928)
Let us walk in the white snow
Little Elegy
(Ernst Bacon)
(Roy Harris, Alan Hovhaness)
(Samuel Barber, Ben Moore)
(Samuel Barber, David Del Tredici
[titled “I hear an army”])
(Richard Hundley, Luciano Berio,
Jean Coulthard)
(Lori Laitman)
(Lori Laitman)
(Randall Thompson
[titled “Velvet Shoes”], Mary Howe,
John Duke, Richard Hageman)
(Lori Laitman, John Duke,
Mary Howe, Ned Rorem)
Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)
Recuerdo
(John Musto,
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco)
Afternoon on a Hill
(Arthur Farwell)
Pity me not because the light of day (William Bolcom)
Sonnet XLIII: What lips my lips (Jake Heggie, Leonard Bernstein,
have kissed, and where, and why Jack Beeson)
e. e. (Edward Estlin) cummings (1894–1962)
meggie and milly and molly and may (Richard Hundley, John Musto,
Vincent Persichetti)
i carry your heart with me… (John Duke
[titled “i carry your heart”])
who knows if the moon’s a balloon (Dominick Argento,
Vincent Persichetti, Lee Hoiby
[titled “always, it’s spring”])
when faces called flowers
(Dominick Argento, John Duke)
float out of the ground
Robert Hillyer (1895–1961)
Early in the Morning
(Ned Rorem, John Duke
[titled “Morning in Paris”])
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Art Song: Linking Poetry and Music
(James Mercer) Langston Hughes (1902–1967)
Song for a Dark Girl
(Ricky Ian Gordon)
Genius Child
(Ricky Ian Gordon)
Dream Variations
(Margaret Bonds)
The Dream Keeper
Theodore Roethke (1908–1963)
The Waking
(Ned Rorem, William Bolcom,
Judith Cloud)
My Papa’s Waltz
(Ned Rorem, David Diamond)
Elizabeth Bishop (1911–1979)
Sonnet (I am in need of music)
We lived in a pocket of time
(Ben Moore, Chris DiBlasio,
Judith Cloud, Tobias Picker,
Lori Laitman [set as a duet])
(Lee Hoiby [titled “A pocket of time”])
Paul Goodman (1911–1972)
The Lordly Hudson
Such beauty as hurts to behold
(Ned Rorem)
(Ned Rorem)
Tennessee Williams (1911–1983)
The Cabin
(Paul Bowles)
Heavenly Grass
(Paul Bowles)
Three
(Paul Bowles)
Richard Wilbur (b.1921)
Museum Piece
For C
It must be me
Mary Oliver (b.1935)
Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me
Blue Iris
Dana Gioia (b. 1950)
The Apple Orchard
Pentecost
House (Insomnia No. 2)
(Stephen Paulus)
(Lori Laitman
[titled “A Wild Sostenuto”])
(Leonard Bernstein [Candide])
(Lori Laitman)
(Lori Laitman)
(Lori Laitman)
(Lori Laitman)
(Tom Cipullo)
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Chapter 3: Working With Poetry
Recommended British Poetry for Reading Aloud
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
When icicles hang by the wall (Dominick Argento)
O mistress mine
It was a lover and his lass
Fear no more the heat o’ the sun
Come away, come away death
(Gerald Finzi, Roger Quilter)
(Peter Warlock [titled “Pretty ring
time”], Erich Korngold [titled “When
birds do sing”], Madeleine Dring,
Gerald Finzi)
(Gerald Finzi, Roger Quilter)
(Ralph Vaughan Williams,
Erich Korngold, Gerald Finzi
[titled “Come away, death”],
Dominick Argento [titled “Dirge”],
Jacques Leguerney [titled “Come
away, come away”], Lee Hoiby,
Madeleine Dring, Roger Quilter)
Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
To Celia (Drink to me only
with thine eyes)
(Richard Faith, Roger Quilter)
Orlando Gibbons (1583–1625)
The Silver Swan
(Lori Laitman, Ned Rorem,
Eric Thiman)
Robert Herrick (1591–1674)
Whenas in silks my Julia goes
To the virgins,
to make much of time
To Music, to becalm his Fever
Edmund Waller (1606–1687)
Song
(Ned Rorem, John Corgliano
[titled “Upon Julia’s Clothes”])
(Madeleine Dring, Ben Moore,
Mervyn Horder, Thomas Pasatieri:
[titled “Gather ye rosebuds”], Roger
Quilter [titled “To the virgins”])
(Ned Rorem, Paul Hindemith)
(Roger Quilter, Ned Rorem,
[both titled “Go lovely rose”])
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
Music, when soft voices die
(Richard Faith, Ernest Gold,
David Diamond, Peter Warlock,
Roger Quilter, Libby Larsen,
Frank Bridge)
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Art Song: Linking Poetry and Music
John Keats (1795–1821)
A Thing of Beauty
(William Schuman [titled “Beauty”],
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco)
Robert Browning (1812–1889)
Grow old along with me!
(Lori Laitman
[titled “Along with me”], Jake Heggie)
The year’s at the spring
(Amy Beach, Ned Rorem
[titled “Pippa’s Song”])
Christina Rossetti (1830–1894)
Echo
(Lori Laitman, John Musto,
Richard Faith, Thomas Pasatieri)
When I am dead, my dearest (Ralph Vaughan Williams,
Richard Hageman, Lori Laitman
[titled “Song”], Roger Quilter
[titled “A song at parting”])
My heart is like a singing bird (Ned Rorem, Mario Castelnuovo-
Tedesco, Richard Faith)
Lewis Carroll (1832–1898)
Jabberwocky
(Lee Hoiby, John Duke)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)
I will make you brooches… (Ralph Vaughan Williams
[titled “The Roadside Fire”])
Bright is the Ring of Words
(Ralph Vaughan Williams)
The Vagabond
(Ralph Vaughan Williams)
A.E. Housman (1859–1936)
Loveliest of trees
When I was one-and-twenty
The Half-Moon Westers Low
(John Duke, George Butterworth,
Ivor Gurney, Celius Dougherty,
Mervyn Horder)
(George Butterworth, John Duke,
Ivor Gurney, Mervyn Horder)
(Jake Heggie)
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
The Cloths of Heaven
(Rebecca Clarke, Ivor Gurney)
Down by the Salley Gardens (Rebecca Clarke, Benjamin Britten,
Ivor Gurney)
Kathleen Raine (1908–2003)
Lament
Nocturn
(Judith Cloud, Geoffrey Bush)
(Judith Cloud)
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Chapter 3: Working With Poetry
Philip Larkin (1922–1985)
Within the dream you said
Friday Night in the
Royal Station Hotel
Talking in Bed
(Daron Hagen)
(André Previn)
(André Previn, Daron Hagen)
Reading Poetry in Foreign Languages
For English speakers, working with poetry apart from its musical setting
may be more difficult in foreign languages such as German, French,
or Italian. You may have studied and/or performed repertoire in these
languages, but it is quite different to extract the poetry and work with it
as previously outlined. As singing artists we need to go beyond just being
able to sing with correct pronunciation. We need to be able to determine
the meaning of the poetic line and read it with resonance and inflection
just as we would sing a vocal phrase applying the same criteria.
Before beginning work with the foreign text, have an English
translation handy. This should not be a translation intended to be sung,
but a translation in poetic form. Most of these selections will have a
number of English translations from which to choose. The reader is
directed to Philip Miller’s classic book The Ring of Words: An Anthology
of Song Texts (New York: W. W. Norton Co. 1973), a collection of German,
French, Italian, Russian, and Scandinavian poems that have been
set as songs. Every text has an English translation on the facing page.
Other books of foreign language texts with translations may be found
in the Bibliography (see “Texts and Translations”).
Below are lists of some well known examples of Lieder, mélodie,
and Italian and Spanish art song texts. Most of these contain specific
imagery, some present a definite story with delineated characters, and
others are more sophisticated in content. Work with these texts in the
same way as outlined for texts in English.
Begin with a selection you are familiar with or have sung before.
If you have not heard the musical setting for the poem you choose,
listening to a recording might provide a good starting place. In parentheses,
following the poems, are the names of some composers who
have set the text as an art song.
89