A Performer's Guide to Language and Song

Abstract

This project centers around the development and final performance of my Senior Recital that took place on December 1, 2018. For my Senior Recital I performed art songs and arias encompassing a wide array of styles and time periods. While my Senior Recital culminated into a one-hour long performance, it was developed through many hours of research, preparation and practice. For my recital I sang in a number of different languages, various styles and written by many composers. My program consisted of “Der Musensohn,” “Schäfers Klagelied,” and “Rastlose Liebe” all by Franz Schubert (1797-1828), “What Would Missus Herring Say?” from Benjamin Britten’s (1913-1976) Albert Herring, “Faites-lui mes aveux” from Charles Gounod’s (1818-1893) Faust, “Pourquoi?,” “Le Sourire,” and “La Fiancée Perdue” from Oliver Messian’s (1908-1992) song cycle Trois Mélodies, “Pensa alla patria” from Giachino Rossini’s (1792-1868) L’Italiana in Algeri, “Chanson espagnole,” “Chanson française,” “Chanson hébraïque,” and “Chanson italienne” from Maurice Ravel’s (1875-1937) song cycle Chants populaires, “What a movie!” from Leonard Bernstein’s (1918-1990) Trouble in Tahiti, “Who Am I?” from Bernstein’s Peter Pan, “A Little Bit in Love” from Bernstein’s Wonderful Town, and “Some Other Time” from Bernstein’s On the Town. In total, the languages I studied and performed included German, English, French, Hebrew, Italian and Spanish. When learning all of these pieces it was necessary to study not only how to pronounce each language in order to accurately sing it, but also the meaning behind the text. For vocal music, the text or poetry is as important as the music, and it is necessary to understand the poet’s motivation and meaning behind what they’ve written. This written project will explain the process and references I used when preparing my Senior Recital.