Art Song

What is an Art Song?

- An Art song is the musical representation of a

poem.
• Art songs have been composed in many
languages, and are known by several names. The
German tradition of art song composition and is
perhaps the most prominent one; it is known
as Lieder. In France, the term Mélodie
distinguishes art songs from other French vocal
pieces referred to as chansons and their is English
art Songs.
• An art song may either be through-composed
(each stanza of the poem is sung to new music) or
strophic (all stanzas of the poem are sung to the
same music)
• A group of art songs that is conected by a musical
idea is called "Song cycle".
• Two things happened that paved the way for the
creation of the art song
-Popular German poets, Von Goethe and
Heine, wrote verses about love, the beauty of
nature and supernatural events.
-During the same time, the manufacturing of
pianos with an iron harp made for more
expressive instruments.
-As a result, composers discovered that they
could transform the poems into songs and
use the piano to enhance and intensify
their meaning
• In general, Art songs were short pieces, and while
many were suitable for amateurs to learn and sing
in at home, most were intended for trained artists
to perform in the concert hall.

• Art Song, like classical music, is essentially an

urban phenomenon, in some ways a lingering
product of an aristocratic society with origins in
the medieval courts, colleges, cities and churches.

• an art song strives to be the perfect combination

of music and literature, based on four elements:
poet, composer, singer and accompanist.
• In well-realized Art Song, the composer creates a
duet between the accompanist and the vocalist.
That is, the art song paints for us a picture of
what the poet might have envisioned. The
performance of an art song literally breathes life
into this picture through a complementary,
coordinated partnership among the four
significant elements.
 Mélodie
A Mélodie is the accompanied art song of the 19th and 20th centuries.
The 19th century Mélodie was usually a setting of a serious lyric
poem for solo voice and piano that recognizably combined and
unified the poetic and musical forms.The Mélodie arose just before
the middle of the 19th century in France. The text of a mélodie was
more likely to be taken from contemporary, serious poetry and the
music was also generally of a more profound sort. Further, while
most composers in this genre were Romantics, at least in
chronology, certain features of mélodies have led many to view
them as not properly Romantic.
• Charles Gounod is often viewed as the first distinct composer
of mélodies: his compositional style evolves imperceptibly
and illustratively from romance to mélodie. He wrote over
200 mélodies, on texts by such poets as Victor Hugo and
Lamartine. His setting of Lord Byron's Maid of Athens, in
English, is a perfect example of a romance that has become a
mélodie. Though numerous other composers, such as
Massenet, wrote mélodies during Gounod's lifetime, a name
that cannot be omitted is that of Gabriel Fauré. He wrote over
100 mélodies and has been called the French Schumann,
though their styles and essential temperaments were very
different.
 Lieder
Originally denoted in classical music the setting of Romantic German poems to
music, especially during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Among English speakers,"Lied" is often used interchangeably with "art
song" to encompass works that the tradition has inspired in other
languages. The poems that have been made into Lieder often center on
pastoral themes or themes of romantic love.Typically, Lieder are arranged
for a single singer and piano, the Lied with orchestral accompaniment being
a later development in Germany, the great age of song came in the
nineteenth century. German and Austrian composers had written music for
voice with keyboard before this time, but it was with the flowering of German
literature in the Classical and Romantic eras that composers found
inspiration in poetry that sparked the genre known as the Lied.
 Lieder
It was with Schubert that a new balance was found between words and music,
a new absorption into the music of the sense of the words. Schubert wrote
over 600 songs, some of them in sequences or song cycles that relate an
adventure of the soul rather than the body.The tradition was continued by
Schumann, Brahms, and Hugo Wolf, and on into the 20th century
by Strauss, Mahlerand Pfitzner. Partisans of atonal music, such as Arnold
Schoenberg and Anton Webern, composed Lieder in their own style.
 English Art Song
the composition of art song in England and English-speaking countries has a
long history, beginning with lute song in the late 16th century and continuing
today.
17th century
The composition of polyphonic music was at its peak in the late 16th century.
By that time, however, the lute started to gain popularity, and was very
common among educated people by 1600. Giulio Caccini and the Florentine
Camerata developed the monody, for solo voice with lute accompaniment,
around 1600. Caccini traveled around Europe, other countries begin
developing their own solo songs with lute, especially the English
composers. John Dowland (1563–1626) and Thomas Campion (1567–1620)
emerged as the best-known and most respected of the composers of lute
song. Later in the 17th century, Henry Purcell (1659–95) composed many
solo songs for his semi-operas, and his songs are also generally considered
among the best early English Art songs.
 English Art Song
18th century
George Frideric Handel (1685–1759) made Italian opera very popular in
London, but The Beggar's Opera in 1729, a parody of Handel's Italian
operas, created a new fad for English popular opera, and Italian opera in
London faded by 1740. Thus, the two important types of English solo vocal
music in the mid 18th century are oratorios by Handel, and "pastiche
operas" or "ballad operas" from Arne, Boyce and other English composers.
The publication of solo vocal music (songs often called "canzonets" or
canzonettas") with English texts at the end of the 18th century helped to
establish the art song genre in subsequent years. 20th century. The great
success of European Romantic composers encouraged a "Renaissance" of
English music, especially vocal music. Interest in British folk music was
expanded through the work of Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaughan Williams and
others; it gradually becomes incorporated into British "classical" music.
 English Art Song
20th century
The great success of European Romantic composers encouraged a
"Renaissance" of English music, especially vocal music. Interest in British
folk music was expanded through the work of Cecil Sharp, Ralph Vaughan
Williams and others; it gradually becomes incorporated into British
"classical" music
Key Composers
 Franz Schubert
Born on January 31, 1797 in Himmelpfortgrund, Austria,died on November 19,
1828, in Vienna, Austria. Franz Peter Schubert demonstrated an early gift
for music. As a child, his talents included an ability
to play the piano, violin, organ and was also an excellent singer. Schubert is
regarded as the supreme melodist among the great composers. Many of his
melodies do sound effortless. They flow from his symphonies, string
quartets, sonatas, and other instrumental works from the music he wrote for
the stage. But his talent shone the brightest in his famous Lieder.Boosted by
a wealth of late 18th-
century lyric poetry and the development of the piano, Schubert tapped the
poetry of giants like Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, showing the world the
possibilty of representing their works in musical form. He wrote over 600 lieder,
many of which are still highly regarded today.
Gretchen am Spinnrade D 118 (1814)
"Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel"
Der Erlkönig D328 (1815)
"Elf King"
Serenade
 Johannes Brahms
Widely considered one of the 19th century's greatest composers and one of
the leading musicians of the Romantic era, Johannes Brahms was born on May
7, 1833, in Hamburg, Germany and died on April 3, 1897, from
complications due to cancer.
His father was a double bassist in the Hamburg Philharmonic Society, and the
young Brahms began playing piano at the age of seven. By the time he was
a teenager, Brahms was already an accomplished musician, and he used
his talent to earn money at local inns, in brothels and along the city's docks
to ease his family's often tight financial conditions.
Brahms was introduced to the renowned German composer and music critic
Robert Schumann. The two men quickly grew close, with Schumann seeing
in his younger friend great hope for the future of music. Over the next
several years, Brahms held several different posts, including conductor of a
women's choir in Hamburg, which he was appointed to in 1859. He also
continued to write his own music. He wrote over 260 lieder, but is better
remembered for his symphonies and other works, succeeded Schumann.
Sonntag opt.47 No.3
Standchen
 Robert Schumann
He was born June 8, 1810 in Germany and died on July 29,1856 in Germany.
He began his muical education at the age of six, studying the piano. Robert
Schumann's works are noted for its links to literature. Many of his
compositions allude to characters or scenes from poems, novels, and plays;
others are like musical crossword puzzles with key signatures or musical
themes that refer to people or places important to the composer. This
intimate relationship with the written word gives his music an extra
dimension. At the same time, its sheer joyfulness ranks it among the best
loved music of the age, He stands in the front rank of German Romantic
figures.
Dichterliebe ( Poet's Love)
Widmung op. 25