Music For Voices

Vocal range Here are the main vocal ranges from highest to lowest
Solo song
Different types of solo song include lieder, arias, ballads and folk songs.

Lieder

Lieder (pronounced leeder) are German art songs from the Romantic period (roughly the 19th century). Lieder are written for piano and voice for performance in homes and concert halls. The piano does more than provide an accompaniment, it is in equal partnership with the voice and has an important role in the song.

The piano part reflects the mood of the poem and the poetic imagery. Lieder have rich, colourful harmony and frequent modulations (changes of key). Common poetic themes are love, longing and the beauty of nature.

Forms of Leider
There are two main forms:
  • strophic – the same music for each verse
  • through-composed – different music for each verse

Many composers wrote lieder during the 19th century. The most famous are by Schubert who wrote over 600 songs. Schubert sometimes grouped his lieder together in song-cycles. Each cycle has a story or a theme. His song cycle Wintereisse has a theme of unrequited love.

Schumann, Brahms and Hugo Wolf also wrote many lieder.

Schubert’s lied Der Erlkönig (Erlking) is set to the words of the Romantic poet Goethe. It tells the story of a father and son riding through the night and the death of the child as he is snatched away by the Erlking, a supernatural being.

Listen to the opening of the Erlking by Schubert. The piano sets the mood with its minor key, pounding triplets and rumbling bass depicting the galloping horse and the mounting anxiety.

Arias

Arias are solo songs found in operas and oratorio.

An opera is a drama set to music, acted and sung by solo singers and accompanied by an orchestra.

One of the most famous operatic tenor arias is Nessun Dorma (No one shall sleep) from Puccini’s opera Turandot. This impassioned lyrical aria famously ends on a high sustained B. The voice is accompanied by orchestra and choir.

An oratorio is a setting of religious words for solo singers, chorus and orchestra. Unlike an opera an oratorio is not staged. Messiah by Handel is the most popular oratorio.
Listen to He was despised, a da capo aria from Handel’s Messiah. The voice is a contralto. Notice the harpsichord continuo and the ornamentation – both typical of the Baroque period.

Da capo arias were common in the 18th century. A da capo aria is one where the voice returns to the head of the score (da capo) and repeats the first section of the music. It was common for the soloist to add ornamentation when the first section was repeated.

Pop Ballads

Ballads:
  • are slow, often sentimental, love songs
  • sometimes tell a story
  • are usually in verse and chorus form
  • emphasise melody and lyrics, the accompaniment is often secondary
  • are often accompanied on guitar or keyboard
  • are found in many styles of pop music
Some famous ballad singers are Frank Sinatra (eg My Way), Elvis Presley (eg Always on my mind) and Stevie Wonder (eg My Cherie Amour).

Folk Songs

British and American folk songs:
  • often have a simple strummed guitar accompaniment
  • are sometimes unaccompanied
  • are usually in verse form (strophic)
  • sometimes, but don't always, have choruses
  • emphasise lyrics, which often tell a story and sometimes have a political message
  • place secondary importance on the accompaniment, with simple harmony and strummed chords
Examples of well-known folk songs include The Foggy Dew (English), She Moved Through the Fair (Irish) and Freight Train (American).
Vocal music for small emsembles
Types of small vocal ensemble include madrigal group and chamber choir.

Madrigals

The madrigal was a popular vocal form during the Renaissance period.

Madrigals
  • are usually for four to six unaccompanied solo voices
  • are short, secular (not sacred) pieces
  • make much use of imitation
  • use word-painting where the meaning of the words is reflected in the music
  • often use melisma where several notes are sung to the same syllable


Listen to Sing we at Pleasure by the English madrigalist Thomas Weelkes. Notice the independent parts for five voices and the use of imitation.

Choral Music

Different types of choirs include mixed choirs (usually with parts for SATB - soprano, alto, tenor and bass), male voice choirs, female choirs, and a cappella ensembles.

A cappella ensembles are unaccompanied choruses. Ladysmith Black Mambazo are an a cappella Zulu male voice choir from South Africa. African songs are usually either strophic (split up into verses) or in call-and-response form.

In call-and-response form the leader sings a line (the call) and is answered by a chorus (the response). The chorus usually stays the same while the soloist improvises. There is often overlapping between the leader and the chorus. The chorus part is usually homophonic (in block chords).



Listen to the call and response used in The Star and the Wiseman sung by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Notice the homophonic response parts.

Listening...

How a choir works
- Choral Polyphony

Choral polyphonic texture is explored through performance and commentary by choral experts including Gareth Malone who demonstrates this device by conducting a choir who perform William Byrd's 'Mass for three Voices'. Experts describe what the word means and how lines of sound that occur together pass the listener's ear from part to part - all working together perfectly harmoniously.

How a choir works
- Words and
Pronunciation

How a choir communicates words is explained and demonstrated by a mixed adult choir. The conductor identifies how the singers pronounce the words in different ways to show how crucial the unity of intended meaning emanating from the performance is. Gareth Malone explains how singing words with clarity and precision combined with unity of meaning is at the heart of a great choral performance. This clip contains valuable erudite commentary on precisely what lies behind a great choral performance.

Carmen at the Opera
House - Toreador Song

The character Escamillo sings the toreador song from Bizet's opera Carmen. The performance is from a grand production on stage in an opera house accompanied by a full orchestra, cast and chorus. The French libretto is translated into English appearing as captions at the bottom of the screen as the character sings the gory story of the bullfight and is joined by the chorus in what is perhaps the most famous of all operatic arias.

Understanding Madrigals

Conductor and Radio 3 presenter Robert Hollingworth tells the story of 'Fair Phyllis' - an English madrigal by John Farmer. He explains how devices such as polyphony and stretto are used to reinforce and support the action in the story. It is accompanied by a performance of the song from vocal ensemble 'I Fagiolini'.