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From: Karen Mercedes
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: 20th century music
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

On Wed, 26 Jan 2000 WaDiJeDo-at-aol.com wrote:

> hi listers,
> I need help! i am looking to do a paper on 20 century music, and since i am a
> singer i think i would like to do it on vocal music, maybe an opera. But
> because I am not an opera buff, I don't know which will give me the best for
> my money, any suggestions? this class that I am taking is with the professor
> that has given me many griefs (if you recall from my earlier posts) and since
> i reported him to the Chair person and the Dean, I really need to do the best
> possible work ever. So that there is no question about my grading. Also if
> anyone can direct me to any sites that explain the difference between 20th &
> 19th century music. My books of theory only touch on 20th century.
> many thanks
> janis


As much as I adore Puccini's operas, and while a few of them were written
in the 20th century, I'd avoid them as a 20th Century Music topic.

You might, instead, consider doing a paper on the vocal music of one of
Les Six (Poulenc, Honegger, et al - the "followers" of Debussy).

You might consider doing something on vocal music by Shostakovich, or on
his opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtensk District.

You might do something on one of Prokofiev's operas - The Love for Three
Oranges, The Fiery Angel, or War and Peace.

You might do something on one of Benjamin Britten's operas, or on his
War Requiem.

You might do a paper on the relationship (artistic) on Alexander
Zemlinsky, who was a kind of artistic and personal link between Arnold
Schoenberg, Richard Strauss, and Gustav Mahler.

You might do a paper on the Sequenzas by Luciano Berio.

You might do a paper on the operas of Michael Tippett - The Knot Garden, A
Midsummer Marriage, King Priam, et al.

You might do a paper on the operas of Giancarlo Menotti, or Francis
Poulenc, or Douglas Moore, or Manuel de Falla.

I'd suggest that you figure out which composer you like enough to want to
devote this much thought and research to, and then find a piece of vocal
music by that composer that you feel is "paper-worthy".

KM
=====
There is delight in singing,
tho' none hear Beside the singer.
- Walter Savage Landor
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