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From:  "Sheila Graham" <sheilagraham@b...>
"Sheila Graham" <sheilagraham@b...>
Date:  Thu Dec 6, 2001  8:59 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Competition art song


Hi all,

Karen, do you do comedy? I wondered about Mahler's 'Lob des hohen verstands'
from Knaben Wonderhorn - I think it could be classed as art song (just!) It
would give a completely different mood from your other pieces, and, because
of the subject matter, would be a fun song to sing in a competition. If done
with charm, it would raise a smile in most juries - they'd certainly
remember you!

Vocally, the range is over two octaves, from A below middle C up to Bb,
although the top note is part of the donkey's 'Ee-aw', and so doesn't have
to be too beautiful.

(For those who don't know the song, it tells the story of a singing
competition between a cuckoo and a nightingale. The judge is the donkey, who
finds the nightingale's song much too confusing, and awards the prize to the
cuckoo. Mahler wasn't being terribly subtle here.)

Regards,

Sheila


Sheila Graham
Mezzo-Soprano, Edinburgh, Scotland

www.sheilagraham.demon.co.uk

'She is a singer, and therefore capable of anything' (Bellini)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Karen Mercedes" <dalila@R...>
From: "Karen Mercedes" <dalila@R...>
To: <vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com>
To: <vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 06, 2001 7:06 PM
Subject: [vocalist] Competition art song


> Here's the situation: Competition season is coming 'round again, including
> those stupid competitions that make you sing repertoire that never
> otherwise in 100 years would you perform. For me, that repertoire is art
> song.
>
>
> I'm one of those singers who has little/no interest in performing art
> song (or, to be totally honest, even in listening to it). Thus, my
> repertoire of same is pretty limited - mainly I've learned a handful of
> art songs that I loved too much not to have learned. Trouble is, they are
> all in English, Italian, or French except for:
>
> Mahler: Kindertotenlieder - which may not, must not, cannot be excerpted
> (Mahler was VERY explicit about this - no excerpting, no changing the
> order of the songs within the cycle - and I frankly think it would be both
> arrogant and ignorant of me to ignore his instructions in this regard).
>
> Brahms: Op. 91 - which require viola or cello along with piano, so are
> "out" in terms of competitions.
>
> Grieg: Jeg elsker dig - possibly the shortest art song ever written,
> although gorgeous and expressive.
>
>
> So given the Mahler is out and the Brahms is out, and I am
> constitutionally unprepared to spend any time learning a new Lied for this
> competition (I did actually start working on Schubert's "Der Tod und
> Maedchen" until I realised that, other than the low D at the end, this
> song has very little to recommend it, and is a fine example of what I
> dislike about singing in German), would the Grieg be an acceptable
> alternative. It's Danish - which is not French, Italian, or English.
>
> I know it's very short - but frankly my other pieces are rather ambitious
> - "Give him this orchid" from Britten's RAPE OF LUCRETIA, "O don fatale"
> from Verdi's DON CARLO, "D'amour l'ardente flamme" from Berlioz's LA
> DAMNATION DE FAUST, and either "Iris hence away" from Handel's SEMELE, or
> "But who may abide the day of His coming" from MESSIAH (I thought long and
> hard about doing one of the Bach MAGNIFICAT arias, which would make my
> fourth language Latin, but I'm honest enough to recognise that these are
> not ideal pieces for me vocally).
>
> On the other hand, if I were to take on a new piece at this point, I'd
> much rather it be an oratorio aria that I might actually use some day -
> and I have been learning the alto arias from the B MINOR MASS and from
> Verdi's REQUIEM. But the latter is "out" for competition purposes because
> - I didn't mention this - I also must have a piece from the Baroque, and
> as much as I love it, "Cara sposa" from RINALDO is nine minutes long and I
> cannot bring myself to start it in the middle, or cut the da capo - I just
> HATE the very idea; it's one thing to excerpt the best 16 bars of a
> musical theatre song for an audition; it's quite another to butcher the
> most exquisite aria Handel ever wrote. (Do I feel too strongly about the
> music I perform?)
>
> So my inclination is to go with the Grieg - short and sweet as it is -
> because I'll be showing off 10 ways from Sunday in my other pieces; the
> very simplicity of the Grieg in contrast with my other selections may,
> indeed, be the strongest argument for including in my competition package.
> Plus it's a song I could sing after running the marathon - which I may
> well be doing the vocal equivalent of if they ask for the Verdi, Britten,
> AND Berlioz in succession.
>
> The only other possibility I thought of was Tchaikovsky's "None but the
> lonely heart", but frankly I think it will take me too long to get the
> Russian diction together compared with the four lines of Danish I need for
> the one-verse Grieg song.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> Karen Mercedes
> http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
> ***************************************
> Verdi and Wagner delighted the crowds
> With their highly original sound.
> The pianos they played are still working,
> But they're both six feet underground.
> - Michael Palin
>
>
>
>
>
>



  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date Size
15789 Re: Competition art song Deal Diva Laura   Thu  12/6/2001   8 KB

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