I'm not German, but since no German listers seem to have responded I'll
take a stab. (I have been told by German speakers more than once that I
*do* pronounce German like a native though.). I generally flip the 'r' very
gently at the end of a syllable, somewhat more strongly at the beginning.
This would be for Lieder. I notice that as Papageno I roll them a bit more,
and still more in a Praetorius thing I did a few years ago, so I think
period and genre must be taken into consideration. For me this is a matter
of both taste and consistency, and thus somewhat personal. john
At 09:51 PM 10/22/00 -0400, you wrote:
>Dear list,
>More and more the final 'r' in German lyric diction is being treated as a
>schwa /@/ or as the upside-down lowercase 'a' (lowest back vowel). I
>continue to teach all r's as flipped or rolled with the caution that current
>practice is changing. I do this because most voice teachers and many
>coaches treat the r's as flipped and many native-speaking singers of German
>still flip all r's.
>
>I do not like the use of the 'upsidedown a' because it puts stress where
>none should be. I'm not wild about using the schwa either. In both cases
>the dropping of the final 'r' as a consonant promotes more glottal onsets
>when following words begin with vowels (in beginning singers). Eg. nur
>ein, der eine, er ists, etc.
>
>How do you deal with the 'r' these days? I don't teach German until next
>semester but I'm really wrestling with how far to go with this detail of the
>language. It's probably not worth going into in depth for a freshman
>diction class but I want my students to be as current as necessary with
>performance practice.
>
>As I listen to CDs of Lieder and opera I hear that most r's are flipped or
>rolled and this will always be the sound my ear prefers for these artforms.
>My allegiance is still to Siebs!
>
>FYI, I'm not inexperienced as a diction teacher. I've taught it
>successfully for 25 years. I'm just trying to decide what to do and how
>much to do.
>
>Thanks for listening and thanks in advance for your input.
>Cindy Donnell
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John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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