Russian Repertoire: Developmental Perspectives D.M.A. Document A document submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts at The Ohio State University By Katherine Elizabeth Petersen, M.M. Graduate Program in Music The Ohio State University 2015 Document Committee: Scott McCoy, Advisor Loretta Robinson Ryan Skinner Copyright Katherine Elizabeth Petersen 2015 Abstract An examination of almost any university’s collection of programs from past voice recitals would reveal a standard pattern. There may be an aria from oratorio or opera, a set of songs in each the Italian, French, German and English languages and periodically something in Spanish or Latin, but very rarely does an audience have the privilege of listening to songs or a song cycle from the standard Russian repertoire. Furthermore, for all intents and purposes, a standard Russian repertoire does not exist in the United States. Somehow during the process of recital programming, jury preparation, and song literature course construction, Russian art song gets neglected and left for another time. Certainly, the paucity of Russian repertoire is not due to a lack of appreciation for Russian music; most of the orchestras in the United States program at least one piece by a Russian composer every season. Consequently, almost every musician can name a piece by Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, or the members of “The Mighty Handful.” And operatic works including Mussorgsky’s Boris Gudonov and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin regularly are heard. But, there is a generation of voice teachers that has limited knowledge of this repertoire and teachers have confined opinions as to how this repertoire should be assigned- perhaps because they were trained during the era of the Cold War. Not only was it difficult to access manuscripts for Russian music, but it was also taboo to study and/or perform this repertoire. Unfortunately, most teachers assign ii music with which they are already familiar and that will serve their intended pedagogical purpose; and so Russian repertoire has been ignored. The second reason why this music has yet to be assimilated into the standard vocal repertoire is more obvious: a language barrier. Russian is a difficult language with a completely different alphabet and imprecise application of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Assigning this music can be difficult and intimidating when the studio teacher is unable to guide pronunciation and language development. Fortunately, there is a growing number of resources to mitigate this process including Emily Olin’s book Singing in Russian and Anton Belov’s website russianartsong.com. Consequently, the purpose of this paper is to acquaint the singer community with Russian music history and to cultivate an appreciation for the repertoire so as to reinstate these songs into the cannon of standard vocal repertoire. Part I of this document looks at the origins and influences of Russian art song and gives a brief narrative of prominent composers’ biographical information and compositional characteristics. Part II gives recommendations for repertoire assignments. Each song included in this section has been subjected to rubric assessment based on the rubrics in Dr. Christopher Arneson’s book Literature for Teaching: Repertoire for a Developmental Perspective (2014). The rubric used will provide a guide for difficulty level and notes for specific comments including gender requirements, registration issues, pronunciation caution, and other pedagogical concerns. Part III serves as a quick reference guide for choosing repertoire by listing songs in categories including gender, pedagogic concerns, and subject matter. In addition to the numerous published pronunciation guides and repertoire collections, it is this author’s goal to provide a resource that makes choosing to teach Russian song repertoire less intimidating. iii Dedication Dedicated to the students at The Ohio State University iv Acknowledgements To Ghenady Meirson at The Academy of Vocal Arts, Thank you for introducing me to this amazing repertoire. I had never felt a truly visceral connection to art song until I found Rachmaninoff and Rubinstein. To Scott McCoy at The Ohio State University, Thank you for the numerous hours spent editing and correcting this document. But more importantly, thank you for all of your time, encouragement, and patience. You helped me find my voice and reminded me of what a joy it is to sing. To my mother, Thank you for the endless encouragement and love. You are my rock. v Vita 2015 Doctor of Musical Arts (ABD) in Voice Performance, The Ohio State University DMA Document: Russian Repertoire: Developmental Perspectives Document Supervisor: Scott McCoy Studies with Scott McCoy, Ryan Behan, and Edward Bak 2013 Certificate, The Russian Opera Workshop in Philadelphia, PA Studies with Ghenady Meirson, Laura Ward and Donald St. Pierre 2011 Master of Music in Voice Pedagogy and Performance, Westminster Choir College MM Document: An Investigation of the Effectiveness of Learning Lyric Diction Rules with the Assistance of Interactive Tutorials Document Supervisor: Scott McCoy Studies with Margaret Cusack and Rochelle Jonck 2009 Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance, State University of New York in Fredonia, NY Studies with Angela Dilkey-Haas Field of Study Major Field: Music vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………….……………ii Dedication…………………………..…………………………………………………………….………….iv Acknowledgements…………….………………………..……………………………………………………v Vita…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..vi Part One: Historical Perspective………………………………………………………………………….…..1 Part Two: Repertoire Rubrics…………………………………………………………………………….…31 Example 1…………………………………………………………………………………………….……..33 Example 2……………………………………………………………………………………………….…..35 Alyabyev………………………………………………………………………………………………….…38 Balakirev……………………………………………………………………………………………….……50 Borodin………………………………………………………………………………………………….…..60 Cui…………………………………………………………………………………………………….……..69 Dargomyzhsky……………………………………………………………………………………………....77 Glinka……………………………………………………………………………………………………….88 Grachaninov…………………………………………………………………………………………….….101 Medtner………………………………………………………………………………………………….…106 Mussorgsky………………………………………………………………………………………………...112 Prokofiev…………………………………………………………………………………………………...123 Rachmaninoff……………………………………………………………………………………………...128 Rimsky-Korsakov……………………………………………………………………….…………………139 Rubinstein…………………………………………………………………………………………….……146 Tchaikovsky……………………………………………………………………………….……………….156 Part Three: Song Recommendations………………………………………………………………………169 Songs for Lower Level…....……………………………………………………………………...…..……169 Songs for Upper Level….……………………………………………………………………….…………170 Songs for Female Passaggi………………………………………………………………….……………..171 Songs for Male Passaggio………………………………………………………………………….………171 Songs for Breath Management…………………………………………………………………………….172 Songs with Limited Range………………………………………………………………………….……...172 Songs by Theme Love (positive)………………………………………………………….173 Love (negative)…………………………………………………………173 War/Battle………………………………………………………………174 Loneliness………………………………………………………………174 Satire……………………………………………………………………175 Nature…………………………………………………………………...175 Seasons………………………………………………………………….176 Death/loss of a loved one……………………………………………….176 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………177 vii Part One: Historical Perspective Scholars agree that the first significant developments of Russian art song appeared during the 18th century. However, the seed was planted during the reign of Peter the Great (1672-1725) who led a cultural revolution based on the Enlightenment. The period of the Great Northern War (1700-1721) was particularly important because Tsar Peter made significant reforms to the church including a law that prevented any man from joining the clergy before age 50 (Dmytryshyn, 1974, p.10-11). Thus began the diminishment of the church’s role in society, which had irreparable effects on the subjects of art in the centuries to follow. With the reign of Empress Elizabeth (1741-1761) the cultural expansion and Westernization of Russia endured (Ivezić, 1997, p.22). This period is particularly significant for art song development due to the availability of Western European models, specifically Italian opera, which was favored by Elizabeth. Influences shifted slightly during the reign of Catherine the Great (1762-1796) who aspired to the efforts of Peter the Great and brought Russia into its Golden Age (Lentin, 1973, p.1). Catherine favored French music to the point that she featured a French opera company at court directed by Jean-Pierre Renaud (Ivezić, 1997, p.22). Strong elements of Italian and French music are found in the Russian songs from this period for two reasons. The first is that the premier composers of Russian songs were in fact foreign musicians hired to serve the Russian court through the composition and staging of European operas. These foreign composers became “acquainted with the folk 1 song, either through contact with their subordinates, mostly serf musicians and singers or through accidental contact with folk life” (Findeisen, 1993, p.8). Predictably, these composers were intrigued by the exotic qualities of the Russian folk songs and began to incorporate these characteristics within standardized Western European models. As they grew in popularity, these songs were played not only in the drawing rooms of the growing middle class, but also were featured in the concert halls of the elites. Hence, the second reason for