Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 4-22-2004 A recital of selected repertoire for the soprano voice Emily Brennan Florida International University DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI14051832 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Part of the Music Performance Commons Recommended Citation Brennan, Emily, "A recital of selected repertoire for the soprano voice" (2004). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1746. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/1746 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida A RECITAL OF SELECTED REPERTOIRE FOR THE SOPRANO VOICE A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF MUSIC by Emily Brennan 2004 To: Dean R. Bruce Dunlap College of Arts and Sciences This thesis, written by Emily Brennan, and entitled A Recital of Selected Repertoire for the Soprano Voice, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this thesis and recommend that it be approved. John Augenblick Deborah Conquest Robert Dundas, Major Professor Date of Defense: April 22, 2004 The thesis of Emily Brennan is approved. Dean R. Bruce Dunlap College of Arts and Sciences Dean Douglas Wartzok University Graduate School Florida International University, 2004 ii ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS A RECITAL OF SELECTED REPERTOIRE FOR THE SOPRANO VOICE by Emily Brennan Florida International University, 2004 Miami, Florida Professor Robert B. Dundas, Major Professor Vado, ma dove? W.A. Mozart (1756-1791) Auf dem Strom Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Canciones cldsicas espaiolas Fernando Obradors (1897-1945) Del cabello mis sutil La mi sola, Laureola Al amor INTERMISSION Quatre Poemes Hindous Maurice Delage (1879-1961) I. Madras II. Lahore III. Benares IV. Jeypur Wild Swans Ricky Ian Gordon (b. 1956) The Red Dress Once I Was iii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. W OLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART......................................1 II. FRANZ SCHUBERT..........................................................3 III. FERNANDO OBRADORS....................................................6 IV. MAURICE DELAGE..........................................................9 V. RICKY IAN GORDON.......................................................12 BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................................................14 APPENDICES ............................................................................ 15 iv I Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a composer of opera, instrumental music, vocal music, and sacred music, and a leading composer of the classical era. He was also a child prodigy. This extraordinary talent was expressed at age four by learning to play minuets flawlessly in a half hour and again by composing at age five. Mozart wrote 56 secular concert arias, most of them voiced for soprano. These arias represent a highly important aspect of Mozart's work but are not widely known. Most of these arias were composed at the height of his fame and are considered to be of the same caliber as his more popular music.' The concert aria is a difficult genre because the singer must convey an entire drama in a short span of time. It is often considered to be theatre in miniature. Vado, ma dove? was intended to be sung as a concert aria, but was originally performed as an insertion aria in another composer's opera. It was not unusual at that time for a singer to replace an aria that did not show off their vocal prowess with that of another composer. Insertion arias were written for specific women to show off their vocal capabilities. The opera in question was Il Burbero di buon cuore by Vincente Martin Soler. It was written for the French soprano, Louise Villeneuve, who sang the role of Dorabella in premiere of Mozart's opera Cosifan tutte. Scholars believe that Mme. Villeneuve was a woman of great charm and style, with perfect coloratura. 2 The text, written by Lorenzo Da Ponte, does not include a recitative section, which is unusual for Mozart's concert arias. Martin's arias are more sentimental in ' H.C. Robbins Landon and Donald Mitchell, ed. The Mozart Companion. New York: WW Norton & Company, Inc. , 1956. 2 G. Schirmer, ed. Twenty-One Concert Arias for Soprano. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard, 1952. 1 nature than buffo. The character, Madame Lucilla, is stunned by the course her love is taking. She pleads to God for a direction and certainty. The first part of the aria is pleasant and conventional with its lilting melody. Part two was originally thought to be simplistic because of its Tempo di Minuetto, however it is full of grace and refinement. 3 The minuet tempo is thought to be of the finest, lyric, singing character. Part three begins in the dominant and incorporates the undulating triplet pattern of Part one's accompaniment in the vocal line. The accompaniment includes an agitation shown through the use syncopated rhythms that may reflect the character's state of uncertainty. The short syncopated rhythms are used as a dramatic device to portray an indecisive and emotionally wounded character.4 3 H.C. Robbins Landon and Donald Mitchell, ed. The Mozart Companion. New York: WW Norton & Company, Inc. , 1956. 4 Alfred Einstein. Mozart:His CharacterHisWork. New York: Oxford University Press, 1945. 2 II Schubert is known as the "Father of the Lied," composing over 600 pieces in this genre. He composed in a very craftsman-like manner and was the first German composer to dedicate a significant amount of time to the Lied. His large output explores the potential of the lied more than any other composer. His compositions elevated the Lied to a major musical form and proved its worthiness as a distinct musical form. During his lifetime, he received criticism for not writing a true German song because his compositions lacked the folk-like material typical of the time.5 His style included an amazing gift for creating beautiful melodies that were, at times, established in as little as two measures. He used text painting in a creative way to make a complete picture. The piano played an active and expressive role in all of his compositions. He considered the piano to be a partner in the performance, enhancing the sung text, not merely serving as an accompaniment. Schubert borrowed from the traditions of Haydn, Mozart, and later Beethoven while developing his own strategies to create a unique and highly expressive musical form. One common characteristic is the extension of the polarized tonic-dominant classical harmonic dialogue to a full range of flat-side relationships such as the subdominant, submediant, but especially the flat mediant.6 The three-key exposition attenuates the pull of dominant. His musical language includes a blurred and intensified 5 Stanley Sadie, ed. The New Grove Dictionaryof Music and Musicians, Second Edition. ."Schubert, Franz." P. 655-690. New York: MacMillan Publishers Limited, 2001. 6 Stanley Sadie, ed. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Second Edition. ."Schubert, Franz." P. 655-690. New York: MacMillan Publishers Limited, 2001. 3 use of major/minor modal system. He frequently converted a major mode theme to the minor creating a systematic language of ambiguity. Nature plays an important role in his songs, serving as a central theme in his compositions. He raised the theme of nature to an almost religious level by attributing feeling and grandeur to it. Elements of nature are personified and serve as additional characters in the music. Schubert's music and text are both extremely expressive and reflect very potent human emotion. Many of his compositions are thought of as intimate diaries of the human soul. The poetry of Aufdem Strom describes the feelings of a man as he leaves his beloved forever. She stands watching him from the shore as he disappears in the distance, floating on a boat down the river. The theme for the second verse of the poem bears a striking resemblance to Beethoven's 'Eroica' Symphony. The melodic contour and the harmonic corroboration show this similarity. The poetry, by Ludwig Rellstab, may have come from Beethoven's estate, which adds more poignancy to the homage to be found in this setting. This piece may also be a metaphorical depiction of death because of the allusion to Beethoven's Funeral March in the second verse.7 In this masterpiece, the horn is used in two ways. It points up the emotional mood of the singer/narrator with the long, sad, yearning introduction. The piano describes the flowing river in a constant triplet rhythm. The horn also serves as a continuation of the unhappy lover by playing phrases that echo the voice part rhythmically or melodically. 7 Brian Newbould. Schubert. The Music and the Man. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997. 4 During pauses in the vocal line, it carries the melody forward in a sympathetic way, encouraging the singer to continue sharing his grief. The form is a modified rondo with two alternating melodies, one in major and one in minor. These melodies correspond to the different moods of the poem. After the second repeat of the second melody, the first melody is sung for the last time. The coda then begins with a cannon between the voice and horn. In the progression leading to the end, the voice and horn take on the same emotional personality. The horn plays in octaves with or in the same rhythm as the voice. They become one as they look forward to the time when he may see his beloved again. The tonality changes from major to minor on the text "und so tragt..." and the accompaniment changes from triplet to repeated chords.8 Aufdem Strom was written especially for a high profile public concert on March 26, 1828, at the Austrian Musikverein in Vienna to commemorate the first anniversary of Beethoven's death.