Talk:Art song

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I would like to help build an article that discusses the origins and development of art song (trouveres, Caccini, Dowland, etc.) up to modern times (Argento, Henze, and so on), as well as dealing with what is noteworthy about the form. Part of the discussion should deal with the usual presentation of these pieces: the recital, its division into groups, and the difference from opera in vocal demands, the fact that it is done in a context of (relative) silence and continuous (sometimes) attention -- audience and setting are clearly part of the experience, and the fact that folk songs, spirituals and Tin Pan Alley tunes can "become" art songs through arrangement, presentation and context should be mentioned. It would be good to mention the contributions of a few dozen composers -- and incidentally their poets -- and to list (at least) some prominent interpreters.

A word about the "Lied" article: I think it is appropriate to have a separate article about this term, just as there could be a brief article on "mélodie", but "art song" is far more inclusive of the global genre and I believe that Lied and equivalent articles should point to "art song".

A few books, other than classroom texts, that might serve as sources and further reading are "The Singer and His Art" by Aksel Schiøtz; "Schubert's Songs" by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau; "The Songs of Hugo Wolf" by Eric Sams; "The Art of the Song Recital" by Shirlee Emmons; "The Interpretation of French Song" by Pierre Bernac. The website that offers the most song texts and translations in the greatest number of languages is www.recmusic.org/lieder (run by the tireless Emily Ezust).

Of course these are sources more useful to the professional or connoisseur, but those with an interest in art song are mostly those very people. As any recitalist can confirm, a number of very experienced instrumentalists, conductors and (embarassingly) singers are only vaguely familiar with the depth and breadth of this repertoire. The article most likely will be of intense interest to a rather small audience well-prepared for technical discussion, although the difficulties should not be so great as to kill the passing interest of a much larger group.

For those who read German, the German Wikipedia has some extensive song-related entries. The German entry on "Winterreise" for instance has a song-by-song treatment of the text and vocal part separate from treatment of the piano part.

Although I am a professional singer with a strong interest in this area, I am neither a qualified musicologist nor an advanced Wiki editor, so I will not be able to do this properly on my own!

Pheidias 00:18, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 1 Feb 2008 17:30 Removal of external link: marshall.charles.googlepages.com

This external link which I posted was removed automatically, I think because the domain googlepages.com infringed some protocal. However, I would ask that the link be retained because it provides translations, recordings and original texts of the 4th Book of madrigals by Monteverdi, and Monteverdi is included elsewhere in the Wikipedia article. The link is therefore relevant and would provide a useful resource for visitors to the page. It may be helpful to the editor to note that there have been 52 visitors to marshall.charles.googlepages.com since a link to the site was posted on the German page http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kunstlied. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Charlesmarshall65 (talk • contribs) 16:48, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Explanation for why I deleted the external link marshall.charles.googlepages.com - English translations and recordings from the Fourth Book of Monteverdi's Madrigals

For an explanation of my decision to delete this external link, please see this Pasiphae discussion page which is just one example of the way Wikipedia is going. Charles Marshall --Charlesmarshall65 (talk) 18:34, 18 April 2008 (UTC)