E-Book Overview
The vocal repertoire of the twentieth century--including works by Schoenberg, Boulez, Berio, Larsen, and Vercoe--presents exciting opportunities for singers to stretch their talents and demonstrate their vocal flexibility. Contemporary composers can be very demanding of vocalists, requiring them to recite, trill, and whisper, or to read non-traditional scores. For singers just beginning to explore the novelties of the contemporary repertoire, Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Music is an ideal guide.Drawing on over thirty years of experience teaching and performing the twentieth century repertoire, Sharon Mabry has written a cogent and insightful book for singers and voice teachers who are just discovering the innovative music of the twentieth century. The book familiarizes readers with the new and unusual notation systems employed by some contemporary composers. It suggests rehearsal techniques and vocal exercises that help singers prepare to tackle the repertoire. And the book offers a list of the most important and interesting works to emerge in the twentieth century, along with suggested recital programs that will introduce audiences as well as singers to this under-explored body of music.
E-Book Content
Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Music: A Practical Guide to Innovations in Performance and Repertoire
SHARON MABRY
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Music
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Exploring Twentieth-Century Vocal Music A Practical Guide to Innovations in Performance and Repertoire SHARON MABRY
3 2002
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Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Sa˜o Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto and an associated company in Berlin
Copyright 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mabry, Sharon. Exploring twentieth-century vocal music : a practical guide to innovations in performance and repertoire / Sharon Mabry. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 0-19-514198-9 1. Singing—Instruction and study. 2. Vocal music—20th century—Instruction and study. 3. Vocal music—20th century—Bibliography. I. Title: Exploring 20th-century vocal music. II. Title. MT820 .M129 2002 782'.009'04—dc21 2001052354
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
Preface
AUTHOR’S PERSPECTIVE
My undergraduate days as a voice student were steeped in repertoire from standard, traditional vocal literature. However, I was fascinated with new music and would often search the music library for anything that looked remotely modern. I delighted in perusing the unique scores and trying out all of the unusual notations and vocal directions found in them. Occasionally, I would bring the new works to the attention of my voice teacher. She had a marvelous voice rooted in the traditional repertoire of both the concert and opera worlds and was not known for singing contemporary, experimental music. So it was not surprising to find that she was less than enthusiastic about the pieces I wanted to study. Her advice was to stick with tried-and-true repertoire and forget about this “bizarre” music. I stopped taking the “strange” pieces to voice lessons, but they became even m