Art Song and Other Vocal Forms

of the Nineteenth Century

“Song is man’s sweetest joy.”
-Musaeus

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Art Song
The art song is a vocal form that is
distinct from folk song, popular song, and
operatic aria. It is a composition for solo
voice and piano. A German art song is
called a lied. German art songs or lieder
are produced more than any other
languages. An art song is equivalent to the
kundiman of the Philippines. Composers
of art songs thoughtfully combine melody,
poetry, and accompaniment which are all
equally important because the three
components reinforce each other.

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Art Song
Art song has the following main
characteristics:
• short piece for solo
• Well written verses
• Accompanied by piano using virtuoso
techniques
• high artistic and literary quality
• ends with a postlude (concluding section
played by the piano)

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Melody
The melody of this vocal form is essentially
lyrical rather than dramatic. Musical tone-
painting is a characteristic of art song.
Musical tone-painting here is somewhat
similar with the word painting of madrigals
during the Renaissance period. The melody
of an art song enhances the mood of the
lyrics. Nonmusical images like ascending,
descending, high, low, and others are
“painted” by its melody. An example of this
is the phrase “The sun sinks into the deep
sea” from Schubert’s Alinde, which is set to
a descending melodic line.

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Accompaniment
Piano is used for the
accompaniment of the art song.
Accompaniment emphasizes each
part of the poem with an
instrumental music in between.
Harmony and melody are provided
to support the voice.
Accompaniment also creates the
tone-painting.

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Form
Generally, the musical forms used
in art songs are either strophic form
or through-composed form. If the
strophic form is used, then each
stanza is set to the same music.
When through-composed form is
used, each stanza is set to a
different music depending on the
change of ideas and moods of the
poem.

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Modified strophic form can also be used in which
the next stanzas are set to modified versions of the
same music. There are also few are songs that use
musical structures such as AABA, ABAB, or
ABCA.

Some of the art songs and their composers are the

following:

⮚ The Wanderer
Franz Schubert ⮚ Thou Art Repose
⮚ The Maid of the Mill
⮚ The Winter Journey
Robert Schuman ⮚ A Woman’s Love and Life
⮚ A Poet’s Love
Johannes Brahms ⮚ Four Serious Songs

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Cantata, Oratorio, and other
Religious Choral Music

The Romantic Period is not one of the

great periods for sacred music. As
previously mentioned, cantatas and
oratorios are subordinate to art songs
and operas during this period. This is
due to the fact that these genres do not
fascinate Romantic composers the
way art songs and operas do.

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 ⮚ St. Paul
⮚ Elijah
Felix Mendelssohn ⮚ Die Erste Walpurgisnacht
⮚ Psalms
⮚ Lauda Sion
⮚ Christ on the Mount of Olives
Ludwig Van Beethoven
⮚ Missa Solemnis
Louis Spohr ⮚ The Last Judgement
Robert Schumann ⮚ Paradise and the Peri
⮚ The Childhood of Christ
⮚ Grande Messe des Morts
Hector Berlioz
⮚ Te Deum
⮚ The Damnation of Faust
⮚ Legend of St. Elizabeth and Christus
Franz Liszt ⮚ Hungarian Coronation Mass
⮚ Gran Mass
⮚ German Requiem
Johannes Brahms
⮚ Motests for female chorus, Op. 29, 74, and 110

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The End
Thank you for listening!