So You Want to Sing Chamber Music: A Guide for Performers

ONLINE RESOURCES:

Chapters 2 & 3 Resources  Chapter 4 Resources  Chapter 5 Resources Index   

Chapter 1 – Brief History of Chamber Music

Early Chamber Music:

• Philippe de Vitry: "O canenda vulgo per compita"
• Philippe de Vitry: "Ay, amours! tant me dure"
• Guillaume de Machaut: "De ma dolour"
• Guillaume de Machaut: "Se quanque amours"

The Renaissance:

• Luca Marenzio: "Vaghi e lieti fanciulla à 6 voci"
• Carlo Gesualdo: "Moro, e mentre sospiro"
• John Dowland: "Tell Me, True Love"

Baroque Period:

• Claudio Monteverdi: "Zefiro torna e di soavi accenti," SV 251
• Claudio Monteverdi: "Duo belli occhi fur larmi, onde traffitta," SV 155
• Barbara Strozzi: "Begl'occhi superbi"
• Alessandro Scarlatti: "Ardo, è ver, per te d'amore," H62
• JS Bach: "Die Katze lässt das Mausen nicht"
• GF Handel: "Meine Seele hört im Sehen" HWV 207
• Henry Purcell: "Lost Is My Quiet Forever"

Classical Period:

• JC Bach: "Pur nel sonno," Op. 4, No. 3
• Ludwig van Beethoven: "Oh! Thou Art the Lad of My Heart," Op. 108, No. 11
• Louis Spohr: "Erlkönig," Op. 154, No. 4
• Franz Schubert: "Licht und Liebe," D352
• Franz Schubert: "Der Hirt auf dem Felsen," D965

Romantic Period:

• Gioachino Rossini: "La regata veneziana" from Soirées musicales
• Felix Mendelssohn: "Herbstlied," Op. 63, No. 4
• Robert Schumann: "Dunkler Lichtglanz," Op. 138, No. 10
• Johannes Brahms: "Verzicht, o Herz auf Rettung" from Neue Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 65
• Gabriel Fauré: "Tarantelle," Op. 10, No. 2
• Henri Duparc: "La Fuite"
• Camille Saint-Saëns: "Violons dans le soir"

Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries:

• Arnold Schoenberg: "Mondestrunken," Op. 21, No. 1
• Igor Stravinsky: “Tsaraiuki" from Three Japanese Lyrics, No. 3
• Ralph Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge
• Rebecca Clarke: Three Old English Songs
• Heitor Villa-Lobos: “Cantilena" from Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5
• Samuel Barber: Dover Beach, Op. 3
• Pierre Boulez: “Bourreaux de solitude" from Le marteau sans maître
• Lori Laitman: “The Butterfly" from I Never Saw Another Butterfly

Chapter 2 – Why Sing Chamber Music?

• Johannes Brahms: Liebeslieder-Walzer, Op. 52

Chapter 3 – How to Program Vocal Chamber Music

Examples from Text:

• Jake Heggie: “Into the Fire”
• Jocelyn Hagen: “Gwendolen's Dream”
• Timothy Hoekman: Three Poems of William Butler Yeats
• Ricky Ian Gordon: “He Came to Houston" from Green Sneakers      

Beginner:

• Hector Berlioz: “Pleure, pauvre Colette”
• Giacomo Carissimi: “Rimanti in pace" from Duetti da camera
• Stefano Donaudy: "Amor s'apprende"
• Cesar Franck: "Soleil," Op. 89, No. 5
• Felix Mendelssohn: "Ich wollt meine Lieb," Op. 63, No. 1
• Robert Schumann: "Liebesgarten," Op. 34, No. 1
• Francesco Tosti: "Venetian Song"
• Ralph Vaughan Williams: “It Was a Lover and His Lass”

Moderate:

• Amy Beach: "A Canadian Boat Song," Op. 10, No. 1
• Johannes Brahms: "Die Schwestern," Op. 61, No. 1
• Charles Gounod: "Barcarola"
• Jules Massenet: "Matinée d'été"
• Émile Paladilhe: "Au bord de l'eau"
• Gioacchino Rossini: "I gondolieri"
• Franz Schubert: "An die Sonne," D439
• Francesco Tosti: "Allons voir"

Advanced:

• Henri Duparc: La fuite
• Gabriel Fauré: "Tarantelle," Op. 10, No. 2
• Francis Poulenc: "Colloque," FP 108
• Franz Schubert: "Gebet," D815
• Peter Cornelius: "Ich und du"
• Pauline Viardot: "Habanera"
• Max Reger: "Sommernacht," Op. 14, No. 3
• Jocelyn Hagen: "Arise, My Love"
• Dominick Argento - Six Elizabethan Songs (with piano)
• Dominick Argento - Six Elizabethan Songs (with ensemble)

Suggested Listening – Examples of Chamber Music with Voices:

• JC Bach: "Gia la notte s'avvicina," Op. 4, No. 1
• Franz Joseph Haydn: "Alles hat seine Zeit"
• Felix Mendelssohn: "Maiglöckchen und die Blümelein," Op. 63, No. 6
• Johannes Brahms: "Fragen," Op. 64, No. 3
• Max Reger: "Nachts," Op. 14, No. 1
• Robert Schumann: "Es ist verraten," Op. 74, No. 5
• Carl Maria von Weber: "Va, ti consola," Op. 31, No. 2
• Benjamin Britten: "Mother Comfort" from Two Ballads

Suggested Listening – Examples of Chamber Music with Instruments:

• GF Handel: "Flammende Rose, Zierde der Erden," HWV 210
• Ludwig van Beethoven: "What Shall I Do?" WoO 152, No. 6
• Franz Schubert: "Der Hirt auf den Felsen," D965
• Louis Spohr: "Sei still mein Herz," Op. 103, No. 1
• Johannes Brahms: "Gestillte Sehnsucht," Op. 91, No. 1
• Camille Saint-Saëns: "Le bonheur est chose légère
• Gustav Holst: "My Soul Has Nought but Fire and Ice," Op. 35, No. 2
• Ernest Chausson: Chanson perpétuelle, Op. 37
• Maurice Ravel - Chansons madécasses
• Benjamin Britten: "The Stream in the Valley"
• Joseph Schwantner: Sparrows
• John Corigliano: "The Foggy Dew" from Three Irish Folksong Settings
• Lowell Liebermann: "Die gar traurige Geschichte," Op. 51, No. 1
• André Previn: The Giraffes Go to Hamburg
• Eric Ewazen: "Everyone Said It Snowed Last Night"
• Jake Heggie: "My True Love Hath My Heart"

Chapter 4 – Breathe with the Bow: Communicating with Instrumentalists

String Instruments:

• Ottorino Respighi: Il tramonto
• Joaquin Rodrigo: Folias canarias

Wind Instruments:

• Igor Stravinsky: "Pastorale"
• Ralph Vaughan Williams: "Infant Joy," from Ten Blake Songs, No. 1

Brass Instruments:

• Franz Schubert: "Auf dem Strom," D943
• Jan Koetsier: "Das Geburtslied," Op. 129, No. 1

Percussion and Other Instruments:

• Virgil Thomson: “Thou That Dwellest" from Five Phrases from the Song of Solomon
• Jocelyn Hagen: Dear Theo: Letters from Vincent Van Gogh

Chapter 5 – Stylistic Considerations

• Ludwig van Beethoven: "Moonlight" Sonata, Op. 27, No. 2 (on fortepiano)
• JS Bach: "Coffee" Cantata, BWV 211 (in baroque tuning)
• JS Bach: "Coffee" Cantata, BWV 211 (in modern tuning)
• Jean-Philippe Rameau: Les amants trahis
• Ludwig van Beethoven: "Once More I Hail Thee," WoO 152, No. 3
• Johannes Brahms: "Gestillte Sehnsucht," Op. 91, No. 1
• Example of Sprechstimme
• Example of Prepared Piano
• Example of Instrumental Extended Technique

Index

• PDF of Introductory List of Art Song Duets, Trios, and Quartets for Pedagogical Use in the Applied Voice Curriculum
• PDF of Voice with Instruments Catalog by Classical Vocal Reprints