The Art of the Art Song

Sort of. This program had three sopranos, two tenors, and one pianist. The level of singing, and the choice of art songs, reminded me a bit of a student recital—people studying voice, learning to memorize, learning to deal with foreign languages/diction, etc. But based on their bios, these were not students. They had opera and musical theater roles listed, as well as appearances with orchestras. I was not overly impressed. In fact, I didn’t need to hear any more, so I left at the intermission. To her credit, the assistant/accompanist played beautifully throughout.

So what is an Art Song? It is a little gem of a song, sometimes strophic (several verses), sometimes grouped together (Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss), and sometimes compiled into a song cycle (Frauenliebe und -leben by Robert Schumann). The two groupings listed above are sung in German; often these types of songs are called lieder, or lied. French art songs also abound—chansons. On the first half of the program I heard, German and French were the only languages presented (and presented fairly well). The second half included some Italian, and there are also English art songs (both from the land of Eng and the good ole USofA).

While it was nice to hear some old chestnuts, i.e., songs fondly remembered from my student days and from lied CDs I sometimes listen to—four songs from Frauenliebe und
-leben, Widmung (also Schumann), Zueignung (Richard Strauss—see PREformance post), and some others, I wish I’d heard better performances. Heck, I wish it had been enjoyable enough for me to stay for the second half. Ah, well, that’s the “crap shoot” aspect of free and low-cost entertainment. You pays yer money (or not) and takes yer chances.

ConcertMeister