Introduction to French art songs
The mid-19th century to the early 20th century was the period from the beginning, development and prosperity of French art songs. Art songs in different countries have different names and styles. In Germany, it is called Lied, in Russia, it is called romance, and in France, it is called melodie. But in terms of genre attributes, they all belong to the category of art songs, which are concert solo songs with a more refined and perfect structure.
Overview As early as the mid-16th century, there were many solo songs in France with lute accompaniment. At the end of the 16th century, in addition to folk songs and street songs, a kind of dance music with polyphonic accompaniment was also popular. In the early 17th century, after the main-key harmony music was introduced from Italy, romances developed rapidly. Coupled with the singing and dissemination of bards, solo songs with lute, guitar or hapsicord accompaniment appeared, and the accompaniment part also began with Formal notation replaced the digital bass. There were many types of songs at that time, including exquisite court love songs; pastoral love songs and lyrical songs about shepherds; romantic songs and narrative songs originated from bards; popular songs adapted from urban songs; dance songs and drinking songs; Simple light-hearted songs; there are also political and satirical songs. Famous songwriters in the 17th century include P. Guedron, A. Boeser, G. Bataille, S. Lekami, M. Barr, etc.
In the 18th century, due to the advocacy of J.-J. Rousseau, song creation tended to be folk song style. In the 18th century, in addition to the beautiful and plaintive "Joy of Love" composed by J.P.A. Martini, other composers such as P.-A. Monsigny, F.A. Philidor, N.-M. Dararaq, The works of A.-E.-M. Gretry are rarely known to today's audiences. At the beginning of the 18th century, chamber oratorio was introduced to France from Italy, and J.-P. Rameau wrote the famous "Orpheus" composed of three arias and one recitative tune. F. Couperin also wrote Some solo songs. During the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century, many excellent revolutionary songs were produced, such as "Just Do It" and "Marseillaise". In addition, professional musicians F.-J. Gosseck and E.-N. Mayur also wrote Some patriotic songs.
The main pioneers of French art song in the 19th century were Swiss-born L. Niedermeier and H. Monpu. They adopted the romantic poems of A. de Lamartine, V. Hugo, A. de Musset and others, broke through the old model of romantic songs (square and rigid phrases), and created new songs with high artistic quality. For example, the former's "The Lake" and the latter's "The Girl of Andalus" are both masterpieces. Other composers such as E.L. Allévi and A.L. Clapisson played a pioneering role.
The development period of French art songs The real beginning of French art songs should be said to begin with H. Berlioz. He was the first to use the word "melodie" to refer to the songs he composed, and used this to distinguish it from German art songs and songs where "melody is everything". It is different from early French romances in that its structure is no longer limited to the symmetrical and sectioned creation norms, and the piano accompaniment is more independent and expressive. Although his early songs such as "The Sorrows of the Shepherdess" were still in the traditional romantic form, when he composed nine Irish songs using French translations of poems by the British poet T. More in 1830, there was no trace of romance at all. . Berlioz also composed some of the best songs, such as "The Young Shepherd of Bretagne", "Prisoners of War", "The Fields", "I Believe in You", etc. In 1841, Berlioz composed the vocal suite "Summer Nights" using T. Gautier's poems. It is his most important song creation. Among them, "The Building is Empty" is the most perfect, and the sad refrain in "On the Shoals of the Sea" is his most important song creation. This sentence is touching, and the other four poems also have their own characteristics.
Following Berlioz, G. Meyerbeer published a songbook in 1849. These 40 songs are basically the product of German art songs. C. Gounod composed more than 200 songs, most of which are romantic verse songs. His early creations were the most outstanding, with novel, simple and elegant melodies, rich harmonies and distinctive personalities.
Representative works include "Serenade" and "Ah!" My Beautiful Rebel," "First Day of May," and "Come on! The grass is green."
G. Bizet wrote 48 songs, including the dramatic "Farewell of the Arab Mistress", "Sonnets", "Leures" and "Pastoral Love Song" with distinctive Sicilian rhythms. , "Lullaby" and other most distinctive ones.
The songs of L. Delibes are bright, lively and slightly exotic. His representative works include "Departure", "Myrtle", "April" and "The Girl of Cadiz" wait.
J. Massenet follows Gounod in his creative style, but is more refined and full of emotion. In 1866, he composed "April Psalms", which consists of a prelude and 7 songs, and "Pastoral", which is divided into 7 sections. He is the founder of the French vocal suite.
C.-A. Franck, who was born in Belgium, did not write many songs. He was strongly influenced by German art songs and has a strong romanticism color and lacks French temperament. Frank's song works include "Rose Wedding", "Nocturne", "Welcoming the God", etc. "Welcoming the Gods", which expresses the harvest celebration ceremony, cleverly uses the progressive melody of the hymn "Praise to the Kingdom of Heaven" in the accompaniment, which is particularly novel and unique.
C. Saint-Sa?ns is a prolific writer with various styles. Although he is deeply influenced by Germany, his songs have a spontaneous lyrical temperament, colorful imagination and exquisite writing skills. . His "Cicada", "Ants", and "The March of King Jean's Army" are all excellent works. The oriental-tinged songs composed in 1872 are also original.
The works of Franck's student V. Dandy were serious in purpose and slightly dark in musical color, and had a considerable influence on French composers at the time. The song "Song of Navigation" he composed for his own poem depicts the scene of surging sea waves very realistically and vividly. Although the expression techniques of these three masters are very different, their unique talents, personalities and styles are French. They all occupy an important position in the history of French art song.
Although G. Fauré continued to write until the 20th century, his creations still belong to the 19th century. He has written more than 100 songs in total and has won worldwide reputation for his achievements in vocal music. His songs have beautiful and smooth tunes, concise and well-proportioned structures, implicit and profound emotions, and rich imagination. From content to form, they have a delicate, delicate, chic and elegant style unique to the French. His early works were slightly influenced by Gounod, but he quickly showed unique and novel techniques. For example, in his early masterpiece "Lydia", he used the triplet pattern to develop an ups and downs melody. He is good at using delicate changes in harmony and ingenious changes in rhythm to highlight lyrical melodies in accompaniment, and is good at organically combining musical melody and the accent of lyrics and intonation, such as "Waterside". He is better at composing common materials into unique and innovative pictures, such as the song "Moonlight", which is like an antique character painting, and "Mandolin", which is like a watercolor painting with a radiant scene. Faure's musical temperament is very consistent with the exquisite and slightly sad lyric poetry of poet P. Verlaine. He clearly expresses the beautiful artistic conception of the original poem with colorful musical language. There are also his "Queen of Dreams", "Nair", "Our Love", "The Rose of Isfaaon" and the suite "Song" are all masterpieces. By this period, French art songs had developed significantly in terms of creation, techniques, genres, forms, etc., achieved new achievements, and reached their mature period.
H. Deepak composed 14 songs between 1868 and 1884. His songs are deeply emotional and full of artistic appeal, such as the nostalgic "Song of Melancholy", the complaining "Sigh", the implicit and affectionate "Longing", etc. The latter somewhat imitates R. Wagner. "Rothemonde's Manor" is a dramatic and unique work; "Fidile" is an imitation of a medieval ballad, originally written for a mezzo-soprano. The whole piece has three sections and one The refrain is the dominant motive of the whole song, and each repetition implies that the castle mistress spent another whole night from sunset to moonrise waiting for her beloved.
Deepak's most perfect songs are "Invitation to Travel" and "Old Life" composed of C. Baudelaire's poems. These two songs are full of oriental fantasy and longing for a peaceful life.
C. Debussy mostly uses poems written by his contemporaries for lyrics. Some of his songs are not as good as Fauré in terms of melody, and not as passionate as Deepak in terms of emotional expression, but they are He is good at making the melody lines conform to the ups and downs of the lyrics and intonation, organically combining the rhythm and accent of music with French, and making poetry, musical thoughts and language become a harmonious unity. Piano accompaniment and vocals play an equally important role in his songs. His early songs include famous songs such as "Beautiful Evening". He composed 18 songs using Verlaine's poems, and "Mandolin" written in 1882 is his best work. "Mandolin" was created before Fauré's work of the same name. He used contrasting techniques such as staccato and legato, triplet and doublet, major and minor, the light and shade of harmonic colors, and the intensity of volume to complete the work. This is an elegant and poetic serenade. The vocal suite "Forgotten Little Aria" was composed in 1888, including "Longing" about missing a lover in the summer evening; "Heart Full of Tears" about listening to the monotonous patter of raindrops by the window; and another about a hungry man. "The Trojan Horse" in which a poor man compels himself to ride on a merry-go-round in an amusement park to forget his loneliness, poverty and worries. He also composed three "Songs of Pilice" using P. Luiz's famous prose poems, which were also his most successful works. In 1910 he composed "Three Songs by Fran?ois. "The Ballad of Veron" is different from other works in that it is more vigorous and dramatic in temperament. After Debussy used S. Mallarmé's poem to compose "Ghost" in 1884, he used his poem to compose "Three Poems by Mallarmé" in 1913. The last piece, "Christmas Song for Homeless Children", composed by Debussy himself, expressed the composer's deep sympathy for the French children displaced during the First World War.
E. Chauzon is a disciple of Franck. He composed nearly 40 songs. His works often have sentimental sentiments and romantic influences. His early works include "Butterfly", "Bee", "Charm", etc. Take C.-M.-R. LeConte. Germany. "Nanny" composed of Li Le's poems is Chauson's best work. The emotional expression of the song is implicit and sincere. His "Italian Serenade" is actually neither a serenade nor a barcarolle, but a beautiful lyrical song. Although the score of "Nocturne" is marked with a flat beat, the piano accompaniment part gives the feeling of a flat beat, so the rhythm must be kept accurate and even when singing. "Eternal Song" was composed in 1898, less than a year before his death. The whole song is full of despair and has a gloomy and turbulent atmosphere.
M. Ravel*** wrote 39 songs, 11 of which are folk songs or traditional songs with harmonic accompaniment, and are very distinctive arrangements. Early works such as "The Saint" and "Clement. Moreau's "Two Satirical Poems" and the suite "Scheherazade" both clearly bear the strong influence of Debussy. The latter consists of 3 songs. The music of the first song "Asia" constitutes 11 different pictures; the second song "The Magic Flute" is the most famous, which describes the charming flute sound of an oriental girl and her lover; the last one The song "Indifferent Person" describes an oriental girl trying her best to attract a young man with her beauty. The young man was tempted for a moment, but then left indifferently. Another suite "Stories of Nature" includes 5 songs: "Peacock", "Cricket", "Swan", "Kingfisher" and "Pearl Bird". The melody is recitative and consistent with French tonal changes. The piano accompaniment suggests different animal qualities. "Five Greek Folk Songs" are real folk songs with clever harmonies. In 1932, Ravel used the rhythms of three kinds of Spanish dance music to compose the last set of suites "Don Quixote to Dulsigne", which consists of 5 songs and was originally composed for the soundtrack of the movie "Don Quixote" , when singing, it is required to maintain solemnity and majesty to match the character image.
A. Russell has written 35 unique songs. His early creations had impressionistic tendencies, and he was good at using traditional polyphonic counterpoint techniques and closely combining concise harmony with complex rhythms.
The melodic lines of his works are often interrupted by long rests, using silence to make up for the sound, which is better than the sound. His successful works include "Garden in the Rain", "Bachelor of Salamanca", "Sarabande", "Heart in Danger" and three songs composed with translated Chinese poems: "To a Young Man"
The Young Gentleman", "The Separated Couple" and "A Good Wife's Reply".
F. Planck composed 146 songs of various styles in 40 years. The 10-song "Such Day, Such Night" is his best suite. Another suite of songs, "Animal Sings" (also known as "Orpheus' Entourage"), was composed in 1919. He used G. Apollinaire's poem as the lyrics, describing camels, goats, grasshoppers, dolphins, shrimps, The lively images of carp and other animals can be accompanied by either piano or flute, clarinet, bassoon and string instruments. He also used the poems of P. Eluard to compose "Five Poems", "Cool and Hot" and "The Painter's Work", and used the poems of L. de Vermoulin to compose two suites "Fantasy Engagement" and "The Fantastic Engagement". change". Poulenc's songs have a simple rhythm, and the melodies are often composed of notes of equal duration. There are few changes in speed in his songs, and changes in intensity are only contrasts between sentences. When singing, he emphasizes the use of coherent singing and rarely uses narrative methods.
The above-mentioned Deepak, Debussy, Poulenc and others have novel ideas, exquisite brushwork, unique and diverse vocal works, which have greatly enriched the treasure house of French art songs.
Contemporary composers O. Messiaen and Daniel Lesueur also wrote some songs, such as the former's "Three Songs" and "Song of Land and Sky", and later The author's "Light Like Day" is a very distinctive French art song.
Singing characteristics
The main characteristics of French art songs: ① The French national character does not like to be overly exaggerated, and likes to express delicate and implicit emotions in simple and diverse structural forms. French art The simplicity and elegance of the song are a reflection of its national character. French poets and composers often express some artistic conceptions, moods, hints, impressions or symbolic vague feelings or slightly melancholy in their songs. They rarely perform romantic violent outbursts of emotion, so when singing It requires strict control of the sound, which should not be unrestrained and unrestrained, but should be natural and smooth, both implicit and passionate, both delicate and pure, but not too delicate; the division of phrases and structural levels should be clear.
② The French love beauty, so they also pay attention to the formal beauty of music, pursuing soft and coherent sounds, concise harmonies, concise musical structure, supple modulations, colorful effects, precise Pitch, rhythm, beautiful melody lines, etc.
③ French language characteristics: French includes 4 nasal sounds, 15 vowels and 3 semi-vowels. Some linguists still use the original 16 vowels, plus his unique Intonation, nasalization and litany give French a complex and rich musicality. The melody of French art songs is basically created with the ups and downs of French intonation. Therefore, before singing, the lyrics must be recited repeatedly to master the rhythm, tone, charm and artistic conception of the words. What needs special attention is that the use of litany is different from that used in ordinary speaking or singing folk songs. It is used frequently and elegantly, which is closely related to the performance style, taste, phrasing and cultural literacy.
④French art songs basically have no connection with the folk song tradition and popular popular songs. They often have a kind of aristocratic elegance and the cultural literacy of the intellectual class but rarely have a local flavor. In short, everything must be in moderation. Any excess or deficiency (overly controlled voice, too exaggerated pronunciation, insufficiently friendly tone, too cold, bland or fiery expression, etc.) are inconsistent with the exquisite and elegant singing style of French art songs.