The model for the typical classical vocal program, whether for the private studio or in the university curriculum, is based on the Bel Canto method of technique and vocal literature. We have trained our singers for opera careers, with repertoire requirements firmly rooted in the Italian classics. “Caro mio ben” and “Tu lo sai” are as familiar to singers as “Chopsticks” and “Heart and Soul” are to the general public.
Is it time to consider a new paradigm? Is it realistic to prepare singers for the Metropolitan Opera, when many of our students have dreams of teaching high school chorus, directing church choirs, or operating their own voice studios? Should changing U.S. demographics, with steady increases in the Hispanic population, alter song repertoire in the studio? And finally, as greater numbers of our students study Spanish in high school, should their fluency in Spanish as a second language have a profound effect on vocal literature requirements?
This article examines the 23 songs published in the anthology Canciones de España—songs of nineteenth-century Spain, edited by Suzanne Rhodes Draayer. The anthology, available in high and low voice editions and published by Scarecrow Press in 2003, contain songs by 18 Spanish composers. In his foreword, Nico Castel praises the collection as “an eminently useful and needed compendium of Spanish songs.”
A CD, recorded in the high key, allows singers and teachers to quickly review the songs for possible repertoire choices. A thorough 10-page guide of Castilian Spanish pronunciation and its International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) symbols is included, as are rules for synalepha, occurring when a word ending with a vowel precedes a word beginning with a vowel. Opening material includes a rationale for the study of Spanish songs (in the preface), and a discussion of 19th century politics and Spanish song style in the introduction. The editor’s remarks include corrections made in the original songs, original keys, library resources, and verses not set in the anthology. Completing the preliminary pages is a section on the six Spanish song types published in “Canciones de España.”
Information valuable to singers and teachers precedes each songs. Modeled on John Glenn Paton’s Twenty-Six Italian Songs and Arias (Alfred Publications), each line of song text is transcribed into IPA, with word-for-word translations printed below each line. The collection also includes the poetic idea for each song, a translation of musical terms found in the song, and—as information about Spanish music and its composers is not readily available—a brief, well-researched biography of each composer.
To acquaint the reader with Canciones de España, I have divided the songs into three categories: songs for beginning students, songs for students who have acquired a stronger vocal technique, and songs for advanced singers. I also list the keys for high and low voice, ranges, and vocal requirements.
Songs for Beginning Students
Song Title: A Granada (To Granada)
Key: Low: g minor
High: b minor
Range: B3-D5
D4-F#5
Remarks: Sustained, meditative, sorrowful
Composer: Fermín María Álvarez
Text: I dream of beautiful Granada and the glorious Alhambra.
Form: ABA. The A section features a stepwise melody with a simple arpeggiated accompaniment. There is some vocal doubling at the unison. The B section uses a seguidilla rhythm in the accompaniment, while the vocal melody exhibits short leaps and 32nd-note flourishes at phrase endings.
Tempo: Andante A section, with a faster seguidilla B section.
Length: 7 pages, 4:46
Song Title: A Mi Madre (To My Mother)
Key: Low: C major
Range:A3-D5
C4-F5
Remarks: Sustained, with many leaps of 4ths and 5ths.
Composer: Fermín María Álvarez
Text: My mother gives me kisses every day. I pray that God will never allow me to be without her kisses.
Form: Strophic, with two verses and a brief coda. The rhythm looks more difficult than it is due to the use of 3/8 meter and 32nd notes. There are descending leaps of an octave, but much of the melody is doubled in the chordal accompaniment.
Tempo: Andantino
Length: 3 pages, 3:06
Song Title: Amor y Olvido (Love and Oblivion)
Key: Low: e minor
High: g minor
Range: D#4-E5
F#4-G5
Remarks: Sustained, sorrowful.
Composer: Fermín María Álvarez
Text: Although we promised to love each other forever, our love did not endure. As dew evaporates from a flower petal, your promise of love died in your heart.
Form: Strophic, with two verses. The melody is mostly stepwise, with a few leaps of a fourth or fifth. The verse is in common time with a simple 8th-note arpeggiated accompaniment. At the refrain, the mood intensifies as the meter changes to 12/8, with a modulation to the relative major key. The accompaniment pulses triplets in the right hand, against some duplets in the vocal line.
Tempo: Andante
Length: 5 pages, 3:58
Song Title: Malditos Quereres…! (Damned Love!)
Key: Low: d minor
High: f minor
Range: A3-F5
C4-Ab5
Remarks: Sustained, wistful, with a dramatic B section.
Composer: Juan Miguel Asensi
Text: I loved the mountain girl, but she repaid my love with unfaithfulness.
Form: ABA. The stepwise melody in the A section is set above a seguidilla accompaniment. The mood of the B section is altered by pulsing 16th notes in the accompaniment and by the intensity of the text, as the singer threatens to murder anyone who insults his love.
Tempo: Moderato, with a slightly faster B section
Length: 4 pages, 2:40
Song Title: Ave María (Hail Mary)
Keys: Low: d minor
High: g minor
Range: A3-D5
D4-G5
Remarks: Sustained, prayerful, lyrical
Composer: Juan Cantó Francés
Text: Comfort us now and in the hour of our death, blessed Virgin Mary.
Form: AB. The accompaniment features simple 8th notes throughout, but at the B section, the key modulates to the relative major. The vocal line is not doubled, but the predominant rhythms are simple and repetitive. This is an excellent song for beginners and perfect for church services.
Tempo: Andante
Length: 4 pages, 3:40
Song Title: El Caudillo de los Ciento (The Leader of the Hundred)
Key: Low: g minor
High: b minor
Range: Bb3-Eb5
D4-G5
Remarks: Sustained, delicate
Composer: Antonio de la Cruz
Text: Love is like the flowers. They are beautiful one day and dead the next.
Form: ABC. The opening section of 38 bars is set with a simple, chordal accompaniment. The vocal line is angular, with leaps of fourths and octaves, as the singer expresses his/her disappointment with love. At the B section, the key modulates to the relative major. Arpeggiated chords of 8th and 16th notes accompany the mostly stepwise melody. At the C section, the key modulates to the parallel major of the relative minor. The vocal line is doubled in the accompaniment, which features triplet figures in the right hand. The final phrase demands excellent use of the breath, as the singer is to fila la voce—sing a messa di voce over 13 beats.
Tempo: Lento, animado in the middle section, tranquillo and andante in the final section
Length: 5 pages, 3:45
Song Title: Niño Divino (Boy Divine)
Key: Low: E major
High: G major
Range: D4-E5
F4-G5
Remarks: Sustained, delicate, lyrical.
Composer: J. Cumellas Ribó
Text: Blessed baby Jesus, you are adored and loved.
Form: ABA. The melody is mostly stepwise in 6/8 meter with some 9/8 bars. There are many accidentals, but this villancico is very tuneful with an easy accompaniment.
Tempo: Moderate
Length: 4 pages, 3:13
Song Title: A Tus Ojos (To Your Eyes)
Key: Low: F major
High: G major
Range: D4-F5
E4-G5
Remarks: Sustained, wistful with a spirited middle section.
Composer: Francisco Fuster
Text: Your beautiful eyes make me crazy with love.
Form: Multi-sectional, many tempo changes, with a dance-like middle section. The 20-bar introduction is fast, with flirty grace notes and staccatos. At measure 21, the tempo slows to a lento, and the voice enters. The stepwise vocal line is sparsely accompanied. At measure 25, the seven-measure interlude, at an allegro tempo, repeats material from the introduction. The voice reenters at bar 31, repeating the first vocal melody. Another fast-tempo interlude, just three bars in length, gives way to another lento section. The vocal line moves mostly stepwise over a syncopated accompaniment that echoes the vocal line and embellishes the melody with turns and grace notes. The 28-bar middle section is a lively allegretto with an angular melody. The vocal line is doubled, first in unison and then in octaves. A syncopated accompaniment prepares for the return of the lento section.
Tempo: Lento, allegretto vivo, lento
Length: 6 pages, 3:36
Song Title: Ninette (Ninetta)
Key: Low: Bb major
High: d major
Range: D4-Eb5
F#4-G5
Remarks: Lively, spirited, requires some agility.
Composer: Manuel Giró
Text: The girl I love has eyes so passionate that they set me on fire (verse 1). From a glance, came desire, then hope, then love (verse 2)
Form: Strophic. The vivacious melody, mostly stepwise in movement, is driven by the staccato seguidilla figure in the accompaniment.
Tempo: Allegro
Length: 4 pages, which are repeated for the second verse, 2:04 (verse one only)
Song Title: Un Adios (A Farewell)
Length: Low: b minor High: d minor
Range:: D4—G5
B3—E5
Remarks: Sustained, lamenting
Composer: Sebastián de Iradier
Text: I bid good-bye to Elvira, the love of my life.
Form: Strophic, with a refrain. The four-bar introduction introduces the opening vocal melody above an arpeggiated, guitar-like bass. The vocal line is angular, with leaps of fourths, sixths, and in the refrain, sevenths. The singer must be rhythmically secure, as there are duplets and quadruplets against triplets. Some long phrases are followed by quick breaths, allowing little recovery. At the coda, a lovely, sequential countermelody descends in octaves against a soaring melody.
Tempo: Andante
Length: 5 pages, which are repeated for the second verse, 3:25 (verse one only)
Song Title: La Pajarita (The Little Bird)
Key: Low: c minor
High: e minor
Range:: C4—E5
E4—G#5
Remarks: Fast, lively, humorous
Composer: Cristóbal Oudrid y Segura
Text: I have a little bird who tells me if my girlfriend loves me.
Form: Binary. The A section is set in 3/8 meter and is in minor mode. A bolero dance rhythm in the accompaniment punctuates the flirtatious text. There are many staccato notes and accents in the vocal line. The B section, in 6/8 meter, modulates to the relative major. In this section, the vocal melody is sometimes doubled in octaves, accentuating the urgency of the text. Bird trills accompany the enthusiastic response of the singer in the coda.
Tempo: Allegretto
Length: 4 pages, 1:58
Song Title: ¿Te Acuerdas? (Do You Remember?)
Key: Low: Eb major
High: Ab major
Range: Bb3-Eb5
Eb4-Ab5
Remark: Lilting, animated at times.
Composer: Cristóbal Oudrid y Segura
Text: A young man reminds his lover of the wonderful times they shared in the cherry grove (verse 1), and in the olive grove (verse 2). He laments her anguish when she became pregnant (verse 3).
Form: Modified strophic. The first two verses are identical melodically and in the accompaniment, each with a verse and a refrain. The third verse introduces new melodic material to emphasize the despair of the lovers, and challenges the singer with leaps of sevenths and octaves. The refrain features a lovely scale figure in the accompaniment.
Tempo: Allegretto animato
Length: 8 pages, 3:50 (without repeats)
Songs for Intermediate Singers
Song Title: Lo Que Está de Dios (That Which Is from God)
Key: Low: e minor
High: g minor
Range: B3-E5
D4-G5
Remarks: Vigorous, spirited.
Composer: Francisco Asenjo Barbieri
Text: My mother thinks that I don’t have a boyfriend, but I meet him secretly at church. Come, dark-haired boy. We both know what is going to happen!
Form: Binary. This lovely seguidilla features an active vocal line with a four-bar trill, 16th notes, and 16th-note triplets. The first section is in minor, set in 3/4 meter. A modulation to the relative major occurs when the singer tells the boy to meet her at church. A dramatic cadenza, very cante jondo [“deep song” or “grand song,” the most serious style of flamenco or Spanish Gypsy music] in style, concludes the A section. The B section is a fast 3/8 in the parallel major of the opening key.
Tempo: Moderato, allegro mosso
Length: 5 pages, 2:10 (one verse)
Song Title: Las Quejas de Maruja (The Complaints of Maruja)
Key: Low: E major
High: G major
Range: B3-E5
D4-G5
Remarks: Florid, spirited vocal line
Composer: Ramón Carnicer y Batlle
Text: Maruja complains to her boyfriend about his lack of attentiveness to her.
Form: Modified strophic, with two verses and a coda. In 6/8 meter, the vocal melody and the accompaniment are exquisite partners in this song, each enhancing the other. The accompaniment echoes the voice at phrase endings, sometimes adding triplet flourishes. The vocal line—with its many syncopations, grace notes, and appoggiaturas—requires flexibility, agility, and rhythmic stability.
Tempo: Andantino
Length: 5 pages, 2:42
Song Title: Amor Sin Esperanza (Love without Hope)
Key: Low: c minor
High: e minor
Range: C4-D5
E4-F#5
Remarks: Subdued, delicate.
Composer: Manuel Fernández Caballero
Text: Virgin Mary, I pray, please make him/her love me. If he/she can’t love me, then please let me die.
Form: Strophic, with two verses. Tempo is critical in this canción, as the melody is very exposed above a quite simple arpeggiated accompaniment. Alternating phrases feature ascending or descending octave leaps with flourishes and grace notes. The singer must possess good appoggio and some flexibility.
Tempo: Moderato (but no tempo is indicated by the composer)
Length: 6 pages, 4:05
Song Title: La Pecadora (The Sinner)
Key: Low: c minor
High: e minor
Range: Bb3-Eb5 (G)
D4-G5 (B)
Remarks: Dramatic, with several moods depicted. Demands facile articulation.
Composer: Manuel Fernández Caballero
Text: I cannot become a nun for I have fallen in love with a lay brother. When I go for communion, Antonio flirts with me. I melt like wax when I see him.
Form: Tri-sectional, in 3/4 and 6/8 meter, with modulations to the relative major. This song is dramatic, as Magdalena struggles between her vocation and her desires. The accompaniment is not difficult, doubling the voice in two short sections. The fifth page of the song is the most challenging for the singer, as the text moves very quickly in 16th notes above a dance-rhythm accompaniment. There are some leaps of sixths and sevenths, and some 16th-note triplets.
Tempo: Andante, Allegretto, Allegro
Length: 7 pages, 4:29
Song Title: ¡…La de Ojos Azules!…
(The Blue-Eyed Girl)
Key: Low: Eb major
High: A major
Range: Bb3-Eb5
E4-A5
Remarks: Delicate, lilting, charming.
Composer: José Mariano Padilla
Text: My beautiful princess enchants me with her lovely eyes, her smile, her mouth.
Form: ABA, with the B section modulating to the major key a fourth higher. This love song was made famous by Tito Schipa in a recording from 1921 and, later, by Alfredo Kraus. The voice is required to portando from one phrase to the next several times, demanding excellent appoggio and sensitivity to the expressive vocal line. Grace notes, triplets, dynamic variety, frequent retards and tempos, as well as some challenging leaps, are characteristics of this love song. The accompaniment sometimes doubles the voice at the unison or octave while harmonizing a third below.
Tempo: Moderato assai
Length: 4 pages, 3:25
Song Title: La Manola de Madrid
(The Manola of Madrid)
Key:Low: A major
High: C major
Range: B3-E5
D4-G5
Remarks: Fast, demanding facile articulation.
Composer: Rafael Taboada Mantilla
Text: The most beautiful girls in the world are those from Lavapiés (a neighborhood in Madrid). They flirt, swinging their hips as they walk. The men throw flowers at their feet and shout “olé!”
Form: Two-verse strophic, with refrain. This flamboyant song in 3/8 meter is accompanied by a simple 8th- and 16th-note dance rhythm accompaniment. There is some spoken text, typical of a popular, working-class song. The melody, rhythm, and accompaniment are not challenging, but the rapid text requires excellent articulation.
Tempo: Allegretto
Length: 4 pages, 1:59 (one verse)
Song Title: El Amor y los Ojos
(Love and the Eyes)
Key: Low: Eb major
High: F major
Range: Bb3-F5
C4-G5
Remarks: High tessitura, frequent meter changes, leap of a tenth.
Composer: Amadeo Vives
Text: Your lovely eyes have stolen my heart, but we hide our love from others. I want you more than life itself.
Form: Modified strophic with coda. The stepwise melody is set syllabically, in quarter notes and eighth notes. Triple meter alternates with duple meter, and the chordal accompaniment delicately underpins the vocal line. The technical challenge with this song is the coda, requiring the voice to leap a tenth and crescendo from pianissimo to forte on the high note. “El Amor y los Ojos” provides an exquisite contrast to the more vivacious, dramatic songs in the collection.
Tempo: Allegretto
Length: 4 pages, 2:40 (one verse)
Songs for Advanced Singers
Song Title: Cacho de Cielo (Bit of Heaven)
Key: Low: F major
High: G major
Range: C4-F5
D4-G5
Remarks: Brilliant, with some florid passages. Demands facile articulation.
Composer: Salvador Bartolí Soler
Text: You are so haughty, you act as though you are the queen of Spain. At the bullring, the toreadors and the bulls bow in homage to you. Mesmerized by your beauty and charm, I threw my heart at you feet, but you only trampled it. To me, you are a bit of heaven and a bit of hell.
Form: Modified binary. This flamboyant canción, in triple meter, enchants the listeners with its melodic and rhythmic variety. The florid vocal line, with many 16th notes, 16th-note triplets, and six notes to the beat, is accompanied by fast bolero dance rhythms in some sections, and simple eighth notes in others. There is some vocal doubling, an octave higher than the voice or an octave lower. The quick melody requires excellent articulation.
Tempo: Allegretto
Length: 7 pages, 4:19
Song Title: La Española
(The Spanish Girl)
Key: Low: D major
High: F major
Range: D4-E5
F4-G5
Remarks: Animated, humorous, demands flexibility
Composer: Ruperto Chapí
Text: I am a mixture of all that is Spanish. My features and physical characteristics are from all the regions of Spain. No one can compete with the charm of a Spanish girl!
Form: Very sectional, with abrupt modulations, contrasting rhythmic patterns, and key instability. Chapí uses an habanera dance rhythm in the introduction, the interludes, and in the vocal line for some sections. There are frequent modulations from major to minor mode, with many harmonic surprises. Most of “La Española” is in duple meter, with one short section in 6/8. There are many 16th-note triplets in the vocal line, calling for vocal agility and excellent articulation.
Tempo: Allegro moderato, with a short, slower section
Length: 7 pages, 3:22
Song Title: La Madrileña
(The Girl from Madrid)
Key: Low: e minor
High: g minor
Range: A#3-E5
C#4-G5
Remarks:Very florid and brilliant, with cante jondo vocalizations.
Composer: Isidoro Hernández
Text: I have come to Madrid to find a boyfriend! I have searched Andalucía and half of Spain, but have had no success. There are lovely brunettes in all of Spain, but the most desirable girls are from Andalucía. But we are all sisters in grace, and we all love with zeal.
Form: Tri-sectional, with the first section in minor, modulating to the relative major (second section), and to the relative major of the parallel minor in section three. This song is one of the most challenging in the anthology with its many grace notes, 16th-note triplets, and in the middle section, cante jondo melismas with 32nd and 64th notes. Ensemble is difficult in the cante jondo section. Triple meter (3/8) is maintained throughout, but patterns in the accompaniment vary widely, with bolero rhythms, flamenco dances, and arpeggiated chords.
Tempo: Moderato, slightly slower (section two), slightly faster (section 3)
Length: 7 pages, 3:53
Song Title: El Arreglito
(The Arrangement)
Key: Low: c minor
High: e minor
Range: G3-F5 (Ab5)
B3-A5 (C#5)
Remarks: Dramatic, animated, many contrasts, demands well-developed range.
Composer: Sebastián de Iradier
Text: Pepito and his girlfriend, who is unnamed, argue about their relationship. He wants to marry her, but she accuses him of unfaithfulness. To win her, he must promise to be faithful.
Form: Multi-sectional, with each section modulating from minor to the relative major. Bizet stole “El Arreglito” to use as the habanera in Carmen. Bizet’s version is obviously the masterpiece, but the original song, which Bizet heard in a Paris nightclub, is charming and deserves performance in its own right. The singer is offered many challenges in this song—a very wide range, using low, middle, and high registers; the difficulty of changing characters in the space of a 16th-note rest; rhythmic variations from section to section that are difficult to memorize; and no time to swallow. This song is a delight to singers and audiences!
Tempo: Allegretto
Length: 7 pages, 4:03
The repertoire available in Canciones de España—songs of nineteenth-century Spain is fresh, exciting, and delightful. Singers and audiences are captivated by the exuberant rhythms, and by the profound emotions portrayed, from desperate melancholy to vibrant desire. Consider enriching your teaching and programming with the other Lieder and melodies of Europe: the songs of Spain!
Canciones de España—songs of nineteenth-century Spain (low voice – ISBN 0-8108-4729-9, high voice – ISBN 0-8108-4728-0) is available from www.scarecrowpress.com (search under Draayer), tismusic.com (search under Spanish song anthologies), or from your local music store.
