Today, in spite of myself, I am considered “an expert” in the subject of Hispanic music. I started out wanting to conduct Mozart and Puccini, like everybody else, but somehow I kept getting called for “the Spanish gigs.” Eventually, I decided to “embrace my curse,” and I am happy with my lot, finding my work an inexhaustible source of satisfaction. I am presently coaching, accompanying and recording art songs, zarzuela, tango and popular songs with singers at home in New York City and wherever else I am called.
Below, I would like to share some advice with you. Please forgive the long lists; they are meant as a tool for those of you wishing to pursue their research further.
SOME BASIC THOUGHTS
As with any culture, it is important to approach singing in Spanish with respect and dedication. Getting one coaching, listening to one recording, and programming a few songs to add spice to your program is not the way. Learning the language, even if you don’t become a fluent speaker/writer, is a great idea. There are some excellent methods (like Barron’s) available, and plenty of opportunities to enjoy Spanish language radio, TV and cinema. Readings on history and literature will add immensely to the understanding of what you’ll be singing about.
Listen to the masters: Victoria De los Ángeles (the greatest art song interpreter), Teresa Berganza, Plácido Domingo, Alfredo Kraus, Montserrat Caballé, Conchita Supervía. Explore the popular repertoire, which feeds into opera, art song and zarzuela. Listening to folk and popular singers from the pertinent countries will help you understand the flavor of the culture and familiarize you with the sound of the language. Popular singers are often more reliable as examples of local diction and style.
THE ZARZUELA REPERTOIRE
The opera establishment has been slow in accepting zarzuela (Spanish and Latin American musical theatre) as a viable genre, quite unjustly, since zarzuela has been very successful every time it has been presented by a major company (City Opera, Los Angeles Music Center, Washington Opera). Plácido Domingo, who started his career in his parents’ zarzuela company in Mexico, has been a major force behind it, but we need more people like him. We also need a change of attitude among opera companies which-reading the latest census statistics-look upon zarzuela as a marketing tool to attract “new audiences,” instead of appreciating its considerable intrinsic values.
For those of you interested in exploring the zarzuela repertoire further, I would recommend looking at those most likely to get produced in some near future: Doña Francisquita (Vives), Luisa Fernanda (Moreno Torroba), La verbena de la paloma (Bretón), La tabernera del puerto and La del manojo de rosas (Sorozabal) El barberillo de Lavapiés (Barbieri). Zarzuela recordings and scores are difficult but not impossible to get.
Unión Musical Ediciones/Music Sales has published four collections of zarzuela arias, an important step forward. They include translations, some background notes, and some annoying mistakes and inconsistencies. Zarzuela opportunities in the U.S. continue to be meager. I am in the process of creating my own traveling company, based in NYC. The Jarvis Conservatory in Napa, California produces one annual zarzuela workshop.
ISSUES OF DICTION
Spanish diction is simpler than it seems. There is only one “Spanish” (what we call Spanish in the U.S. is called Castellano in Spain, as opposed to Catalan, Gallego, Basque, etc.), which can be understood anywhere in the Spanish speaking world. The accents within Spanish are many, but for all useful singing purposes there is the Spanish of Central Spain, or Castilian, and Latin American Spanish. The Southern Spanish accent or Andaluz , somewhat similar to Latin American, can be used in Gipsy and Andalusian music. Within Latin America, there is a standard Latin American, Caribbean modalities and the Argentine/Uruguayan coastal variety, which shows Italian, French and Portuguese influences.
In my recent book Spanish Diction For Singers-A Complete Guide to Pronunciation , I discuss all issues and rules relating to Spanish diction and its aforementioned variants. The book is accompanied by 2 audio CDs of practical exercises. Some very basic issues to keep in mind:
Simplicity of vowels. Italian has seven vowel sounds; Spanish has only five: A, E, I, O, U. The A, I and U are identical to Italian. There is no open E or open O. English speakers should be careful to learn the sound for each of these, and keep them clear and well defined, as well as consistent. Vowels don’t change depending on placement or accent within the word. The only case of modification occurs when vowels are elided and become semi-consonants (Y, W).
Keep your rolled and flipped Rs straight. Rolled Rs should be clearly and strongly rolled, and flipped Rs should not be rolled at all. If you learn the rules for rolling and flipping, there is no doubt as to which one to use.
The letters V and B are interchangeable in Spanish. There is no V as in Victor sound in normal speech. The sound alternatives of the V/B are determined by what precedes the sound, not by spelling.
The letters V/B, D and G, acquire a different, “softened” sound when preceded by a vowel (within the same word or in the word immediately before) and some consonants. This is a particularity of Spanish which is not shared by the other romance languages.
The “lisping” sound (as in the English word “thing”) is used in Castilian Spanish for the letter Z in any combination, and for the combinations CI and CE, as in cielo and celos. The letter S is never pronounced as a lisp, only as a strong S or, before D and M as a voiced S. The cute story about a lisping King who originated such a custom is not only fictional, but illogical: if the King had lisped, he could not have pronounced the beautifully clear Spanish S either! In Latin American Spanish, the lisp is not used, so cielo azul becomes sielo asul .
The choice of regional diction should be made not only on the basis of the composer’s nationality, but also of the poet, the universal or local character of the words, and in the case of stage works, of the locale and the style of the music.
SONGS AND REPERTOIRE
The world of Spanish music is a very wide one. Spain is a multiethnic, multilingual society, with very distinct cultures (Castilian, Aragonese, Basque, Catalán, Andalusian, Galician). Latin America is a vast continent spreading from Patagonia to our own Southern borders, where the influences of African, indigenous and Spanish and other European cultures have mixed in immensely varied ways.
This is reflected in a treasure trove of art songs, popular songs, zarzuela, opera, tango, bolero (romantic songs), etc. However (let me carp a little), we hear the same repertoire over an over: De Falla’s Seven , Rodrigo’s Madrigales Amatorios , a handful of Tonadillas and La maja y el ruiseñor by Granados, one (!) song by Obradors ( Del cabello más sutil ) two songs by Guastavino ( La rosa y el sauce and Se equivocó la paloma ) and Montsalvatge’s Cinco Canciones Negra s. It seems unfair to represent a whole culture by such a narrow list.
Granados, for example, has a wonderful collection called Canciones Amatorias. They are for a high voice and difficult from every imaginable point of view, but also greatly rewarding, if you are willing to spend the time.
Joaqu’n Rodrigo has dozens of songs (35 in one very nice collection by Schott), many orchestral pieces with voice, and even a zarzuela ( El hijo fingido ).
Obradors has five full books of songs, (Unión Musical Ediciones/Music Sales) which include florid and sophisticated settings of ancient songs and folksongs.
De Falla wrote the ballet El amor brujo , with an important vocal part for lower mezzo or contralto, available in two versions, the first one of which (1915) can be done with only 15 instruments, as well as a fascinating short opera El retablo de Maese Pedro (for mezzo or child-soprano, tenor and basso cantante) and several groups of early songs (from before 1915).
The Argentine Alberto Ginastera (1916-1983) wrote the fairly well known Cinco canciones argentinas plus Las horas de una estancia and Cantos del Tucumán , the latter for solo voice and small instrumental ensemble (violin, flute, harp and percussion).
Carlos Guastavino (1912-2000) is the Schubert of Latin America. His song production is unequaled in both quantity and quality, drawing from Argentine folklore, Haendel, Schumann and Rachmaninoff, while retaining a very personal mark. Among his most important cycles are Cuatro canciones coloniales (Benars), Seis cancioónes de cuna (Gabriela Mistral),Tres Canciones (José Iglesias de la Casa), Los r’os de la mano (Benarós) Doce canciones populares argentinas, Siete poemas de Alberti , and many others.
Xavier Montsalvatge (1912-2002) has a lovely cycle of songs on Federico Garc’a Lorca’s children’s poems ( Canciones para ni–os ) and Cinco Invocaciones al Crucificado .
Beyond these well known composers, others, less known but just as interesting await. Here is a very partial list of names, which you may find useful when browsing a library or the internet.
Spain : Carlos Suriñach, Ernesto Halffter, Roberto Gerhard, Jesús Guridi, Isaac Albéniz and Joaqu’n Nin.
Mexico: Silvestre Revueltas, Manuel M. Ponce, Mar’a Grever, Blas Galindo, Eduardo Hernández Moncada and Agust’n Lara. Venezuela: Juan Bautista Plaza, Antonio Estévez and Modesta Bor.
Argentina: Alberto Williams, Astor Piazzolla, Carlos López Buchardo, Ariel Ram’rez, Carlos Gardel.
Brazil: Francisco Braga, Heitor Villa Lobos, Camargo Guarnieri, Pixinguinha, Antonio Carlos Jobim.
Cuba: Ernesto Lecuona, Eduardo Sánchez de Fuentes.
