Song literature, like every other musical genre, has certain traditions and standard selections that are designated as its core. It is this core around which the rich history of song literature has developed. These songs are crucial to vocal study and they continue to be the center of recitals and concerts; however, as the tradition of song literature remains constant, the society around it is changing. Singers are aware of this change, and are now searching for ways to expand their repertoire to better represent the rich culture that surrounds them. The work of female, African American, Jewish, and Hispanic composers is an oasis of gems worthy of inclusion in any studio or on any recital stage. But where is this unheard literature? Who is writing it and how do we know what is good? Here are some suggestions for where to begin.
Women Composers
Some truly excellent sources on women and music now surround us. Websites, journal articles, books, and recordings attempt to highlight the work of female composers and give them a chance to be heard alongside their male counterparts.
The website for the International Alliance for Women in Music (http://music.acu .edu/www/iawm/home.html) is an extremely useful website. It includes 12 links to various bibliographies on women composers, over 300 links to articles on women composers published in the IAWM Journal, several pages of audio clips of women composers, discographies, and perhaps the best resource of all, links to course syllabi on women in music. Other excellent sources include the trio of articles by Sharon Mabry on song cycles by women composers featured in the New Directions series in The Journal of Singing. These articles are especially pertinent because they mention more than just American composers. Kenneth Pennington also published a two-part article in The NATS Journal (now The Journal of Singing) on women song composers in France (1995). Yet another great source is Miriam Stewart-Green’s book Women Composers: A Checklist of Works for the Solo Voice (G.K. Hall & Co., 1980).
Mainly a composer of songs, Lori Laitman writes works that are riveting and challenging for both singer and pianist. A pianist herself, Laitman writes accompaniments that partner the voice yet are independently interesting. Her vocal lines are lyrical with beautiful melodies, although not predictable or boring. Her fusion of words and music further proves her talent for vocal composition. The Metropolitan Tower and Other Songs, with texts from poet Sara Teasdale, as well as Sunflowers, with poems by Mary Oliver, are two cycles that are as worthy of inclusion as any standard Rorem or Barber song studied in the classroom or performed in the recital arena. Laitman’s songs are not only interesting, but they are also intriguing and important. I Never Saw Another Butterfly, Daughters, and Holocaust 1944 are three cycles that share a subject (the Holocaust) but which have different musical voices reflecting the various poetic voices. Her diversity, coupled with the quality of her work, further emphasize her value in the song literature field.
Among other female song composers that are popular, but still may be slighted on the recital stage, are Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-1896), Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847), and Lili Boulanger (1893-1918). There are also a plethora of women song composers before Fanny Hensel. Hildegard von Bingen (1098-1179), Francesca Caccini (1587-1640?), and Barbara Strozzi (1619-after 1664) are all worthy examples of women who wrote songs before the baroque era. Strozzi’s beautiful song Lagrime mie is included in Carol MacClintock’s Norton Music Anthology The Solo Song 1580-1730 (W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1973). For more composers during the 16th and 18th century, consult Barbara Garvey Jackson’s book “Say You Can Deny Me”: A Guide to Surviving Music By Women From the 16th Through the 18th Centuries (The University of Arkansas Press, 1994), which includes a useful index by medium of performance.
Quality twentieth century songs written by women are especially plentiful. Notable American composers Ruth Crawford Seeger and Amy Cheney Beach (1867-1944) are occasionally performed, although rarely to the extent to which they deserve. Among the women mentioned by Mabry are Violet Archer (Canadian, b. 1913), Peggy Glanville-Hicks (Australian, 1912-1990), Libby Larsen (American, b. 1950), Thea Musgrave (Scottish, b. 1928), and Ruth Schonthal (German, b. 1924). (Mabry, Sept/Oct 1999:39-40, Nov/Dec 1999:45-6, and Jan/Feb 2000:61-2)
African-American Composers
High quality works by African American composers are valuable pedagogically and musically. An excellent website to visit for detailed information on composers and publishers is the African American Art Song Alliance home page. (http://www.uni.edu/taylord/alliance.html) Another invaluable source is Helen Walker-Hill’s book Music by Black Women Composers: A Bibliography of Available Scores (Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College Chicago, 1995), which lists over 20 pages of songs.
Among the most prolific composers of African-American Art Song are Margaret Bonds (1913-1972), Florence Price (1888-1953), and Avril Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (b. 1932). Also noteworthy are H. Leslie Adams (b. 1921), Adolphus Hailstork (b. 1941), David Baker (b. 1931), Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949), Undine Smith Moore (1904-1989), William Grant Still (1895-1978), and Hall Johnson (1888-1970).
For those who have yet to explore this repertoire, a great place to start is with Willis Patterson’s Anthology of Art Songs by Black American Composers (Belwin Mills, 1977). Some delightful songs featured in this album are “For You There Is No Song” (L. Adams, poem by Millay), “A Good Assassination Should Be Quiet” (D. Baker/Mari Evans), “Love Let the Wind Cry…How I Adore Thee” (U. Smith Moore/Sappho), “Night” (F. Price/Louise C. Wallace), “Grief” (Grant Still/Leroy V. Brant), and John Work Jr.’s “Dancing in the Sun” (poem by Howard Weedun).
Florence Price’s Songs to the Dark Virgin, with poetry by Langston Hughes, and Margaret Bonds’ Three Dream Portraits, also using Hughes’ poetry, are excellent examples of how African American experiences, musical idioms, and writings all combine to create the African-American art song. In her article “Deep Rivers: Selected Songs of Florence Price and Margaret Bonds” (Canadian University Music Review 1995), Penelope Peters says that the two composers “appropriate the vivid images and raw emotions crammed into Hughes’s taut, compact verses and fashion them into a unified African American musical expression.” (Peters, 1995:76) These cycles are not only excellent examples of the synthesis of music and poetry, but they are also examples of song literature that can be used to educate musicians and audiences about one of the many cultures of our society.
Jewish Composers
The wealth of information available on Women and African American composers is not the case for Jewish composers. Because Judaism is unique in that it is a religion as well as a heritage, writers rarely mention if a composer is Jewish. Most online searches direct surfers to Jewish folk music as opposed to Jewish composers of classical music.
Mahler is often a standard composer in song literature, as well he should be. Still, there are other outstanding composers such as Mendelssohn, Korngold, Schoenberg, Weill, and Bernstein whose work can be celebrated on many levels. In particular, the worth and beauty of Korngold’s songs far surpass that of most of his contemporaries. “Mond, so gehst du wieder auf”, from Abschiedslieder (or Vier Lieder des Abschieds), Op. 14 is an excellent example of the captivating beauty and depth present in Korngold’s writing.
Simon Sargon is another Jewish composer who writes fascinating works. Of particular interest are his cycles At Grandmother’s Knee and At Grandfather’s Knee. The first of these is a cycle of five Yiddish folk songs for tenor and piano, and the second is a set of five Judeo-Spanish folk songs for soprano and piano. Both are beautiful cycles and would lend a very unique flavor to any recital program.
Latin American Composers
That Hispanic composers are even the least bit subjugated is probably one of the greatest losses song literature has suffered. The wealth of music that exists, combined with its sheer quality, makes it worthy of any studio or stage. Latin American composers have been recognized in the past couple of decades as being important to song literature in such books as Carol Kimball’s Song: A Guide to Style and Interpretation and A History of Song, edited by Dennis Stevens. Gilbert Chase, a leading author on the subject of Spanish and Latin American music, has published most of the information that is out there. Over the past several decades, he has worked with the Pan American Union in Washington, D.C. to put out various lists of existing Latin American music that include works from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dutch West Indies, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela. (Chase, 1941) His article in A History of Song (1960) gives a more detailed account of leading Latin American song composers, although it is outdated and misses important composers of the last half century.
Some outstanding Latin American song composers are Alberto Ginastera (Argentina, 1916-1983), Heitor Villa-Lobos (Brazil, 1887-1959), María Grever (Mexico), Carlos Guastavino (Argentina, b. 1914), and Narciso Figueroa (Puerto Rico, b. 1907). Many people are familiar with the work of Villa-Lobos– at the very least they have heard of his often-performed Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 for Soprano and orchestra of violoncelli. Ginastera is also a name that is known, although some mistakenly associate him with Spain.
Carlos Guastavino is of particular interest in song literature. His combination of Argentinean folk elements with popular elements produces a unique style that is accessible to a variety of listeners. Every singer should have the opportunity to hear or sing the gorgeous song “La Rosa Y El Sauce”. This song is about a willow and a rose whose love is tragically cut short when a young girl comes and plucks the rose from the earth. The piano’s heartwrenching, yet simple melody weeps for the willow as the passionate restraint of the vocal line tells the story.
Guastavino is one of three Latin American composers discussed by Kimball. “La Rosa Y El Sauce” and “Se Equivocó La Paloma” are probably his best-known songs. Kimball also recommends “Hermano,” “Pampamapa,” “Bonita Rama de Sauce”, and “Milonga de Dos Hermanos”, but some of his lesser-known songs, particularly “La Balada” and “Abismo de Sed”, are also excellent works. (Kimball, 431) These songs hold pedagogical worth as well because they have a relatively limited range, accessible poetry, and are very singable.
Also worthy of study are Narciso Figueroa’s Cuatro Decimas (Poemas de Luis Llorens Torres), a set of four songs that, like the songs of Guastavino, combine folk and popular elements of his native land. These songs are also of limited range but are slightly more sophisticated harmonically and are more rhythmically intricate than the aforementioned Guastavino songs.
Other noteworthy sources for Latin American songs are Antologia: Canciones Costarricenses, an anthology of Costa Rican songs published by the University of Costa Rica, and Plácido Domingo– Always in My Heart: The Songs of Ernesto Lecuona (of Cuba), published by Hal Leonard.
Conclusion
In these diverse and wired times, musicians have the resources to branch out beyond Schubert and Fauré. Journal articles, anthologies, and books bring new literature to light daily. The internet puts the world at our fingertips, bringing us the rarest of websites and presenting opportunities to find all sorts of new and exciting works, and including some of these rarely performed works on a program is refreshing to musicians and audiences alike. As society blossoms with diversity and multiculturalism, the musical community is becoming aware of a wealth of wonderful new repertoire. The interest is out there, and now the resources are too. Perhaps we just may see the day when this literature takes its rightful place amongst the standards of song literature.
Bibliography
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Websites
www.uni.edu/taylord/alliance.html
The African-American Art Song Alliance
www.daringdiva.com
http://music.acu.edu/www/iawm/home.html
International Alliance for Women in Music
http://pubweb.acns.nwu.edu/~srmina/women/women.html
Women in Music Resources
http://www.interlog.com/~hartl/Karpralova/WOMEN.htm
Women in Czech Music
http://igor.rz-berlin.mpg.de/cmp/comp_women.html
Composers Index
http://www.macmillan-reference.co.uk/GroveMusic/TNGWCA2Samuel.htm
New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers
