Vocal Line Research Articles

Echivalența versurilor în subtitrări ale filmelor Disney

This paper proposes a detailed analysis of the translation process of Disney movies´ lyrics, focusing on the concept of lexical equivalence and ways of correspondence between English and Romanian. Three Disney musical films – „Frozen” (2013), „The Lion King” (1994 and 2019), and „Moana” (2016) – are selected to illustrate various lexical contexts, highlighting the ways in which words and phrases are translated and adapted to preserve the melodicity of the lyrics. The analysis also focuses on translation errors, explaining the reasons for them and offering suggestions for replacing those lyrics. In the context of translation theory, it is emphasized that the process of transfer from source to target language involves creating an equivalence that preserves the specific features of the original text. Through the Disney films, the text explores the phenomenon of equivalence in lexical correspondence, which is partial in most cases. It also discusses the particularities of verse translation, focusing on the restrictions and challenges faced by the translator, such as adjusting the number of syllables to match the musical notes. Aspects such as repetition of words and phrases, placement of punctuation marks and rhythmic characteristics of the vocal line are also considered in the translation process. In addition to linguistic issues, this analysis explores the influence of Disney films on culture and language in childhood, highlighting the importance of adapting texts written for children to moral rules and age appropriateness. By addressing these issues, the paper provides a significant insight into understanding the complexity of the translation process and how it influences the reception of cultural elements between different languages.

An oboe concerto in Lund formed from three operatic arias by Antonio Lotti

Manuscript parts for an anonymous oboe concerto in G minor shelfmarked L:10 are found in the Wenster collection at the University Library in Lund. The concerto has the peculiarity that each of its three movements is cast in da capo aria form. It turns out that the movements have been taken from arias in two operas by Antonio Lotti, Giove in Argo (1717) and Ascanio (1718), written for performance in Dresden. The manner of conversion from aria to concerto movement is very simple, entailing the reassignment of the vocal line to oboe, lightening of the string accompaniment in some solo passages and otherwise only minimal recomposition. Great care has been taken to match the movements to one another to create an instrumental pasticcio. The evidence that Lotti himself undertook the conversion is very strong, since his only other known concerto (for oboe d’amore, in A major) likewise uses da capo aria form for each movement, something previously not encountered in the genre. The identity of the performer for whom these concertos were written is considered, a likely candidate being the Dresden oboist Johann Christian Richter, whom Lotti had probably first encountered in Venice in 1716–1717.

Máquinas de fala: a escrita vocal de Samuel Beckett

The article focuses on the vocal power that intensifies in Samuel Beckett's writing, especially in the latest works, with the objective of demonstrating the links between literature, dramaturgy, music and performance that are exemplarily outlined there from the exploration of the voice materiality. In order to do so, it proposes the notion of “speech machines” to define these texts that work with vocal material and constitute themselves as scores for speech music. The reader will then be the one who performs voices in the real time of his reading, even when silent; he is the performer of this writing, each time putting the rhythmic machines that are texts to work in his body. It is about thinking about the creation of these vocal lines in Beckett, in this writing that takes place from rhythms and sounds and invents new languages.

Handel's Magic World: Hidden Complexity in Arias of Zoroastro in Orlando by George Frideric Handel

Abstract This article examines Handel's opera Orlando from the period of the new Royal Academy of Music (1729–1734). Handel's operas contain many compelling musical elements which impart information and contribute to the richness of his dramatic acts. This article illustrates the various components of compositional practices such as harmonic progression, rhythm, key changes, and chromaticism in Orlando. The second part explores the application of his theatrical gesture of opera. His music releases the meaning of the texts and conveys the content of expression to the audience in a unique way. Finally, this article studies and examines the overture and three arias of the character Zoroastro from Handel's Orlando by comparing several adjacent arias as a group. By studying the role of Zoroastro, we will find that Handel's musical language in opera contains a hidden complexity displayed through the following: expression of tonality and key signature; certain qualities or characteristics of a wider range both in the vocal line and orchestra; and application of ostinato and cross-rhythm in order to enhance the textual meaning. The study shall benefit our ongoing comprehension of Handel's power for evoking the audience's interest, attention, and admiration which are identified when listening to, performing, and analyzing his arias.

Основные тенденции развития хоровой музыки западноевропейского авангарда в 1960-е годы

The article contains information on the main directions of the development of choral music of Western European avant-garde composers of the 1960s. The turning of attention to choral music of that particular decade is due to the considerable number of innovations that received dissemination in the musical compositions of Karlheinz Stokhausen, Luigi Nono, Mauricio Kagel, György Ligeti and a number of other composers associated with the Summer Courses of New Music in Darmstadt. Among these innovations are: phoneme composition, micropolyphony, stereophonic effects achieved by timbre modulation, by means of special dispositions of performers or by application of actually performed and previously recorded music. A study is made of the issues of texture organization, timbre-articulation techniques, as well as problems of interaction between words and music. The author aims not only to summarize the information on the vectors of the evolution of choral writing, but also to illustrate the connection between the experiments of the 1960s and the concrete solutions of choral composition in the following decades. For this aim, examination is made of the textual foundations of choral compositions, the phenomenon of phonemic composition, and the expansion of the techniques of vocal articulation, – which presented an important resource of development of the possibilities of choral timbres – as well as new textural solutions. As the result, the conclusion is arrived at that in the 1960s the composers rejected the traditional approach of “setting the literary source to music.” Instead of this, they combine simultaneously various verbal sets or “press together” the fragments of several initial source texts. A powerful source for disclosing the resources of traditional vocalization and intoning speech turned out to be a diverse incorporation of Sprechgesang. The multifaceted aspects in the correlation of music and the verbal text, the inclusion of the principles of phonemic composition and the development of techniques of speech also exerted their influence on the textural organization of the choral compositions. In their high textural-timbral mobility of vocal lines the author disclosed the dynamic stereo effect of stereomonody. The indicated innovation of the art of choral music of the 1960s make it possible to examine this decade as a focal point of solution of successful the multifarious artistic and technical aims which are conducive here to transforming the art of choral music into one of the most dynamic genres of the last decades of the 20th century and the early 21st century.

Siglind Bruhn i pieśniowe symfonie o przemijaniu

This article discusses Siglin Bruhn’s book “Dunkel ist das Leben”. Liedsinfonien zur Vergänglichkeit von Mahler bis Penderecki (2020). It summarises the main theses of the book, i.e., the content of the selected symphonies about transience (Mahler, Zemlinsky, Shostakovich, Penderecki) and the methodological decision to base analyses primarily on the vocal line shown in a particular typographic arrangement that reflects the formal structure of poetry. The review focuses specifically on the analyses of two late vocal symphonies by Krzysztof Penderecki (Sixths and Eighth), which Siglind Bruhn’s book subjects for the first time to such complex scholarly interpretation.

The Musical Language of Rock

The Musical Language of Rock

Cover Art

Cover Art

“Does Anybody Have A Map?”: The Impact of “Virtual Broadway” on Musical Theater Composition

“Does Anybody Have A Map?”: The Impact of “Virtual Broadway” on Musical Theater Composition

ANALIZA SOLO PESME NA STIHOVE JOHANA VOLFGANGA GETEA U ODABRANIM DELIMA VOLFGANGA AMADEUSA MOCARTA, LUDVIGA VAN BETOVENA I FRANCA ŠUBERTA

The history of music points to the fact that vocal music from the fif- teenth to the nineteenth centuries was concentrated on expression of emotions of composers. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, in 1814, Austrian composer Franz Schubert, with his song Gretchen am Spinnrade marked the beginning of the genre of song in Romanticism – Lied, which shows the link between the character of poetry and the character of music. By analysing the structure of selected songs W. А. Моzart – Das Veilchen, L. V. Beethoven – Freudevoll und leidvoll and Franz Sshubert – Gretchen am Spinnrade and Erlkönig we realised the relationship between vocal line, lyrics and piano score in the periods of Classicism and Romanticism. German musicologist Friedrich Blume believes that Classicism and Romanticism create a unique whole. What is meant to be the peak of Classicism in the works of W. A. Mozart is intertwined with the charm of Romantic. Beethoven’s compositions, construed on the aspirations of Classicists were enriched with dramatic presentation of personal confession of pain in everyday life, whereby they completely confirmed their integration in the nineteenth century. By the form of song and a degree of expression of own emotions, Mozart and Beethoven did not completely match the lyrics and music. In the domain of song, Franz Schubert, although inspired by the works of his predecessors, shows the union between the character of poetry and the character of music, thus emphasizing the influence of meaning and values of lyrics for the realisation of melody.

Religious and Philosophical Implication of Opera Jake Heggie’s “Moby Dick”

It is stated that interpretation of classical literary works in the art of the 21st century is a problem that is increasingly facing researchers. From this point of view, the stage adaptation of H. Melville’s novel “Moby Dick” by American composer J. Heggie, is an example of the careful preservation of the timeless philosophical and religious content of literary basis. Thereby the work of the opera authors on the novel’s text, the polystylistic features of J. Heggie’s musical thinking, the composer's mastery in the construction of the character system became the subject of the detailed scientific analysis. The purpose of the study was to identify methods of the reflection of philosophical issues in the opera “Moby Dick” by J. Heggie. It was found that composer J. Heggie and librettist J. Cheer skilfully rethought the most significant theatrical elements of G. Melville’s novel. Attention to the dramatic aspects of the story and a clear understanding of the psychological individualities of characters has transformed the world-famous literary text into a vivid musical story. The opera preserves and reproduces the archetypal symbolism of the novel “Moby Dick”: worship, pilgrimage, initiation, sacrifice. The pagan motives of hunting, killing, dismembering the flesh, consecrating of blood are contrasted with the purely Christian understanding of the ideas of salvation and resurrection. It is proved that the work of composer J. Heggie reflects one of the promising ways of developing contemporary opera. Moby Dick is pushing the boundaries of its genre: the creators of this neoromantic opera are rejecting outdated stereotypes, adding cinematography elements, overcoming the barrier between the spectator and the stage. At the same time, the opera has an accentuated classic nature (well-written libretto, number structure, impeccable vocal lines and orchestration); it combines the extraordinary lyricism and the diversity of philosophical and religious content. The example of the opera of J. Hеggie “Moby Dick” shows the possibilities of modern stage embodiment of the complicated literary works of classical writers. It is concluded that the music of the composer J. Heggie in a sense fulfils the role of the metalanguage, because it expresses the deep meanings embedded in the text of the novel, which formally remained beyond libretto

The Changing Aesthetics of Vocal Registration in the Age of ‘Verismo’

Abstract The idea that classical singers should join the notes of the vocal line by maintaining a consistent vocal colour is a relatively recent historical construct. In the last decades of the nineteenth century, singers in the Italian tradition were loyal to a very different vocal aesthetic, which valued the distinct differences in timbre between different vocal registers, as this article shows through a comparative analysis of pedagogical writing and pre-1925 recordings. The latter reveal that, in the early twentieth century, old and new techniques for uniting the vocal registers coexisted, and reflected an aesthetic transition towards a more gendered quality of the operatic voice. This process was intertwined with profound transformations in Italian operatic culture. The demands of a new realistic idiom known as verismo required a new type of vocalism, which prompted singers to re-conceive the ‘art of vocal registration’.

“Follow My Voice”:


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 'Mouth’s Cradle', from Björk’s 2004 album Medúlla, combines a vocal line of considerable flexibility with a carefully outlined yet rather unusual structure. This article discusses the inspiration behind the song and analyze its structure. A particular focus is the interaction of structure and improvisation, the tension that exists between the inherent flexibility of Björkʼs melodic impulse and a formal scheme that is worked out in full only during the later stages of the creative process. In addition to the analysis of the song as it appears on Medúlla, the article also compares two later live performances that differ considerably in the treatment of a key moment in the song. By way of contrast, the article also discusses the ostinato-based 'Oceania', from the same album, which demonstrates a very different approach to the limits of structure and improvisation. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

О ЗВУКЕ, МУЗЫКЕ, ГАРМОНИИ — ФЕНОМЕНАХ КУЛЬТУРНОГО КОДА КИТАЯ

The article deals with sound, music, and harmony as universals of the Chinese cultural code. The cultural code is the result of merging ideas concerning the ontological unity of the world, including the harmony of society, the state and the individual. These ideas permeate historical monuments, philosophical studies, artistic creativity, and the life of every person. At the time of ‘roots’ and ‘sources’, the Chinese worldview reveals in signs of the divine — Shen (神) and subtle, elegant — Miao (妙) evidence of the manifestation of the previously hidden Tao and the birth of meanings and categories of Chinese aesthetics. Their interaction is inseparable from sound and music, which at the initial stage manifest themselves as a rhythm of ontological action. Interconnected yin and yang (female and male; dark and light) are connected to it, complementing each other, enveloping the world with web of allusions. Thus, the “Chun-qiu” classic confirms that as a result, everything that exists, “finding its final form”, occupies a “certain space”, which has a “certain tone”. “The ancient kings were based on this in the establishment of music” (Luishi Chunqiu). So was born an idea of beauty as a harmony of He, equally significant for life and artistic creativity, including theater. The complex architectonics of Chinese theater is based on the laws of music and musical rhythm, according to which vocal lines, speech passages, conditioned by the tonal pronunciation norm, stage movement, rhythm of stage action, symbolic gesture, dance pattern combine, meaning that the theater is embodied not only in plot collisions, but also conveys the deepest meanings of Chinese ontology.

О русских переводах текста финала Девятой симфонии Бетховена

For almost a century, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony has been printed in Russia with equirhythmic translations—more than ten different editions including scores, choral parts, and arrangements with or without vocal lines. At the same time, the only publication that provides the name of the translator on its title page is the full score published in 1953. It bears the name of the poet Sergey Gorodetsky. The study of Russian publications issued from 1881 to 1986 identified four different translations. Two of them are of known authorship (in addition to Gorodetsky, the lines from Friedrich Schiller's Ode to Joy were also translated for singing by Victor Kolomiytsov); the other two are anonymous compilations. The article discloses the sources used by the compilers. Primarily, it is the Complete Edition of Friedrich Schiller’s works in Russian translation published by Nikolay Gerbel starting from 1857. The same Complete Edition was used by Pyotr I. Tchaikovsky during his work on the cantata To Joy in 1865. The other sources for compilations include an earlier Russian translation by Fyodor Tyutchev and some fragments of equirhythmic translations by Kolomiytsov and Gorodetsky. The latter were used in the full score edition published in 1963. In addition, we are likely to have discovered the earliest Russian equirhythmic translation. It was made by Victor Krylov at the request of Miliy Balakirev to mark the 100th anniversary of Beethoven's birth. The translation has never been published in musical editions. The article provides the complete text of the translation.

‘Pleasures that delight’: some forays into recent Purcellian releases

In his introduction to Orpheus Britannicus (1698), Henry Playford extolled Purcell’s ‘extraordinary Talent in all sorts of Musick’. Standing at a distance of some 320 years, in an age where the entirety of Purcell’s surviving output is readily accessible, this remark almost seems redundant; yet even today, his mastery of every known genre in late 17th-century England still has the capacity to astonish. The eight recordings reviewed here amply demonstrate this fact: their items range from songs and catches to odes and sacred works, to which pieces by Purcell’s contemporaries are sometimes added. The interpretations are likewise as diverse as the music itself; some are quintessentially English, others unmistakably continental; some grand in scale, others intimate; some understated, others more extrovert. As the Restoration playwright Aphra Behn perceptibly observed, ‘Variety is the soul of pleasure’ (The Second Part of the Rover, I/i, 1681). Purcell’s reputation as arguably the greatest figure to set the English language to music hardly needs reiterating, and thus it comes as no surprise to discover that secular songs form the basis of three of these eight recordings’ programmes. Perhaps the most conventionally recital-like is Henry Purcell: The cares of lovers (Linn CKD 592, issued 2019, 60′), on which the young British soprano Rowan Pierce is joined by two members of the Academy of Ancient Music (Richard Egarr on harpsichord, William Carter on lute and theorbo). It’s hard to imagine a better highlights disc of this repertory. Beyond including many of his most famous songs, it provides representative examples of all the main forms he adopted, from ground-bass songs (like ‘An Evening Hymn’) to lighter, strophic numbers (such as ‘The Knotting Song’) to more declamatory pieces with contrasting mini-sections (like ‘From silent shades’). Restricting the accompaniment to only those instruments which professional theatre singers used is a judicious decision, and results in delicate and attractive support for the vocal line that never threatens to engulf it. Pierce is a first-rate singer with solid intonation, bright tone and clear enunciation, and her interpretations frequently evince an insightful approach to bringing out the words. On the other hand, the occasional absence of essential ornaments (notably cadential shakes) is strange, and there is arguably too much vibrato—particularly in the songs composed for the young teenage singers Letitia Cross and Jemmy Bowen (tracks 1, 5, 6 and 11)—as well as too much rubato in some songs (a pertinent example being ‘If music be the food of love’). Unnecessary, too, are both the improvised instrumental introductions added to certain pieces and the theorbo added to the two keyboard grounds (tracks 7 and 13). Still, these are minor quibbles about what is overall a fine release.

Співвідношення музичного та поетичного ритму в ранніх вокальних циклах Валентина Бібіка

Розглядаються принципи втілення віршового ритму в трьох ранніх вокальних циклах В. Бібіка – «Пісні батьківського дому», «Акварелі» та «Два інтермецо», які відбивають пошуки композитора власного шляху у цій жанровій сфері на ранньому етапі творчості. У першому опусі автор використовує різні типи вокалізації віршованого тексту, однак залишається у руслі традиції. Для одночастинної композиції «Акварелей» притаманні сонористичні ефекти, відмова від метричної сітки, особливі прийоми виконання, які забезпечують своєрідність ритміки вокальної партії. В «Двох інтермецо» В. Бібік розширює виконавський склад, залучаючи до традиційного дуету голосу та фортепіано ще й флейту. Цей твір постає новим етапом активних пошуків композитора у жанрі камерно-вокальної музики.

The embodiment of the prose libretto in opera genre (on the example of the works by M. Mussorgsky, D. Shostakovich, S. Prokofi ev and G. Shantyr)

The embodiment of the prose libretto in opera genre (on the example of the works by M. Mussorgsky, D. Shostakovich, S. Prokofi ev and G. Shantyr)

Commentary on Microtonal Analysis of "Blue Notes" and the Blues Scale by Court B. Cutting

This commentary relates to the target paper by Cutting on the microtonal analysis of pitches in the vocal lines of fifteen blues recordings. After relating Cutting's study to Jeff Todd Titon's Early Downhome Blues, some of its merits and shortcomings are discussed. Finally, it is suggested to surpass the study of an abstract blues scale with research on blues modes, including characteristic ornamentations such as glides as well as typically employed patterns that specify certain blues songs or song types.

Lyrical Tension, Collective Voices: Masculinity in Alban Berg'sWozzeck

AbstractThe voice of Berg's Wozzeck has been characterized by hisSprechgesang, heard as manifestation of his abnormality or even ‘hysteria’. However, Wozzeck often sounds more lyrical and emotive in relation to his oppressors, whose sense of authority is undermined by their caricatured vocal lines and vocal types. Rather than representing a ‘broken’ voice, Wozzeck'sSprechgesangis reserved for moments shared with his fellow low-ranking comrades, suggesting that it served as a voice of solidarity and empathy. In this article, I historicize the première of the opera at the Berlin State Opera; indeed, a glance at the singers who played the central roles suggests how the characters were perceived. It reveals an intertextual web of suffering shared between Berg's traumatized soldiers, and the perverse exercise of authority.Wozzecktherefore opens up questions about the expression of ideals in post-First World War Germany: the ideal of a stoic man demanded by the army, and the ideal of a voice.