Heartfelt Love: Singing Maiden Characters in Romantic Vocal Music, 1800-1850

<p>The images of maidens in Italian opera and German lieder from the period 1800-1850 are vivid. In the plots of the operas and the scenes and stories of the lieder almost invariably these characters focus enthusiastically on heartfelt love. This exegesis explores the relationship between the expression of love by unmarried women in selected lieder and opera of the first half of the nineteenth century and performance of these works by the young soprano in the twenty-first century. In the period when these songs and operas were written, performers of lieder would often have been of a similar age to the maiden characters portrayed in the songs, and in the case of Italian opera at the time, the singers who created such roles were usually in their twenties or early thirties. As a young soprano myself, in my study I consider some questions which are relevant for twenty-first century female singers who choose to perform these nineteenth-century portrayals of virgin characters. The figures in the works I have selected to study display a wide variety of personalities, moods and emotions, from the tenacious wild rose in Schubert’s ‘Heidenröslein’, to his passionate Gretchen and the melancholic Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula. I consider how the soprano may express the different emotions involved and approach performing young maiden characters such as these, whose experiences of life and status in society may be substantially removed from twenty-first century experiences. In order to address these questions, I examine the selected song and aria texts in terms of the relationship between the content of the stories and the characters, as well as analyzing the vocal skills that can be used and vocal effects that may be applied when shaping these roles according to the music as written. In addition, I combine the background to the story and the plot with the musical markings in selected phrases to explore the emotional variety of the characters so as to interpret the deeper significance in the compositions. Through learning and performing these particular pieces I have explored the vocal techniques which are required in singing them from a practical perspective and this enables me to contribute insights I have gained to the general understanding of the skills required for this particular area of the repertoire. Having chosen repertoire for this study which combines Italian opera arias and lieder, and I also consider how the differences I have found in the vocal works may reflect their respective genres and distinguish the skills required for each. Through writing about my own research into the performance of these works, I provide new insights and ideas about these maiden characters which may be applicable to any young sopranos who sing repertoire from this period, and useful for their own vocal perfo</p>

Heartfelt Love: Singing Maiden Characters in Romantic Vocal Music, 1800-1850

<p>The images of maidens in Italian opera and German lieder from the period 1800-1850 are vivid. In the plots of the operas and the scenes and stories of the lieder almost invariably these characters focus enthusiastically on heartfelt love. This exegesis explores the relationship between the expression of love by unmarried women in selected lieder and opera of the first half of the nineteenth century and performance of these works by the young soprano in the twenty-first century. In the period when these songs and operas were written, performers of lieder would often have been of a similar age to the maiden characters portrayed in the songs, and in the case of Italian opera at the time, the singers who created such roles were usually in their twenties or early thirties. As a young soprano myself, in my study I consider some questions which are relevant for twenty-first century female singers who choose to perform these nineteenth-century portrayals of virgin characters. The figures in the works I have selected to study display a wide variety of personalities, moods and emotions, from the tenacious wild rose in Schubert’s ‘Heidenröslein’, to his passionate Gretchen and the melancholic Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula. I consider how the soprano may express the different emotions involved and approach performing young maiden characters such as these, whose experiences of life and status in society may be substantially removed from twenty-first century experiences. In order to address these questions, I examine the selected song and aria texts in terms of the relationship between the content of the stories and the characters, as well as analyzing the vocal skills that can be used and vocal effects that may be applied when shaping these roles according to the music as written. In addition, I combine the background to the story and the plot with the musical markings in selected phrases to explore the emotional variety of the characters so as to interpret the deeper significance in the compositions. Through learning and performing these particular pieces I have explored the vocal techniques which are required in singing them from a practical perspective and this enables me to contribute insights I have gained to the general understanding of the skills required for this particular area of the repertoire. Having chosen repertoire for this study which combines Italian opera arias and lieder, and I also consider how the differences I have found in the vocal works may reflect their respective genres and distinguish the skills required for each. Through writing about my own research into the performance of these works, I provide new insights and ideas about these maiden characters which may be applicable to any young sopranos who sing repertoire from this period, and useful for their own vocal perfo</p>

Representasi Stereotip Perempuan dalam Musik Dangdut: Hegemoni Kuasa dan Strategi untuk Bertahan

This research aims to explain the empowerment and capacity of an actor in dangdut music industry. Specifically, it tries to explain the knowledge, involvement, capacity and empowerment of a female singer acting in carrying songs containing what is considered vulgar values or not. Using the social praxeology concept by Bourdieu, this research argues that female singers are dominating actors in terms of dangdut music industry’s growth, though their own positions are not always special, and often enough, at its rock bottom. The stereotype role of a women’s sex and objectification both on the paper or visually can impacts her in social culture system, the self-sexualization of a women actor creates an instruct representation in public. This study uses a qualitative method with data collecting that consists of interviews with 5 female singer actors within dangdut orchestran music industry Alta Musik Pugung

The Chapters on Women in Two Adab Encyclopaedias from the Mamluk Period

This paper is a study of the chapters devoted to women in general and to female figures (female singers) in two encyclopaedic adab works of the Mamluk period, al-Nuwayrī’s Nihāyat al-arab and al-Ibshīhī’s al-Mustaṭraf fī kulli fann al-mustaẓraf. We will analyse the content of these chapters, their focus, the materials from which they are constructed and their objectives within the ensemble of the works. We will also look at the moral and intellectual qualities that configure the portrayal of women in these books, in common with others of adab prose. The final aim of all this is to obtain results to add to those that already exist, with a view to defining the female character types in this literature, the topics that make women visible in it and their relationship with male characters in the stories.

Relationships Among Personality, Daily Speaking Voice Use, and Phonotrauma in Adult Female Singers

Purpose This study sought to determine whether personality traits related to extraversion and impulsivity are more strongly associated with singers with nodules compared to vocally healthy singers and to understand the relationship between personality and the types of daily speaking voice use. Method Weeklong ambulatory voice recordings and personality inventories were obtained for 47 female singers with nodules and 47 vocally healthy female singers. Paired t tests investigated trait differences between groups. Relationships between traits and weeklong speaking voice measures (vocal dose, sound pressure level [SPL], neck surface acceleration magnitude [NSAM], fundamental frequency, cepstral peak prominence [CPP], and the ratio of the first two harmonic magnitudes [ H 1 –H 2 ]) were examined using pairwise Pearson r coefficients. Multiple regressions were performed to estimate voice parameters that correlated with two or more traits. Results Singers with nodules scored higher on the Social Potency scale (reflecting a tendency toward social dominance) and lower on the Control scale (reflecting impulsivity) compared to the vocally healthy singers. In vocally healthy singers, vocal dose measures were positively correlated with a combination of Wellbeing (i.e., happiness) and Social Potency, mean SPL was positively correlated with Wellbeing, SPL variability was positively correlated with Social Potency and negatively with Harm Avoidance, and CPP mean was positively correlated with Wellbeing. Singers with nodules had a negative correlation between NSAM skewness and Social Potency. Both groups had negative correlations between H 1 –H 2 mean and Social Potency and Social Closeness. Conclusions Singers with nodules are more socially dominant and impulsive than vocally healthy singers. Personality traits are related to daily speaking voice use, particularly in vocally healthy singers. Individuals with higher levels of traits related to happiness and social dominance and lower Harm Avoidance tended to speak more, with higher laryngeal forces, with more SPL variability, and with more pressed glottal closure, which could increase risk of phonotrauma.

Den kvinnliga sopranen i barockrepertoaren

The artistic doctoral project of soprano Kajsa Dahlbäck is in two parts. The theme of the concert series is “The female soprano within the baroque repertoire 1600–1750” and that of the thesis is “Singing-in-the-world – a phenomenological study on the singer’s inner work”. In her concerts, Dahlbäck has performed music from different parts of Europe and particularly from communities with female singers, such as for instance Italian nun convents, Vivaldi’s time at La Pietà in Venice and the court of Swedish Queen Christina in Stockholm and Rome. In her thesis, Dahlbäck shares insights from her experience as a singer specializing in early music as well as the genre’s generally intimate concert and rehearsal atmosphere. Experience texts from rehearsals and concerts have been mirrored against phenomenological theories. The practice-based triadic concept of body–breath– mind is linked to the theoretical singing-in-the-world. Body–breath–mind is the foundation for singing-in-the-world, a synthesis of the phenomenological tradition of Heidegger’s being- in-the-world (in-der-Welt-sein), Merleau-Ponty’s being toward-the-world (suis à) and in recent years Škof and Berndtson’s breathing-in-the-world.

Introduction

The Introduction sets forth a brief history of coloratura singing and identifies historical questions, issues, and contexts in scholarly literature. From opera’s origins, composers employed melismatic text treatment to highlight a singer’s agility, range, and the character’s emotional intensity, as well as for frequent moments of word painting. This tradition of solo singing was still prominent during the “bel canto” period of the early nineteenth century when composers employed coloratura vocal writing as part of normal melodic text treatment. By the end of the nineteenth century, however, coloratura was a rare feature in operatic vocal writing. Coloratura also shifted to the domain of female singers, and often particular sopranos. In providing a historical context for the study of singing, gender, and nineteenth-century opera, the author proposes that the increasing specificity of coloratura led to its eventual identity as a voice-type, becoming an indicator of the modern.

Advertising the English Glee to Women, 1750–1800

This chapter situates publications of English glees marketed to women within broader changes in publishing activities in both England and mainland Europe during the long eighteenth century. The glee was originally composed and performed by all-male vocal clubs, but after mixed-gender ensembles began singing glees in public, it came to be heavily marketed to female amateur musicians. Sheet music publications often referred to professional female singers such as Faustina Bordoni, Marianne Müller, Sophie Arnould, and Elizabeth Billington to increase sales. Music was often marketed to women in the form of monthly periodicals, including The Piano-Forte Magazine, and The Lady’s Musical Magazine; or, Monthly Polite Repository of New Vocal Musick by the Principal Composers in Europe. These periodicals were intended to generate steady income while simultaneously representing the newest, most fashionable music. As a novelty, music was occasionally printed on folding fans and playing cards, objects associated with female pastimes. These shifts speak to the gendering of musical media and performance practices in early English capitalism.