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2021 New Releases for Christmas > Bells/Glockenspiel
John Carter | Hal Leonard John Carter John Carter is recognized as a productive and versatile composer with a notable and long-standing career in choral composition. In addition to hundreds of sacred and secular choral pieces with many publishers, Mr. Carter has written several collections of piano and organ literature, bell choir arrangements, a number of works for musical theatre and an opera. He is a well-known clinician and guest conductor throughout the United States and is frequently commissioned to write for particular groups or for special occasions. He is currently serving as Director of Music at the University Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio.
Karen Buckwalter | Hal Leonard Karen Buckwalter Karen Lakey Buckwalter, a distinguished organist, pianist, and composer, is Associate Minister of Music at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, in Hanover, PA. She currently directs the handbell program, coordinates the Saturday contemporary worship and is privileged to play a 231 rank Austin organ (14,341 pipes), the 5th largest church organ in the world. Mrs. Buckwalter is a 1974 graduate of Westminster Choir College, where she earned her Bachelor of Music Education degree and a 1977 graduate of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where she studied organ with Mr. John Weaver and earned the prestigious Artists Diploma in Organ Performance. In 2007, Mrs. Buckwalter successfully completed the Associate in Ministry program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg and is continuing her studies in the Masters in Religion degree program. Internationally known in the field of handbell composition, Mrs. Buckwalter composed her first published work, “Danza” in 1982. With 47 handbell/choral compositions now in print, she has earned enthusiastic praise for her creative compositions, her colorful harmonies and her use of chromatics that have raised the musicality in handbell music as a genre. Mrs. Buckwalter is sought after as a handbell conductor/clinician for workshops and bell festivals throughout the US. Her works have been recorded in the United States and Japan and they are frequently selected at area and national handbell conferences throughout the country. Publications by Karen Buckwalter
Crawford R. Thoburn | Hal Leonard Crawford R. Thoburn More than one hundred of Crawford R. Thoburn's choral compositions, arrangements, and editions have been published. Choirs across the U.S. and throughout the world sing his music, with performances noted in Nova Scotia, British Columbia, England, Germany, Austria, France, South Africa, Singapore, India, and Taiwan. Professional, church, and college groups record his works, which have been broadcast on National Public Radio and Public Radio International. At Wells College in Aurora NY, Crawford R. Thoburn is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities. His student choral groups have won international awards in juried competition, performed by invitation at ACDA conventions and MENC meetings, toured in the U.S. and Europe, performed with many other college groups, and sung with professional orchestras. He has conducted numerous inter-collegiate choral collaborations, and enjoys a national reputation for expertise in women's choral literature and performance. Professor Thoburn has a B.A. from Allegheny College, where he studied theory, arranging, and conducting with Morten J. Luvaas. In 1999, the Allegheny Alumni Association selected him to receive its prestigious Gold Citation, ""in recognition and appreciation of the honor reflected upon the college by virtue of his professional achievements."" At Boston University, Professor Thoburn received a M.M. and worked as an assistant to his instructor in voice and conducting, Allen C. Lannom. He later studied choral and orchestral conducting with Otto-Werner Mueller, Margaret Hillis, and Robert Shaw. While on a year-long sabbatical leave, he was a member of and soloist with the St. Martin Singers of London, England, under the direction of W. D. Kennedy-Bell. Crawford served on the first National Committee on Editorial Standards of the American Choral Directors Association. His scholarly articles have appeared in the American Choral Review, Wells College Express and the Choral Journal, where he headed the Choral Review Department for five years. At Wells, Professor Thoburn chaired the Music Department, the Division of the Arts, the Centennial Committee, the New Arts Facilities Committee, the Summer College Program, and the Faculty Advisory Committee, and he was named the first Campbell Professor of the Arts. Off campus, Crawford has served many years as a choral director for Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Episcopalian congregations. He is profiled in the 59th edition of the original Marquis biographical directory Who's Who In America. Publications by Crawford R. Thoburn
Fame Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Conceived and Developed by David De Silva Book by José Fernandez Lyrics by Jacques Levy Music by Steve Margoshes Overview / Synopsis From the hit motion pictures, television series, and international stage success, FAME is nothing short of a global phenomenon. Set during the last years of New York City's celebrated High School for the Performing Arts on 46th Street (1980-1984), FAME JR. is the bittersweet but ultimately inspiring story of a diverse group of students as they commit to four years of grueling artistic and academic work. With candor, humor and insight, the show explores the issues that confront many young people today. With its topical subject manner, multi-ethnic cast of actors, singers, dancers and instrumentalists and high-energy, contemporary pop score which includes the hit title song, FAME JR. is an ideal musical for young performers. Audio Sampler - HL08753949 $10.00 ShowKit - HL09971623 $695.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Actor's Scripts Piano/Vocal Score Director's Guide 2 Performance/Accompaniment CDs Choreography DVD Media Disc 30 Family Matters Booklets 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 09971625 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 09971626 - Director's Script $100.00 09971624 - Actor's Script $10.00 09971627 - Actor's Script 10 Pak $75.00 09971449 - Performance/Accompaniment CD $75.00 09971629 - Choreography DVD $50.00 09971630 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 09971631 - Student Rehearsal CD 20 Pak $100.00 09971632 - Media Disc $10.00 08753949 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample Hard Work (Part 1) Hard Work (Part 2) Hard Work (Part 3) Hard Work (Playoff) Locker Tag 1 Locker Tag 2 I Want To Make Magic Intro To Dance Class Dance Class Sophomore Year There She Goes! / Fame Fame (Playoff) Let's Play A Love Scene Bring On Tomorrow (Part 1) Bring On Tomorrow (Part 2) Bring On Tomorrow (Part 3) After Tomorrow The Teacher's Argument Junior Year Locker Tag 3 The Junior Festival Only Time Will Tell Locker Tag 4 Carmen's Goodbye Mabel's Prayer Locker Tag 5 Senior Year Let's Play A Love Scene (Reprise) Graduation Bring On Tomorrow (Reprise) Bows Exit Music The Actors Nick Piazza Serena Katz Joe (José) Vega The Dancers Tyrone Jackson Carmen Diaz Iris Kelly Mabel Washington The Muscians Schlomo Metzenbaum Grace (Lambchops) Lamb Goodman (Goody) King The Teachers Miss Esther Sherman Ms. Greta Bell Mr. Myers Mr. Sheinkopf Other Students Male and Female Ensemble
Guys & Dolls Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Book by Abe Burrows & Jo Swerling Music & Lyrics by Frank Loesser Originally Directed on Broadway by George S. Kaufman Overview / Synopsis One of Broadway's most hilarious shows, Guys and Dolls has been described as the perfect musical comedy. It is primarily based on Damon Runyon's short story "The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown," which describes the unlikely romance between a pure at heart urban missionary and a slick Broadway gambler. The show's second romantic storyline involves Nathan Detroit and Miss Adelaide, who have been engaged for fourteen years. Nathan organizes "the oldest established, permanent floating craps game in New York," and Adelaide is the main attraction at the Hot Box nightclub. Guys and Dolls opened on Broadway on November 24, 1950. Producers Cy Feuer and Ernest Martin assembled an exceptional team to bring Runyon's hard-shelled, but basically softhearted characters to the stage. The team, which included composer/lyricist Frank Loesser, co-book writer Abe Burrows, director George S. Kaufman, and choreographer Michael Kidd, created an instant hit, praised by reviewers as one of the most well constructed book musicals in Broadway history. Guys and Dolls has had several successful Broadway revivals and tours, and is one of the most produced shows worldwide. The Broadway Junior version has the approval of the author's estate and was first produced in 1998. Audio Sampler - HL08754784 $10.00 ShowKit - HL09971718 $695.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Actor's Scripts Piano/Vocal Score Director's Guide 2 Performance/Accompaniment CDs Choreography DVD Media Disc 30 Family Matters Booklets 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 09971714 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 09971713 - Director's Guide $100.00 09971717 - Actor's Script $10.00 09971742 - Actor's Script 10 Pak $75.00 09971715 - Performance/Accompaniment CD $75.00 09971716 - Choreography DVD $50.00 09971720 - Student Rehearsal CD $10.00 09971743 - Student Rehearsal CD 20 Pak $100.00 09971719 - Media Disc $10.00 08754784 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample Scene 1 Fugue for Tinhorns [Nicely, Benny, Rusty Charlie, opt. Ensemble] Follow the Fold [Sarah and the Mission Band] The Oldest Established [Nicely, Benny, Nathan and Crapshooters] Scene 2 I'll Know [Sarah and Sky] Scene 3 A Bushel and a Peck [Adelaide and Dolls] Adelaide's Lament [Adelaide] Scene 4 Guys and Dolls [Nicely, Benny, opt. Ensemble] Scene 7 If I Were a Bell [Sarah] Scene 8 I've Never Been in Love Before [Sarah and Sky] Scene 9 Adelaide's Second Lament [Adelaide] Scene 11 Luck Be a Lady [Sky, Crapshooters] Scene 13 Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat [Nicely, Ensemble] Scene 14 Marry the Man Today [Adelaide, Sarah] Scene 15 The Happy Ending [The Company] Nathan Detroit Nathan Detroit needn't be a great singer, but should be a good actor with excellent comic timing. Adelaide Adelaide needn't be a great singer, but must have a strong character voice and a good sense of pitch. She needs to be able to do a New York accent and have good comic timing. Sky Masterson Sky Masterson is the quintessential, smooth as velvet Broadway gambler. He needn't be a great singer, but MUST be able to own the stage in "Luck Be a Lady." Sarah Brown Sarah Brown is the girl next door with a more adventurous side that's waiting to get out. She must be an excellent singer and a good actor. Arvide Abernathy Arvide Abernathy is Sarah's grandfather. May also be cast as a girl, changing to Sarah's grandmother. Benny Southstreet Benny Southstreet is a gambler. Rusty Charlie Rusty Charlie is a gambler. Harry the Horse Harry the Horse is a gambler. Lt. Brannigan Lt. Brannigan is a New York City cop. General Cartwright General Cartwright is head of the Save-a-Soul mission. Big Jule Big Jule is a very tough, gun-toting gangster from Chicago. Mimi Mimi is a doll. Angie the Ox Angie the Ox is a gambler. Guys Guys - The rest of your male ensemble (except for the mission band) can be cast as "guys." They are the crapshooters, gamblers, workers, New York City folks of all types. Dolls Dolls - The Dolls are your Hot Box girls and other ensemble females. You will want to designate your Hot Box girls as your preferred singers and dancers. Frequently, you will have many more girls than boys audition, so you may want to cast some of your girls as "guys." Mission Band Mission Band includes Agatha and Calvin. You can fill out the ensemble of your production by adding as many members of the Mission Band as your stage can accommodate.
Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2016 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2016 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 1, 2016. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place CLARA PLESTIS School: Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University Voice Teacher: Steve Rainbolt Second Place JESSICA NILES School: The Juilliard School Voice Teacher: Marlena Malas Third Place JULIA GOMEZ School: Nebraska Wesleyan University Voice Teacher: Jana Holzmeier ; Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) NATHAN KESSEL Watch Video CLAY MOTE Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place BENJAMIN WENZELBERG Location: Tenafly, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Second Place (tie) JOSHUA BERG Location: Bellevue, Washington Voice Teacher: Nancy Zylstra Second Place (tie) TARYN SURRATT Location: Houston, Texas Voice Teacher: Jason Lester Third Place (tie) MARIANNE FREEMAN Location: Lower Burrell, PA Voice Teacher: Sue Ann Phillips Third Place (tie) NIKO MANCERA Location: Laguna Niguel, California Voice Teacher: Kathleen Martin Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) SARAH AALDERING Watch Video KATE BRODERICK Watch Video SAM DHOBHANY Location: Brooklyn, NY Watch Video CLAUDIA GIUGNI Watch Video BORIS MOROCHO Watch Video MUFFIN RUSSELL Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place TYLER BOUQUE Location: Troy, Michigan Voice Teacher: Drake Dantzler Second Place MADELIN MORALES Location: Fairfield, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Jeanai La Vita Third Place ALEA VERNON Location: Cheshire, Connecticut Voice Teacher: Hilda Harris Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) JAYDA COURNOYER Watch Video CARLY GRONINGA Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place ALIYAH DOUGLAS Location: Oro Valley, Arizona Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Second Place (tie) ISABELLA BANK Location: Cary, North Carolina Voice Teacher: Gloria Petrini Second Place (tie) DALEYNA DUNLAP Location: Rolling Hills, California Voice Teacher: Susan Wong Third Place (tie) SANGHOON JUNG Location: Closter, New Jersey Voice Teacher: HyeYoung Kang Third Place (tie) KAYA KONEVITC Location: New Cumberland, Pennsylvania Voice Teacher: Marina Cherepinsky Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) LIRAZ BRAND Watch Video SHAYLA HE Watch Video AIDA SKARAITE Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place JACK KAY School: The Juilliard School Voice Teacher: Robert White Second Place TOBIAS NORDLUND School: Messiah Collegey Voice Teacher: Elaine Henderson Third Place (tie) ADAM BEI School: Mesa Community College Voice Teacher: Nicole Jensen Third Place (tie) CLAY MOTE School: Mercer University Voice Teacher: Richard Kosowski Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) RACHEL HORNER Watch Video MICHELLE LANGONE School: Vanderbilt University Watch Video ABBY KURTH Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place LEE METAXA Location: Cedar Park, Texas Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Second Place (tie) AMANDA CHILDS Location: McKinney, Texas Voice Teacher: Peg Waldschmidt Second Place (tie) AÏSSA GUINDO Location: Montreal, Quebec Voice Teacher: Martina Oslejskova Third Place (tie) ASHLEY HIESTER Location: Atco, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Third Place (tie) MILLER KRAPS Location: Louisville, Kentucky Voice Teacher: Debbie King Raque Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) SARAH AALDERING Watch Video MOLLIE DEFILIPPO Watch Video JACK JOHNSTON Watch Video HOPE KLESSIG Watch Video NIKO MANCERA Watch Video BORIS MOROCHO Watch Video KYLEE SHAFFER Watch Video CAMERON VANCE Watch Video JESSICA VANEK Watch Video MEGAN WILSON Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place CHLOE HAYES Location: Brazil, Indiana Voice Teacher: Colleen Davis Second Place (tie) DALIA MEDOVNIKOV Location: Woodbridge, Connecticut Voice Teacher: Andrea Kennedy Second Place (tie) MADELIN MORALES Location: Fairfield, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Jeanai La Vita Third Place (tie) ERIKA HILL Location: Reno, Nevada Voice Teacher: Tiffanie Story Third Place (tie) NICOLE SUGARMAN Location: Coral Springs, Florida Voice Teacher: Melanie Leibner Perkins Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) ELYSE BELL Watch Video ANNIE CAHILL Watch Video OLIVIA IACONO Watch Video CODY KONOP Watch Video LEXI MELLOTT Watch Video GRACE MOZITIS Watch Video BUDDY NOVAK Watch Video ZOË STEWART Watch Video BRADY TUTTON Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place ALEXA REEVES Location: Cherry Hill, New Jersey Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Second Place (tie) ARIN SANDIDGE Location: Bellevue, Washington Voice Teacher: Larry Bridges Second Place (tie) MALIA VARELA Location: Staten Island, New York Voice Teacher: G. Mitzanov and A. DeMayo Third Place LAUREN SUN Location: Rye Brook, New York Voice Teacher: Jeanai La Vita Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) BENJAMIN BARHAM-WIESE Watch Video ASHLEY BROOKE Watch Video ALIYAH DOUGLAS Watch Video DALEYNA DUNLAP Watch Video DAVID HACKER Watch Video MADELEINE HOTHAM Watch Video GIDEON JOHNSON Watch Video ANNELIESE KELLY Watch Video KAYA KONEVITCH Watch Video Back To Top
Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2023 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2023 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 2, 2023. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. We began the Hal Leonard Vocal Competition in 2011, and since then thousands of singers have entered, and we thank them for it. So many teachers have been longtime devotees to the competition. Unfortunately, due to a combination of circumstances, 2023 will be the final year of the competition. As founder of the competition and head of the judging panel, I am retiring after 39 years at Hal Leonard. We thank you for your loyalty and for all the amazing singers you've shared with us over the years. Best wishes to all in your future singing! - Richard Walters Complete List of Winners ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Sarah Fleiss School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Ting Ting Wong Voice Teacher: Julia Faulkner Second Place Lily Bogas School: Eastman School of Music Location: Rochester, NY Pianist: Jenny Choo Kirby Voice Teacher: Amy Johnson Third Place Emily Damasco School: Curtis Institute of Music Location: Philadelphia, PA Pianist: Jenny Choo Kirby Voice Teacher: Robert Swensen Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Even Johnson School: Chapman University Watch Video Madeleine Keane School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video Clara Reeves School: Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place Maximus Taylor School: Dupont Manual High School Location: Louisville, KY Pianist: Bruce Boiney Voice Teacher: Garrett Sorenson, Elizabeth Batton Sorenson Second Place (tie) Erin Chung School: Archbishop Mitty High School Location: Saratoga, CA Pianist: Sophia Min Voice Teacher: Cristina Park Second Place (tie) Olivia Gonzales School: Kinder High School for the Performing Arts Location: Houston, TX Voice Teacher: Alicia Gianni Third Place (tie) Alicia Chu School: Juilliard Pre-College Location: Newark, DE Pianist: Matthew Jewel Voice Teacher: Lorrain Nubar Third Place (tie) SangHoon Jung School: Bergen County Academies Location: Fort Lee, NJ Pianist: Hanghyun Lee Voice Teachers: Ronald Cappon, Yohan Yi Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) David “Trey” Logeman Location: Kings Mountain, NC Watch Video Naysa Marrero Location: Miami, FL Watch Video Gabriel Wang Location: Vancouver, BC Watch Video Briggs Williamson Location: Delaplane, VA Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place Katherine Ryan School: Immaculate Heart Academy Location: Pearl River, NY Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Second Place (tie) William Lovell School: ASU Prep Digital Location: Mesa, AZ Pianist: Hope Douglas Voice Teacher: Nichole Jensen Second Place (tie) Alana Merritt School: St. Joseph Academy Location: Escondido, CA Pianist: Yvette Itano Voice Teacher: Jonathan Beyer Third Place (tie) Sofiia Dorozhkina School: Sacramento Academy of Musical Arts Location: Sacramento, CA Voice Teacher: Alina Ilchuk Third Place (tie) Lukas Palys School: St. Mark’s School of Texas Location: Dallas, TX Pianist: Szu-Ying Huang Voice Teacher: Alexander Rom Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Katherine Berdovskiy Location: Davis, CA Watch Video Maeve Cunningham Location: Ridgewood, NJ Watch Video Aurora Dainer Location: Bethesda, MD Watch Video Akshi Malhotra Location: San Jose, CA Watch Video Niko Rinaldi Location: Stamford, CT Watch Video Lily Yezdanian Location: Clifton, NJ Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Donna Megules School: Haines 6th Grade Center Location: Medford, NJ Voice Teacher: Kristine Biller Second Place (tie) Chloe Kesner School: Homeschool Location: Mesa, AZ Voice Teachers: Allison Houston Second Place (tie) Hailey Rivera School: Christ the Teacher Academy Location: Cliffside Park, NJ Pianist: Liliana Sotirova Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova Third Place (tie) Kailey Sunwoo School: Demarest Middle School Location: Demarest, NJ Pianist: Haekyoung Lee Voice Teacher: HyeYoung Kang Third Place (tie) Janelle Wu School: Perimeter School Location: Johns Creek, GA Voice Teacher: Xianyu Cui Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Ashley Hua Location: Marietta, GA Watch Video Juliet Lee Location: Vienna, VA Watch Video Brooks Liang Location: Campbell, CA Watch Video Josephine Martin Location: New York, NY Watch Video Lily Bell Morgan Location: Portsmouth, VA Watch Video Emma Tang Location: Duluth, GA Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Anna Zavelson School: University of Michigan Location: Ann Arbor, MI Pianist: Casey Baker Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Gray Second Place (tie) Vera Brown School: Webster University Location: Memphis, TN Pianist: Zach Nuemar Voice Teacher: Jeffrey Carter Second Place (tie) Ashlyn Combs School: Winthrop University Location: New York, NY Third Place (tie) Diego Bly School: Christopher Newport University Location: Providence Forge, VA Pianist: Suzanne Daniels Voice Teacher: Colin Ruffer Third Place (tie) Alex Daspit School: Webster University Location: McFarland, WI Pianist: Jeffrey Carter Voice Teacher: Jeffrey Carter Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Meg Booker School: Northern Kentucky University Watch Video Curran Bramhall School: University of South Carolina Watch Video Grace Caccavari School: Xavier University Watch Video Owen Clark School: Xavier University Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place Lauren Huserik School: Kentridge High School Location: Renton, WA Pianist: Deborah Mackey Voice Teacher: Darcy Fulkerson Second Place (tie) Lindsay Alexander School: Stephen F. Austin High School Location: Austin, TX Pianist: Austin Haller Voice Teacher: Shaunna Shandro Second Place (tie) Alexander Kim School: St. Margaret's Episcopal School Location: Laguna Niguel, CA Pianist: Lex Leigh Voice Teacher: Denise Milner Howell Third Place (tie) Kaiya Bagley School: St. Mary’s School Location: Medford, OR Pianist: Dr. Eunae Ho Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Third Place (tie) Zoey Blackman School: Melissa Daniels Vocal Studio Location: Voorhees, NJ Pianist: Melissa Daniels McCann Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Chelsea Bohn-Pozniak Location: Cinnamonson, NJ Watch Video Kathryn Dooley Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Ciela Elliott Location: Chappaqua, NY Watch Video Aurna Mukherjee Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Claire Shirley Location: Greenville, SC Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place Lily Yezdanian School: Lacordaire Location: Clifton, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon, Liliana Sotirova Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Nicole Blanco School: Episcopal High School Location: Houston, TX Voice Teacher: Laura Ballard Second Place (tie) Vince Ermita School: David E. Owens Middle School Location: New Milford, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Third Place (tie) Eve Antonelli School: Bergen County Academies Location: Oradell, NJ Voice Teacher: Lori Fredrics Third Place (tie) Edward Turner School: Bergen County Academies Location: Oradell, NJ Voice Teacher: Terri Grosso Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Marina Chamedes Location: New York, NY Watch Video Diya Koul Location: Lexington, MA Watch Video Katherine Ryan Location: Pearl River, NY Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Vinya Chhabra School: Churchill Junior High School Location: East Brunswick, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon and Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Evelyn Billingsley School: Cascade Christian School Location: Jacksonville, OR Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Second Place (tie) Sienna Stoll School: St. Francis Xavier School Location: Phoenix, AZ Voice Teachers: Renee Koher Third Place (tie) Kylie Kuioka School: Bridgeway Academy (homeschool) Location: Brooklyn, NY Third Place (tie) Cayden Tan School: Horace Mann School Location: New York, NY Pianist: Sun Young Chang Voice Teachers: Sun Young Chang Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Chance Challen Location: Santa Barbara, CA Lincoln Cohen Location: New York, NY Watch Video Kai Edgar Location: Saint Charles, IL Watch Video Everleigh Murphy Location: Rockford, MI Watch Video Shreya Philips Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Dyuti Venkatakrishna Location: Parsippany, NJ Watch Video Back To Top
Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2022 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2022 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Hal Leonard, the world's largest print music publisher and the world leader in vocal music, launched the exciting and innovative concept of a serious music competition for voice students comprised entirely of YouTube video entries. We believe this to be the first legitimate music competition for musicians of various ages, children through college, to be held entirely on the Internet. The required repertoire was largely drawn from art song and musical theatre literature. The deadline for entry was February 2, 2022. Judging has been concluded, and we are pleased to announce the art song and musical theatre results in the four age categories of competition. Congratulations to the prize winners! We were encouraged by the commitment and seriousness of purpose shown in the video entries. If these are a representative sampling, there are clearly many dedicated students and teachers at all levels who have embraced our heritage of music literature. We thank all those who entered for confirming that this experimental venture was more than worthwhile. And we also thank the teachers and parents who guided the voice students in this competition. Thank you also to all the accompanists for their key participation. Complete List of Winners View the Winning Videos View Previous Results 2023 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 ART SONG WINNERS College/University Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Young Adult Voices High School Voices Early Teen Voices Children's Voices COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY VOICES, ART SONG - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Kaya Giroux School: Carnegie Mellon University Location: Montreal, Quebec Pianist: Paul Michael Clark Voice Teacher: Maria Spacagna Second Place (tie) Natalie Corrigan School: University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music Location: Cincinnati, OH Pianist: Beth Parker Voice Teacher: Amy Johnson Second Place (tie) Gabrielle Turgeon School: University of Toronto Location: Toronto, ON Pianist: Kathryn Tremills Voice Teacher: Elizabeth McDonald Third Place Blake Stevenson School: University of Southern California Location: Los Angeles, CA Pianist: John-Henri Voice Teacher: Thomas Michael Allen Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Lucy Altus School: Carnegie Mellon University Watch Video Abraham Cruz School: The Boston Conservatory Watch Video Marieke de Koker School: Mannes College of Music Watch Video Jacob Soulliere School: Manhattan School of Music Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 16-18 First Place Elena Oliveira School: Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Location: Houston, TX Pianist: Yanira Soria Voice Teacher: Hector Vàsquez Second Place (tie) Aliyah Douglas School: Ironwood Ridge High School Location: Oro Valley, AZ Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Second Place (tie) Lia Zheng School: Canyon Crest Academy Location: San Diego, CA Voice Teacher: Zeping Cai Third Place (tie) Paige Klemenhagen School: Stillwater Area High School Location: Lake Elmo, MN Pianist: Ruth Palmer Voice Teacher: Teresa Tierney Third Place (tie) Ava Maha School: Choate Rosemary Hall Location: Sewickley, PA Pianist: Nathaniel Baker Voice Teachers: Sooyeon Kim and Lorraine Nubar Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Clara Abrahams Location: Lincoln, CA Watch Video Kimberly Adam Location: Wayne, PA Watch Video Eloise Fox Location: Landenberg, PA Watch Video Elliot Henderson Location: New York, NY Watch Video Henry Hsiao Location: Princeton, NJ Watch Video Alexandra Johnson Location: Howell, MI Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 13-15 First Place Grace Chung Location: Hackensack, NJ Pianist: Goeun Lee Voice Teacher: Jinhwan Byun Second Place (tie) Salina Mu Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Shaunna Shandro Second Place (tie) Abigail Tidlow-Tranel Location: Yellowstone National Park, WY Pianist: Douglas Burgess Voice Teacher: Jonathan Beyer Third Place (tie) Nana Castle Location: Jacksonville, NC Pianist: Jay R. Wright Voice Teacher: Alison Lawrence Third Place (tie) Aurna Mukherjee Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Isaac Ahn Location: Rye Brook, NY Watch Video Eva Crichton Location: New York, NY Watch Video Abinaya Ganesh Location: Andover, MA Watch Video Jocelyn Knorr Location: Havertown, PA Watch Video David Trey Logeman Location: Kings Mountain, NC Watch Video Lukas Palys Location: Dallas, TX Watch Video Aanya Santosh Location: Lincolnshire, IL Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, ART SONG - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Heidi Hager Location: Herndon, VA Voice Teacher: Heather Vineyard Second Place (tie) Maya Joshi Location: Cresskill, NJ Pianist: Liliana Sotirova Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo and Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Diya Koul Location: Lexington, MA Voice Teacher: Beth Sterling Third Place (tie) Katherine Berdovskiy Location: Davis, CA Voice Teacher: Bernadette Mondok Keller Third Place (tie) Juliet Lee Location: Vienna, VA Voice Teacher: Sonia Yon Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Ava Acconzo Location: Bloomingdale, NJ Watch Video Cristina Garcia Location: North Plainfield, NJ Watch Video Ashley Hua Location: Marietta, GA Watch Video Bella Leybovich Location: Mesa, AZ Watch Video Lily Bell Morgan Location: Portsmouth, VA Watch Video Ben Rost Location: Livingston, NJ Watch Video Anna Smith Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Leila Woodward Location: Newport Beach, CA Watch Video YOUNG ADULT VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - Undergraduates (AGES 18-23) First Place Abigail Storm School: Ball State University Location: Austin, TX Voice Teacher: Beth Truitt Second Place (tie) Ashlyn Combs School: Winthrop University Location: Lexington, SC Second Place (tie) Natalie Doppelt School: University of Pennsylvania Location: Riverwoods, IL Pianist: Lisa Harer de Calvo Voice Teacher: Courtney Ames Third Place (tie) Aminata Jalloh School: Reinhardt University Location: Powder Springs, GA Pianist: Melanie Williams Voice Teacher: Reverie Berger Third Place (tie) Emily Kars School: Huntington University Location: Kincheloe, MI Pianist: Stephanie See Voice Teacher: Joni Killian Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Te’Jah Beaton School: North Charleston, SC Watch Video Beck Chandler Location: Columbia, SC Watch Video Karen Covarrubias Location: Keene, TX Watch Video Matthew Danforth Location: Demarest, NJ Watch Video Taylor McCullough Location: Kingstree, SC Watch Video Blake Stevenson Location: San Juan Capistrano, CA Watch Video HIGH SCHOOL VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 16-18 First Place Amelia Gibbons School: Southwest High School (Green Bay) Location: De Pere, WI Pianist: Mary Ehlinger Voice Teacher: Kaara McHugh Second Place (tie) Makenna Jacobs School: Perry High School Location: Chandler, AZ Pianist: Jenn Crandell Voice Teacher: Nichole Jensen Second Place (tie) Emma Schrier School: Cinnaminson High School Location: Cinnaminson, NJ Voice Teacher: Tamara Lynn Koveloski Third Place (tie) Emelia Aceto School: Highland High School Location: Hinckley, OH Voice Teacher: Denise Howell Third Place (tie) Ellie Brenner School: Interlochen Arts Academy (MI) Location: Durand, WI Pianist: Douglas Peck Voice Teacher: Douglas Peck Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Lindsay Alexander Location: Austin, TX Watch Video Christine Kelly Location: Geneva, IL Watch Video Ava Lane Location: Livingston, NJ Watch Video EARLY TEEN VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 13-15 First Place Kaiya Bagley School: St. Mary’s School Location: Medford, OR Pianist: Tim Spencer Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Second Place (tie) Marina Chamedes School: Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts Location: New York City, NY Pianist: Dan Pardo Voice Teacher: Grant Anderson Second Place (tie) Abinaya Ganesh School: SMB Lessons Location: Clairton, PA Voice Teacher: Stephanie Morey-Barry Third Place (tie) Baylee Horvath School: Christ Greenfield Location: Gilbert, AZ Pianist: Hope Douglass Voice Teacher: Nichole Jensen Third Place (tie) Aurna Mukherjee School: Liberal Arts and Science Academy Location: Austin, TX Pianist: Nick Wilders Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Molly Dupre Location: Mattapoisett, MA Watch Video Ciela Elliott Location: Chappaqua, NY Watch Video Stefan Herrera Location: Houston, TX Watch Video Mina Lim Location: Orinda, CA Watch Video Bridget Lomax Location: Short Hills, NJ Watch Video Morgan Lomax Location: Short Hills, NJ Watch Video Grace Martin Location: Medford, NJ Watch Video Lydia Mushkatina Location: Bellevue, WA Watch Video Violet Paris Location: Brooklyn, NY Watch Video Rachel Rogstad Location: Loma Linda, CA Watch Video Naomi Thuren Location: Medford, OR Watch Video Ananya Yadati Location: Beachwood, OH Watch Video CHILDREN'S VOICES, MUSICAL THEATRE - AGES 12 AND UNDER First Place Maya Joshi School: Cresskill Middle School Location: Cresskill, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon and Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Agneya Roy School: Cox Mill Elementary School Location: Concord, NC Voice Teacher: Brandi Icard Second Place (tie) Darby Schlosser School: H.C. Crittenden Middle School Location: Armonk, NY Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo and Gulnara Mitzanova Third Place (tie) Liam Garrett School: Candeo School Location: Peoria, AZ Voice Teachers: Satyam Patel and Ellen Johnson Third Place (tie) Ben Rost School: Collins Elementary School Location: Livingston, NJ Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon, Gulnara Mitzanova and Liliana Sotirova Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically) Alera Cetrulo Location: Santa Barbara, CA Watch Video Amelia Holly Location: Chicago, IL Watch Video Bella Leybovich Location: Mesa, AZ Watch Video Bella Nazzaro Location: Lake Worth, FL Watch Video Ciana Tzuo Location: New York, NY Watch Video Kylie Kuioka Location: Brooklyn, NY Watch Video Mollie Pedersen Location: Rochester, NH Watch Video Nicole Hodges Location: Spring, TX Watch Video Theodore Burke Location: Rancho Cucamonga, CA Watch Video Yifan Monroe Location: Gig Harbor, WA Watch Video Back To Top
Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2022 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2022 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Complete List ART SONG WINNERS Children's Voices Ages 12 and under (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Heidi Hager (age 11) Herndon, VA Navy Elementary School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Heather Vineyard Second Place (tie) Maya Joshi (age 12) Cresskill, NJ Cresskill Middle School Pianist: Liliana Sotirova Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo and Liliana Sotirova Diya Koul (age 12) Lexington, MA Diamond Middle School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Beth Sterling Third Place (tie) Katherine Berdovskiy (age 12) Davis, CA Ralph Waldo Emerson Junior High Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Bernadette Mondok Keller Juliet Lee (age 11) Vienna, VA Wolftrap Elementary School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Sonia Yon Honorable Mentions Ava Acconzo (age 12) Bloomingdale, NJ Cristina Garcia (age 12) North Plainfield, NJ Ashley Hua (age 11) Marietta, GA Bella Leybovich (age 12) Mesa, AZ Lily Bell Morgan (age 10) Portsmouth, VA Ben Rost (age 10) Livingston, NJ Anna Smith (age 12) Austin, TX Leila Woodward (age 12) Newport Beach, CA Finalists Amy Ai (VA) Rachel Liz Anand (TX) Saryu Bapatla (FL) Alisha Batreja (NJ) Lilia Bernstein (CA) Theodore Burke (CA) Davna Ceron (NJ) Vinya Chhabra (NJ) Kayla Colchamiro (NJ) Charlotte Collins-Williams (CA) Mark Corrigan (CA) Aerina DeBoer (NJ) Chloe Ding (CA) Scarlett Diviney (NY) Nithya Gandi (IL) Esther Gao (GA) Rudrani Ghoshal (NC) Anna Grace Howell (PA) Ava Kimble (OH) Mady King (AZ) Olivia Ma (ON) Adhya Mahesh (CA) Beatrice Main (CA) Avyay Mangalampalli (MN) Josephine Martin (NY) Brendan McCanta (CA) Lily Mei (NJ) Carter Meza (CA) Maggie Miao (NY) Elsa Newbower (MA) Anh-Thu Nguyen (CA) Daniella Ngyuen (CA) Shreya Philips (TX) Nikila Rajan (TX) Claire Reimer (IA) Shea Sanders (IA) Akiv Sha (NJ) Siya Sharma (NJ) Elaine Shi (ON) Emma Tang (GA) Luke Tran (CA) Renee Tse (TX) Radha Maria Vargas Saravanamuttu (ON) Dyuti Venkatakrishna (NJ) Edward Wagner (NJ) Isabella Wagner (NJ) Janelle Wu (GA) Claire Xiao (NH) Yonglin Xie (ON) Cnai Zecharya (PA) Audrey Zelkovic (NY) Kayla Zhang (GA) NiuNiu Zhang (MD) Semi-Finalists Mira Bills (WI) Cadence Bleakley (CA) Allison Bovy (IA) Ella Cai (ON) Rick Chen (ON) Alan Csallner (TX) Hailey Dai (NJ) Donovan Dau (CA) Lilliana DeBoer (NJ) Catalina Do (CA) Siyu Fan (CA) Jianna Gutt (NY) Kellan Jewett (NC) Siddharth Kamat (NJ) Alyssa Kusherets (WA) Leonardo Lin (CA) Penelope Main (CA) Yifan Monroe (WA) Marsha Nath (AZ) Sofie Nesanelis (CT) Caylie Nguyen (CA) Saisha Pal (VA) Sophia Ponichter (NY) Shreya Rajeev (CA) Darby Schlosser (NY) Samaira Singh (NJ) Ainsley Sorenson (NY) Maya Surdutovich (CA) Amy Tierolf (CA) Richard James Tucker (NJ) Annika Vadhavkar (NJ) Owen Wang (ON) Ruolin Yuan (NJ) Ainsley Zauel (VA) Karson Zhang (ON) Aiden Zhao (GA) Early Teen Voices Ages 13-15 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Grace Chung (age 15) Hackensack, NJ Bergen County Academies Pianist: Goeun Lee Voice Teacher: Jinhwan Byun Second Place (Tie) Salina Mu (age 15) Austin, TX Westlake High School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Shaunna Shandro Abigail Tidlow-Tranel (age 15) Yellowstone National Park, WY Gardiner Public School Pianist: Douglas Burgess Voice Teacher: Jonathan Beyer Third Place (tie) Nana Castle (age 15) Jacksonville, NC Jacksonville High School Pianist: Jay R. Wright Voice Teacher: Alison Lawrence Aurna Mukherjee (age 15) Austin, TX Liberal Arts and Science Academy Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Michelle Haché Honorable Mentions Isaac Ahn (age 13) Rye Brook, NY Eva Crichton (age 15) New York, NY Abinaya Ganesh (age 15) Andover, MA Jocelyn Knorr (age 15) Havertown, PA David Trey Logeman (age 15) Kings Mountain, NC Lukas Palys (age 14) Dallas, Texas Aanya Santosh (age 13) Lincolnshire, IL Finalists Elizabeth Cho (MD) Alicia Chu (DE) Gabriela Cruz (NY) Maeve Cunningham (NJ) Daniel Deng (TX) Rebeca Dinca (WA) Emily Jane du Pont (DE) Ciela Elliott (NY) Saoirse Feiler (CA) Silvan Friedman (CT) Ashmita Ghosh (NC) Caitlin Hayles (FL) Evelyn Hsu (CA) Logan Hu (LA) Estella Sky Keyoung (CA) Hazel Kim (IL) Mariam Kubursi (CA) Vanessa Li (MD) Fiona Lin (GA) Bridget Lomax (NJ) Morgan Lomax (NK) Annabelle Miin (CA) Avery Nokes (VA) Violet Paris (NY) Gabe Ponichter (NY) Rachel Rogstad (CA) Katherine Ryan (NY) Viveka Saravanan (CA) Serena Sharma (CT) Kendall Sorenson (NY) Emily Stuart (WA) Celine Velazquez (CA) Hanyamin Wang (GA) Forrest Weaver (NH) Kiran Wisneski (PA) Lily Yezdanian (NJ) Margaret Zhang (NY) Semi-Finalists Misha Agrawal (NJ) Elisabeth Baer (GA) Isha Bhandari (NJ) Zoe Cook (WA) Leena Dey (MA) Charlotte Dugan (NH) Zara Garg (CT) Gretchen Gerke (IA) Anushri Ghoshal (NC) Ellivia Gold (NY) Baylee Horvath (AZ) Veronica James (NJ) Leela Jarschel (CA) Charlie Kratz (PA) Iva Liu (CA) Joon-Hyung Noh (CA) Olivia Petrizzo (NY) Sofia Mariposa Pugh (AL) Niko Rinaldi (CT) Luis Rodriguez (ON) Naomi Sedwick (VA) Chelsea Sun (TX) Noella Tae (CA) Shreya Tanna (NJ) Carmen Tarajano (NC) Temira Weisberg (NJ) Ava Whytsell (SC) Garrett Wirth (CA) Jeffrey Yang (CA) Michael Yu (TX) High School Voices Ages 16-18 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Elena Oliveira (age 18) Houston, TX Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts Pianist: Yanira Soria Voice Teacher: Hector Vàsquez Second Place (tie) Aliyah Douglas (age 17) Oro Valley, AZ Ironwood Ridge High School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Stephanie Fox Lia Zheng (age 16) San Diego, CA Canyon Crest Academy Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Zeping Cai Third Place (tie) Paige Klemenhagen (age 17) Lake Elmo, MN Stillwater Area High School Pianist: Ruth Palmer Voice Teacher: Teresa Tierney Ava Maha (age 17) Sewickley, PA Choate Rosemary Hall Pianist: Nathaniel Baker Voice Teacher: Sooyeon Kim and Lorraine Nubar Honorable Mentions Clara Abrahams (age 17) Lincoln, CA Kimberly Adam (age 17) Wayne, PA Eloise Fox (age 17) Landenberg, PA Elliot Henderson (age 16) New York, NY Henry Hsiao (age 18) Princeton, NJ Alexandra Johnson (age 16) Howell, MI Finalists Emelia Aceto (OH) Arya Balian (MD) Angelina Chen (CA) Erin Chung (CA) Ava Danzer (WI) Andie Earl (NJ) Olivia Gonzales (TX) Cecilia Harrison (NC) SangHoon Jung (NJ) Elora Kares (OH) Sofia Mains (PA) Andrea Nalywajko (NY) Kierra Pizarro (NY) Jocie Schnee (VA) Elena Skirgaudas (WA) Amanda Spotts (PA) Ashley Stewart (AZ) Semi-Finalists Katie Brigman (LA) Skyy Brooks (PA) Calia Burdette (KY) Janice Chong (CA) Fiona Coughlin (OH) Grace Finke (CA) Grace Hahn (CA) Kelly Irwin (NJ) Makenna Jacobs (AZ) Christine Kelly (IL) Rohan Kurup (WA) Mary Julia Lashley (OH) Emma Leibowitz (CA) Jack Leslie (CA) Carissa Ma (VA) Gianna Macedon (VA) Holly Marescot (NY) Isabella Michaels (PA) Ashwini Narayanan (IL) Abby Olson (CA) Bria Petrella (NJ) Tanisha Pulla (CA) Aashna Rana (CA) Abhigna Sala (GA) Csepke Sallai (VA) Emmeline Sevey (NH) Kirsten Tierney (VA) Luis Vega-Torres (OH) Viven Vigliante (VA) Nicole Witte (AZ) College/Univeristy Voices Ages 18-23 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Kaya Giroux (age 21) Carnegie Mellon University Pianist: Paul Michael Clark Voice Teacher: Maria Spacagna Second Place (tie) Natalie Corrigan (age 21) University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music Pianist: Beth Parker Voice Teacher: Amy Johnson Gabrielle Turgeon (age 21) University of Toronto Pianist: Kathryn Tremills Voice Teacher: Elizabeth McDonald Third Place Blake Stevenson (age 22) University of Southern California Pianist: John-Henri Voice Teacher: Thomas Michael Allen Honorable Mentions Lucy Altus (age 21) Carnegie Mellon University Abraham Cruz (age 21) The Boston Conservatory Marieke de Koker (age 23) Mannes College of Music Jacob Soulliere (age 22) Manhattan School of Music Finalists Adam Clayton (age 20) Northwestern University Jack Fanselau (age 21) Southwestern Adventist University Sarah Fleiss (age 22) The Curtis Institute of Music Laura Looper (age 19) Indiana University Lilly Nowak (age 19) Oklahoma City University Ian Pathak (age 20) University of Michigan Andrew Puschel (age 20) Bowling Green State University Aliyah Quill (age 20) University of Michigan Kayla Stein (age 20) Eastman School of Music Jillian Tam (age 20) McGill University Will Upham (age 23) Southern Methodist University Meghan Willey (age 20) James Madison University MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Children's Voices Ages 12 and under (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Maya Joshi (age 12) Cresskill, NJ Cresskill Middle School Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon and Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Agneya Roy (age 10) Concord, NC Cox Mill Elementary School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Brandi Icard Darby Schlosser (age 12) Armonk, NY H.C. Crittenden Middle School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo and Gulnara Mitzanova Third Place (tie) Liam Garrett (age 11) Peoria, AZ Candeo School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teachers: Satyam Patel and Ellen Johnson Ben Rost (age 9) Livingston, NJ Collins Elementary School Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teachers: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon, Gulnara Mitzanova and Liliana Sotirova Honorable Mentions Alera Cetrulo (age 10) Santa Barbara, CA Amelia Holly (age 10) Chicago, IL Bella Leybovich (age 12) Mesa, AZ Bella Nazzaro (age 11) Lake Worth, FL Ciana Tzuo (age 12) New York, NY Kylie Kuioka (age 11) Brooklyn, NY Mollie Pedersen (age 12) Rochester, NH Nicole Hodges (age 11) Spring, TX Theodore Burke (age 12) Rancho Cucamonga, CA Yifan Monroe (age 10) Gig Harbor, WA Finalists Kellen Bryant (AZ) Mary Burklin (GA) Catalina Chang (NY) Vinya Chhabra (NJ) Hannah Cohen (NJ) Kayla Colchamiro (NJ) Katelyn Dempsey (IL) Brayden Flores (TX) Rudrani Ghoshal (NC) Heidi Hager (VA) Anna Grace Howell (PA) Mady King (AZ) Diya Koul (MA) Scarlett Lau (ON) Chloe Lee (ON) Juliet Lee (VA) McKenzie Lopezlira (AZ) Noelle Louis (NY) Josephine Martin (NY) Carter Meza (CA) Lily Bell Morgan (VA) Brooke Naznitsky (NJ) Jillian Platero (NJ) Poppy Pollard (TX) Brady Roland (PA) Gabriel Saphier (NJ) Akiv Shah (NJ) Anna Smith (TX) John Michael Starling (AL) Sienna Stoll (AZ) Angelina Tong (GA) Leila Woodward (CA) Semi-Finalists Nethania Ajan (TX) Rachel Liz Anand (TX) Anna Athungal (NJ) Ash Bajaj (TX) Saryu Bapatla (LA) Lilia Bernstein (CA) Mira Bills (WI) Mandolyn Binsted (TX) Ava Carranza (AZ) Davna Ceron (NJ) Annabelle Chung (TX) Lucy Cox (GA) Aja Crockett (MA) Jax DaSilva (MA) Lilliana DeBoer (NJ) Adeline DeFeo (MA) Chloe Ding (CA) Vince Ermita (NJ) Daniel Evans (NJ) Anne Gao (VA) Cristina Garcia (NJ) Abigail Gibbins (TX) William Goldsman (NY) Marley Griggs (TX) Lucian Gutfraynd (IL) Fiona Halter (NJ) Lucy Hendricks (WI) Morgan Hensley (TN) Rachel Hesom (MB) Hannah Hodges (TX) Ashley Hua (GA) Kate Hwang (CA) Kellan Jewett (NC) Felice Kakaletris (NJ) Siddharth Kamat (NJ) Ava Kimble (OH) Olympiada Kokkalis (PA) Alejandra Landaeta (FL) Jiaxuan Li (GA) Miranda Libanan (NJ) Antonio Lin (CA) Nola Linder (VT) Margot Mahan (NY) Nevin Mancell (AB) Avyay Mangalampalli (MN) Esha Marupudi (AZ) Donna Megules (NJ) Lily Mei (NJ) Maggie Miao (NY) Aashi Milla (IL) Norah Miller (PA) Julia Morton (TX) Ruchira Mukherjee (CA) Abiageal Murphy (MA) Saish Nagnur (NJ) Gowri Nair (NJ) Sofie Nesanelis (CT) Kara Ngyuen (CA) Abby Nordby (IL) Saisha Pal (VA) Yash Patel (AZ) Neel Pati (TX) Shreya Philips (TX) Daphne Pollard (TX) Fiona Morgan Quinn (PA) Ryan Rahman (CA) Charlie Russell (VA) Shea Sanders (IA) Anika Sandilya (NJ) Siya Sharma (NJ) Sophia Sheth (IL) Ainsley Sorenson (NY) Maddie Stufft (OH) Jacob Sturgis (PA) Emma Tang (GA) Monique Tian (DE) Lauren Trabanco (FL) Lydia Tracy (TX) Karstyn Traylor (TX) Richard James Tucker (NJ) Ella Twaddle (MN) Owen Wang (ON) Jazz Washinton (WA) Christiaan Wilkes (NY) Sabine Wolfli (AB) Janelle WU (GA Lily Youngstrom (CA) NiuNiu Zhang (MD) Early Teen Voices Ages 13-15 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Kaiya Bagley (age 15) Medford, OR St. Mary’s School Pianist: Tim Spencer Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Second Place (tie) Marina Chamedes (age 14) New York City, NY Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts Pianist: Dan Pardo Voice Teacher: Grant Anderson Abinaya Ganesh (age 15) Andover, MA SMB Lessons Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Stephanie Morey-Barry Third Place (tie) Baylee Horvath (age 13) Gilbert, AZ Christ Greenfield Pianist: Hope Douglass Voice Teacher: Nichole Jensen Aurna Mukherjee (age 15) Austin, TX Liberal Arts and Science Academy Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Michele Haché Honorable Mentions Molly Dupre (age 15) Mattapoisett, MA Ciela Elliott (age 15) Chappaqua, NY Stefan Herrera (age 14) Houston, TX Mina Lim (age 15) Orinda, CA Bridget Lomax (age 15) Short Hills, NJ Morgan Lomax (age 15) Short Hills, NJ Grace Martin (age 15) Medford, NJ Lydia Mushkatina (age 15) Bellevue, WA Violet Paris (age 14) Brooklyn, NY Rachel Rogstad (age 15) Loma Linda, CA Naomi Thuren (age 14) Medford, OR Ananya Yadati (age 14) Beachwood, OH Finalists Lia Adzhamoglian (TX) Madeline Ayala (TX) Guy Challen (CA) Kate Clemetson (NV) Maeve Cunningham (NJ) Zoe Dempsey (IL) Sophie DeOliveira (MA) Jocelyn Knorr (PA) David Trey Logeman (NC) Salina Mu (TX) Joon-Hyung Noh (CA) Olivia Petrizzo (NY) Thomas Roper (MS) Katherine Ryan (NY) Viveka Saravanan (CA) Ella Scott (FL) Jessica Smith (PA) Lily Yezdanian (NJ) Semi-Finalists Abigail Adair (OH) Jessica Aezen (NJ) Ella Armandi (PA) Laura Armstrong (IL) Zoe Assis (FL) Madeline Austin (IA) Elizabeth Babiar (GA) Zoey Blackman (NJ) Siyona Bordia (NJ) Ella Bree (NJ) Vivian Brown (OH) Ayla Collins (VA) Zoe Cook (WA) Gabriela Cruz (NY) Elsa Dees (CT) Franziska Diefenbach (NY) Jingyi Du (NY) Charlotte Dugan (NH) Marshall Elliott (LA) Dyuti Ganesh (TX) Katelyn Gard (NY) Sienna Gasparrelli (CA) Ashmita Ghosh (NC) Anushri Ghoshal (NC) Annabel Gilly (NY) Mya Glasofer (NJ) Delilah Grad (TX) Nina Granik (MA) Maya Hanna (IA) Caitlin Hayles (FL) Katey James (OR) Sophie Jaquish (CA) Adhya Karukurichi (MN) Mariam Kubursi (CA) Vanessa Li (MD) Fiona Lin (GA) Grisham Locke (LA) Julia Murphy (VA) Fiona Neff (VA) Avery Nokes (VA) Alexandra Paris (NJ) Angelina Pendleton-Mendez (CA) Rebekah Rogstad (CA) William Daniel Russell (MA) Cetonaya Sammartino (BC) Cole Seevers (VA) Amelia Severns (PA) Sophia Severns (PA) Arushi Sharma (CA) Maya Shull (NY) Kendall Sorenson (NY) Roxie Sparling (UT) Sydney Steiner (NY) Emily Stuart (WA) Elaina Stuppler (OR) Shannon Tilley (PA) Josh Townshend (MD) Forrest Weaver (NH) Kiran Wisneski (PA) Katie Wylie (MA) Nora Yates (IA) Margaret Zhang (NY) High School Voices Ages 16-18 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Amelia Gibbons (age 17) De Pere, WI Southwest High School (Green Bay) Pianists: Mary Ehlinger Voice Teacher: Kaara McHugh Second Place (tie) Makenna Jacobs (age 16) Chandler, AZ Perry High School Pianists: Jenn Crandell Voice Teachers: Nichole Jensen Emma Schrier (age 17) Cinnaminson, NJ Cinnaminson High School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Tamara Lynn Koveloski Third Place (tie) Emelia Aceto (age 16) Hinckley, OH Highland High School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Denise Howell Ellie Brenner (age 18) Durand, WI SInterlochen Arts Academy (MI) Pianist: Douglas Peck Voice Teacher: Douglas Peck Honorable Mentions Lindsay Alexander (age 17) Austin, TX Christine Kelly (age 16) Geneva, IL Ava Lane (age 17) Livingston, NJ Finalists Mabry Adair (TX) Kimberly Adam (PA) Braelyn Andrade (MA) Clara Bennett (OR) Skyy Brooks (PA) Juliana Dees (CT) Katrina Franco (CA) Joseph Kayne (OH) Semi-Finalists Yaara Afif (VA) Shayne Barrett Goldstein (NJ) Anika Bhaskaran (MA) Natalie Bordwell (CA) Ty Brennan (WI) Caitlin Callahan (OR) Fiona Coughlin (OH) Shannon Daly (PA) Elena Day (MN) Natalie Evans (AB) Hadley Fitton (MA) Belle Fockler (OH) Jessica Holliday (NJ) Erika Kessler (NJ) Faith Kirkland (AZ) El Larabee (MA) Kaylyn Lau (TX) Nora Maier (IL) Lauren Marchand (NY) Joshua Mckiver (GA) Kyla O’Deay (LA) Abby Olson (CA) Amanda Phillips (MA) Marlee Rossero (OH) Amanda Spotts (PA) Charlotte Teeples (VA) Georgia Thomas (GA) Anna Gray Thompson (SC) Kirsten Tierney (VA) Hannah Tramonte (OH) Anna Beth Trueblood (MO) Olivia Ustinovich (MA) Isabella Vázquez-Janik (PA) Nick Vitale (NJ) Lila Wagner-Gleeson (OH) Sophia Welch (VA) Kenna Wells (NC) Amelia Williams (FL) Jackson Wood (AZ) Young Adult Voices Ages 18-23 (as of February 1, 2022) Enrollment in a school is not required in this category, nor is a voice teacher, but if the singer provided that information it appears below. First Place Abigail Storm (age 20) Austin, TX Ball State University Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Beth Truitt Second Place (tie) Ashlyn Combs (age 22) Lexington, SC Winthrop University Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Natalie Doppelt (age 22) Riverwoods, IL University of Pennsylvania Pianist: Lisa Harer de Calvo Voice Teacher: Lisa Harer de Calvo Third Place (tie) Aminata Jalloh (age 20) Powder Springs, GA Reinhardt University Pianist: Melanie Williams Voice Teacher: Reverie Berger Emily Kars (age 19) Kincheloe, MI Huntington University Pianist: Stephanie See Voice Teacher: Joni Killian Honorable Mentions Te’Jah Beaton (age 20) North Charleston, SC Beck Chandler (age 21) Columbia, SC Karen Covarrubias (age 20) Keene, TX Matthew Danforth (age 18) Demarest, NJ Taylor McCullough (age 18) Kingstree, SC Blake Stevenson (age 22) San Juan Capistrano, CA Finalists Preston Anderson (LA) Diego Bly (VA) Luke Capello (MA) Arianna Dreher (NY) Katelyn Farebrother (WI) Carissa Ferguson (FL) Margot Frank (IL) Melaina Furgeson (NY) Samantha Grasso (NJ) Alexandra Lagos (VA) Katie OShields (MD) Joshua Parga (SC) Chris Richie (OK) Celina Sasso (NV) Abigail Smith (SC) Caitlin Towell (IL) Back To Top
Hal Leonard Vocal Competition - 2023 Winners | Hal Leonard THE 2023 HAL LEONARD VOCAL COMPETITION WINNERS Complete List ART SONG WINNERS Children's Voices Ages 12 and under (as of February 1, 2023) First Place Donna Megules Medford, NJ Haines 6th Grade Center Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Kristine Biller Second Place (tie) Chloe Kesner Mesa, AZ Homeschool Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teachers: Allison Houston Hailey Rivera Cliffside Park, NJ Christ the Teacher Academy Pianist: Liliana Sotirova Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova Third Place (tie) Kailey Sunwoo Demarest, NJ Demarest Middle School Pianist: Haekyoung Lee Voice Teacher: HyeYoung Kang Janelle Wu Johns Creek, GA Perimeter School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher:Xianyu Cui Honorable Mentions Ashley Hua Marietta, GA Cristina Garcia (age 12) North Plainfield, NJ Juliet Lee Vienna, VA Brooks Liang New York, NY Lily Bell Morgan Portsmouth, VA Emma Tang Duluth, GA Finalists Rachel Anand (Austin, TX) Amber Chen (Duluth, GA) Amelia Holly (Chicago, IL) Carter Meza (Mission Viejo, CA) Anastasia Miin (Saratoga, CA) Elsa Newbower (Weston, MA) Nived Panicker (Sammamish, WA) Anna Reeser (Honey Brook, PA) Claire Reimer (Coralville, IA) Renee Tse (Dallas, TX) Ellaria Vecsey (Ballston Spa, NY) Dyuti Venkatakrishna (Parsippany, NJ) Clara Wise (Austin, TX) Semi-Finalists Eunice Bang (Tenafly, NJ) Stella Brosius (New York, NY) Ella Cai (Vaughan, ON) Kyndall Carson (Wichita, KS) Tor Cohen (New York, NY) Dau (Arcadia, CA) Lilliana DeBoer (Palisades Park, NJ) Emmanuella DeMers (Vienna, VA) Scarlett Diviney (Brooklyn, NY) Jocelyn Dong (Maple, ON) Mehal Dubey (Johnson City, TN) Maya Eswaran (Fairfax, VA) Esther Gao (Alpharetta, GA) Saanvi Garg (Foster City, CA) Celeste Grodeon (Mascoutah, IL) Sid Kamat (Short Hills, NJ) Lauren Kim (Englewood Cliffs, NJ) Sarah Lee (Fairfax, VA) Miranda Libanan (New Milford, NJ) Alisha Mahajan (Short Hills, NJ) Penelope Main (Irvine, CA) Avyay Mangalampalli (Inner Grove Heights, MN) Veronica Mayasova (Ashland, MA) Deeya Mehrotra (San Ramon, CA) Pranshi Mehta (Austin, TX) Lily Mei (Basking Ridge, NJ) Aurielle Neu (West Palm Beach, FL) Nikila Rajan (Allen, TX) Agneya Roy (Concord, NC) Suhana Sehgal (Short Hills, NJ) Samaira Singh (Short Hills, NJ) Selina Smith (Merced, CA) Sanmaya Srivastava (Short Hills, NJ) Cora Stumpf (Sanford, NC) Charles Sun (North York, ON) Reyna Vasavada (Livingston, NJ) Rhea Vasavada (Livingston, NJ) Jacob Wang (Thornhill, ON) Hanson Xu (Suwanee, GA) Queena Yang (Irvine, CA) Ruolin Yuan (Basking Ridge, NJ) Audrey Zelkovic (Briarcliff Manor, NY) Kacey Zhang (Richmond Hill, ON) Early Teen Voices Ages 13-15 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Katherine Ryan Pearl River, NY Immaculate Heart Academy Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Second Place (Tie) William Lovell Mesa, AZ ASU Prep Digital Pianist: Hope Douglas Voice Teacher: Nichole Jensen Alana Merritt Escondido, CA St. Joseph Academy Pianist: Michael Denison Voice Teacher: Yvette Itano Third Place (tie) Sofiia Dorozhkina Sacramento, CA Sacramento Academy of Musical Arts Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Alina Ilchuk Lukas Palys Dallas, TX St. Mark’s School of Texas Pianist: Szu-Ying Huang Voice Teacher: Alexander Rom Honorable Mentions Katherine Berdovskiy Davis, CA Maeve Cunningham Ridgewood, NJ Aurora Dainer Bethesda, MD Akshi Malhotra San Jose, CA Niko Rinaldi Stamford, CT Lily Yezdanian Clifton, NJ Finalists Saryu Baptla (San Antonio, FL) Siyona Bordia (Short Hills, NJ) Daniel Deng (Dallas, TX) Vince Ermita (New Milford, NJ) Sienna Gasparrelli (Escondido, CA) Katherine Gilchrist (Orefield, PA) Baylee Horvath (Gilbert, AZ) Maya Joshi (Cresskill, NJ) Hazel Kim (Buffalo Grove, IL) Rachel Kim (Fort Lee, NJ) Diya Koul (Lexington, MA) Iva Liu (Irvine, CA) Joshua Marley (Salem, OR) Mollie Pedersen (Rochester, NH) Lara Piccitto (South Hackensack, NJ) Pavani Rhoads (West Palm Beach, FL) Aanya Santosh (Lincolnshire, IL) Kendall Sorenson (Armonk, NY) Ellyanna Tyson (Lusby, MD) Julianna Wong (Skillman, NJ) Leila Woodward (Newport Beach, CA) Margaret Zhang (Syosset, NY) Semi-Finalists Besch-Turner (Fairport, NY) Calyna Chen (Chantilly, VA) Sara Deo (Edison, NJ) Siyu Fan (Los Gatos, CA) Jude Frazier (Orlando, FL) Cristina Garcia (North Plainfield, NJ) Caitlin Hayles (Port St. Lucie, FL) Alice Huang (Syosset, NY) Elizabeth Kandziolka (Madison, NJ) Keira Kuennemann (Irvine, CA) Olivia Lee (Leonia, NJ) Alyssa Mason (Leonardtown, MD) Annabelle Miin (Saratoga, CA) Saisha Pal (Herndon, VA) Vaishnavi Paul (San Jose, CA) Luke Reimer (Coralville, IA) Brady Roland (Elverson, PA) Darby Schlosser (Armonk, NY) Naomi Sedwick (McLean, VA) Chelsea Sun (Dallas, TX) Noella Tae (Daly City, CA) Emily Tang (San Jose, CA) Sarah Serena Thompson (Atlanta, GA) Ella Wang (Little Neck, NY) Lila Weber (Cave Creek, AZ) Allison Zhou (Palo Alto, CA) Eva Lee (Leonia, NJ) Claire Xiao (Lee, NH) High School Voices Ages 16-18 (as of February 1, 2023) First Place Maximus Taylor Louisville, KY Dupont Manual High School Pianist: Bruce Boiney Voice Teacher: Garrett Sorenson, Elizabeth Batton Sorenson Second Place (tie) Erin Chung Saratoga, CA Archbishop Mitty High School Pianist: Sophia Min Voice Teacher: Cristina Park Olivia Gonzales Houston, TX Kinder High School for the Performing Arts Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Alicia Gianni Third Place (tie) Alicia Chu Newark, DE Juilliard Pre-College Pianist: Matthew Jewel Voice Teacher: Lorrain Nubar SangHoon Jung Fort Lee, NJ Bergen County Academies Pianist: Hanghyun Lee Voice Teacher: Ronald Cappon, Yohan Yi Honorable Mentions David “Trey” Logeman Kings Mountain, NC Naysa Marrero Miami, FL Gabriel Wang Vancouver, BC Briggs Williamson Delaplane, VA Finalists Elizabeth Cho (Ellicott City, MD) Elsa Franks (Stewartson, NH) Ally Johnson (Howell, MI) Semi-Finalists Lindsay Alexander (Austin, TX) Anneliese Baum (Hewlett, NY) Maya Brown (Delray Beach, FL) Calia Burdette (Independence, MO) Isabella Chaboya (Tucson, AZ) Jonathan Daniel (Smyrna, GA) Ciela Elliott (Chappaqua, NY) Sophie Gu (Palo Alto, CA) Anaika Iyer (Powell, OH) Ananya Kaushal (Newtown Square, PA) Alexander Kim (Laguna Niguel, CA) Roy Kim (Los Angeles, CA) Michelle Kugel (Sunny Isles Beach, FL) Abigail Lewis (Pflugerville, TX) Bridget Lomax (Short Hills, NJ) Lilliana Mindel (Huntington Beach, CA) Sophia Politano (Haverford Twp, PA) Sara Porjosh (Vienna, VA) Viveka Saravanan (Lake Forest, CA) Hyewon Son (Englewood Cliffs, NJ) Anna Trueblood (Webb City, MO) Ella Vaughn (Cincinnati, OH) Jaden Yoo (Irvine, CA) College/Univeristy Voices Ages 18-23 (as of February 1, 2023) First Place Sarah Fleiss Philadelphia, PA Curtis Institute of Music Pianist: Ting Ting Wong Voice Teacher: Julia Faulkner Second Place Lily Bogas Rochester, NY Eastman School of Music Pianist: Jenny Choo Kirby Voice Teacher: Robert Swensen Third Place Emily Damasco Philadelphia, PA Curtis Institute of Music Pianist: Jenny Choo Kirby Voice Teacher: Robert Swensen Honorable Mentions Even Johnson Chapman University Madeleine Keane Manhattan School of Music Clara Reeves Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Finalists Molly Blumenfeld Boston Conservatory Nicole Khouzami Carnegie Mellon University Antoinette Pompe van Meerdervoort Eastman School of Music Cole Strelecki Drake University MUSICAL THEATRE WINNERS Children's Voices Ages 12 and under (as of February 1, 2023) First Place Vinya Chhabra East Brunswick, NJ Churchill Junior High School Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Glenn Gordon and Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Evelyn Billingsley Jacksonville, OR Cascade Christian School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Sienna Stoll Phoenix, AZ St. Francis Xavier School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Renee Koher Third Place (tie) Kylie Kuioka Brooklyn, NY Bridgeway Academy (homeschool) Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Cayden Tan New York, NY Horace Mann School Pianist: Sun Young Chang Voice Teachers: Sun Young Chang Honorable Mentions Chance Challen Santa Barbara, CA Lincoln Cohen New York, NY Kai Edgar Saint Charles, IL Everleigh Murphy Rockford, MI Shreya Philips Austin, TX Dyuti Venkatakrishna Parsippany, NJ Finalists Rachel Anand (Austin, TX) Emily Arruda (New Beford, MA) Anna Athungal (Scotch Plains, NJ) Vivian Connelly (Houston, TX) Addison Deats (Mechanicsburg, PA) Lilliana DeBoer (Palisades Park, NJ) Adeline DeFeo (Needham, MA) Emmanuella DeMers (Vienna, VA) Sabrina Ferges (Barrington, IL) Brayden Flores (Corpus Christi, TX) Melanie Gospodinoff (Fallston, MD) Heidi Hager (Herndon, VA) Nicole Hodges (Spring, TX) Rei Huston (West Lebanon, NH) Suan Kim (Old Tappan, NJ) Ava Kimble (Doylestown, OH) Frederick Kranenburg (Central Point, OR) Juliet Lee (Vienna, VA) Audrey Lee (Boca Raton, FL) Brooks Liang (Campbell, CA) Elliot Lovell (Mesa, AZ) David Lovell (Mesa, AZ) Teddie MacDowell (Olympia, WA) Avyay Mangalampalli (Inver Grove Heights, MN) Josephine Martin (New York, NY) Donna Megules (Medford, NJ) Lily Mei (Basking Ridge, NJ) Lexie Moore (Johnson City, TN) Saish Nagnur (Hillsborough, NJ) Abigail O’Connor (Munster, IN) Hailey Rivera (Cliffside Park, NJ) Willow Seixas (Anacortes, WA) Akiv Shah (Short Hills, NJ) Sophie Sobel (Port Washington, NY) Renee Tse (Dallas, TX) Sofia Vidaic (Wyckoff, NJ) Mary Liddy Wyatt (Tupelo, MS) Semi-Finalists Kileah Aiello (New Bedford, MA) Bristol Beasley (Muskego, WI) Isla Bush (Havertown, PA) Claire Butler (Austin, TX) Eliana Campanella (Jacksonville, OR) Kyndall Carson (Wichita, KS) Sierra Chavez (Fullerton, CA) Rick Chen (Vaughan, ON) Annabelle Chung (Sugarland, TX) Tor Cohen (New York, NY) Sahana De (East Brunswick, NJ) Skylar Devito (Carle Place, NY) Anoushka Dey (Houston, TX) Jocelyn Dong (Maple, ON) Mehal Dubey (Johnson City, TN) Maya Eswaran (Fairfax, VA) Evelyn Fatuch (Gansevoort, NY) William Foon (Orinda, CA) Isabella Gallagher (Oakland, NJ) Esther Gao (Alpharetta, GA) Sarah Genne (Fairfax Station, VA) Zane Grimes-Barlow (Jacksonville, OR) Celeste Grodeon (Mascoutah, IL) Charlee Groendal (El Segundo, CA) Hannah Hodges (Spring, TX) Ashley Hua (Marietta, GA) Shruti Iyer (Chandler, AZ) Faith James (Dayton, OH) Sid Kamat (Short Hills, NJ) Rigley Kirkpatrick (Queen Creek, AZ) Barbara Kokkalis (Havertown, PA) Niyati Kotagal (Suwanee, GA) Arya Koul (Lexington, MA) Audrey LeBouef (Raleigh, NC) Julia Lee-Kumm (Englewood Cliffs, NJ) Nicole Li (Woodbridge, ON) Miranda Libanan (New Milford, NJ) Antonio Lin (Irvine, CA) Ivy Liu (Plano, TX) Grace Lovell (Mesa, AZ) Fiona MacKinnon (Oak Park, IL) Alisha Mahajan (Short Hills, NJ) Margaux Mahan (New York, NY) Isabella Mariani (Westport, CT) Cleo Marshall (New York, NY) Brendan McCanta (Laguna Hills, CA) Rosalie McCormick (Park Ridge, IL) Sierra Mendoza (Rocky Hill, CT) Carter Meza (Mission Viejo, CA) Maggie Miao (Rye Brook, NY) Josephine Miller (Scotch Plains-Fanwood, NJ) Victoria Mills (Lancaster, PA) Gabriella Montero (Emmaus, PA) Gowri Nair (Montvale, NJ) Bella Nazzaro (Lake Worth, FL) Sofie Nesanelis (Pomfret Center, CT) Michael Parsi (Hillsborough, NJ) Shibani Rao (Herndon, VA) Nadia Ruberg (Brookline, MA) Erin Scott (Boynton Beach, FL) Miraya Sharma (North Potomac, MD) John Michael Starling (Fairhope, AL) Caroline Stern (Voorhees, NJ) Cora Stumpf (Sanford, NC) Angelina Tong (Johns Creek, GA) Rhea Vasavada (Livingston, NJ) Grace Wang (San Jose, CA) Lucy Wang (San Jose, CA) Christiaan Wilkes (New York, NY) Ander Yu (Chandler, AZ) Early Teen Voices Ages 13-15 (as of February 1, 2023) Early Teen Voices Ages 13-15 (as of February 1, 2022) First Place Lily Yezdanian Clifton, NJ Lacordaire Pianist: Glenn Gordon, Liliana Sotirova Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo, Liliana Sotirova Second Place (tie) Nicole Blanco Houston, TX Episcopal High School Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Laura Ballard Vince Ermita New Milford, NJ David E. Owens Middle School Pianist: Glenn Gordon Voice Teacher: Amelia DeMayo Third Place (tie) Eve Antonelli Oradell, NJ Bergen County Academies Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Lori Fredrics Edward Turner Oradell, NJ Bergen County Academies Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Voice Teacher: Terri Grosso Honorable Mentions Marina Chamedes New York, NY Diya Koul Lexington, MA Katherine Ryan Pearl River, NY Finalists Ava Acconzo (Bloomingdale, NJ) Madison Anderer (Palm Springs, CA) Ella Armandi (Havertown, PA) Haley Griffin (Cypress, TX) Ava Patel (Berrien Center, MI) Allie Weld (Mesa, AZ) Eva Woodruff (New York, NY) Katie Wylie (Franklin, MA) Semi-Finalists Adisynn Ackley (Vancouver, WA) Aaliyah Bailey (Centerville, OH) Abi Balachandran (Houston, TX) Ruhi Balaji (West Bloomfield, MI) Katherine Berdovskiy (Davis, CA) Jamie Choe (Dunn Loring, VA) Elizabeth Clegg (Greer, SC) Elsa Dees (Greenwich, CT) Eden Dupre (New Bedford, MA) Kalea Edgar (Saint Charles, IL) Ella Gabbay (Voorhees, NJ) Sienna Gasparrelli (Escondido, CA) Taylor Gilbert (St. Peters, MO) Delilah Grad (Austin, TX) Stefan Herrera (Houston, TX) Baylee Horvath (Gilbert, AZ) Maya Joshi (Cresskill, NJ) Rose Knapp (New York, NY) William Lovell (Mesa, AZ) Georgia Martin (Tacoma, WA) Alvina Mastakar (Terre Haute, IN) Sophia O’Toole (Medfield, MA) Mollie Pedersen (Rochester, NH) Brady Roland (Elverson, PA) Naomi Sedwick (McLean, VA) Kendall Sorenson (Armonk, NY) Monique Tian (Newark, DE) Ellyanna Tyson (Lusby, MD) Andrew Tyson (Marlton, NJ) Leila Woodward (Newport Beach, CA) Sofia Work (Fairfax, VA) Allison Yodis (Cinnaminson, NJ) High School Voices Ages 16-18 (as of February 1, 2023) First Place Lauren Huserik Renton, WA Kentridge High School Pianists: Deborah Mackey Voice Teacher: Darcy Fulkerson Second Place (tie) Lindsay Alexander Austin, TX Stephen F. Austin High School Pianists: Austin Haller Voice Teachers: Shaunna Shandro Alexander Kim Laguna Niguel, CA St. Margaret’s Episcopal School Pianists: Lex Leigh Voice Teacher: Denise Milner Howell Third Place (tie) Kaiya Bagley Medford, OR St. Mary’s School Pianists: Dr. Eunae Ho Voice Teacher: Andrea Hochkeppel Zoey Blackman Voorhees, NJ Melissa Daniels Vocal Studio Pianist:Melissa Daniels McCann Voice Teacher: Melissa Daniels McCann Honorable Mentions Chelsea Bohn-Pozniak Cinnamonson, NJ Kathryn Dooley Austin, TX Ciela Elliott Chappaqua, NY Aurna Mukherjee Austin, TX Claire Shirley Greenville, SC Finalists Lucy Grunden (New York, NY) Lexi Howard (Greer, SC) Tierney Violet Joyce (Scranton, PA) Morgan Maher (Butler, NJ) Semi-Finalists Esther Abiog (Allen, TX) Jessica Aezen (Cherry Hill, NJ) Evan Alena (Voorhees, NJ) Braelyn Andrade (New Bedford, MA) Katie Barnum (Denahm Springs, LA) Anika Bhaskaran (Bellevue, WA) Jasmin Chen (Great Falls, VA) Kate Clemetson (Reno, NV) Gabriel Cozzetto (Birmingham, MI) Sabatino Cruz (Stamford, CT) Shannon Daly (Havertown, PA) Elias Doell (Medford, OR) Jingyi Du (Oakland Gardens, NY) Molly Dupre (New Bedford, MA) Strahlia Durr (Culver City, CA) Yu Feng (Saratoga, CA) Meredith Fernett (Lebanon, PA) Jack Forgea (Santa Barbara, CA) Lucy George (Maryville, TN) Elizabeth Gill (Dublin, OH) Lauren Goldsborough (Voorhees, NJ) Nina Granik (Needham, MA) Isabel Hoch (White Plains, NY) Ally Johnson (Howell, MI) Dante Johnson (Queen Creek, AZ) Abigail Lewis (Pflugerville, TX) David "Trey" Logeman (Kings Mountain, NC) Bridget Lomax (Short Hills, NJ) Rika Nishikawa (Chicago, IL) Niya Petkova (Apex, NC) Rachel Rogstad (Loma Linda, CA) Thomas Roper (Tupelo, MS) Emma Schrier (Cinnaminson, NJ) Alyssa Sherman (Byron Center, MI) Chloe Shirley (Dandrige, TN) Jessica Smith (Havertown, PA) Eliza Tait (Newport Beach, CA) Donatella To (Laguna Niguel, CA) Maria Torchia (Moorestown, NJ) Ellie Wang (Newfields, NJ) Claire Waskow (Madison, NJ) Young Adult Voices Ages 18-23 (as of February 1, 2023) Enrollment in a school is not required in this category, nor is a voice teacher, but if the singer provided that information it appears below. First Place Anna Zavelson Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan Pianist: Casey Baker Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Gray Second Place (tie) Vera Brown Memphis, TN Webster University Pianist: Zach Nuemar Voice Teacher: Elizabeth Gray Ashlyn Combs New York, NY Winthrop University Hal Leonard Recorded Accompaniment Third Place (tie) Diego Bly Providence Forge, VA Christopher Newport University Pianist: Suzanne Daniels Voice Teacher: Colin Ruffer Alex Daspit McFarland, WI Webster University Pianist: Jeffrey Carter Voice Teacher: Jeffrey Carter Honorable Mentions Meg Booker Northern Kentucky University Curran Bramhall University of South Carolina Grace Caccavari Xavier University Owen Clark Xavier University Finalists Isaiah Henry (Webster University) Emily Kars (Huntington University) Sara Moore (Christopher Newport U.) Cole Strelecki (Drake University) Grace Vickery (Columbia, SC) Semi-Finalists Sarah Alexander (U. of South Carolina) Gracie Auld (U. of South Carolina) Te’Jah Beaton (U. of South Carolina) Sophie Carpenter (Bard College) Gianna DiTucci (Manhattan School of Music) Sarah Fountain (Azusa Pacific Univ.) Melaina Furgeson (Christopher Newport University) Kristabel Kenta-Bibi (U. of Michigan) Josiah Mustaleski (Belmont Univ.) Lilly Nowak (Oklahoma City U.) Alexis Pinto (Xavier University) Back To Top
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EE2000 | Hal Leonard Hal Leonard Classical Hal Leonard Online - EE2000 Essential Elements 2000 FOR BAND, BOOK 2 Play-Along Accompaniments For Percussion Exercises 56 - end (Individual MP3 files) To download, "right-click" (Windows) or "control-click" (Mac) on the desired track and choose to save/download the "linked file" in the pop-up menu. 056. Warm-up Chorale 057. The Thunderer - Band Arrangement 058. Hill and Gully Rider - Band Arrangement 059. Shenandoah - Band Arrangement 060. Las Mananitas - Band Arrangement 061. Rondeau - Band Arrangement 062. Rock.com - Encore Band Arrangement 063. Rhythm Rap 064. Sixteenth Variatons 065. Sea Chantey 066. American Fanfare 067. Scale Study 068. Bill Bailey 069. Rhythm Rap 070. Rhythm Etude 071. Battle Stations 072. English Dance 073. Big Rock Candy Mountain 074. Essential Elements Quiz 075. Simple Song - Duet 076. Line Dance 077. Technique Trax 078. The Galway Piper 079. Manhattan Beach March 080. Sightreading Challenge 081. Rhythm Rap 082. Marching Along 083. Fanfare for Band - Trio 084. O Tannenbaum 085. S'Vivon 086. Good King Wenceslas 087. Tone Builder 088. Flexibility Study 089. Technique Trax 090. Chorale 091. Toreador Song (from Carmen) 092. La Cumparisita 093. The Yellow Rose of Texas 094. Scale Study 095. Advance Australia Fair 096. Essential Creativity 097. American Patrol 098. Aria (from Marriage of Figaro) 099. The Stars and Stripes Forever 100. Sightreading Challenge 101. Rhythm Rap 102. Lazy Day 103. Row Your Boat 104. Jolly Good Fellow 105. Chanson 106. EE Quiz: When Johnny Comes Marching Home 107. Chromatic Scale 108. Technique Trax 109. Habanera (from Carmen) 110. Chromatic Crescendo 111. Turkish March (from The Ruins of Athens) 112. The Overlander 113. Staccato Study 114. Yankee Doodle Dandy 115. Sightreading Challenge 116. Rhythm Rap 117. Three To Get Ready 118. Triplet Study 119. March (from The Nutcracker) - Duet 120. EE Quiz - Theme from Faust 121. Scale Study 122. Over the River and Through the Woods 123. Rhythm Rap 124. On the Move 125. Higher Ground 126. EE Quiz 127. The Marine's Hymn 128. D.S. March 129. Can-Can 130. Tarantella 131. Emperor Waltz 132. English Dance - Duet 133. EE Quiz - British Grenadiers 134. Nassau Bound 135. Unfinished Symphony Theme 136. Rhythm Study 137. Country Gardens 138. Joshua 139. Listen to the Mockingbird 140. Anchors Aweigh 141. Greensleeves 142. The Long Climb 143. The Blue Bells of Scotland 144. Natural Minor Scale 145. Finale from "New World Symphony" 146. Harmonic Minor Scale 147. Hungarian Dance No. 5 148. Pomp and Circumstance 149. Simple Gifts - Band Arrangement 150. Semper Fidelis - Band Arrangement 151. Danny Boy - Band Arrangement 152. Take Me Out To The Ball Game - Band Arrangement 153. Serengeti (African Rhapsody) - Band Arrangement 154. Rubank Studies - Chorale 155. Rubank Studies - Chorale 156. Rubank Studies - Chorale 157. Rubank Studies - Chorale 158. Rubank Studies - Chorale 159. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 160. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 161. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 162. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 163. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 164. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 165. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 166. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 167. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 168. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 169. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 170. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 171. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 172. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 173. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 174. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 175. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 176. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 177. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 178. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 179. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert G Minor 180. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert G Minor 181. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C Minor 182. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C Minor 183. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert D Minor 184. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert D Minor 185. Rubank Studies - Chromatic Scales 186. Rubank Studies - Chromatic Scales 187. Rhythm Studies - mm 1-12 in 4/4, Fast tempo 188. Rhythm Studies - mm 1-12 in 4/4, Slow tempo 189. Rhythm Studies - mm 13-40 in 4/4, Fast tempo 190. Rhythm Studies - mm 13-40 in 4/4, Slow tempo 191. Rhythm Studies - mm 41-52 in 3/4, Fast tempo 192. Rhythm Studies - mm 41-52 in 3/4, Slow tempo 193. Rhythm Studies - mm 53-64 in 2/4, Fast tempo 194. Rhythm Studies - mm 53-64 in 2/4, Slow tempo 195. Rhythm Studies - mm 65-72 in Cut-time, Fast tempo 196. Rhythm Studies - mm 65-72 in Cut-time, Slow tempo 197. Rhythm Studies - mm 73-80 in 6/8, Fast tempo 198. Rhythm Studies - mm 73-80 in 6/8, Slow tempo ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS 2000 FOR BAND, BOOK 2 PLAY-ALONG ACCOMPANIMENTS FOR PERCUSSION EXERCISES 56 - END (INDIVIDUAL MP3 FILES) To download, "right-click" (Windows) or "control-click" (Mac) on the desired group and choose to save/download the "linked file" in the pop-up menu. 056. Warm-up Chorale 057. The Thunderer - Band Arrangement 058. Hill and Gully Rider - Band Arrangement 059. Shenandoah - Band Arrangement 060. Las Mananitas - Band Arrangement 061. Rondeau - Band Arrangement 062. Rock.com - Encore Band Arrangement 063. Rhythm Rap 064. Sixteenth Variatons 065. Sea Chantey 066. American Fanfare 067. Scale Study 068. Bill Bailey 069. Rhythm Rap 070. Rhythm Etude 071. Battle Stations 072. English Dance 073. Big Rock Candy Mountain 074. Essential Elements Quiz 075. Simple Song - Duet 076. Line Dance 077. Technique Trax 078. The Galway Piper 079. Manhattan Beach March 080. Sightreading Challenge 081. Rhythm Rap 082. Marching Along 083. Fanfare for Band - Trio 084. O Tannenbaum 085. S'Vivon 086. Good King Wenceslas 087. Tone Builder 088. Flexibility Study 089. Technique Trax 090. Chorale 091. Toreador Song (from Carmen) 092. La Cumparisita 093. The Yellow Rose of Texas 094. Scale Study 095. Advance Australia Fair 096. Essential Creativity 097. American Patrol 098. Aria (from Marriage of Figaro) 099. The Stars and Stripes Forever 100. Sightreading Challenge 101. Rhythm Rap 102. Lazy Day 103. Row Your Boat 104. Jolly Good Fellow 105. Chanson 106. EE Quiz: When Johnny Comes Marching Home 107. Chromatic Scale 108. Technique Trax 109. Habanera (from Carmen) 110. Chromatic Crescendo 111. Turkish March (from The Ruins of Athens) 112. The Overlander 113. Staccato Study 114. Yankee Doodle Dandy 115. Sightreading Challenge 116. Rhythm Rap 117. Three To Get Ready 118. Triplet Study 119. March (from The Nutcracker) - Duet 120. EE Quiz - Theme from Faust 121. Scale Study 122. Over the River and Through the Woods 123. Rhythm Rap 124. On the Move 125. Higher Ground 126. EE Quiz 127. The Marine's Hymn 128. D.S. March 129. Can-Can 130. Tarantella 131. Emperor Waltz 132. English Dance - Duet 133. EE Quiz - British Grenadiers 134. Nassau Bound 135. Unfinished Symphony Theme 136. Rhythm Study 137. Country Gardens 138. Joshua 139. Listen to the Mockingbird 140. Anchors Aweigh 141. Greensleeves 142. The Long Climb 143. The Blue Bells of Scotland 144. Natural Minor Scale 145. Finale from "New World Symphony" 146. Harmonic Minor Scale 147. Hungarian Dance No. 5 148. Pomp and Circumstance 149. Simple Gifts - Band Arrangement 150. Semper Fidelis - Band Arrangement 151. Danny Boy - Band Arrangement 152. Take Me Out To The Ball Game - Band Arrangement 153. Serengeti (African Rhapsody) - Band Arrangement 154. Rubank Studies - Chorale 155. Rubank Studies - Chorale 156. Rubank Studies - Chorale 157. Rubank Studies - Chorale 158. Rubank Studies - Chorale 159. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 160. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 161. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 162. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 163. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 164. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 165. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 166. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 167. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 168. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 169. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 170. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 171. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 172. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 173. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 174. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 175. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 176. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 177. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 178. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 179. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert G Minor 180. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert G Minor 181. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C Minor 182. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C Minor 183. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert D Minor 184. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert D Minor 185. Rubank Studies - Chromatic Scales 186. Rubank Studies - Chromatic Scales 187. Rhythm Studies - mm 1-12 in 4/4, Fast tempo 188. Rhythm Studies - mm 1-12 in 4/4, Slow tempo 189. Rhythm Studies - mm 13-40 in 4/4, Fast tempo 190. Rhythm Studies - mm 13-40 in 4/4, Slow tempo 191. Rhythm Studies - mm 41-52 in 3/4, Fast tempo 192. Rhythm Studies - mm 41-52 in 3/4, Slow tempo 193. Rhythm Studies - mm 53-64 in 2/4, Fast tempo 194. Rhythm Studies - mm 53-64 in 2/4, Slow tempo 195. Rhythm Studies - mm 65-72 in Cut-time, Fast tempo 196. Rhythm Studies - mm 65-72 in Cut-time, Slow tempo 197. Rhythm Studies - mm 73-80 in 6/8, Fast tempo 198. Rhythm Studies - mm 73-80 in 6/8, Slow tempo
Choral Definitions and Abbreviations | Hal Leonard Hal Leonard Classical Choral Instrumental Abbreviations Choral Definitions and Abbreviations Accompaniment CDs ShowTrax CD - includes a full performance of the primary voicing and an accompaniment only track VoiceTrax CD - includes a full performance of the primary voicing, accompaniment only and part-predominant tracks for each voice part of each voicing ChoirTrax CD - includes a full performance of the primary voicing and an accompaniment only track Choral Instrumental Abbreviations In some publications orchestral instrumentation appears in score order as follows: flute, oboe, clarinet, sax, bassoon/horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba/percussion/harp, keyboard/ violin 1, violin 2, viola, cello, doublebass) For instance, (20101/2211/2/10/88422) would indicate 2 flutes, 1 clarinet, 1 bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, 1 tuba, 2 percussion parts, 1 harp, 8 violin 1, 8 violin 2, 4 viola, 2 cello, 2 doublebass. For further assistance, please emailchoral@halleonard.com. acl alto clarinet afl alto flute asx alto saxophone b bass bar baritone barsx baritone saxophone bcl bass clarinet bd bass drum bgtr bass guitar bn bassoon bsx baritone saxophone btbn bass trombone cbn contrabassoon cel celesta chm chimes cl clarinet cym cymbals db double bass dm drum ebcl E-flat clarinet egtr electric guitar fl flute flg flugelhorn flu flugelhorn gtr guitar hn horn hp harp hpd harpsichord ob oboe org organ perc percussion pic piccolo sc score sd snare drum ssx soprano saxophone syn synthesizer tamb tambourine tba tuba tbn trombone timp timpani tpt trumpet tsx tenor saxophone va viola vc cello vn violin xy xylophone xyl xylophone Choral Definitions and Abbreviations Accompaniment CDs ShowTrax CD - includes a full performance of the primary voicing and an accompaniment only track VoiceTrax CD - includes a full performance of the primary voicing, accompaniment only and part-predominant tracks for each voice part of each voicing ChoirTrax CD - includes a full performance of the primary voicing and an accompaniment only track Choral Instrumental Abbreviations In some publications orchestral instrumentation appears in score order as follows: flute, oboe, clarinet, sax, bassoon/horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba/percussion/harp, keyboard/ violin 1, violin 2, viola, cello, doublebass) For instance, (20101/2211/2/10/88422) would indicate 2 flutes, 1 clarinet, 1 bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, 1 tuba, 2 percussion parts, 1 harp, 8 violin 1, 8 violin 2, 4 viola, 2 cello, 2 doublebass. For further assistance, please email choral@halleonard.com. acl alto clarinet afl alto flute asx alto saxophone b bass bar baritone bcl bass clarinet bd bass drum bgtr bass guitar bn bassoon bsx baritone saxophone btbn bass trombone bel bells cbn contrabassoon cel celesta chm chimes cl clarinet cym cymbals db double bass dm drum ebcl E-flat clarinet egtr electric guitar fl flute flg flugelhorn flu flugelhorn gtr guitar hn horn hp harp hpd harpsichord ob oboe org organ perc percussion pic piccolo sc score sd snare drum ssx soprano saxophone syn synthesizer tamb tambourine tba tuba tbn trombone timp timpani tpt trumpet tsx tenor saxophone va viola vc cello vn violin xy xylophone xyl xylophone
EE2000 | Hal Leonard Hal Leonard Classical Hal Leonard Online - EE2000 Essential Elements 2000 FOR BAND, BOOK 2 Play-Along Accompaniments For Brass & Woodwinds Exercises 56 - end (Individual MP3 files) To download, "right-click" (Windows) or "control-click" (Mac) on the desired track and choose to save/download the "linked file" in the pop-up menu. 056. Warm-up Chorale 057. The Thunderer - Band Arrangement 058. Hill and Gully Rider - Band Arrangement 059. Shenandoah - Band Arrangement 060. Las Mananitas - Band Arrangement 061. Rondeau - Band Arrangement 062. Rock.com - Encore Band Arrangement 063. Rhythm Rap 064. Sixteenth Variatons 065. Sea Chantey 066. American Fanfare 067. Scale Study 068. Bill Bailey 069. Rhythm Rap 070. Rhythm Etude 071. Battle Stations 072. English Dance 073. Big Rock Candy Mountain 074. Essential Elements Quiz 075. Simple Song - Duet 076. Line Dance 077. Technique Trax 078. The Galway Piper 079. Manhattan Beach March 080. Sightreading Challenge 081. Rhythm Rap 082. Marching Along 083. Fanfare for Band - Trio 084. O Tannenbaum 085. S'Vivon 086. Good King Wenceslas 087. Tone Builder 088. Flexibility Study 089. Technique Trax 090. Chorale 091. Toreador Song (from Carmen) 092. La Cumparisita 093. The Yellow Rose of Texas 094. Scale Study 095. Advance Australia Fair 096. Essential Creativity 097. American Patrol 098. Aria (from Marriage of Figaro) 099. The Stars and Stripes Forever 100. Sightreading Challenge 101. Rhythm Rap 102. Lazy Day 103. Row Your Boat 104. Jolly Good Fellow 105. Chanson 106. EE Quiz: When Johnny Comes Marching Home 107. Chromatic Scale 108. Technique Trax 109. Habanera (from Carmen) 110. Chromatic Crescendo 111. Turkish March (from The Ruins of Athens) 112. The Overlander 113. Staccato Study 114. Yankee Doodle Dandy 115. Sightreading Challenge 116. Rhythm Rap 117. Three To Get Ready 118. Triplet Study 119. March (from The Nutcracker) - Duet 120. EE Quiz - Theme from Faust 121. Scale Study 122. Over the River and Through the Woods 123. Rhythm Rap 124. On the Move 125. Higher Ground 126. EE Quiz 127. The Marine's Hymn 128. D.S. March 129. Can-Can 130. Tarantella 131. Emperor Waltz 132. English Dance - Duet 133. EE Quiz - British Grenadiers 134. Nassau Bound 135. Unfinished Symphony Theme 136. Rhythm Study 137. Country Gardens 138. Joshua 139. Listen to the Mockingbird 140. Anchors Aweigh 141. Greensleeves 142. The Long Climb 143. The Blue Bells of Scotland 144. Natural Minor Scale 145. Finale from "New World Symphony" 146. Harmonic Minor Scale 147. Hungarian Dance No. 5 148. Pomp and Circumstance 149. Simple Gifts - Band Arrangement 150. Semper Fidelis - Band Arrangement 151. Danny Boy - Band Arrangement 152. Take Me Out To The Ball Game - Band Arrangement 153. Serengeti (African Rhapsody) - Band Arrangement 154. Rubank Studies - Chorale 155. Rubank Studies - Chorale 156. Rubank Studies - Chorale 157. Rubank Studies - Chorale 158. Rubank Studies - Chorale 159. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 160. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 161. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 162. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 163. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 164. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 165. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 166. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 167. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 168. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 169. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 170. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 171. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 172. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 173. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 174. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 175. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 176. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 177. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 178. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 179. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert G Minor 180. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert G Minor 181. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C Minor 182. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C Minor 183. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert D Minor 184. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert D Minor 185. Rubank Studies - Chromatic Scales 186. Rubank Studies - Chromatic Scales 187. Rhythm Studies - mm 1-12 in 4/4, Slow tempo 188. Rhythm Studies - mm 1-12 in 4/4, Fast tempo 189. Rhythm Studies - mm 13-40 in 4/4, Slow tempo 190. Rhythm Studies - mm 13-40 in 4/4, Fast tempo 191. Rhythm Studies - mm 41-52 in 3/4, Slow tempo 192. Rhythm Studies - mm 41-52 in 3/4, Fast tempo 193. Rhythm Studies - mm 53-64 in 2/4, Slow tempo 194. Rhythm Studies - mm 53-64 in 2/4, Fast tempo 195. Rhythm Studies - mm 65-72 in Cut-time, Slow tempo 196. Rhythm Studies - mm 65-72 in Cut-time, Fast tempo 197. Rhythm Studies - mm 73-80 in 6/8, Slow tempo 198. Rhythm Studies - mm 73-80 in 6/8, Fast tempo ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS 2000 FOR BAND, BOOK 2 PLAY-ALONG ACCOMPANIMENTS FOR BRASS & WOODWINDS EXERCISES 56 - END (INDIVIDUAL MP3 FILES) To download, "right-click" (Windows) or "control-click" (Mac) on the desired group and choose to save/download the "linked file" in the pop-up menu. 056. Warm-up Chorale 057. The Thunderer - Band Arrangement 058. Hill and Gully Rider - Band Arrangement 059. Shenandoah - Band Arrangement 060. Las Mananitas - Band Arrangement 061. Rondeau - Band Arrangement 062. Rock.com - Encore Band Arrangement 063. Rhythm Rap 064. Sixteenth Variatons 065. Sea Chantey 066. American Fanfare 067. Scale Study 068. Bill Bailey 069. Rhythm Rap 070. Rhythm Etude 071. Battle Stations 072. English Dance 073. Big Rock Candy Mountain 074. Essential Elements Quiz 075. Simple Song - Duet 076. Line Dance 077. Technique Trax 078. The Galway Piper 079. Manhattan Beach March 080. Sightreading Challenge 081. Rhythm Rap 082. Marching Along 083. Fanfare for Band - Trio 084. O Tannenbaum 085. S'Vivon 086. Good King Wenceslas 087. Tone Builder 088. Flexibility Study 089. Technique Trax 090. Chorale 091. Toreador Song (from Carmen) 092. La Cumparisita 093. The Yellow Rose of Texas 094. Scale Study 095. Advance Australia Fair 096. Essential Creativity 097. American Patrol 098. Aria (from Marriage of Figaro) 099. The Stars and Stripes Forever 100. Sightreading Challenge 101. Rhythm Rap 102. Lazy Day 103. Row Your Boat 104. Jolly Good Fellow 105. Chanson 106. EE Quiz: When Johnny Comes Marching Home 107. Chromatic Scale 108. Technique Trax 109. Habanera (from Carmen) 110. Chromatic Crescendo 111. Turkish March (from The Ruins of Athens) 112. The Overlander 113. Staccato Study 114. Yankee Doodle Dandy 115. Sightreading Challenge 116. Rhythm Rap 117. Three To Get Ready 118. Triplet Study 119. March (from The Nutcracker) - Duet 120. EE Quiz - Theme from Faust 121. Scale Study 122. Over the River and Through the Woods 123. Rhythm Rap 124. On the Move 125. Higher Ground 126. EE Quiz 127. The Marine's Hymn 128. D.S. March 129. Can-Can 130. Tarantella 131. Emperor Waltz 132. English Dance - Duet 133. EE Quiz - British Grenadiers 134. Nassau Bound 135. Unfinished Symphony Theme 136. Rhythm Study 137. Country Gardens 138. Joshua 139. Listen to the Mockingbird 140. Anchors Aweigh 141. Greensleeves 142. The Long Climb 143. The Blue Bells of Scotland 144. Natural Minor Scale 145. Finale from "New World Symphony" 146. Harmonic Minor Scale 147. Hungarian Dance No. 5 148. Pomp and Circumstance 149. Simple Gifts - Band Arrangement 150. Semper Fidelis - Band Arrangement 151. Danny Boy - Band Arrangement 152. Take Me Out To The Ball Game - Band Arrangement 153. Serengeti (African Rhapsody) - Band Arrangement 154. Rubank Studies - Chorale 155. Rubank Studies - Chorale 156. Rubank Studies - Chorale 157. Rubank Studies - Chorale 158. Rubank Studies - Chorale 159. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 160. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 161. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 162. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Bb 163. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 164. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 165. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 166. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Eb 167. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 168. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 169. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 170. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert F 171. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 172. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 173. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 174. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert Ab 175. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 176. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 177. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 178. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C 179. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert G Minor 180. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert G Minor 181. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C Minor 182. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert C Minor 183. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert D Minor 184. Rubank Studies - Key of Concert D Minor 185. Rubank Studies - Chromatic Scales 186. Rubank Studies - Chromatic Scales 187. Rhythm Studies - mm 1-12 in 4/4, Slow tempo 188. Rhythm Studies - mm 1-12 in 4/4, Fast tempo 189. Rhythm Studies - mm 13-40 in 4/4, Slow tempo 190. Rhythm Studies - mm 13-40 in 4/4, Fast tempo 191. Rhythm Studies - mm 41-52 in 3/4, Slow tempo 192. Rhythm Studies - mm 41-52 in 3/4, Fast tempo 193. Rhythm Studies - mm 53-64 in 2/4, Slow tempo 194. Rhythm Studies - mm 53-64 in 2/4, Fast tempo 195. Rhythm Studies - mm 65-72 in Cut-time, Slow tempo 196. Rhythm Studies - mm 65-72 in Cut-time, Fast tempo 197. Rhythm Studies - mm 73-80 in 6/8, Slow tempo 198. Rhythm Studies - mm 73-80 in 6/8, Fast tempo
Little Drummer Holiday | Hal Leonard Hal Leonard Online HAL LEONARD PRESENTS "THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY" BY MISFIT ISLAND Hal Leonard sends warm holiday wishes to all! Please view this holiday video comprised of members from our stellar Hal Leonard sales team, playing instruments and using microphones and other products available from Hal Leonard. All the incredible gear used in making this video is listed below for your ordering convenience (Music Retailers - please note that these links lead to product pages on Hal Leonard online; to place an order through your retail account, please order through our Dealer Access website) CREDITS Vocals: Chrissy Dzioba, Tim Wright, Brian Swinehart, Andrew Riehle Bass: Peter Carlson, Scott Brooks Guitar: Tim Wright, Chrissy Dzioba Drums: Joe Howard, Tyler Bartelt Music Director: Joe Howard Engineer and Producer: Andrew Riehle Executive Producer and provider of Pizza: Brad Smith Drums Gretsch - Renown Series 4-Piece Drum Set (20/10/12/14sn - Satin Tobacco Burst Finish) - HL00775873 - MSRP $2,133.99 - MAP $1,279.99 Gretsch - 8x14 "Swamp Dawg" Mahogany Snare Drum - HL00776430 - MRSP $666.99 - MAP $399.99 Gibraltar - 5700 Series Hardware Pack with 33" Rolling Bag - HL00776527 - $750.99 Tycoon - 4-Row Sleigh Bells - HL00755637 - $49.00 CB Percussion - 25-Note Chrome Bells with Case (Model 6854) - HL00777148 - $149.99 Vater Percussion - Los Angeles 5A Wood Drum Sticks - HL00242937 - $15.99 Guitars, Amps and Pedals Line 6 - Variax Standard (Standard Electric Guitar with Tobacco Burst Finish) - HL00142936 - MSRP $1099.99 - MAP $899.99 (white and black finishes also available) Line 6 - DT25 (1x12 Extension Guitar Speaker Cabinet) - HL00122947 - MSRP $419.99 - MAP $299.99 Hartke - TX600 (Class D Bass Amplifier) - HL00172587 - MSRP $519.99 - MAP $399.99 Hartke - HyDrive HD410 (4 x 10 + HF/1000 Watt Bass Cabinet) - HL00242613 - MSRP $949.99 - MAP $699.99 Line 6 - Relay G10 (Plug and Play Digital Guitar Wireless System) - HL00156361 - MSRP $249.99 - MAP $179.99 Walrus Audio - Julia (Chorus/Vibrato Guitar Pedal) - HL00251353 - MSRP/MAP $199.00 Morley Pedals - Pro Series II Distortion (Wah/Volume Combination Pedal) - HL00242658 - MSRP/MAP $136.00 Microphones Blue Microphones - Baby Bottle SL (Studio Microphone; used for male vocals) - HL00214949 - MSRP/MAP $399.00 MXL - CR89 (Black Chrome Condenser Mic; used for female vocals) - HL00141152 - MSRP $469.95 - MAP $349.95 Blue Microphones - enCORE 200 (Dynamic Mic with Black Grill; used for bass cab) - HL00211520 - MSRP/MAP $149.00 MXL - DX-2 (Variable Dynamic Instrument Microphone; used for electric guitar cab) - HL00191990 - MSRP $219.95 - MAP $99.95 Samson - DK705 (5-Piece Drum Mic Kit; used for kick and toms) - HL00211506 - MSRP $279.99 - MAP $199.99 Solomon Mics - LoFReQ (Low Frequency Microphone - Black; used for kick) - HL00152226 - MSRP $249.99 - MAP $199.99 Blue Microphones - Hummingbird (Small Diaphragm Condenser Microphone; used for overhead) - HL00145531 - MSRP/MAP $299.99 Headphones Blue Microphones - Lola (Sealed Over-Ear High Fidelity Headphones - black) - HL00154866 - MSRP/MAP $249.99 Blue Microphones - Lola (Sealed Over-Ear High Fidelity Headphones - white) - HL00154867 - MSRP/MAP $249.99 Blue Microphones - Sadie (Premium Headphones with Built-In Amp) - HL00233516 - MSRP/MAP $399.99 Blue Microphones - Ella (Planar Magnetic Headphone with Built-in Audiophile Amp) - HL00233539 - MSRP/MAP $699.99 Ultimate Ears (UE) - Sound Tap Personal Monitoring System - HL00242597 - MSRP/MAP $249.00 Accessories SwirlyGig - The SwirlyGig II Drink Holder for 1" Tubing - HL00123399 - $14.99 SwirlyGig - The SwirlyHook II for 1" Tubing (Headphone Holder) - HL00149753 - $11.99 Samson - BT4 Telescoping Boom Stand - HL00140126 - $124.99 AirTurn - goSTAND Portable Mic Stand - HL00141979 - MSRP/MAP $49.00 Gibraltar - Soft Nylon Stick Holder (Model SC-SH) - HL00776260 - $34.99 Gibraltar - Oversized Motorcycle Seat with Adjustable Backrest (Model 9608MB) - HL00776615 - $334.99 HAL LEONARD PRESENTS "THE LITTLE DRUMMER BOY" BY MISFIT ISLAND Hal Leonard sends warm holiday wishes to all! Please view this holiday video comprised of members from our stellar Hal Leonard sales team, playing instruments and using microphones and other products available from Hal Leonard. All the incredible gear used in making this video is listed below for your ordering convenience (Music Retailers - please note that these links lead to product pages on Hal Leonard online; to place an order through your retail account, please order through our Dealer Access website) CREDITS Vocals: Chrissy Dzioba, Tim Wright, Brian Swinehart, Andrew Riehle Bass: Peter Carlson, Scott Brooks Guitar: Tim Wright, Chrissy Dzioba Drums: Joe Howard, Tyler Bartelt Music Director: Joe Howard Engineer and Producer: Andrew Riehle Executive Producer and provider of Pizza: Brad Smith Drums Gretsch - Renown Series 4-Piece Drum Set (20/10/12/14sn - Satin Tobacco Burst Finish) - HL00775873 - MSRP $2,133.99 - MAP $1,279.99 Gretsch - 8x14 "Swamp Dawg" Mahogany Snare Drum - HL00776430 - MRSP $666.99 - MAP $399.99 Gibraltar - 5700 Series Hardware Pack with 33" Rolling Bag - HL00776527 - $750.99 Tycoon - 4-Row Sleigh Bells - HL00755637 - $49.00 CB Percussion - 25-Note Chrome Bells with Case (Model 6854) - HL00777148 - $149.99 Vater Percussion - Los Angeles 5A Wood Drum Sticks - HL00242937 - $15.99 Guitars, Amps and Pedals Line 6 - Variax Standard (Standard Electric Guitar with Tobacco Burst Finish) - HL00142936 - MSRP $1099.99 - MAP $899.99 (white and black finishes also available) Line 6 - DT25 (1x12 Extension Guitar Speaker Cabinet) - HL00122947 - MSRP $419.99 - MAP $299.99 Hartke - TX600 (Class D Bass Amplifier) - HL00172587 - MSRP $519.99 - MAP $399.99 Hartke - HyDrive HD410 (4 x 10 + HF/1000 Watt Bass Cabinet) - HL00242613 - MSRP $949.99 - MAP $699.99 Line 6 - Relay G10 (Plug and Play Digital Guitar Wireless System) - HL00156361 - MSRP $249.99 - MAP $179.99 Walrus Audio - Julia (Chorus/Vibrato Guitar Pedal) - HL00251353 - MSRP/MAP $199.00 Morley Pedals - Pro Series II Distortion (Wah/Volume Combination Pedal) - HL00242658 - MSRP/MAP $136.00 Microphones Blue Microphones - Baby Bottle SL (Studio Microphone; used for male vocals) - HL00214949 - MSRP/MAP $399.00 MXL - CR89 (Black Chrome Condenser Mic; used for female vocals) - HL00141152 - MSRP $469.95 - MAP $349.95 Blue Microphones - enCORE 200 (Dynamic Mic with Black Grill; used for bass cab) - HL00211520 - MSRP/MAP $149.00 MXL - DX-2 (Variable Dynamic Instrument Microphone; used for electric guitar cab) - HL00191990 - MSRP $219.95 - MAP $99.95 Samson - DK705 (5-Piece Drum Mic Kit; used for kick and toms) - HL00211506 - MSRP $279.99 - MAP $199.99 Solomon Mics - LoFReQ (Low Frequency Microphone - Black; used for kick) - HL00152226 - MSRP $249.99 - MAP $199.99 Blue Microphones - Hummingbird (Small Diaphragm Condenser Microphone; used for overhead) - HL00145531 - MSRP/MAP $299.99 Headphones Blue Microphones - Lola (Sealed Over-Ear High Fidelity Headphones - black) - HL00154866 - MSRP/MAP $249.99 Blue Microphones - Lola (Sealed Over-Ear High Fidelity Headphones - white) - HL00154867 - MSRP/MAP $249.99 Blue Microphones - Sadie (Premium Headphones with Built-In Amp) - HL00233516 - MSRP/MAP $399.99 Blue Microphones - Ella (Planar Magnetic Headphone with Built-in Audiophile Amp) - HL00233539 - MSRP/MAP $699.99 Ultimate Ears (UE) - Sound Tap Personal Monitoring System - HL00242597 - MSRP/MAP $249.00 Accessories SwirlyGig - The SwirlyGig II Drink Holder for 1" Tubing - HL00123399 - $14.99 SwirlyGig - The SwirlyHook II for 1" Tubing (Headphone Holder) - HL00149753 - $11.99 Samson - BT4 Telescoping Boom Stand - HL00140126 - $124.99 AirTurn - goSTAND Portable Mic Stand - HL00141979 - MSRP/MAP $49.00 Gibraltar - Soft Nylon Stick Holder (Model SC-SH) - HL00776260 - $34.99 Gibraltar - Oversized Motorcycle Seat with Adjustable Backrest (Model 9608MB) - HL00776615 - $334.99
20th Century French Art Songs | Hal Leonard Hal Leonard Online - French Art Songs 20th CENTURY FRENCH ART SONGS Mélodies française du XXe siècle Edited by Carol Kimball Published by Éditions Durand DF 16250/HL 50565798 High Voice edition DF 16251/HL 50565799 Medium/Low Voice edition Distributed in Europe and Asia by Hal Leonard MGB Distributed in North and South America by Hal Leonard Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Hal Leonard Australia Download & Print Introductory Notes Complete Online Introductory Notes, Unabridged copyright © 2015 Editions Durand An abridged version of editor Carol Kimball’s “Introduction” appears in the High Voice and Medium/Low Voice publications. Her complete length “Introduction” appears below. See the publications for the poetry texts in French and translations in English. GEORGES AURIC CLAUDE DEBUSSY HENRI DUTILLEUX GABRIEL FAURÉ REYNALDO HAHN ARTHUR HONEGGER JACQUES LEGUERNEY OLIVIER MESSIAEN DARIUS MILHAUD FRANCIS POULENC MAURICE RAVEL ALBERT ROUSSEL ERIK SATIE DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC GEORGES AURIC (1899-1983) George Auric was something of a child prodigy, performing a piano recital at the Musicale Indépendante at the age of fourteen. The following year, the Société Nationale de Musique performed several songs he had composed. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and later with Vincent d’Indy and Albert Roussel at the Schola Cantorum de Paris. Before he was twenty, Auric had orchestrated and written incidental music for several stage productions and ballets. He composed a significant amount of avant-garde music during the years between 1910-20. Around 1914, he widened his acquaintances to include members of Les Six, a group of composers informally associated with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, and became a part of their group. Auric and Francis Poulenc became fast friends and remained so for life. Music criticism was an important part of Auric’s career; his writing focused on promoting the ideals of Les Six and Cocteau. He was also especially known for his film scores, which are consistently imaginative. He forged a major career in the English movies of the 1940s and ’50s. Among his most well-known scores is the music for the film Moulin Rouge. Other popular film titles with scores by Auric include The Lavender Hill Mob, Roman Holiday, Beauty and the Beast, and Bonjour Tristesse. In 1962 he became the director of the Opéra National de Paris and later, chairman of SACEM, the French Performing Rights Society. Auric continued to write classical chamber music until his death. Le Jeune sanguine (1940) from Trois Poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin poem by Louise de Vilmorin (1902-1969) This mélodie is the second song in Auric’s cycle titled Trois poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin. Vilmorin’s poetry reverberates with sensitivity to affairs of the heart. She was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets; he set her poetry when writing specifically for the female voice, such as in Fiançailles pour rire. A sort of veiled humor is at the heart of this text that describes a young hussy whose lover departs early with the dawn’s first light, leaving her weeping disconsolately. Auric provides a prelude and postlude for formal balance as the miserable young woman mourns her loss. He also inserts several unexpected and amusing measures of a tango as the young man arches his back and leaves the sound of her sobbing. For his three Vilmorin songs, Auric used the style of a chansonette, or more popular song. Printemps (1935) Poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Auric composed this lilting waltz song for a play by Edouard Bourdet titled La Reine Margot (1935). The celebrated musical theatre actress-singer Yvonne Printemps created the role of Queen Margot of Navarre at Théâtre de la Michodière. Auric and Francis Poulenc collaborated on the incidental music for this play; Poulenc took the second act, Auric the first. Poulenc composed the Suite française and the song “A sa guitare”; Auric’s contribution was “Printemps.” Yvonne Printemps sang both songs in the play. Both composers used texts by Pierre de Ronsard, and the musical style of each is reminiscent of the Renaissance. Ronsard’s original poem had twenty-three stanzas. Auric set only the first three. BACK TO TOP CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Claude Debussy wrote expertly for the voice and was acutely responsive to transforming poetic nuance into musical expression. Possibly no other French composer was as attuned to blending poetry and music. His literary taste was highly refined and he maintained a visible and active role in the literary and artistic circles of his time. He chose to set poetry of his contemporaries, notably Verlaine and Mallarmé. Verlaine’s verse with its inherent musical qualities, provided Debussy with poetry for numerous works. For Debussy, poetry as poetry was the paramount determinant of the musical texture. His ability to detect the essence of a poem and perfectly transform it into musical expression makes his mélodies unique in the history of French song. Le promenoir des deux amants (1904, 1910) poems by Tristan l’Hermite (c. 1601-1656) “Auprès de cette grotte sombre,” the first song, made its first appearance with the title “La Grotte,” song two of Trois chansons de France of 1904. In 1910, it was retitled and combined with two other poems by Tristan l’Hermite (“Crois mon conseil, chère Climène” and “Je tremble en voyant ton visage”) to form the miniature cycle Le Promenoir de deux amants, which has been called the finest of all Debussy’s works for voice and piano. It is also the least-often performed. Debussy chose the texts from Les Amours de Tristan, a collection by the seventeenth-century poet Tristan l’Hermite. The poems are set close to a grotto, secluded and silent. The transparent, barely stirring waters mingle with the silence of the cloistered spot, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Debussy establishes an intimate, tender mood immediately and maintains this fragile mix of sound and color throughout the three mélodies. The interplay of resonance and texture in voice and piano results in an exquisite blend of light and shade, perfectly complementing l’Hermite’s poetic images. Subtly inflected vocal phrases are key to recreating the infinite calm and Pelléas-like atmosphere of the poetry, a perfect fusion of stillness and sensuality. Fêtes galantes II (1904) poems by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) Debussy’s fascination with the work of the French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine resulted in his setting to music no fewer than seventeen of Verlaine’s texts. He composed two sets of three songs each, both titled Fêtes galantes, the first in 1892, and the second in 1904. Fêtes galantes II, Debussy’s last setting of Verlaine, closely following the composition of his opera Pélleas et Mélisande, is representative of the composer’s mature vocal works. It is marked by sparser textures, freer tonalities and a more concentrated compositional style than the first set; but like the first set, Fêtes galantes II presents three unrelated songs. None of the Watteau-like scenes are found here; rather, these three poems are filled with mystery, and are without sentimentality. The theme of time appears in each of the poems: the first, sentimental youthful remembrances; the second, inexorable fleeting time; and finally in the last song, time never to be reclaimed. “Les Ingénus” recalls the first awakenings of sexual attraction, and deals with the breathless awe with which a group of unsophisticated young men of the mid-nineteenth century view their similarly naïve female companions. The scene unfolds in a highly chromatic texture, skillfully balanced to preserve the delicate, poignant images in Verlaine’s verse. Debussy’s free-floating harmonies are carefully contrived to complement the uncertain emotions and repressed sensations of the youths in the poem. “Le Faune” begins with a prelude; time unravels in an inflexible dance featuring a rhythmic, hypnotic figure in the piano, imaging the traditional reed pipe and “tambourin,” a small drum played with a stick. The old terra-cotta statue in Verlaine’s poem is probably the woodland god Pan, playing a monotonous rhythm that is both sensual and slightly menacing, matching the mood of the two mélancolique pélerins. Mesmerized by the repetitive rhythms of drum and reed flute, the dejected travelers are caught in the whirlpool of passing time, which spins past as they watch helplessly. “Colloque sentimental.” Colloquial (colloque) refers to ordinary speech or conversation. This disturbing poem is the touchstone of one of Debussy’s great mélodies. It is the last poem in Verlaine’s collection titled Fêtes galantes, and provides a chilling climax. It blends themes of despair, death and disillusion. In this extraordinary song, the ghosts of two lovers meet in a wintry park. As they speak of their former love, their words match the setting: glacial and detached from feeling. Throughout the song their wintry words are enhanced by Debussy’s simple and subtle vocal treatment: one voice urgent and persistent, the other stonily indifferent. Debussy’s manipulation of musical texture between voice and piano is masterful. The sparse vocal lines are almost speech-like, and the piano figures mirror the frozen landscape in which this conversation–equally cold–takes place. The song’s kinship to Debussy’s opera Pélleas et Mélisande is unmistakable. The listener becomes one with the poem’s narrator, straining to see and hear the couple’s conversation in the icy cold of the deserted, frozen park. Debussy reaches back to “En sourdine” (the first mélodie of Fêtes galantes I), takes the wistful song of the nightingale, and inserts it into this song at various points. The nightingale’s melody (“voix de nôtre dessespoir, le rossignol chantera”) provides a touching and melancholy association, linking the two sets of Fêtes galantes together symbolically and musically, foreshadowing the disenchantment of love hinted at in “En sourdine” with the lovers’ conversation in “Colloque sentimental,” and unifying the two sets by a subtle musical component. This panel of three mélodies was Debussy’s last setting of the poetry of Paul Verlaine. Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons (1915) poem by the composer This is Debussy’s last song, written to his own text, a Christmas carol for children made homeless by World War I. Its intensity comes from its simple sincerity. Debussy composed it on the eve of his first operation for the cancer that would end his life two years later. It was his personal protest against the invasion of northern France by the German armies. When asked for permission to orchestrate the song, Debussy refused, saying, “I want this piece to be sung with the most discreet accompaniment. Not a word of the text must be lost, inspired as it is by the rapacity of our enemies. It is the only way I have to fight the war.” Originally composed in 1915 for piano and voice, Debussy also created a version for children’s chorus, and in 1916, a version for piano and two sopranos. BACK TO TOP HENRI DUTILLEUX (1916-2013) Henri Dutilleux studied at the Paris Conservatory with Maurice Emmanuel. He received the Prix de Rome in 1938 at age twenty-two, and went on to work at the Paris Opéra and the French Radio. France’s musical institutions defined his career: in 1961, he joined the faculty at the école Normale de Musique, teaching composition. In 1970, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire. He destroyed many of his early works, considering them derivative of Ravel, the preeminent composer in France during his youth. His music that had been published avoided demolition. After World War II, Dutilleux concentrated almost exclusively on instrumental and orchestral music, much of which has been widely programmed and recorded. His songs are not well known. In the chronological catalogue of his compositions, beginning in 1929, the Quatre mélodies for mezzo soprano or baritone is only the eleventh entry. It also exists in an orchestral version. The collection is dedicated to the French baritone Charles Panzéra and his wife, pianist Magdeleine Panzéra-Baillot, prominent interpreters of French song in the interwar years. Gabriel Fauré dedicated his last cycle, L’horizon chimérique, to Panzéra. Quatre mélodies (1942) uses poems by four different poets and presents a delightful collection of moods, although it must be admitted that the level of the poetry is not uniformly high: “Féérie au clair de lune” (poem by Raymond Genty), a graceful scherzo of dancing fairies that evokes Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; “Pour une amie perdue” (Edmond Borsent); “Regards sur l’infini” (Anna de Noailles); and “Fantasio” (André Bellessort). The last mélodie is the most successful of the set and is one of two songs from the set (the other being “Pour une amie perdue”) that Dutilleux acknowledged. He wanted to exclude the first and third songs because their poetry was relatively mediocre. Fantasio (1942) from Quatre Mélodies poem by André Bellessort (1866-1942) “Fantasio” (the original title of Bellessort’s poem is “Les funérailles de Fantasio”) is a colorful poem that chronicles the funeral of the titled character, who has expired before the text begins. The poem, set in Venice during Carnival, is full of glittering and compelling imagery that changes quickly, following the pace of the Carnival. Musical textures are skillfully handled and exhibit some of Dutilleux’s developing style. “Pauvre Fantasio,” is heard several times during the text, acting as both a funereal chant that unifies the proceedings and perhaps as well, keeping the mourners’ footsteps marching together. BACK TO TOP GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) Gabriel Fauré was one of the great composers of French song who, with Duparc and Debussy, perfected the mélodie as a true art song form. He composed about a hundred songs, all original in conception, constantly developing in style, and pointing the way to future works. His songs express a broad range of emotion and a great variety of musical textures, extending the musical parameters of the genre and inspiring new techniques of song compositions. His songs are often divided into three compositional periods for purposes of study and definition. Fauré has been characterized as a skillful watchmaker; with great precision his songs, which overflow with subtle nuances and delicate detail. His approach is in keeping with the French musical aesthetic: elegant and rational, dealing with sentiment rather than literal sensation. He was able to capture the entire poetic mood of each poem he set and to create an aura around it with his musical setting. Dans la fôret de septembre, Op. 85, No. 1 (1902) poem by Catulle Mendès (1841-1909) This touching poem symbolizes the onset of old age. Mendès was among the founders of a literary magazine, La Revue fantaisiste, which published many poems of the Parnassian poets. Fauré’s musical style perfectly suited this style of poetry: elegance of style, richness of rhyme, regularity and symmetry of rhythm. The Parnassians avoided the excessively romantic and aimed for “art-for-art’s sake.” Fauré was nearly sixty years old when he composed this mélodie, and his reaction to this poem is beautifully poignant. The words describe the poet’s reflective walk through a quiet, somber forest, capturing the chill of mortality and the overall mood of the turning point of life. The ancient forest, sensing a kindred spirit, provides the walker with a sign of friendship and understanding. Fauré set this contemplative poem in a rich harmonic musical texture with a vocal line that borders on quasi-recitative-like shapes. The solemn thoughts of old age call forth a melancholy, but it is a subtle melancholy. It is almost hymn-like in the fusion of words, emotions, and musical texture. This mélodie may be considered as marking the threshold to the final period of Fauré’s compositions. Accompagnement, Op. 85, No. 3 (1902) poem by Albert Victor Samain (1858-1900) This mélodie is a beautiful barcarolle–a nighttime scene, silvery and hazy, alluring but unreal. The image of the poet rowing on the lake is reflected in the musical texture. Fauré had a lifelong fascination with water imagery in music; this poem offers a little reel of unfolding pictures of a moonlight journey a dark lake. The words “dans le rêve” tell us that this is all a dream. This is a rarely sung Fauré mélodie that yields great rewards for the performer. Chanson, Op. 94 (1906) poem by Henri di Régnier (1864-1936) This poem has a gentle charm and a calm simplicity. It is the last of Fauré’s madrigals that include delicate love songs such as “Lydia,” and “Clair de lune.” It has a wonderful fluidity that is a perfect foil for the poetic images The text is a simple set of variations on one theme: nothing on earth has any meaning unless the beloved somehow touches it. Fauré’s reaction to the words called forth a musical setting of delicate transparency and limited range. It is not well known; like “Le Don silencieux,” “Chanson” was published as a single song and therefore not widely disseminated. It is an example of exquisitely planned musical economy, and definitely belongs in Fauré’s third period of musical compositions. Le Don silencieux, Op. 92 (1906) poem by Marie Closset (1875-1952), under the pseudonym Jean Dominique Here is another little known Fauré song, a rarity because it was published separately and was never included in any of the Fauré recueils. The poem has a gentle melancholy–the plea of a timid lover, a mixture of hope and imagined disappointment. The words are tender and flowing, but the overall mood is one of unrelieved sadness. This song marks the beginning of Fauré’s third compositional period, which includes the cycles La Chanson d’Eve, Le Jardin clos, Mirages, and L’Horizon chimérique. Writing of this mélodie in a letter to his wife, Fauré said, It does not in the least resemble any of my previous works, nor anything that I am aware of; I am very pleased about this...It translates the words gradually as they unfold themselves; it begins, opens out, and finishes, nothing more, nevertheless it is unified. 1 NOTES: Quoted in Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Guildhall School of Music and Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2009), 291. Quotation from Jean-Michel Nectoux, Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life, trans. Roger Nichols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 304. This is a translation of Fauré’s letter to his wife of 17 August 1906. BACK TO TOP REYNALDO HAHN (1875-1947) Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan by birth, came to Paris with his family at age four and made a brilliant career. In addition to his career as a composer and singer, he was director of the Paris Opéra, music critic for the newspaper Figaro, and conductor of the Salzburg Festival. He was enough of a scholar to edit some of the works of Rameau. He maintained close friendships throughout his life with actress Sarah Bernhardt and writer Marcel Proust. During the Belle époque, French mélodie was at the height of its development. Hahn was a habitué of the most fashionable salons, where he was in demand as a performer. On these occasions, he usually sang and played his own accompaniment, often with a cigarette dangling from his lips. The art of singing was one of his major passions, and he wrote three books on singing (Du chant, Thèmes varies, and L’oreille au guet), as well as a memoir of Sarah Bernhardt. Hahn’s songs are models of French restraint–devoid of overt display, with beautiful melodies in a modest vocal range. They reflect the style of his teacher, Jules Massenet. Hahn composed approximately ninety-five works for solo voice: eighty-four mélodies, five English songs to texts of Robert Louis Stevenson, and six Italian songs in the Venetian dialect. After 1912, Hahn composed in larger forms: opera, operetta, and film music. Perhaps his most famous work is his operetta Ciboulette (1923), which is still performed. À Chloris (1916) poem by Théophile de Viau (1590-1626) “À Chloris” is No. 14 in Deuxième volume de vingt mélodies, the last major publication of Hahn’s songs during his lifetime. In many of his later songs, he turned to a deliberately archaic style. “À Chloris” features an elegant vocal line above a piano texture that features Baroque musical characteristics; it is its own piece, with ornamented melody and chaconne-like bass. Vocal line and piano piece are woven into a musical tapestry that is both declarative and intimate. Poet Théophile de Viau was considered one of the most influential libertin poets during Louis XIII’s reign. The libertins’ verses had a unique charm that is instantly appealing, but somewhat artificial. Despite this, de Viau’s love poetry is not bland, but full of suggestive passion and elegant wit. BACK TO TOP ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892-1955) Arthur Honegger composed over forty mélodies for voice and piano. Taken as a whole, they are diverse and imaginative. For his texts, he favored contemporary poets such as Jean Cocteau, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Claudel, and Paul Fort. He also chose to set unrelated poems by a single poet, such as his Poesies (Cocteau) and Alcools (Apollinaire). Poetry with strong imagery appealed to the dramatist in his personality. For Honegger, as for most successful mélodie composers, the word provides the starting place. He is quoted as saying: For me, the music a song is always dependent upon the poetic model. It must join so closely with the poetry, that they become inseparable and one can picture the poem in wholly musical terms. This is not to say that the music becomes subservient. It must be so crafted that it can stand on its own merits, playable without the text, logical and complete. 1 Born of Swiss parents in Le Havre, France, Arthur Honegger initially studied for two years at the Zurich Conservatory, but enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire from 1911 to 1918, studying with Charles-Marie Widor and Vincent d’Indy. Some of his more familiar large vocal works include the dramatic psalm Le roi David (King David), composed in 1921 and still in the choral repertoire; and his dramatic oratorio of 1935, Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the stake), with text by Paul Claudel, considered to be one of his finest works. Between the world wars, he composed nine ballets and three vocal stage works, among works in other genres. His total compositional catalog is an impressive list of music: orchestral works, chamber music, concertos, ballets, operas, operettas, and oratorios. Widely known as a train enthusiast, he was passionately interested in locomotives, to which he attributed almost human characteristics. His “mouvement symphonique,” Pacific 231, gained him early acclaim in 1923. Honegger’s musical style is a fascinating mixture of impressionistic effects peppered with penetrating dissonances. He had a fondness for mixing tonalities and using modality. His compositions for the voice display an eclectic focus of coloristic harmonies and architectural clarity. He was a member of Les Six, but unlike most of that group, did not share their overwhelming reaction against German romanticism. Honegger’s musical style is fuller and more serious than his colleagues. He and Darius Milhaud were close friends. Honegger’s generous body of song has proved of enduring interest to contemporary performers. His was a distinctive voice in the vocal music of the twentieth-century French mélodie. Trois Psaumes (1940-41) from the Huguenot Psalter Psaumes XXXIV and CXL translated by Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605) Psaume CXXXVIII translated by Clément Marot (1496-1544) The spirit of Bach shines in the first psaume, “Psalm 34,” in which a chant-like vocal line alternates with a gently moving episodic keyboard part. This call and response continues until the last three vocal phrases, when the vocal line merges with the instrumental texture in a psalm of praise. The second song is “Psalm 140,” “ô Dieu donne-moi la déliverance de cet homme pernicieux” (O God, deliver me from this evil man). Honegger’s biographer, Harry Halbreich, suggests that the “evil man” who was oppressing Europe in those last days of 1940 might be the reason for Honegger’s text choice. This piece was composed before the first and third songs. Its emotional mood peaks with the chorale tune “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” 2 The last song in the set, “Psalm 138,” has the Latin title “Confiteor tibi, Domine” (I thank thee, O Lord) and is a paraphrase by Clément Marot, one of the greatest of the French Renaissance poets. It contains a familiar chorale tune, which is used in canon between voice and piano. NOTES: Arthur Canter and Rachel Joselson, Liner notes, The Songs of Arthur Honegger and Jacques Leguerney. Rachel Joselson, Réne Lecuona , piano. Albany Records, TROY691, 2004. Harry Halbreich, trans. Roger Nichols, Arthur Honegger (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999), 165. BACK TO TOP JACQUES LEGUERNEY (1906-1997) Most of Jacques Leguerney’s sixty-eight mélodies were composed and published from 1940 to 1964. Many were commissioned and premiered by French baritone Gérard Souzay, his sister, soprano Geneviève Touraine, and pianist Jacqueline Bonneau. Early songs are comparable in mood and style with Ravel or Roussel (who encouraged Leguerney’s composition); later songs have been compared to those of his contemporary, Poulenc. Leguerney writes virtuoso piano parts–often dramatic, and with such an individual sense of harmonic style and color that Pierre Bernac reportedly described them as “mélodies de pianist.” 1 When asked about Leguerney’s songs, Gérard Souzay wrote, “How does one describe this music which is, at the same time, classic and modern? It is pure, but colorfully nuanced; it speaks to the heart as well as the mind–at times calm at times witty–wise, yet sensual...” 2 Many of Leguerney’s songs deal with themes of love and nature, expressing a huge range of emotions from deeply felt meditation to wild, ribald humor. Leguerney stopped composing in 1964, and his songs became neglected. The quality of Leguerney’s text setting, lyrical beauty, and harmonic innovations all call for his songs to be better known and more widely performed. Jacques Leguerney was drawn to the work of Renaissance poets, notably Ronsard. There are eight collections titled Poèmes de la Pléaide, representing settings of sixteenth and seventeenth-century French poetry and totaling thirty-two songs. Additionally, there are cycles and other collections [for a complete listing of Leguerney’s songs, see Dibbern, Kimball, and Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney]. 3 They may be thought of as the last in the great mainstream of twentieth-century French song. La Caverne d’écho (1954) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 7 poem by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594-1661) Dedication: Josiane and Jean Cier. First performance: Bernard Kruysen, baritone; Jean-Charles Richard, pianist. 29 May 1965, Radio France Culture. Marc-Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant, wrote poetry of great descriptive power, and his use of language set him apart from the other seventeenth-century poets. He was also an adept musician and skillful lute player, writing verses that often describe musical sounds linked to visual images. The poem takes place in a dark cave, home of the nymph, Echo; it is a charmed place, absolutely still and peaceful. The poet’s lute resounds inside the cavern as he tries to soothe the inconsolable Echo, who mourns for her lover Narcissus. Leguerney creates the grotto’s mysterious resonance with bitonality. Piano figures illustrate the strumming of the lute. The text contains many sounds with the consonant “r.” The rolling quality of this speech sonority re-creates the cavern’s resonance. The closing measures of the mélodie produce a striking effect as the singer’s voice echoes eerily in the cavern, blending with the piano’s resonance and creating a remarkably realistic echo. À son page (1944) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 2 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Gérard Souzay. First performance: Gérard Souzay, baritone; Jacqueline Robin (Bonneau). 3 May 1945, Salle Gaveau, Paris. This is a lusty scene with four characters: a nobleman tipsy from drink, his page, and two women, Jeanne and Barbe. Carpe diem is the theme here. The singer philosophizes on this idea while enjoying his wine and the tender companionship of the two beautiful women. Leguerney evokes the crackling staccato of a stylized harpsichord with rhythmic accents in the piano. The text is brilliantly set with jagged vocal lines and driving rhythms that illustrate the singer’s intoxication. It ends with Leguerney’s repetition of the last poetic line and the addition of nonsense syllables which fit beautifully into the imagery and mood of Ronsard’s colorful characters. Je me lamente (1943) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 1 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Geneviève Touraine. First performance: Paul Derenne, tenor; Jeanne Blancard, pianist. 29 March 1944, Salle de l’Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris. This is one of Leguerney’s most beautiful songs, setting Pierre de Ronsard’s text from his collection of love poems for Marie Dupin, a country girl from a small village in southern France. She was half his age and probably represented the youth he constantly pursued. It has been suggested that the Marie in question was probably Marie de Clèves, passionately adored by Henri III. 4 Leguerney called this mélodie a constant crescendo from beginning to end. 5 Ronsard’s anguish is captured with a texture of stark chords, crowned by a regal and sustained vocal line. As the song progresses, the poet’s anguish is embodied in a more expansive texture, bidding Marie a happy resting place near God or in the Elysian fields. NOTES: Liner notes by Mary Dibbern. Mélodies sur poèmes de la Renaissance (Jacques Leguerney).Harmonia Mundi France. LP recording HMC 1171. Letter to the author. Quoted in Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun. Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), 3. Ibid., 289-295. Ibid., 69. See note 20. Ibid., 70. BACK TO TOP OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908-1992) Olivier Messiaen was born in 1908 in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He grew up around words and absorbed their shapes, colors and sounds naturally. His father, Pierre Messiaen, was a well-known translator of Shakespeare, and his mother, Cécile Sauvage, was a poet. As a youngster, before beginning to compose music, he had an especially perceptive ear attuned to the unique prosody of the French language. Early in his compositional career, he published a book titled Technique de mon langage musical (1944). About his musical setting of words, Jane Manning observes: ...the syllables themselves create a glittering mosaic of sonorities and subtle resonances, in addition to their actual meaning (many of the poems do not translate at all satisfactorily). The composer’s awareness of the minutiae of verbal enunciations and articulations is miraculous. Each vocal sound can be precisely placed as intended, all dynamics are scrupulously plotted, and the performer’s involvement and intimate connection to the music is enhanced by the sensual nature of words projection... 1 He often used stained glass to explain his music. When viewed from a distance, the myriad details blend into a single entity, whose purpose is to dazzle the listener. Understanding is not necessary, feeling is the prime requisite. The music of Olivier Messiaen is a skillfully designed and unique language, with meaning and form kept separate. Its meaning is unchangeable, harkening back to Gregorian chant, culminating in instruments that are able to prolong sound (organ, strings, or the ondes Martenot). Messiaen’s musical language is defined by its rhythms and tone colors. His uncanny instinct for associating sound with color produced works unique in their concept of the combination of sounds. He said that when he heard or read music, his mind’s eye saw colors that move with the music; he sensed these colors, and at times he precisely indicated their arrangements in his scores. His fascination with birdsong was lifelong; he referred to himself as an ornithologist and tracked birds and their songs all over the world. He considered their resonances as songs and not merely sounds. He notated these on manuscript paper and they found their way into his music. Trois mélodies (1930) poems by Olivier Messiaen, Cécile Sauvage (1883-1927) This little cycle of songs is Messiaen’s first recognized work for voice and piano. The songs are modest in length and not typical of Messiaen’s later style, but show influences of late Fauré and Duparc in the overall musical texture. There is only one song in his vocal compositions in which Messiaen set the poetry of another poet. It is found in this cycle, which uses the text of his mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage, who died three years before the composition of this work. The three movements form a warm and delicate little triptych. Two of Messiaen’s own poems stand on either side of the poem by Cécile Sauvage, throwing that charming little poem into high relief. “Pourquoi?” introduces a litany of the pleasures of nature: birdsong, the unfolding seasons, and water images. The poet becomes emotional, asking why all these bring him no joy. “La Sourire,” the shortest song of the set, is a beautiful microcosm of intimate and spiritual understanding between two people. It is a delicate example of musical economy and word setting in a quasi-recitative style. The last song, “La fiancée perdue,” offers fleeting hints of Messiaen’s cycle to come, Poèmes pour Mi–most specifically, the final song. Here, the poet prays for divine blessing on the soul of the “fiancée” in the title. The fervent incantation illuminates and affirms man’s connection to a higher authority. Examining the poetic content of the three texts, we are struck by the images that underlie the words: the emotional outburst “pourquoi,” (why?), perhaps questioning the death of Cécile, followed by Cécile’s tender affirmation of love, and finally, the prayer asking for Divine grace and the blessing of the soul of the departed. NOTES: Jane Manning, “The Songs and Song Cycles,” in The Messiaen Companion, ed. Peter Hill (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995), 107. BACK TO TOP DARIUS MILHAUD (1892-1974) Darius Milhaud was probably the most prolific composer of the group known as Les Six (Francis Poulenc, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric, and Milhaud). The group was unified by friendship rather than a single musical style. Championed by influential writer Jean Cocteau and composer Erik Satie, Les Six often presented their works at the same concerts and met with great regularity–often at Milhaud’s house–to make music and exchange ideas. Louis Durey observed that it was the wide diversity in their personalities and musical styles that gave the group its rich depth and permitted its development. Embodied in the credo of their musical thought was relative sparseness of texture and clarity. Turn-of-the-century France offered popular entertainments that drew the French to an environment of merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries, outdoor concerts, circuses, and a jumble of excitement. Milhaud was fascinated by Parisian street life, and could hear the sounds of the Montmartre fair from his apartment. Often on their group outings, Les Six went together to the Cirque de Médrano to see the Fratellinis, a famous family of clowns of that day. Milhaud observed that their acts were worthy of the Commedia dell’arte. 1 Trois Poèmes de Jean Cocteau, Op. 59 (1920) poems by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) Trois poèmes de Jean Cocteau is like lyric fragments. The small-range vocal lines have a sparse lyricism–one of emotional mood rather than overt melody. The little mélodies are skillful studies in brevity. These match Cocteau’s rather enigmatic poems that exemplify the style termed dépouillé (stripped to the essentials), his aesthetic creed. Milhaud dedicated the songs to Satie. The three miniatures are a colorful kaleidoscope of the circus and the outdoor fairs that entranced the French during this period. “Fumée” describes the equestrienne of the Cirque Médrano atop a horse, jumping through hoops, captured in Toulouse-Lautrec’s familiar painting titled “L’écuyère au Cirque Fernando (1888); “Fête de Bordeaux” is a description of the merry-go-round at the Bordeaux fair; and “Fête de Montmartre” evokes the nighttime boats and sailors, possibly having to do with a game involving camouflaged ships found at the Montmartre fair. Milhaud infuses stylistic and melodic elements of folk songs and children’s tunes into the tiny pieces, tying the innate excitement of these popular destinations to simple, childlike reactions. NOTES: Laurence Davies, The Gallic Muse (New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1967), 164. BACK TO TOP FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963) Francis Poulenc’s 150 mélodies form the largest body of songs to be added to French vocal literature in the twentieth century. Poulenc’s flair for the dramatic, combined with his superb skill in mixing poetry and music, produced songs that singers find immensely gratifying, not only for their musical value, but for their heightened sense of drama. Poulenc’s mélodies reflect concern and feeling for declamation, inflection, breathing, and above all, show extraordinary warmth of feeling for the human voice. He was fond of saying, “J’aime la voix humaine!” The sophistication of Poulenc’s songs spring from their poetic inspirations. Poulenc was quite knowledgeable about poetry, and chose his texts carefully. His gift of divining the inner life of the texts he set produced songs that do more than merely illustrate the poems. His gift for melody is at the very heart of all his songs and seems to assert itself naturally in shaping the color, weight, and meaning of the texts he set. Ce doux petit visage (1938) poem by Paul éluard (1895-1952) Paul Eluard was one of Poulenc’s three main poets. This is a beautiful introduction to Eluard’s poetry, lyrical and passionately intense. The simplicity of Poulenc’s setting allows the poem to shine. It is one of Poulenc’s tiny gems, and he admitted his partiality to the short song. Eluard’s skill at evoking nostalgia and melancholy are seen here, linked to lost youth. The mélodie is dedicated to the memory of Raymonde Linossier, Poulenc’s most intimate childhood friend, who influenced his literary taste and musical tendencies. He said: “I have a great liking for this short song. Raymonde Linossier was my best advisor for the music of my youth. How many times, during the years since her death, I would have liked to have had her opinion on this or the other of my works.” 1 La Grenouillère (1938) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) “La Grenouillère” is an outstanding example of Poulenc’s romantic lyricism. This is a text by Guillaume Apollinaire describing the Ile de Croissy, an island in the Seine on the outskirts of Paris, frequented by artists and their models, and celebrated in paintings by Monet, Manet, and Renoir. “The Froggery” was a restaurant on the island. The overall images of happy days that cannot be relived can be seen in Pierre Auguste Renoir’s paintings Les Déjeuner des canotiers (The Boatman’s Luncheon), or La Grenouillère. In this lament for boating parties on the Seine, vocal phrases are sustained and languid, floating over a slowly rocking piano accompaniment. The lazy piano figures mirror the empty tethered boats rocking on the water, bumping against each other, and give expression to the sweet melancholy of the poet’s words. Montparnasse (1945) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Apollinaire’s poem is dated 1912. Poulenc writes in his journal of songs that it took him four years to complete “Montparnasse,” almost phrase by phrase, and that he had no regrets about the length of time it took because “it is one of my best songs.” 2 It is a sentimental and heartfelt tribute to Paris. Both Apollinaire and Poulenc loved the city and it played a continuing role in their work. “Montparnasse” is about the idyllic artistic existence lived at the edge of Paris. Poulenc wrote in his diary: “Let us imagine this Montparnasse all at once discovered by Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Apollinaire.” 3 The mélodie has a carefree nonchalance about it; it is not sad, but thoughtful– a beautiful blend of poetic and musical lyricism. Poulenc’s vocal and harmonic textures are full of surprising harmonic details that bind this song–which he composed in fragments–together into a touching and expressive picture of Paris in the early years of the twentieth century. Bleuet (1939) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Guillaume Apollinaire was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets. This is a wartime poem that Apollinaire penned in 1917 in Paris in convalescence after a head injury; both Apollinaire and Poulenc served in World War II. There are several word plays at work here. “Bleuet” was the nickname for French soldiers in World War I, because their uniforms were blue, like the color of a little cornflower, which is a “bleuet.” Also, “Un bleu” was the term used for a raw recruit. “Bleuet” is one of Poulenc’s most moving songs– agonizing in its emotional content yet noble in its message. It is a quiet and private moment in which a twenty-year-old boy who does not yet know all that life can be, is characterized–and addressed–by the poet in a sweetly serious speech. Poulenc wrote that for him, the key to the poem were the words, “It is five o’clock and you would know how to die.” 4 This song is simple, intimate, and poignant. Les Chemins de l’amour (1940) poem by Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) Poulenc composed this valse chantée as incidental music for Léocadia, a play by Jean Anouilh. Within the play, the song was described as a pseudo Viennese waltz, and functioned as a leitmotiv in the plot. Sung by Yvonne Printemps, one of France’s most celebrated musical theatre stars, “Les Chemins de l’amour” became a popular success. It embodies the relaxed elegance of a self-styled Viennese waltz style, encased in one of Poulenc’s haunting melodies. Banalités (1940) poems by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Banalités is not a cycle, but a group of five songs. The poems have no connection with each other; however, their order provides a well-constructed recital group. They may be performed separately. The work is one of Poulenc’s most popular vocal works, and deservedly so. Poulenc chose contrasting poems, placing them so that the collection begins briskly and ends with lyrical gravity. “Chanson d’Orkenise” is Poulenc’s title for the poem contained in the strange mixture of prose and poetry that Apollinaire called Onirocritique. Orkenise is a road in Autun leading to the Roman gate of the same name. The musical setting has the feeling of a popular folk song. The narrator sings of a tramp leaving the city and a carter who is entering it - one leaving his heart there, one bringing his heart to be married. There is a word in the poem with a double meaning: “grise” can be translated as “gray” or “tipsy.” The merry quality of the song opens the set with gaiety, but both Apollinaire and Poulenc offer a little food for thought. “Hôtel” is a poem that immediately represented for Poulenc a hotel room in Montparnassse, where the idle poet wants only to bask in the sun’s warmth and smoke. Pierre Bernac referred to it as “the laziest song ever written.” 5 The piano figures are fashioned of Poulenc’s luxuriant chromatic harmonies, stacked as if to cushion the lethargy of the singer. “Fagnes de Wallonie” is set in the gloomy, desolate uplands of the Ardennes with a terrain of vast heaths, twisted trees, and peat bogs, swept by winds of considerable force. Its gloomy setting complements the melancholy mood of the poet. Poulenc’s spiky musical setting is a whirlwind that sweeps from beginning to end in a turbulent texture that demands precise articulation from singer and pianist. Sandwiched between Songs 3 and 5 is a tiny bonbon, “Voyage à Paris.” It resembles a little commercial jingle about Paris–“which one day love must have created”–an invitation to the pleasures of that beautiful city, away from “the dreary countryside.” Poulenc sprinkles his quicksilver setting–a valse-musette–with indications of “amiable” and “avec charme.” The composer referred to it as having “deliciously stupid lines...Anything that concerns Paris I approach with tears in my eyes and my head full of music.” 6 The cycle concludes with “Sanglots”, one of Apollinaire’s finest poems about the universality of lost love, a theme that Poulenc matches with exquisite modulations in a setting that embodies the essence of the words. The vocal lines are eloquently lyrical. The poem is difficult to understand because of the juxtaposition of the main narrative and the interior “asides,” that in effect form a poem within a poem. 7 The song has an elegant serenity that culminates in a stunning climactic point at the words: “Est mort d’amour ou c’est tout comme/ Est mort d’amour et le voici.” The ending lines of the song sustain the profoundly calm mood, bringing Banalités to its close. La Courte Paille (1960) poems by Maurice Carême (1899-1978) The last song cycle Poulenc composed was La Courte paille, on seven poems of Belgian poet Maurice Carême. Poulenc composed the songs for soprano Denise Duval, creator of leading roles in his three operas, hoping that she would sing them to her young son. Poulenc considered the mélodies very poetic and whimsical; unfortunately, Duval disliked the music and never did sing the cycle. Poulenc asked Carême to provide an overall title for the work and requested permission to change the titles of several selected poems: the original title of “Quelle aventure!” is “Une puce et l’éléphant”; “Le Reine de cœur” is “Vitres de lune”; “Le carafon” is “La carafe et le carafon.” For the cycle’s title, Carême chose La Courte Paille (The Short Straw), referring to drawing lots by the method of a short straw. Poulenc was delighted, saying the title symbolized his little musical game exactly. He also wrote in his diary, “They must be sung tenderly; that is the surest way to touch the heart of a child.” 8 The cycle is full of child-like innocence, whimsy and imagination, with a few shadowy undertones. The first song, “Le Sommeil,” is a beautiful lullaby to a restless child who cannot go to sleep, tossing and turning in his small bed. He seems ill, crying and perspiring, but hopefully will finally surrender to slumber. In “Quelle aventure!” the child describes an absurd happening: he saw a flea driving a carriage with a small elephant in it. The story grows more bizarre but the rhythmic pace never wavers, careening to the end of the song when the child wonders how on earth he’ll ever be able to persuade “Mama” that it really happened. The verses are witty, yet the shrieks of “Mon Dieu!” are laced with a feeling of childish terror. “La Reine du cœur” is a beautiful, languid melody that paints a picture of the mysterious Queen of Hearts, beckoning to visitors from her frosty castle, where she reigns over a court of lovers, including the young dead. In “Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu...,” the child is chided “on all sides” about studying. The title of the song presents the French vowels, and the text contains words that make their plural with an “x” (“pou, chou, genou, hibou”). The formidable cat of the poem’s opening lines is none other than that tricky feline Puss-in-Boots! The entire song is a little tongue-twister, an exercise in diction and accuracy. “Les anges musiciens” are none other than the school children staying home on Thursday, the half-day school holiday in France in Poulenc’s time, practicing Mozart on their harps, just like good little angel musicians should do. “Le carafon” is a crazy little story of a carafe that longs for a baby carafe (carafon) just like the giraffe at the zoo, who has a girafon. This is a ridiculous rhyming game like those that children love to play. The text is full of whimsical characters: the carafe, a giraffe, a sorcerer astride a phonograph, Merlin, and finally, a carafon. “Lune d’Avril” is another lullaby, very slow and otherworldly, which serves as an epilogue. Bound together in a musical texture that features a syncopated pedal point, it is filled with enchanted images the child wishes to dream about: a land of joy, light, and flowers where all guns are silent. The ending leaves the listener suspended in a mood of unfinished magic. La Courte Paille is the last vocal music Poulenc composed. NOTES: Quoted in Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1977), 125. Francis Poulenc, Journal de mes mélodies, trans. Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, 1985), 75. Ibid., 75. Ibid., 57. Bernac, 72. Poulenc, 67. The English translation of “Sanglots” has parentheses that delineate the “asides” so that both “poems” may be seen. These may be found in Pierre Bernac’s books Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, page 75, or The Interpretation of French Song, pages 284-85 Poulenc, 109. BACK TO TOP MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) The songs of Maurice Ravel represent a transition between the mature mélodies of Debussy and the vocal literature that followed, notably the songs of Les Six. Debussy dominated the French musical scene from the turn of the century until his death in 1918. It was Ravel who was regarded as the leading musical spokesman for France following World War I. He was a skillful craftsman and his songs have a sense of evenness of rhythmic structure and flow that call for scrupulous execution. The fusion of music and text into a logical whole was of utmost importance to him. He composed elegant and subtle mélodies, using classical phrase structure. His melodic phrases often tend toward modality. His songs range from those with a folk-like style to more to those that are more speech-like, and those that encompass a melodic romanticism. He was precise in his thought and his scoring, and scrupulous in his musical execution. His music encompassed some of the fascinating influences of the post-Wagnerian era. Ravel’s musical contributions were of utmost importance to this exciting and new era in French cultural history. He made notable contributions to musical literature for the piano, the French art song, opera, chamber music, orchestral literature, and the ballet. Sur l’herbe (1907) poem by Paul Verlaine (1833-1896) This mélodie is Ravel’s only setting of Verlaine. It has often been suggested that this poem was probably inspired by Watteau’s painting L’île enchantée. There is also a reference to a famous eighteenth-century dancer, Marie-Anne Cuppi, known as (La) Camargo, who was immortalized on canvas by the painter Nicolas Lancret. The scene is an outside gathering, elegant and artificial. A number of people are there, chief among them, a licentious abbé, slightly tipsy from a bit too much Cyprian wine. He exchanges a few disconnected gallantries with the ladies–innocent conversations on the surface, but sensuous in undertone. The conversation is disconnected; we do not know exactly who is speaking. Ravel shapes very flexible vocal phrases, in keeping with the abbé’s intoxicated state, underscored with graceful piano figures that evoke an eighteenth-century dance. In a letter to Jean-Aubrey, Ravel commented on “Sur l’herbe”: “In this piece, as in the Histoires naturelles, the impression must be given that one is almost not singing. A bit of preciosity is found there which is indicated moreover by the text and the music.” 1 Noël des jouets (1905) poem by the composer This is the only solo song for which Ravel wrote the text. It describes a Christmas manger scene, replete with the Virgin and Christ-child, animals, and angels. It embodies Ravel’s delight with tiny mechanical toys and figures, and his fascination with the unspoiled world of child-like experience. His genius for text painting is displayed in the delightful mélodie. The mechanical toys come to life in the piano figures. Ravel’s charming text creates the images around and over the crèche, with not a word wasted. Ravel commented that the music is “clear and plain, like the mechanical toys of the poem.” 2 This little song foreshadows other Ravel settings of make-believe, beginning with the song cycle Histoires naturelles and culminating with his opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges. The music of menacing dog Belzébuth foreshadows the music of the Beast in the Mother Goose Suite (Ma Mère lOye). Rêves (1927) poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) The poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue has been described as reflecting the union of dream and memory. This mélodie has a tender lyricism within a sparse musical texture. The text is fashioned of a series of miniature images that pass by rather quickly, unrelated, like the images found in dreams. For all their differences, they have a simplicity about them that seems timeless, existing together, as the poet says, “in a vague countryside.” When the dreamer finally awakens, the little fleeting pictures “die quietly.” The piano postlude perpetuates the dream state, creating an ethereal little microcosm that continues to draw the dreamer to it. Ronsard à son âme (1924) poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) In his Abrégé de l’art poétique français (1565) Pierre de Ronsard advocated the union of poetry and music, and Renaissance composers frequently set his poems. 3 In this strikingly simple mélodie, Ronsard speaks to his soul, calling it by a series of diminutives: little soul, dainty little one, sweet little one. Ravel uses a series of parallel fifths in the piano figures to invoke a Renaissance mood. This is Ronsard’s last poem, and Ravel’s last adaptation of Renaissance poetry. Ravel’s setting recalls the elegance of his early mélodie, “D’Anne qui me jecta de la neige,” to a poem of Clément Marot. Manteau de fleurs (1903) poem by Paul Barthélemy Jeulin (1863-1936) The poem notes everything in the garden that is pink–all the flowers that will become a beautiful cloak to complement the beauty of the lady of the poem. Ravel usually had very sophisticated taste in choosing texts; this particular poem is an unusual choice. It is a simple text, somewhat banal, but Ravel’s shimmering musical texture imparts a dramatic character for each flower in the poem. The overall piano texture suggests orchestral colors. The last section of the mélodie changes course slightly, with the piano harmonies creating a slightly wistful mood. Clearly, Ravel lavished a beautiful musical setting on a rather ordinary set of words. Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-33) [Medium/Low Voice edition only] poems by Paul Morand (1888-1976) This miniature cycle was Ravel’s last vocal work. His musical portrait of the noble Spanish knight, Don Quixote, is embodied in three mélodies, all based on characteristic Spanish or Basque dance rhythms: (1) the guajira, alternating 6/8 and 3/4 meter; (2) the zorzica, a Basque dance in quintuple meter; and (3) the jota, a lively triple-metered Spanish dance. “Chanson Romanesque” presents the chivalrous idealist Don Quixote, confidently promising to rearrange everything in nature to his lady Dulcinea’s liking in order to win her favor. Dulcinea is in reality a poor farm girl, but the Don’s illusion will not be shaken. He remains authoritative and focused in his quest for her love. “Chanson épique” is Quixote’s reverent prayer to Saint Michael and Saint George, beseeching them to bless his sword and his Lady. Ravel creates a beautifully sustained and prayerful vocal line over a simple accompaniment. “Chanson à boire” is a exuberant drinking song. Although the Don’s tippling has made him overly boisterous, he never oversteps the bounds of his noble bearing. His robust laughter is heard in the piano figures and even a hiccup intrudes between “lorsque j’ai” and “lorsque j’ai bu.” NOTES: Maurice Ravel, in a letter to Jean-Aubrey written in September, 1907. Quoted in Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Dover Publications, 1991), 165-66. Quoted in Orenstein, 161. Orenstein, 192. BACK TO TOP ALBERT ROUSSEL (1869-1937) In 1894 Albert Roussel left a highly successful career as a naval officer to pursue music. After completing his studies, he became professor of counterpoint at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Satie and Varèse were among his students. Roussel was one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. He composed almost forty mélodies as well as chamber music, ballets, and operas. His style is eclectic but highly individual. Early works show the influence of Vincent d’Indy, works dating from 1910 to 1920 exhibit influences of Debussy and Ravel, but he turned to neoclassicism in his later compositions. His love for the sea was almost a spiritual attraction and continued to influence his music throughout his career. He had a fascination for distant places; his extended tour of Southeast Asia in 1909 had a tremendous influence on his composition. “Sarabande” and “Cœur en peril” are mélodies to texts of René Chalupt, a close friend. They are found in op. 20 and 50, respectively. Roussel’s overall musical catalogue is not extensive, but its quality is of an extremely high level, and his vocal writing in particular contains some mélodies of great delicacy and style, squarely in the French tradition. For Roussel, the word held primacy in his mélodies, being both transformed by its musical setting and merging with it to create a perfect union. Commenting on the quality of Roussel’s songs, composer Charles Koechlin is quoted as saying: “The sense of austerity pervading them, stemming simply from the composer’s natural reserve, heightens their expressiveness and further embellishes them; in language and content they are absolutely personal. This collection of songs is one which will last because its essence is undying sensitivity.” 1 Sarabande (1919) from Deux mélodies, Op. 20, No. 2 poem by René Chalupt This is surely one of Roussel’s most delicate and magical creations. His writing for the piano is particularly outstanding, placing Chalupt’s poem in an overall texture of elegance and veiled sensuality. There is an Oriental delicacy in Roussel’s musical evocation of the fluttering doves, feathers drifting into a pool, and the gentle drift of chestnut blossoms onto bare flesh. Cœur en péril (1933-34) from Deux mélodies, Op. 50, No. 1 poem by René Chalupt This mélodie is much different in mood–witty and flirtatious. It is the narrative of a young man eager to convince his ladylove of his fidelity. Vocal phrases are tuneful, with a spirited piano texture of Iberian flavor. NOTES: Liner notes, Dom Angelico Surchamp, trans. Elisabeth Carroll, Roussel Mélodies, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Mady Mesplé, Kurt Ollmann, José Van Dam; Dalton Baldwin, Patrick Gallois. EMI Digital. CDS 7492712, 1987 BACK TO TOP ERIK SATIE (1866-1925) Erik Satie wrote very few songs and most of them date from late in his life. The eccentric father figure of the French avant-garde of the twentieth century had a wildly independent spirit that found its way into his musical compositions. Throughout his life, he kept a great deal of childlike inquisitiveness and innocence. He was a curious personality of unconventional habits whose sense of the absurd and whimsy permeated both his life and his music. Quintessential Satie compositions are laconic and witty. It was Satie who named Les Nouveaux Jeunes, soon known as Les Six, and influenced the early development of the group. La Statue de bronze (1916) from Trois Mélodies poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) This is Satie’s first setting of the poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue, the “Bohemian poet of Paris.” Satie used Fargue’s witty verses again for Ludions. The scene is a garden game–the jeu de tonneau. A bronze frog, perched atop a cabinet with numbered chambers, grows impatient of being the target of the game where metal disks are tossed into her mouth. She dreams of being freed from her pedestal and being able to use her wide-open mouth to utter “LE MOT.” 1 She wants to be free to join the other frogs gathered near the rust-colored washhouse “blowing musical bubbles from the soapy moonlight.” But the game continues, the disks rattle through her mouth into numbered compartments and at night, insects sleep in her mouth. This mélodie can be linked musically to “La Grenouille américaine,” found in Ludions. Both songs share piano figures derived from the café-concert chanson. Ludions (1923) poems by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) Ludions is the last of Satie’s purely vocal works, composed two years before his death, and is perhaps his finest set of songs. It epitomizes his lifelong quest for musical simplicity and his irreverence for the intricate compositional techniques and overactive emotions of the Impressionists. Ludions is translated as “bottle imps” (a ludion is a little figure suspended in a hollow ball, which descends or rises in a vase filled with water when one presses down on the elastic membrane covering the mouth of the vase). The cycle is a kaleidoscopic set of musical miniatures, riddled with puns and illogical phrases. Fargue’s nonsensical verse complements Satie’s musical aesthetic, and the two friends’ personalities closely matched one another. All the mélodies in Ludions are short, like tiny cameos. They are colorful, saucy, fantastic, and defy translation. “Air du rat,” “La Grenouille américaine,” and “Chanson du chat” are right out of the music hall, and Satie uses with a mock-serious “tongue-in-cheek” treatment for “Spleen” and “Air du poète.” Je te veux (1902) poem by Henry Pacory (1873-?) The valse chantée, or sung waltz was a favorite of the café concerts, for which Satie composed a number of works. Café concerts were a form of Parisian popular entertainment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The all-musical programs were held outside; French popular singers presented repertoire that catered to lower and middle-class audiences who came to talk, eat, drink, and observe the long informal programs, for which there was no admission charge. “Je te veux” was composed for Paulette Darty, dubbed “the Queen of the slow waltz.” It was one of her signature musical presentations for the caf’conc (café concerts), and one that Darty remained associated with throughout her career. A statuesque blonde with an ample figure, Darty was a commanding performer who kept the most boisterous of the Saturday night audiences enthralled. Lyricist Henry Pacory’s rather explicit poem was watered down at Satie’s request before the song was published. La Diva de l’Empire (1904) poem by Charles Bessat, named Numa Blès (1871-1917) The “Diva de l’Empire,” 2 one of Satie’s café-concert songs, was another work written for and performed by Paulette Darty. It was composed for a Bonnaud-Blès music-hall revue called Dévidons la Bobine (Let’s Unwind the Bobbin) that toured several seaside resort towns. The British “diva” is a femme fatale performer who enchants all who see her. The song is a syncopated cakewalk describing her seductive beauty as she struts her stuff “showing the wiggling of her legs and some pretty frilly underwear.” Interspersed at points along the way with English words: Greenaway, baby, little girl, etc. The piano provides a jaunty ragtime rhythm throughout that melds perfectly with the suggestive text. NOTES: ”Le mot” has a double meaning. It was the title of a broadsheet published by Jean Cocteau between 1914-15 and is short for “le mot de Cambronne,” a polite way of saying “merde.” Cambronne was a famous French general who replied “Merde!” when asked to surrender. In Steven Moore Whiting, Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 43. Empire refers to the Empire Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square, London. BACK TO TOP DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC (1872-1921) Déodat de Séverac, of aristocratic lineage, was born in the Languedoc region of southwest France in Saint-Félix-Caraman (now Saint-Félix Lauragais), near Toulouse. After studies in Paris with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum, he returned home and remained there. He was a contemporary of Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, but was considered a petit maître in their company, possibly because of his return to Languedoc at the completion of his musical studies. Séverac composed piano and orchestral music, operas and songs. The culture of his native Languedoc figured prominently in his music, which is highly descriptive. He often wrote parts for regional folk music in his scores. Many considered him provincial and unsophisticated, but his music displays his skill in integrating folk elements–and often, regional folk instruments–of his native Languedoc into his works. He often referred to himself as “the peasant musician.” Influences of Debussy, Mussorgsky, and Bizet may be found in his mélodies. Although his music is rather conservative in style, Séverac fused folk elements with the musical styles of the day in a unique and individual manner. Ma poupée chérie (1914) poem by the composer Composed in 1914 (and published in 1916) for his daughter Magali and dedicated to her, this little cradlesong is probably de Séverac’s best loved and most performed mélodie. Séverac’s fresh musical setting contains just the right combination of simplicity and delightful childlike honesty. Despite the subject matter, the composer’s heartfelt poem avoids an overly cloying atmosphere. BACK TO TOP OTHER SOURCES CONSULTED: Jane Bathori, On the Interpretation of the Mélodies of Claude Debussy, transl. and with an introduction by Linda Laurent (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1998). Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, transl. by Winifred Radford (New York: W.W. Norton, 1977). Pierre Bernac, The Interpretation of French Song, transl. by Winifred Radford(New York: W.W. Norton, 1978). Elaine Brody, Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope 1870-1925 (New York: George Braziller, 1987). Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001) Alan M. Gillmor, Erik Satie (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1992). James Harding, The Ox on the Roof: Scenes from musical life in Paris in the Twenties (New York: Da Capo Press, 1986). Peter Hill, ed., The Messiaen Companion (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995). Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 2009) Graham Johnson and Richard Stokes, A French Song Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2005). Carol Kimball and Richard Walters, eds., The French Song Anthology (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2001). Timothy LeVan, Masters of the French Art Song (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1991). Barbara Meister, Nineteenth-Century French Song (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1980). Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993). Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975). Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment in the Circle of Erik Satie(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) Caroline Potter, Henri Dutilleux: His Life and Works (Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1997). Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis: Confidences recueilles par Stéphane Audel (Paris: La Palatine, 1963). Francis Poulenc, Diary of my Songs [Journal de mes mélodies] transl. by Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1985) Marie-Claire Rohinsky, ed., The Singer’s Debussy (New York: Pelion Press, 1987) Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years (New York: Vintage Books, 1968). 20TH CENTURY FRENCH ART SONGS Mélodies française du XXe siècle Edited by Carol Kimball Published by Éditions Durand DF 16250/HL 50565798 High Voice edition DF 16251/HL 50565799 Medium/Low Voice edition Distributed in Europe and Asia by Hal Leonard MGB Distributed in North and South America by Hal Leonard Distributed in Australia and New Zealand by Hal Leonard Australia Download & Print Introductory Notes Complete Online Introductory Notes, Unabridged copyright © 2015 Editions Durand An abridged version of editor Carol Kimball’s “Introduction” appears in the High Voice and Medium/Low Voice publications. Her complete length “Introduction” appears below. See the publications for the poetry texts in French and translations in English. GEORGES AURIC CLAUDE DEBUSSY HENRI DUTILLEUX GABRIEL FAURÉ REYNALDO HAHN ARTHUR HONEGGER JACQUES LEGUERNEY OLIVIER MESSIAEN DARIUS MILHAUD FRANCIS POULENC MAURICE RAVEL ALBERT ROUSSEL ERIK SATIE DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC GEORGES AURIC (1899-1983) George Auric was something of a child prodigy, performing a piano recital at the Musicale Indépendante at the age of fourteen. The following year, the Société Nationale de Musique performed several songs he had composed. He studied composition at the Paris Conservatoire with Georges Caussade, and later with Vincent d’Indy and Albert Roussel at the Schola Cantorum de Paris. Before he was twenty, Auric had orchestrated and written incidental music for several stage productions and ballets. He composed a significant amount of avant-garde music during the years between 1910-20. Around 1914, he widened his acquaintances to include members of Les Six, a group of composers informally associated with Erik Satie and Jean Cocteau, and became a part of their group. Auric and Francis Poulenc became fast friends and remained so for life. Music criticism was an important part of Auric’s career; his writing focused on promoting the ideals of Les Six and Cocteau. He was also especially known for his film scores, which are consistently imaginative. He forged a major career in the English movies of the 1940s and ’50s. Among his most well-known scores is the music for the film Moulin Rouge. Other popular film titles with scores by Auric include The Lavender Hill Mob, Roman Holiday, Beauty and the Beast, and Bonjour Tristesse. In 1962 he became the director of the Opéra National de Paris and later, chairman of SACEM, the French Performing Rights Society. Auric continued to write classical chamber music until his death. Le Jeune sanguine (1940) from Trois Poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin poem by Louise de Vilmorin (1902-1969) This mélodie is the second song in Auric’s cycle titled Trois poèmes de Louise de Vilmorin. Vilmorin’s poetry reverberates with sensitivity to affairs of the heart. She was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets; he set her poetry when writing specifically for the female voice, such as in Fiançailles pour rire. A sort of veiled humor is at the heart of this text that describes a young hussy whose lover departs early with the dawn’s first light, leaving her weeping disconsolately. Auric provides a prelude and postlude for formal balance as the miserable young woman mourns her loss. He also inserts several unexpected and amusing measures of a tango as the young man arches his back and leaves the sound of her sobbing. For his three Vilmorin songs, Auric used the style of a chansonette, or more popular song. Printemps (1935) Poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Auric composed this lilting waltz song for a play by Edouard Bourdet titled La Reine Margot (1935). The celebrated musical theatre actress-singer Yvonne Printemps created the role of Queen Margot of Navarre at Théâtre de la Michodière. Auric and Francis Poulenc collaborated on the incidental music for this play; Poulenc took the second act, Auric the first. Poulenc composed the Suite française and the song “A sa guitare”; Auric’s contribution was “Printemps.” Yvonne Printemps sang both songs in the play. Both composers used texts by Pierre de Ronsard, and the musical style of each is reminiscent of the Renaissance. Ronsard’s original poem had twenty-three stanzas. Auric set only the first three. BACK TO TOP CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918) Claude Debussy wrote expertly for the voice and was acutely responsive to transforming poetic nuance into musical expression. Possibly no other French composer was as attuned to blending poetry and music. His literary taste was highly refined and he maintained a visible and active role in the literary and artistic circles of his time. He chose to set poetry of his contemporaries, notably Verlaine and Mallarmé. Verlaine’s verse with its inherent musical qualities, provided Debussy with poetry for numerous works. For Debussy, poetry as poetry was the paramount determinant of the musical texture. His ability to detect the essence of a poem and perfectly transform it into musical expression makes his mélodies unique in the history of French song. Le promenoir des deux amants (1904, 1910) poems by Tristan l’Hermite (c. 1601-1656) “Auprès de cette grotte sombre,” the first song, made its first appearance with the title “La Grotte,” song two of Trois chansons de France of 1904. In 1910, it was retitled and combined with two other poems by Tristan l’Hermite (“Crois mon conseil, chère Climène” and “Je tremble en voyant ton visage”) to form the miniature cycle Le Promenoir de deux amants, which has been called the finest of all Debussy’s works for voice and piano. It is also the least-often performed. Debussy chose the texts from Les Amours de Tristan, a collection by the seventeenth-century poet Tristan l’Hermite. The poems are set close to a grotto, secluded and silent. The transparent, barely stirring waters mingle with the silence of the cloistered spot, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Debussy establishes an intimate, tender mood immediately and maintains this fragile mix of sound and color throughout the three mélodies. The interplay of resonance and texture in voice and piano results in an exquisite blend of light and shade, perfectly complementing l’Hermite’s poetic images. Subtly inflected vocal phrases are key to recreating the infinite calm and Pelléas-like atmosphere of the poetry, a perfect fusion of stillness and sensuality. Fêtes galantes II (1904) poems by Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) Debussy’s fascination with the work of the French Symbolist poet Paul Verlaine resulted in his setting to music no fewer than seventeen of Verlaine’s texts. He composed two sets of three songs each, both titled Fêtes galantes, the first in 1892, and the second in 1904. Fêtes galantes II, Debussy’s last setting of Verlaine, closely following the composition of his opera Pélleas et Mélisande, is representative of the composer’s mature vocal works. It is marked by sparser textures, freer tonalities and a more concentrated compositional style than the first set; but like the first set, Fêtes galantes II presents three unrelated songs. None of the Watteau-like scenes are found here; rather, these three poems are filled with mystery, and are without sentimentality. The theme of time appears in each of the poems: the first, sentimental youthful remembrances; the second, inexorable fleeting time; and finally in the last song, time never to be reclaimed. “Les Ingénus” recalls the first awakenings of sexual attraction, and deals with the breathless awe with which a group of unsophisticated young men of the mid-nineteenth century view their similarly naïve female companions. The scene unfolds in a highly chromatic texture, skillfully balanced to preserve the delicate, poignant images in Verlaine’s verse. Debussy’s free-floating harmonies are carefully contrived to complement the uncertain emotions and repressed sensations of the youths in the poem. “Le Faune” begins with a prelude; time unravels in an inflexible dance featuring a rhythmic, hypnotic figure in the piano, imaging the traditional reed pipe and “tambourin,” a small drum played with a stick. The old terra-cotta statue in Verlaine’s poem is probably the woodland god Pan, playing a monotonous rhythm that is both sensual and slightly menacing, matching the mood of the two mélancolique pélerins. Mesmerized by the repetitive rhythms of drum and reed flute, the dejected travelers are caught in the whirlpool of passing time, which spins past as they watch helplessly. “Colloque sentimental.” Colloquial (colloque) refers to ordinary speech or conversation. This disturbing poem is the touchstone of one of Debussy’s great mélodies. It is the last poem in Verlaine’s collection titled Fêtes galantes, and provides a chilling climax. It blends themes of despair, death and disillusion. In this extraordinary song, the ghosts of two lovers meet in a wintry park. As they speak of their former love, their words match the setting: glacial and detached from feeling. Throughout the song their wintry words are enhanced by Debussy’s simple and subtle vocal treatment: one voice urgent and persistent, the other stonily indifferent. Debussy’s manipulation of musical texture between voice and piano is masterful. The sparse vocal lines are almost speech-like, and the piano figures mirror the frozen landscape in which this conversation–equally cold–takes place. The song’s kinship to Debussy’s opera Pélleas et Mélisande is unmistakable. The listener becomes one with the poem’s narrator, straining to see and hear the couple’s conversation in the icy cold of the deserted, frozen park. Debussy reaches back to “En sourdine” (the first mélodie of Fêtes galantes I), takes the wistful song of the nightingale, and inserts it into this song at various points. The nightingale’s melody (“voix de nôtre dessespoir, le rossignol chantera”) provides a touching and melancholy association, linking the two sets of Fêtes galantes together symbolically and musically, foreshadowing the disenchantment of love hinted at in “En sourdine” with the lovers’ conversation in “Colloque sentimental,” and unifying the two sets by a subtle musical component. This panel of three mélodies was Debussy’s last setting of the poetry of Paul Verlaine. Noël des enfants qui n’ont plus de maisons (1915) poem by the composer This is Debussy’s last song, written to his own text, a Christmas carol for children made homeless by World War I. Its intensity comes from its simple sincerity. Debussy composed it on the eve of his first operation for the cancer that would end his life two years later. It was his personal protest against the invasion of northern France by the German armies. When asked for permission to orchestrate the song, Debussy refused, saying, “I want this piece to be sung with the most discreet accompaniment. Not a word of the text must be lost, inspired as it is by the rapacity of our enemies. It is the only way I have to fight the war.” Originally composed in 1915 for piano and voice, Debussy also created a version for children’s chorus, and in 1916, a version for piano and two sopranos. BACK TO TOP HENRI DUTILLEUX (1916-2013) Henri Dutilleux studied at the Paris Conservatory with Maurice Emmanuel. He received the Prix de Rome in 1938 at age twenty-two, and went on to work at the Paris Opéra and the French Radio. France’s musical institutions defined his career: in 1961, he joined the faculty at the école Normale de Musique, teaching composition. In 1970, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire. He destroyed many of his early works, considering them derivative of Ravel, the preeminent composer in France during his youth. His music that had been published avoided demolition. After World War II, Dutilleux concentrated almost exclusively on instrumental and orchestral music, much of which has been widely programmed and recorded. His songs are not well known. In the chronological catalogue of his compositions, beginning in 1929, the Quatre mélodies for mezzo soprano or baritone is only the eleventh entry. It also exists in an orchestral version. The collection is dedicated to the French baritone Charles Panzéra and his wife, pianist Magdeleine Panzéra-Baillot, prominent interpreters of French song in the interwar years. Gabriel Fauré dedicated his last cycle, L’horizon chimérique, to Panzéra. Quatre mélodies (1942) uses poems by four different poets and presents a delightful collection of moods, although it must be admitted that the level of the poetry is not uniformly high: “Féérie au clair de lune” (poem by Raymond Genty), a graceful scherzo of dancing fairies that evokes Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; “Pour une amie perdue” (Edmond Borsent); “Regards sur l’infini” (Anna de Noailles); and “Fantasio” (André Bellessort). The last mélodie is the most successful of the set and is one of two songs from the set (the other being “Pour une amie perdue”) that Dutilleux acknowledged. He wanted to exclude the first and third songs because their poetry was relatively mediocre. Fantasio (1942) from Quatre Mélodies poem by André Bellessort (1866-1942) “Fantasio” (the original title of Bellessort’s poem is “Les funérailles de Fantasio”) is a colorful poem that chronicles the funeral of the titled character, who has expired before the text begins. The poem, set in Venice during Carnival, is full of glittering and compelling imagery that changes quickly, following the pace of the Carnival. Musical textures are skillfully handled and exhibit some of Dutilleux’s developing style. “Pauvre Fantasio,” is heard several times during the text, acting as both a funereal chant that unifies the proceedings and perhaps as well, keeping the mourners’ footsteps marching together. BACK TO TOP GABRIEL FAURÉ (1845-1924) Gabriel Fauré was one of the great composers of French song who, with Duparc and Debussy, perfected the mélodie as a true art song form. He composed about a hundred songs, all original in conception, constantly developing in style, and pointing the way to future works. His songs express a broad range of emotion and a great variety of musical textures, extending the musical parameters of the genre and inspiring new techniques of song compositions. His songs are often divided into three compositional periods for purposes of study and definition. Fauré has been characterized as a skillful watchmaker; with great precision his songs, which overflow with subtle nuances and delicate detail. His approach is in keeping with the French musical aesthetic: elegant and rational, dealing with sentiment rather than literal sensation. He was able to capture the entire poetic mood of each poem he set and to create an aura around it with his musical setting. Dans la fôret de septembre, Op. 85, No. 1 (1902) poem by Catulle Mendès (1841-1909) This touching poem symbolizes the onset of old age. Mendès was among the founders of a literary magazine, La Revue fantaisiste, which published many poems of the Parnassian poets. Fauré’s musical style perfectly suited this style of poetry: elegance of style, richness of rhyme, regularity and symmetry of rhythm. The Parnassians avoided the excessively romantic and aimed for “art-for-art’s sake.” Fauré was nearly sixty years old when he composed this mélodie, and his reaction to this poem is beautifully poignant. The words describe the poet’s reflective walk through a quiet, somber forest, capturing the chill of mortality and the overall mood of the turning point of life. The ancient forest, sensing a kindred spirit, provides the walker with a sign of friendship and understanding. Fauré set this contemplative poem in a rich harmonic musical texture with a vocal line that borders on quasi-recitative-like shapes. The solemn thoughts of old age call forth a melancholy, but it is a subtle melancholy. It is almost hymn-like in the fusion of words, emotions, and musical texture. This mélodie may be considered as marking the threshold to the final period of Fauré’s compositions. Accompagnement, Op. 85, No. 3 (1902) poem by Albert Victor Samain (1858-1900) This mélodie is a beautiful barcarolle–a nighttime scene, silvery and hazy, alluring but unreal. The image of the poet rowing on the lake is reflected in the musical texture. Fauré had a lifelong fascination with water imagery in music; this poem offers a little reel of unfolding pictures of a moonlight journey a dark lake. The words “dans le rêve” tell us that this is all a dream. This is a rarely sung Fauré mélodie that yields great rewards for the performer. Chanson, Op. 94 (1906) poem by Henri di Régnier (1864-1936) This poem has a gentle charm and a calm simplicity. It is the last of Fauré’s madrigals that include delicate love songs such as “Lydia,” and “Clair de lune.” It has a wonderful fluidity that is a perfect foil for the poetic images The text is a simple set of variations on one theme: nothing on earth has any meaning unless the beloved somehow touches it. Fauré’s reaction to the words called forth a musical setting of delicate transparency and limited range. It is not well known; like “Le Don silencieux,” “Chanson” was published as a single song and therefore not widely disseminated. It is an example of exquisitely planned musical economy, and definitely belongs in Fauré’s third period of musical compositions. Le Don silencieux, Op. 92 (1906) poem by Marie Closset (1875-1952), under the pseudonym Jean Dominique Here is another little known Fauré song, a rarity because it was published separately and was never included in any of the Fauré recueils. The poem has a gentle melancholy–the plea of a timid lover, a mixture of hope and imagined disappointment. The words are tender and flowing, but the overall mood is one of unrelieved sadness. This song marks the beginning of Fauré’s third compositional period, which includes the cycles La Chanson d’Eve, Le Jardin clos, Mirages, and L’Horizon chimérique. Writing of this mélodie in a letter to his wife, Fauré said, It does not in the least resemble any of my previous works, nor anything that I am aware of; I am very pleased about this...It translates the words gradually as they unfold themselves; it begins, opens out, and finishes, nothing more, nevertheless it is unified. 1 NOTES: Quoted in Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Guildhall School of Music and Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2009), 291. Quotation from Jean-Michel Nectoux, Gabriel Fauré: A Musical Life, trans. Roger Nichols (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 304. This is a translation of Fauré’s letter to his wife of 17 August 1906. BACK TO TOP REYNALDO HAHN (1875-1947) Reynaldo Hahn, Venezuelan by birth, came to Paris with his family at age four and made a brilliant career. In addition to his career as a composer and singer, he was director of the Paris Opéra, music critic for the newspaper Figaro, and conductor of the Salzburg Festival. He was enough of a scholar to edit some of the works of Rameau. He maintained close friendships throughout his life with actress Sarah Bernhardt and writer Marcel Proust. During the Belle époque, French mélodie was at the height of its development. Hahn was a habitué of the most fashionable salons, where he was in demand as a performer. On these occasions, he usually sang and played his own accompaniment, often with a cigarette dangling from his lips. The art of singing was one of his major passions, and he wrote three books on singing (Du chant, Thèmes varies, and L’oreille au guet), as well as a memoir of Sarah Bernhardt. Hahn’s songs are models of French restraint–devoid of overt display, with beautiful melodies in a modest vocal range. They reflect the style of his teacher, Jules Massenet. Hahn composed approximately ninety-five works for solo voice: eighty-four mélodies, five English songs to texts of Robert Louis Stevenson, and six Italian songs in the Venetian dialect. After 1912, Hahn composed in larger forms: opera, operetta, and film music. Perhaps his most famous work is his operetta Ciboulette (1923), which is still performed. À Chloris (1916) poem by Théophile de Viau (1590-1626) “À Chloris” is No. 14 in Deuxième volume de vingt mélodies, the last major publication of Hahn’s songs during his lifetime. In many of his later songs, he turned to a deliberately archaic style. “À Chloris” features an elegant vocal line above a piano texture that features Baroque musical characteristics; it is its own piece, with ornamented melody and chaconne-like bass. Vocal line and piano piece are woven into a musical tapestry that is both declarative and intimate. Poet Théophile de Viau was considered one of the most influential libertin poets during Louis XIII’s reign. The libertins’ verses had a unique charm that is instantly appealing, but somewhat artificial. Despite this, de Viau’s love poetry is not bland, but full of suggestive passion and elegant wit. BACK TO TOP ARTHUR HONEGGER (1892-1955) Arthur Honegger composed over forty mélodies for voice and piano. Taken as a whole, they are diverse and imaginative. For his texts, he favored contemporary poets such as Jean Cocteau, Guillaume Apollinaire, Paul Claudel, and Paul Fort. He also chose to set unrelated poems by a single poet, such as his Poesies (Cocteau) and Alcools (Apollinaire). Poetry with strong imagery appealed to the dramatist in his personality. For Honegger, as for most successful mélodie composers, the word provides the starting place. He is quoted as saying: For me, the music a song is always dependent upon the poetic model. It must join so closely with the poetry, that they become inseparable and one can picture the poem in wholly musical terms. This is not to say that the music becomes subservient. It must be so crafted that it can stand on its own merits, playable without the text, logical and complete. 1 Born of Swiss parents in Le Havre, France, Arthur Honegger initially studied for two years at the Zurich Conservatory, but enrolled in the Paris Conservatoire from 1911 to 1918, studying with Charles-Marie Widor and Vincent d’Indy. Some of his more familiar large vocal works include the dramatic psalm Le roi David (King David), composed in 1921 and still in the choral repertoire; and his dramatic oratorio of 1935, Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the stake), with text by Paul Claudel, considered to be one of his finest works. Between the world wars, he composed nine ballets and three vocal stage works, among works in other genres. His total compositional catalog is an impressive list of music: orchestral works, chamber music, concertos, ballets, operas, operettas, and oratorios. Widely known as a train enthusiast, he was passionately interested in locomotives, to which he attributed almost human characteristics. His “mouvement symphonique,” Pacific 231, gained him early acclaim in 1923. Honegger’s musical style is a fascinating mixture of impressionistic effects peppered with penetrating dissonances. He had a fondness for mixing tonalities and using modality. His compositions for the voice display an eclectic focus of coloristic harmonies and architectural clarity. He was a member of Les Six, but unlike most of that group, did not share their overwhelming reaction against German romanticism. Honegger’s musical style is fuller and more serious than his colleagues. He and Darius Milhaud were close friends. Honegger’s generous body of song has proved of enduring interest to contemporary performers. His was a distinctive voice in the vocal music of the twentieth-century French mélodie. Trois Psaumes (1940-41) from the Huguenot Psalter Psaumes XXXIV and CXL translated by Théodore de Bèze (1519-1605) Psaume CXXXVIII translated by Clément Marot (1496-1544) The spirit of Bach shines in the first psaume, “Psalm 34,” in which a chant-like vocal line alternates with a gently moving episodic keyboard part. This call and response continues until the last three vocal phrases, when the vocal line merges with the instrumental texture in a psalm of praise. The second song is “Psalm 140,” “ô Dieu donne-moi la déliverance de cet homme pernicieux” (O God, deliver me from this evil man). Honegger’s biographer, Harry Halbreich, suggests that the “evil man” who was oppressing Europe in those last days of 1940 might be the reason for Honegger’s text choice. This piece was composed before the first and third songs. Its emotional mood peaks with the chorale tune “I know that my Redeemer liveth.” 2 The last song in the set, “Psalm 138,” has the Latin title “Confiteor tibi, Domine” (I thank thee, O Lord) and is a paraphrase by Clément Marot, one of the greatest of the French Renaissance poets. It contains a familiar chorale tune, which is used in canon between voice and piano. NOTES: Arthur Canter and Rachel Joselson, Liner notes, The Songs of Arthur Honegger and Jacques Leguerney. Rachel Joselson, Réne Lecuona , piano. Albany Records, TROY691, 2004. Harry Halbreich, trans. Roger Nichols, Arthur Honegger (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1999), 165. BACK TO TOP JACQUES LEGUERNEY (1906-1997) Most of Jacques Leguerney’s sixty-eight mélodies were composed and published from 1940 to 1964. Many were commissioned and premiered by French baritone Gérard Souzay, his sister, soprano Geneviève Touraine, and pianist Jacqueline Bonneau. Early songs are comparable in mood and style with Ravel or Roussel (who encouraged Leguerney’s composition); later songs have been compared to those of his contemporary, Poulenc. Leguerney writes virtuoso piano parts–often dramatic, and with such an individual sense of harmonic style and color that Pierre Bernac reportedly described them as “mélodies de pianist.” 1 When asked about Leguerney’s songs, Gérard Souzay wrote, “How does one describe this music which is, at the same time, classic and modern? It is pure, but colorfully nuanced; it speaks to the heart as well as the mind–at times calm at times witty–wise, yet sensual...” 2 Many of Leguerney’s songs deal with themes of love and nature, expressing a huge range of emotions from deeply felt meditation to wild, ribald humor. Leguerney stopped composing in 1964, and his songs became neglected. The quality of Leguerney’s text setting, lyrical beauty, and harmonic innovations all call for his songs to be better known and more widely performed. Jacques Leguerney was drawn to the work of Renaissance poets, notably Ronsard. There are eight collections titled Poèmes de la Pléaide, representing settings of sixteenth and seventeenth-century French poetry and totaling thirty-two songs. Additionally, there are cycles and other collections [for a complete listing of Leguerney’s songs, see Dibbern, Kimball, and Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney]. 3 They may be thought of as the last in the great mainstream of twentieth-century French song. La Caverne d’écho (1954) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 7 poem by Antoine Girard de Saint-Amant (1594-1661) Dedication: Josiane and Jean Cier. First performance: Bernard Kruysen, baritone; Jean-Charles Richard, pianist. 29 May 1965, Radio France Culture. Marc-Antoine Girard, sieur de Saint-Amant, wrote poetry of great descriptive power, and his use of language set him apart from the other seventeenth-century poets. He was also an adept musician and skillful lute player, writing verses that often describe musical sounds linked to visual images. The poem takes place in a dark cave, home of the nymph, Echo; it is a charmed place, absolutely still and peaceful. The poet’s lute resounds inside the cavern as he tries to soothe the inconsolable Echo, who mourns for her lover Narcissus. Leguerney creates the grotto’s mysterious resonance with bitonality. Piano figures illustrate the strumming of the lute. The text contains many sounds with the consonant “r.” The rolling quality of this speech sonority re-creates the cavern’s resonance. The closing measures of the mélodie produce a striking effect as the singer’s voice echoes eerily in the cavern, blending with the piano’s resonance and creating a remarkably realistic echo. À son page (1944) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 2 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Gérard Souzay. First performance: Gérard Souzay, baritone; Jacqueline Robin (Bonneau). 3 May 1945, Salle Gaveau, Paris. This is a lusty scene with four characters: a nobleman tipsy from drink, his page, and two women, Jeanne and Barbe. Carpe diem is the theme here. The singer philosophizes on this idea while enjoying his wine and the tender companionship of the two beautiful women. Leguerney evokes the crackling staccato of a stylized harpsichord with rhythmic accents in the piano. The text is brilliantly set with jagged vocal lines and driving rhythms that illustrate the singer’s intoxication. It ends with Leguerney’s repetition of the last poetic line and the addition of nonsense syllables which fit beautifully into the imagery and mood of Ronsard’s colorful characters. Je me lamente (1943) from Poèmes de la Pléiade, Volume 1 poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) Dedicated to Geneviève Touraine. First performance: Paul Derenne, tenor; Jeanne Blancard, pianist. 29 March 1944, Salle de l’Ecole Normale de Musique, Paris. This is one of Leguerney’s most beautiful songs, setting Pierre de Ronsard’s text from his collection of love poems for Marie Dupin, a country girl from a small village in southern France. She was half his age and probably represented the youth he constantly pursued. It has been suggested that the Marie in question was probably Marie de Clèves, passionately adored by Henri III. 4 Leguerney called this mélodie a constant crescendo from beginning to end. 5 Ronsard’s anguish is captured with a texture of stark chords, crowned by a regal and sustained vocal line. As the song progresses, the poet’s anguish is embodied in a more expansive texture, bidding Marie a happy resting place near God or in the Elysian fields. NOTES: Liner notes by Mary Dibbern. Mélodies sur poèmes de la Renaissance (Jacques Leguerney).Harmonia Mundi France. LP recording HMC 1171. Letter to the author. Quoted in Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun. Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001), 3. Ibid., 289-295. Ibid., 69. See note 20. Ibid., 70. BACK TO TOP OLIVIER MESSIAEN (1908-1992) Olivier Messiaen was born in 1908 in Avignon, France, into a literary family. He grew up around words and absorbed their shapes, colors and sounds naturally. His father, Pierre Messiaen, was a well-known translator of Shakespeare, and his mother, Cécile Sauvage, was a poet. As a youngster, before beginning to compose music, he had an especially perceptive ear attuned to the unique prosody of the French language. Early in his compositional career, he published a book titled Technique de mon langage musical (1944). About his musical setting of words, Jane Manning observes: ...the syllables themselves create a glittering mosaic of sonorities and subtle resonances, in addition to their actual meaning (many of the poems do not translate at all satisfactorily). The composer’s awareness of the minutiae of verbal enunciations and articulations is miraculous. Each vocal sound can be precisely placed as intended, all dynamics are scrupulously plotted, and the performer’s involvement and intimate connection to the music is enhanced by the sensual nature of words projection... 1 He often used stained glass to explain his music. When viewed from a distance, the myriad details blend into a single entity, whose purpose is to dazzle the listener. Understanding is not necessary, feeling is the prime requisite. The music of Olivier Messiaen is a skillfully designed and unique language, with meaning and form kept separate. Its meaning is unchangeable, harkening back to Gregorian chant, culminating in instruments that are able to prolong sound (organ, strings, or the ondes Martenot). Messiaen’s musical language is defined by its rhythms and tone colors. His uncanny instinct for associating sound with color produced works unique in their concept of the combination of sounds. He said that when he heard or read music, his mind’s eye saw colors that move with the music; he sensed these colors, and at times he precisely indicated their arrangements in his scores. His fascination with birdsong was lifelong; he referred to himself as an ornithologist and tracked birds and their songs all over the world. He considered their resonances as songs and not merely sounds. He notated these on manuscript paper and they found their way into his music. Trois mélodies (1930) poems by Olivier Messiaen, Cécile Sauvage (1883-1927) This little cycle of songs is Messiaen’s first recognized work for voice and piano. The songs are modest in length and not typical of Messiaen’s later style, but show influences of late Fauré and Duparc in the overall musical texture. There is only one song in his vocal compositions in which Messiaen set the poetry of another poet. It is found in this cycle, which uses the text of his mother, the poet Cécile Sauvage, who died three years before the composition of this work. The three movements form a warm and delicate little triptych. Two of Messiaen’s own poems stand on either side of the poem by Cécile Sauvage, throwing that charming little poem into high relief. “Pourquoi?” introduces a litany of the pleasures of nature: birdsong, the unfolding seasons, and water images. The poet becomes emotional, asking why all these bring him no joy. “La Sourire,” the shortest song of the set, is a beautiful microcosm of intimate and spiritual understanding between two people. It is a delicate example of musical economy and word setting in a quasi-recitative style. The last song, “La fiancée perdue,” offers fleeting hints of Messiaen’s cycle to come, Poèmes pour Mi–most specifically, the final song. Here, the poet prays for divine blessing on the soul of the “fiancée” in the title. The fervent incantation illuminates and affirms man’s connection to a higher authority. Examining the poetic content of the three texts, we are struck by the images that underlie the words: the emotional outburst “pourquoi,” (why?), perhaps questioning the death of Cécile, followed by Cécile’s tender affirmation of love, and finally, the prayer asking for Divine grace and the blessing of the soul of the departed. NOTES: Jane Manning, “The Songs and Song Cycles,” in The Messiaen Companion, ed. Peter Hill (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995), 107. BACK TO TOP DARIUS MILHAUD (1892-1974) Darius Milhaud was probably the most prolific composer of the group known as Les Six (Francis Poulenc, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Germaine Tailleferre, Georges Auric, and Milhaud). The group was unified by friendship rather than a single musical style. Championed by influential writer Jean Cocteau and composer Erik Satie, Les Six often presented their works at the same concerts and met with great regularity–often at Milhaud’s house–to make music and exchange ideas. Louis Durey observed that it was the wide diversity in their personalities and musical styles that gave the group its rich depth and permitted its development. Embodied in the credo of their musical thought was relative sparseness of texture and clarity. Turn-of-the-century France offered popular entertainments that drew the French to an environment of merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries, outdoor concerts, circuses, and a jumble of excitement. Milhaud was fascinated by Parisian street life, and could hear the sounds of the Montmartre fair from his apartment. Often on their group outings, Les Six went together to the Cirque de Médrano to see the Fratellinis, a famous family of clowns of that day. Milhaud observed that their acts were worthy of the Commedia dell’arte. 1 Trois Poèmes de Jean Cocteau, Op. 59 (1920) poems by Jean Cocteau (1889-1963) Trois poèmes de Jean Cocteau is like lyric fragments. The small-range vocal lines have a sparse lyricism–one of emotional mood rather than overt melody. The little mélodies are skillful studies in brevity. These match Cocteau’s rather enigmatic poems that exemplify the style termed dépouillé (stripped to the essentials), his aesthetic creed. Milhaud dedicated the songs to Satie. The three miniatures are a colorful kaleidoscope of the circus and the outdoor fairs that entranced the French during this period. “Fumée” describes the equestrienne of the Cirque Médrano atop a horse, jumping through hoops, captured in Toulouse-Lautrec’s familiar painting titled “L’écuyère au Cirque Fernando (1888); “Fête de Bordeaux” is a description of the merry-go-round at the Bordeaux fair; and “Fête de Montmartre” evokes the nighttime boats and sailors, possibly having to do with a game involving camouflaged ships found at the Montmartre fair. Milhaud infuses stylistic and melodic elements of folk songs and children’s tunes into the tiny pieces, tying the innate excitement of these popular destinations to simple, childlike reactions. NOTES: Laurence Davies, The Gallic Muse (New York: A.S. Barnes and Co., 1967), 164. BACK TO TOP FRANCIS POULENC (1899-1963) Francis Poulenc’s 150 mélodies form the largest body of songs to be added to French vocal literature in the twentieth century. Poulenc’s flair for the dramatic, combined with his superb skill in mixing poetry and music, produced songs that singers find immensely gratifying, not only for their musical value, but for their heightened sense of drama. Poulenc’s mélodies reflect concern and feeling for declamation, inflection, breathing, and above all, show extraordinary warmth of feeling for the human voice. He was fond of saying, “J’aime la voix humaine!” The sophistication of Poulenc’s songs spring from their poetic inspirations. Poulenc was quite knowledgeable about poetry, and chose his texts carefully. His gift of divining the inner life of the texts he set produced songs that do more than merely illustrate the poems. His gift for melody is at the very heart of all his songs and seems to assert itself naturally in shaping the color, weight, and meaning of the texts he set. Ce doux petit visage (1938) poem by Paul éluard (1895-1952) Paul Eluard was one of Poulenc’s three main poets. This is a beautiful introduction to Eluard’s poetry, lyrical and passionately intense. The simplicity of Poulenc’s setting allows the poem to shine. It is one of Poulenc’s tiny gems, and he admitted his partiality to the short song. Eluard’s skill at evoking nostalgia and melancholy are seen here, linked to lost youth. The mélodie is dedicated to the memory of Raymonde Linossier, Poulenc’s most intimate childhood friend, who influenced his literary taste and musical tendencies. He said: “I have a great liking for this short song. Raymonde Linossier was my best advisor for the music of my youth. How many times, during the years since her death, I would have liked to have had her opinion on this or the other of my works.” 1 La Grenouillère (1938) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) “La Grenouillère” is an outstanding example of Poulenc’s romantic lyricism. This is a text by Guillaume Apollinaire describing the Ile de Croissy, an island in the Seine on the outskirts of Paris, frequented by artists and their models, and celebrated in paintings by Monet, Manet, and Renoir. “The Froggery” was a restaurant on the island. The overall images of happy days that cannot be relived can be seen in Pierre Auguste Renoir’s paintings Les Déjeuner des canotiers (The Boatman’s Luncheon), or La Grenouillère. In this lament for boating parties on the Seine, vocal phrases are sustained and languid, floating over a slowly rocking piano accompaniment. The lazy piano figures mirror the empty tethered boats rocking on the water, bumping against each other, and give expression to the sweet melancholy of the poet’s words. Montparnasse (1945) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Apollinaire’s poem is dated 1912. Poulenc writes in his journal of songs that it took him four years to complete “Montparnasse,” almost phrase by phrase, and that he had no regrets about the length of time it took because “it is one of my best songs.” 2 It is a sentimental and heartfelt tribute to Paris. Both Apollinaire and Poulenc loved the city and it played a continuing role in their work. “Montparnasse” is about the idyllic artistic existence lived at the edge of Paris. Poulenc wrote in his diary: “Let us imagine this Montparnasse all at once discovered by Picasso, Braque, Modigliani, Apollinaire.” 3 The mélodie has a carefree nonchalance about it; it is not sad, but thoughtful– a beautiful blend of poetic and musical lyricism. Poulenc’s vocal and harmonic textures are full of surprising harmonic details that bind this song–which he composed in fragments–together into a touching and expressive picture of Paris in the early years of the twentieth century. Bleuet (1939) poem by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Guillaume Apollinaire was one of Poulenc’s preferred poets. This is a wartime poem that Apollinaire penned in 1917 in Paris in convalescence after a head injury; both Apollinaire and Poulenc served in World War II. There are several word plays at work here. “Bleuet” was the nickname for French soldiers in World War I, because their uniforms were blue, like the color of a little cornflower, which is a “bleuet.” Also, “Un bleu” was the term used for a raw recruit. “Bleuet” is one of Poulenc’s most moving songs– agonizing in its emotional content yet noble in its message. It is a quiet and private moment in which a twenty-year-old boy who does not yet know all that life can be, is characterized–and addressed–by the poet in a sweetly serious speech. Poulenc wrote that for him, the key to the poem were the words, “It is five o’clock and you would know how to die.” 4 This song is simple, intimate, and poignant. Les Chemins de l’amour (1940) poem by Jean Anouilh (1910-1987) Poulenc composed this valse chantée as incidental music for Léocadia, a play by Jean Anouilh. Within the play, the song was described as a pseudo Viennese waltz, and functioned as a leitmotiv in the plot. Sung by Yvonne Printemps, one of France’s most celebrated musical theatre stars, “Les Chemins de l’amour” became a popular success. It embodies the relaxed elegance of a self-styled Viennese waltz style, encased in one of Poulenc’s haunting melodies. Banalités (1940) poems by Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) Banalités is not a cycle, but a group of five songs. The poems have no connection with each other; however, their order provides a well-constructed recital group. They may be performed separately. The work is one of Poulenc’s most popular vocal works, and deservedly so. Poulenc chose contrasting poems, placing them so that the collection begins briskly and ends with lyrical gravity. “Chanson d’Orkenise” is Poulenc’s title for the poem contained in the strange mixture of prose and poetry that Apollinaire called Onirocritique. Orkenise is a road in Autun leading to the Roman gate of the same name. The musical setting has the feeling of a popular folk song. The narrator sings of a tramp leaving the city and a carter who is entering it - one leaving his heart there, one bringing his heart to be married. There is a word in the poem with a double meaning: “grise” can be translated as “gray” or “tipsy.” The merry quality of the song opens the set with gaiety, but both Apollinaire and Poulenc offer a little food for thought. “Hôtel” is a poem that immediately represented for Poulenc a hotel room in Montparnassse, where the idle poet wants only to bask in the sun’s warmth and smoke. Pierre Bernac referred to it as “the laziest song ever written.” 5 The piano figures are fashioned of Poulenc’s luxuriant chromatic harmonies, stacked as if to cushion the lethargy of the singer. “Fagnes de Wallonie” is set in the gloomy, desolate uplands of the Ardennes with a terrain of vast heaths, twisted trees, and peat bogs, swept by winds of considerable force. Its gloomy setting complements the melancholy mood of the poet. Poulenc’s spiky musical setting is a whirlwind that sweeps from beginning to end in a turbulent texture that demands precise articulation from singer and pianist. Sandwiched between Songs 3 and 5 is a tiny bonbon, “Voyage à Paris.” It resembles a little commercial jingle about Paris–“which one day love must have created”–an invitation to the pleasures of that beautiful city, away from “the dreary countryside.” Poulenc sprinkles his quicksilver setting–a valse-musette–with indications of “amiable” and “avec charme.” The composer referred to it as having “deliciously stupid lines...Anything that concerns Paris I approach with tears in my eyes and my head full of music.” 6 The cycle concludes with “Sanglots”, one of Apollinaire’s finest poems about the universality of lost love, a theme that Poulenc matches with exquisite modulations in a setting that embodies the essence of the words. The vocal lines are eloquently lyrical. The poem is difficult to understand because of the juxtaposition of the main narrative and the interior “asides,” that in effect form a poem within a poem. 7 The song has an elegant serenity that culminates in a stunning climactic point at the words: “Est mort d’amour ou c’est tout comme/ Est mort d’amour et le voici.” The ending lines of the song sustain the profoundly calm mood, bringing Banalités to its close. La Courte Paille (1960) poems by Maurice Carême (1899-1978) The last song cycle Poulenc composed was La Courte paille, on seven poems of Belgian poet Maurice Carême. Poulenc composed the songs for soprano Denise Duval, creator of leading roles in his three operas, hoping that she would sing them to her young son. Poulenc considered the mélodies very poetic and whimsical; unfortunately, Duval disliked the music and never did sing the cycle. Poulenc asked Carême to provide an overall title for the work and requested permission to change the titles of several selected poems: the original title of “Quelle aventure!” is “Une puce et l’éléphant”; “Le Reine de cœur” is “Vitres de lune”; “Le carafon” is “La carafe et le carafon.” For the cycle’s title, Carême chose La Courte Paille (The Short Straw), referring to drawing lots by the method of a short straw. Poulenc was delighted, saying the title symbolized his little musical game exactly. He also wrote in his diary, “They must be sung tenderly; that is the surest way to touch the heart of a child.” 8 The cycle is full of child-like innocence, whimsy and imagination, with a few shadowy undertones. The first song, “Le Sommeil,” is a beautiful lullaby to a restless child who cannot go to sleep, tossing and turning in his small bed. He seems ill, crying and perspiring, but hopefully will finally surrender to slumber. In “Quelle aventure!” the child describes an absurd happening: he saw a flea driving a carriage with a small elephant in it. The story grows more bizarre but the rhythmic pace never wavers, careening to the end of the song when the child wonders how on earth he’ll ever be able to persuade “Mama” that it really happened. The verses are witty, yet the shrieks of “Mon Dieu!” are laced with a feeling of childish terror. “La Reine du cœur” is a beautiful, languid melody that paints a picture of the mysterious Queen of Hearts, beckoning to visitors from her frosty castle, where she reigns over a court of lovers, including the young dead. In “Ba, Be, Bi, Bo, Bu...,” the child is chided “on all sides” about studying. The title of the song presents the French vowels, and the text contains words that make their plural with an “x” (“pou, chou, genou, hibou”). The formidable cat of the poem’s opening lines is none other than that tricky feline Puss-in-Boots! The entire song is a little tongue-twister, an exercise in diction and accuracy. “Les anges musiciens” are none other than the school children staying home on Thursday, the half-day school holiday in France in Poulenc’s time, practicing Mozart on their harps, just like good little angel musicians should do. “Le carafon” is a crazy little story of a carafe that longs for a baby carafe (carafon) just like the giraffe at the zoo, who has a girafon. This is a ridiculous rhyming game like those that children love to play. The text is full of whimsical characters: the carafe, a giraffe, a sorcerer astride a phonograph, Merlin, and finally, a carafon. “Lune d’Avril” is another lullaby, very slow and otherworldly, which serves as an epilogue. Bound together in a musical texture that features a syncopated pedal point, it is filled with enchanted images the child wishes to dream about: a land of joy, light, and flowers where all guns are silent. The ending leaves the listener suspended in a mood of unfinished magic. La Courte Paille is the last vocal music Poulenc composed. NOTES: Quoted in Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1977), 125. Francis Poulenc, Journal de mes mélodies, trans. Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, 1985), 75. Ibid., 75. Ibid., 57. Bernac, 72. Poulenc, 67. The English translation of “Sanglots” has parentheses that delineate the “asides” so that both “poems” may be seen. These may be found in Pierre Bernac’s books Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, page 75, or The Interpretation of French Song, pages 284-85 Poulenc, 109. BACK TO TOP MAURICE RAVEL (1875-1937) The songs of Maurice Ravel represent a transition between the mature mélodies of Debussy and the vocal literature that followed, notably the songs of Les Six. Debussy dominated the French musical scene from the turn of the century until his death in 1918. It was Ravel who was regarded as the leading musical spokesman for France following World War I. He was a skillful craftsman and his songs have a sense of evenness of rhythmic structure and flow that call for scrupulous execution. The fusion of music and text into a logical whole was of utmost importance to him. He composed elegant and subtle mélodies, using classical phrase structure. His melodic phrases often tend toward modality. His songs range from those with a folk-like style to more to those that are more speech-like, and those that encompass a melodic romanticism. He was precise in his thought and his scoring, and scrupulous in his musical execution. His music encompassed some of the fascinating influences of the post-Wagnerian era. Ravel’s musical contributions were of utmost importance to this exciting and new era in French cultural history. He made notable contributions to musical literature for the piano, the French art song, opera, chamber music, orchestral literature, and the ballet. Sur l’herbe (1907) poem by Paul Verlaine (1833-1896) This mélodie is Ravel’s only setting of Verlaine. It has often been suggested that this poem was probably inspired by Watteau’s painting L’île enchantée. There is also a reference to a famous eighteenth-century dancer, Marie-Anne Cuppi, known as (La) Camargo, who was immortalized on canvas by the painter Nicolas Lancret. The scene is an outside gathering, elegant and artificial. A number of people are there, chief among them, a licentious abbé, slightly tipsy from a bit too much Cyprian wine. He exchanges a few disconnected gallantries with the ladies–innocent conversations on the surface, but sensuous in undertone. The conversation is disconnected; we do not know exactly who is speaking. Ravel shapes very flexible vocal phrases, in keeping with the abbé’s intoxicated state, underscored with graceful piano figures that evoke an eighteenth-century dance. In a letter to Jean-Aubrey, Ravel commented on “Sur l’herbe”: “In this piece, as in the Histoires naturelles, the impression must be given that one is almost not singing. A bit of preciosity is found there which is indicated moreover by the text and the music.” 1 Noël des jouets (1905) poem by the composer This is the only solo song for which Ravel wrote the text. It describes a Christmas manger scene, replete with the Virgin and Christ-child, animals, and angels. It embodies Ravel’s delight with tiny mechanical toys and figures, and his fascination with the unspoiled world of child-like experience. His genius for text painting is displayed in the delightful mélodie. The mechanical toys come to life in the piano figures. Ravel’s charming text creates the images around and over the crèche, with not a word wasted. Ravel commented that the music is “clear and plain, like the mechanical toys of the poem.” 2 This little song foreshadows other Ravel settings of make-believe, beginning with the song cycle Histoires naturelles and culminating with his opera L’Enfant et les sortilèges. The music of menacing dog Belzébuth foreshadows the music of the Beast in the Mother Goose Suite (Ma Mère lOye). Rêves (1927) poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) The poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue has been described as reflecting the union of dream and memory. This mélodie has a tender lyricism within a sparse musical texture. The text is fashioned of a series of miniature images that pass by rather quickly, unrelated, like the images found in dreams. For all their differences, they have a simplicity about them that seems timeless, existing together, as the poet says, “in a vague countryside.” When the dreamer finally awakens, the little fleeting pictures “die quietly.” The piano postlude perpetuates the dream state, creating an ethereal little microcosm that continues to draw the dreamer to it. Ronsard à son âme (1924) poem by Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) In his Abrégé de l’art poétique français (1565) Pierre de Ronsard advocated the union of poetry and music, and Renaissance composers frequently set his poems. 3 In this strikingly simple mélodie, Ronsard speaks to his soul, calling it by a series of diminutives: little soul, dainty little one, sweet little one. Ravel uses a series of parallel fifths in the piano figures to invoke a Renaissance mood. This is Ronsard’s last poem, and Ravel’s last adaptation of Renaissance poetry. Ravel’s setting recalls the elegance of his early mélodie, “D’Anne qui me jecta de la neige,” to a poem of Clément Marot. Manteau de fleurs (1903) poem by Paul Barthélemy Jeulin (1863-1936) The poem notes everything in the garden that is pink–all the flowers that will become a beautiful cloak to complement the beauty of the lady of the poem. Ravel usually had very sophisticated taste in choosing texts; this particular poem is an unusual choice. It is a simple text, somewhat banal, but Ravel’s shimmering musical texture imparts a dramatic character for each flower in the poem. The overall piano texture suggests orchestral colors. The last section of the mélodie changes course slightly, with the piano harmonies creating a slightly wistful mood. Clearly, Ravel lavished a beautiful musical setting on a rather ordinary set of words. Don Quichotte à Dulcinée (1932-33) [Medium/Low Voice edition only] poems by Paul Morand (1888-1976) This miniature cycle was Ravel’s last vocal work. His musical portrait of the noble Spanish knight, Don Quixote, is embodied in three mélodies, all based on characteristic Spanish or Basque dance rhythms: (1) the guajira, alternating 6/8 and 3/4 meter; (2) the zorzica, a Basque dance in quintuple meter; and (3) the jota, a lively triple-metered Spanish dance. “Chanson Romanesque” presents the chivalrous idealist Don Quixote, confidently promising to rearrange everything in nature to his lady Dulcinea’s liking in order to win her favor. Dulcinea is in reality a poor farm girl, but the Don’s illusion will not be shaken. He remains authoritative and focused in his quest for her love. “Chanson épique” is Quixote’s reverent prayer to Saint Michael and Saint George, beseeching them to bless his sword and his Lady. Ravel creates a beautifully sustained and prayerful vocal line over a simple accompaniment. “Chanson à boire” is a exuberant drinking song. Although the Don’s tippling has made him overly boisterous, he never oversteps the bounds of his noble bearing. His robust laughter is heard in the piano figures and even a hiccup intrudes between “lorsque j’ai” and “lorsque j’ai bu.” NOTES: Maurice Ravel, in a letter to Jean-Aubrey written in September, 1907. Quoted in Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Dover Publications, 1991), 165-66. Quoted in Orenstein, 161. Orenstein, 192. BACK TO TOP ALBERT ROUSSEL (1869-1937) In 1894 Albert Roussel left a highly successful career as a naval officer to pursue music. After completing his studies, he became professor of counterpoint at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. Satie and Varèse were among his students. Roussel was one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period. He composed almost forty mélodies as well as chamber music, ballets, and operas. His style is eclectic but highly individual. Early works show the influence of Vincent d’Indy, works dating from 1910 to 1920 exhibit influences of Debussy and Ravel, but he turned to neoclassicism in his later compositions. His love for the sea was almost a spiritual attraction and continued to influence his music throughout his career. He had a fascination for distant places; his extended tour of Southeast Asia in 1909 had a tremendous influence on his composition. “Sarabande” and “Cœur en peril” are mélodies to texts of René Chalupt, a close friend. They are found in op. 20 and 50, respectively. Roussel’s overall musical catalogue is not extensive, but its quality is of an extremely high level, and his vocal writing in particular contains some mélodies of great delicacy and style, squarely in the French tradition. For Roussel, the word held primacy in his mélodies, being both transformed by its musical setting and merging with it to create a perfect union. Commenting on the quality of Roussel’s songs, composer Charles Koechlin is quoted as saying: “The sense of austerity pervading them, stemming simply from the composer’s natural reserve, heightens their expressiveness and further embellishes them; in language and content they are absolutely personal. This collection of songs is one which will last because its essence is undying sensitivity.” 1 Sarabande (1919) from Deux mélodies, Op. 20, No. 2 poem by René Chalupt This is surely one of Roussel’s most delicate and magical creations. His writing for the piano is particularly outstanding, placing Chalupt’s poem in an overall texture of elegance and veiled sensuality. There is an Oriental delicacy in Roussel’s musical evocation of the fluttering doves, feathers drifting into a pool, and the gentle drift of chestnut blossoms onto bare flesh. Cœur en péril (1933-34) from Deux mélodies, Op. 50, No. 1 poem by René Chalupt This mélodie is much different in mood–witty and flirtatious. It is the narrative of a young man eager to convince his ladylove of his fidelity. Vocal phrases are tuneful, with a spirited piano texture of Iberian flavor. NOTES: Liner notes, Dom Angelico Surchamp, trans. Elisabeth Carroll, Roussel Mélodies, Colette Alliot-Lugaz, Mady Mesplé, Kurt Ollmann, José Van Dam; Dalton Baldwin, Patrick Gallois. EMI Digital. CDS 7492712, 1987 BACK TO TOP ERIK SATIE (1866-1925) Erik Satie wrote very few songs and most of them date from late in his life. The eccentric father figure of the French avant-garde of the twentieth century had a wildly independent spirit that found its way into his musical compositions. Throughout his life, he kept a great deal of childlike inquisitiveness and innocence. He was a curious personality of unconventional habits whose sense of the absurd and whimsy permeated both his life and his music. Quintessential Satie compositions are laconic and witty. It was Satie who named Les Nouveaux Jeunes, soon known as Les Six, and influenced the early development of the group. La Statue de bronze (1916) from Trois Mélodies poem by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) This is Satie’s first setting of the poetry of Léon-Paul Fargue, the “Bohemian poet of Paris.” Satie used Fargue’s witty verses again for Ludions. The scene is a garden game–the jeu de tonneau. A bronze frog, perched atop a cabinet with numbered chambers, grows impatient of being the target of the game where metal disks are tossed into her mouth. She dreams of being freed from her pedestal and being able to use her wide-open mouth to utter “LE MOT.” 1 She wants to be free to join the other frogs gathered near the rust-colored washhouse “blowing musical bubbles from the soapy moonlight.” But the game continues, the disks rattle through her mouth into numbered compartments and at night, insects sleep in her mouth. This mélodie can be linked musically to “La Grenouille américaine,” found in Ludions. Both songs share piano figures derived from the café-concert chanson. Ludions (1923) poems by Léon-Paul Fargue (1876-1947) Ludions is the last of Satie’s purely vocal works, composed two years before his death, and is perhaps his finest set of songs. It epitomizes his lifelong quest for musical simplicity and his irreverence for the intricate compositional techniques and overactive emotions of the Impressionists. Ludions is translated as “bottle imps” (a ludion is a little figure suspended in a hollow ball, which descends or rises in a vase filled with water when one presses down on the elastic membrane covering the mouth of the vase). The cycle is a kaleidoscopic set of musical miniatures, riddled with puns and illogical phrases. Fargue’s nonsensical verse complements Satie’s musical aesthetic, and the two friends’ personalities closely matched one another. All the mélodies in Ludions are short, like tiny cameos. They are colorful, saucy, fantastic, and defy translation. “Air du rat,” “La Grenouille américaine,” and “Chanson du chat” are right out of the music hall, and Satie uses with a mock-serious “tongue-in-cheek” treatment for “Spleen” and “Air du poète.” Je te veux (1902) poem by Henry Pacory (1873-?) The valse chantée, or sung waltz was a favorite of the café concerts, for which Satie composed a number of works. Café concerts were a form of Parisian popular entertainment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The all-musical programs were held outside; French popular singers presented repertoire that catered to lower and middle-class audiences who came to talk, eat, drink, and observe the long informal programs, for which there was no admission charge. “Je te veux” was composed for Paulette Darty, dubbed “the Queen of the slow waltz.” It was one of her signature musical presentations for the caf’conc (café concerts), and one that Darty remained associated with throughout her career. A statuesque blonde with an ample figure, Darty was a commanding performer who kept the most boisterous of the Saturday night audiences enthralled. Lyricist Henry Pacory’s rather explicit poem was watered down at Satie’s request before the song was published. La Diva de l’Empire (1904) poem by Charles Bessat, named Numa Blès (1871-1917) The “Diva de l’Empire,” 2 one of Satie’s café-concert songs, was another work written for and performed by Paulette Darty. It was composed for a Bonnaud-Blès music-hall revue called Dévidons la Bobine (Let’s Unwind the Bobbin) that toured several seaside resort towns. The British “diva” is a femme fatale performer who enchants all who see her. The song is a syncopated cakewalk describing her seductive beauty as she struts her stuff “showing the wiggling of her legs and some pretty frilly underwear.” Interspersed at points along the way with English words: Greenaway, baby, little girl, etc. The piano provides a jaunty ragtime rhythm throughout that melds perfectly with the suggestive text. NOTES: ”Le mot” has a double meaning. It was the title of a broadsheet published by Jean Cocteau between 1914-15 and is short for “le mot de Cambronne,” a polite way of saying “merde.” Cambronne was a famous French general who replied “Merde!” when asked to surrender. In Steven Moore Whiting, Satie the Bohemian: From Cabaret to Concert Hall. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 43. Empire refers to the Empire Theatre of Varieties, Leicester Square, London. BACK TO TOP DÉODAT DE SÉVERAC (1872-1921) Déodat de Séverac, of aristocratic lineage, was born in the Languedoc region of southwest France in Saint-Félix-Caraman (now Saint-Félix Lauragais), near Toulouse. After studies in Paris with Vincent d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum, he returned home and remained there. He was a contemporary of Fauré, Debussy and Ravel, but was considered a petit maître in their company, possibly because of his return to Languedoc at the completion of his musical studies. Séverac composed piano and orchestral music, operas and songs. The culture of his native Languedoc figured prominently in his music, which is highly descriptive. He often wrote parts for regional folk music in his scores. Many considered him provincial and unsophisticated, but his music displays his skill in integrating folk elements–and often, regional folk instruments–of his native Languedoc into his works. He often referred to himself as “the peasant musician.” Influences of Debussy, Mussorgsky, and Bizet may be found in his mélodies. Although his music is rather conservative in style, Séverac fused folk elements with the musical styles of the day in a unique and individual manner. Ma poupée chérie (1914) poem by the composer Composed in 1914 (and published in 1916) for his daughter Magali and dedicated to her, this little cradlesong is probably de Séverac’s best loved and most performed mélodie. Séverac’s fresh musical setting contains just the right combination of simplicity and delightful childlike honesty. Despite the subject matter, the composer’s heartfelt poem avoids an overly cloying atmosphere. BACK TO TOP OTHER SOURCES CONSULTED: Jane Bathori, On the Interpretation of the Mélodies of Claude Debussy, transl. and with an introduction by Linda Laurent (Stuyvesant, NY: Pendragon Press, 1998). Pierre Bernac, Francis Poulenc: The Man and his Songs, transl. by Winifred Radford (New York: W.W. Norton, 1977). Pierre Bernac, The Interpretation of French Song, transl. by Winifred Radford(New York: W.W. Norton, 1978). Elaine Brody, Paris: The Musical Kaleidoscope 1870-1925 (New York: George Braziller, 1987). Mary Dibbern, Carol Kimball, and Patrick Choukroun, Interpreting the Songs of Jacques Leguerney (Hillsdale, NY: Pendragon Press, 2001) Alan M. Gillmor, Erik Satie (New York: W.W. Norton Co., 1992). James Harding, The Ox on the Roof: Scenes from musical life in Paris in the Twenties (New York: Da Capo Press, 1986). Peter Hill, ed., The Messiaen Companion (Portland, OR: Amadeus Press, 1995). Graham Johnson, Gabriel Fauré: The Songs and their Poets (London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd. and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, 2009) Graham Johnson and Richard Stokes, A French Song Companion (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000). Carol Kimball, Song: A Guide to Art Song Style and Literature (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2005). Carol Kimball and Richard Walters, eds., The French Song Anthology (Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard Corp., 2001). Timothy LeVan, Masters of the French Art Song (Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press, 1991). Barbara Meister, Nineteenth-Century French Song (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1980). Wilfrid Mellers, Francis Poulenc (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993). Arbie Orenstein, Ravel: Man and Musician (New York: Columbia University Press, 1975). Nancy Perloff, Art and the Everyday: Popular Entertainment in the Circle of Erik Satie(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991) Caroline Potter, Henri Dutilleux: His Life and Works (Brookfield, VT: Ashgate Publishing Co., 1997). Francis Poulenc, Moi et mes amis: Confidences recueilles par Stéphane Audel (Paris: La Palatine, 1963). Francis Poulenc, Diary of my Songs [Journal de mes mélodies] transl. by Winifred Radford (London: Victor Gollancz, Ltd., 1985) Marie-Claire Rohinsky, ed., The Singer’s Debussy (New York: Pelion Press, 1987) Roger Shattuck, The Banquet Years (New York: Vintage Books, 1968).
Curtains - Young @ Part | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Young @ Part Showbox/Added Resources Order a Perusal Pack Online License Request 60-Min.ute Musicals [Young@Part] 60-Minute Musicals Addams Family All Shook Up Curtains Monty Python's Spamalot We Will Rock You Wind In The Willows 30-Min.ute Musicals [Younger@Part] 30-Minute Musicals Addams Family All Shook Up How I Became A Pirate Miss Nelson Is Missing Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Book and Additional Lyrics: Rupert Holmes Music and Additional Lyrics: John Kander Lyrics: Fred Ebb Original Book and Concept: Peter Stone Overview / Synopsis It's the brassy, bright, and promising year of 1959. Boston's Colonial Theatre is host to the opening night performance of a new musical. When the leading lady mysteriously dies on stage the entire cast & crew are suspects. Enter a local detective, who just happens to be a musical theatre fan! Packed with glorious tunes and a witty, charming script filled with delightful characters, CURTAINS Young@Part® is a hilarious journey for both performers and the audience. Print Perusal - HL00237281 $19.95 ShowBox - HL00237276 $675.00 This ShowBox includes: 30 Cast Script/Vocal Books Director's Script 2 Piano/Vocal Scores Guide Vocals CD Performance Tracks CD Logo Pack CD Young @ Part Request Individual Components 00251192 - Director's Script $50.00 00251193 - Cast Script/Vocal Book $10.00 00251201 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00251202 - Guide Vocals CD $50.00 00251203 - Performance Tracks CD $100.00 Hear A Sample Wide Open Spaces What Kind of Man? Show People In the Same Boat Thataway! He Did It Kansasland A Tough Act to Follow Transition to Stage A Tough Act (Finale) Lieutenant Frank Cioffi Sweetly endearing local Boston detective who idolizes the world of musical theatre and has reveled in the thrill of performing in community theatre. Called upon to solve the murder of the star of "Robbin' Hood" (a musical intended for Broadway that is currently out of town in Boston), Cioffi is very good at his job and, lamentably, married to his work. He is instantly smitten with ingénue Niki Harris. The undisputed central character of the musical. Requires deft and charming comedy, good singing, solid dancing in one extended "Fred and Ginger" number. Gender: Male Vocal Range: Ab3-G5 Niki Harris Pretty, almost too innocent ingénue, a local performer in a small role hoping "Robbin' Hood" will be the Boston production that at last takes her to Broadway. Love interest for Lieutenant Cioffi, apparently reciprocated. Requires a legit soprano and strong dancing in an extended "Fred and Ginger" number. Gender: Female Vocal Range: C4-E5 Georgia Hendricks Female half of our show-within-a-show's songwriting team on the lyric-writing side. Ends up taking on the leading lady role. Must sing and dance extremely well. Gender: Female Vocal Range: G3-E5 Carmen Bernstein Brash and brassy Broadway producer. Terrific comedic actress with a belt. Gender: Female Vocal Range: Bb3-E5 Aaron Fox The composer of the show-within-the-show. His songwriting partner, Georgia, is also his wife, from whom he's separated but for whom he still pines. He's a handsome, intense, somewhat tortured artist-type. Requires a strong vocalist with comedy. Gender: Male Vocal Range: Bb3-E5 Christopher Belling English director. Very camp. Very droll. Noel Coward meets Addison DeWitt meets Clifton Webb. Requires a superb comic actor. Gender: May be cast male or female Vocal Range: B3-E5 Bambi "Bernét" Performer in the chorus, daughter of Carmen, step-daughter of Sidney. Genuinely brassy and artificially blonde. Hungry to work her way out of the chorus; many think she was only hired because of her mother. She surprises everyone, however, when she shows genuine dancing and singing talent when at last called upon. Requires great dancing, strong "street-smart dumb blonde" comedy, and singing. Gender: Female Vocal Range: C4-E5 Oscar Shapiro From the garment district and sole investor in "Robbin' Hood." A likeably gruff man who knows nothing about theatre and frets over every dime of his that's spent. Requires good "rough around the edges" comedy and singing. Gender: Male Vocal Range: Bb3-E5 Bobby Pepper The Gene Kelly of "Robbin' Hood," its choreographer and male star, and a handsome rival to Aaron for Georgia's affection. Requires strong dancing, singing, comedy. Gender: Male Vocal Range: A3-E5 Johnny Harmon Stage Manager of the show-within-the-show, and both drill sergeant and mother hen to the cast. Barks orders but has a pleasant side as well, he keeps the company in line and on their toes throughout the rehearsal process. Comic actor who can sing. Gender: May be cast male or female (using the name Jenny Harmon) Vocal Range: E4-Eb5 Jessica Crenshaw Faded Hollywood star, a grand diva with no right to be one, and a plague to the show-with-the-show and to her cast. An absolutely dreadful singer and inept actress who stars in the show-within-a-show and gets murdered on its opening night in Boston. Must be skillful enough to sing hilariously out-of-tune and ineptly, and adroit enough to dance perfectly out of step with the rest of the cast. Appears only in the first minutes of the musical; on Broadway, this performer then adopted a different look and became part of the ensemble. Gender: Female Vocal Range: G4-D5 Randy Dexter A member of the singing & dancing ensemble featured in "Kansasland," pleasant but with a sensitive side. Gender: Male Vocal Range: A3-E5 Harv Fremont A member of the singing & dancing ensemble who bears a bouquet. Gender: Male Vocal Range: A3-E5 Ensemble
Gordon Goodwin | Hal Leonard Gordon Goodwin Gordon has enjoyed a rich and varied career as a composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator and woodwind and keyboard player. He is a three-time Emmy Award winner and has worked extensively in the fields of television, motion pictures, records and jingles. Following are some of Gordon's credits: Film (Composed, Orchestrated and/or Conducted): Gone in Sixty Seconds Deep Blue Sea Enemy of the State Armageddon Speed 2 Con Air Jack Frost The Mighty Ducks 2 Television (Partial): 1996-1999 Academy Awards ABC 1996 Emmy Awards NBC Histeria (Animation) WB Pinky and the Brain (Animation) WB Toonsylvania (Animation) Dreamworks Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (Animation) WB Animaniacs (Animation) WB Now and Again ABC It's Garry Shandling's Show Showtime/ Fox The Tonight Show Band NBC Conducted for: The London Symphony Orchestra The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra The Dallas Symphony Orchestra The Utah Symphony Orchestra The Sacramento Symphony Orchestra The Seattle Symphony Orchestra The Toronto Symphony Orchestra Written for/Performed with/Recorded with: Patti Austin, David Foster, Mel Torme, Johnny Mathis, Sarah Vaughan, Quincy Jones, Barry Manilow, The Hi-Lo's, Leslie Uggams, The Manhattan Transfer, Diana Ross, Lee Greenwood, Doc Severinsen, Paul Anka, Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, Vicki Carr, Henry Mancini, Ray Charles, Maureen McGovern, Simone, Kevin Mahagony, Toni Braxton, Christina Aguilera, Bill Watrous, Louie Bellson, Pepper Adams, Clare Fischer, Bill Perkins Publications by Gordon Goodwin
John Leavitt | Hal Leonard John Leavitt John Leavitt (b. 1956) is a composer, conductor, teacher, and church musician, whose music continues to captivate listeners and musicians of all ages. He received his undergraduate education at Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, a master’s degree from Wichita State University, and the Doctorate of Musical Arts from The Conservatory of Music at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Leavitt is a lifetime member of the American Choral Directors Association and is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers, from which he has received annual recognition for his achievements. Leavitt was the recipient of the W.A. Young Award for teaching excellence, in recognition of his career at Friends University in the fields of music theory, choral, and church music. He has also served briefly on the faculties of Concordia College, Edmonton, Alberta (Canada), and Concordia University, River Forest, Illinois. Leavitt currently resides near Wichita (Andover), Kansas where he has held the post of music director at Immanuel Lutheran Church and Cantor at Reformation Lutheran Church. He also conducted the community choral program, The Master Arts Chorale and Youth Chorale, during their 12-year tenure. In March of 2003, he received the Kansas Artist Fellowship Award from the Kansas Arts Commission for his contribution to music composition. He most recently completed a residency on faculty as Director of Music at Newman University in Wichita. An extraordinary composer and clinician for church and school music literature, Leavitt continues to teach, lecture, and conduct numerous workshops, festivals, and symposia. He continues to serve as a regular guest conductor annually on the Mid America Productions Carnegie Hall Concert Series in New York, which he has done since 1998. He has also been featured regularly on the Manhattan Concert Productions Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Series in Washington D.C. His compositions are represented in nearly every major music publisher’s catalog, including Shawnee Press and Hal Leonard. He has numerous publications for choir, piano, organ, hand bells, and string orchestra and is co-author of the widely used choral music method textbook series Essential Elements for Choir. Publications by John Leavitt
Norm Sands | Hal Leonard Norm Sands Norm Sands began composing motivating music for his beginning recorder students in 1989. Since then, he has gained national attention as a composer of educational music through his compositions for Wide World Music, a division of Shawnee Press, Music K-8 magazine (Plank Road Publishing), and SandSoundS, Norm's own publishing venture, which is now a part of Shawnee Press. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Penn State University in 1985, Norm worked in the Bellefonte Area School District in Pennsylvania as an elementary music specialist. He received several awards during his 11 years as an elementary general music/choral teacher including Outstanding Contributor to Education '89, Outstanding Young Educator '90-'91, and a Citation of Excellence from the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association in 1992. Norm developed curriculum and taught in the REAL (Reinventing Education for Active Learning) Initiative in Bellefonte from 1993 to 1995.From 1995-1998, Norm was an elementary music specialist in Deep South Texas where he was nominated Teacher of the Year in two different school districts. Publications by Norm Sands
David Schwoebel | Hal Leonard David Schwoebel David Schwoebel is Minister of Music / Composer in Residence at Derbyshire Baptist Church in Richmond Virginia.  He is a graduate of McKendree College in Lebanon, IL and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, TX where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Voice and Organ Performance, and a Master of Church Music with an emphasis in Composition.  Prior to beginning his ministry at Derbyshire in January 1997, he had served churches in his hometown of Belleville, IL, Montgomery AL, and Atlanta, GA. As an ordained minister, David administrates and oversees a comprehensive music ministry of six choral organizations, four handbell choirs, and a 32-piece orchestra. His energetic, hands-on approach to ministry finds him working each week with people of all ages, encouraging and equipping them to discover and develop their varied musical talents and skills. The MICHELLE hymn tune included in the 1991 Baptist Hymnal is named for David’s wife, Michelle. The BRITTANY, ASHLEY and COURTNEY hymn tunes, named for their three daughters, and the ROSE MARY, HENDRICKS AVENUE, as well as an arrangement of IRBY hymn tunes, are included in the Celebrating Grace Hymnal. The tunes, COURTNEY and ROSE MARY are also included in Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal. For more information on David’s extended music ministry, compositions and arrangements, or the "'Soli Deo Gloria!' - the Music of David Schwoebel" CD, please visit www.davidschwoebel.com. Publications by David Schwoebel
Mark Taylor | Hal Leonard Mark Taylor In 2001 Mark retired as chief arranger for The United States Army Band ("Pershing's Own"), where he was on staff for 24 years. During that time, he composed extensively for the U.S. Army Blues, writing all of the material for their album A New Beginning and much of the material for Scream Machine. His arrangements and compositions have been performed by the Army Blues throughout the world, including concerts at the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland. Prior to joining the Army, Mark was fortunate to write for Stan Kenton, who recorded many of his compositions and also gave him his start in music publishing. He has a large publishing portfolio and has influenced thousands of student musicians, many of whom were first exposed to big band jazz through his music. His latest project is the Taylor/Fidyk Big Band, which is co-led with Washington D.C. drummer Steve Fidyk. They released their CD A Perfect Match in 2002 to rave reviews. Their new CD Live at Blues Alley has just been released on the OA2 record label. Mark is a highly regarded clinician presenting many workshops on arranging for the jazz band, most recently appearing at the Midwest Band Clinic in Chicago. Mark holds a master's degree in music from the University of North Texas. Mark is currently a staff arranger for Hal Leonard Corporation and resides in Cape Coral, Florida. Recordings: Kenton 76 - Stan Kenton Orchestra "Samba de Haps" Journey to Capricorn - Stan Kenton Orchestra "Granada Smoothie" "Too Shy to Say" Tribute to Woody - Bill Perkins Big Band "Tenderly" "I've Got the World on a String" Their Time Was the Greatest - Louie Bellson Orchestra "Brush Taps" A Perfect Match - The Taylor/Fidyk Big Band Live at Blues Alley - The Taylor/Fidyk Big Band Publications by Mark Taylor
Disney's Beauty And The Beast Jr. - Broadway Junior | Hal Leonard Menu LEARN MORE About Broadway Junior What Comes With the Showkit®? How to License a Broadway Junior Musical Order an Audio Sampler Frequently Asked Questions 60-Min.ute Musicals [JR.] 60-Minute Musicals 13 Jr. Aladdin Jr. (Disney) Annie Jr. Beauty and the Beast Jr. (Disney) The Big One-Oh! Jr. Bugsy Malone Jr. Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Jr. Dear Edwina Jr. Doctor Dolittle Jr. Dot & The Kangaroo Jr. The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. Elf The Musical Jr. Fame Jr. Fiddler on the Roof Jr. Finding Nemo Jr. (Disney) Finian's Rainbow Jr. Flat Stanley Jr. Frozen Jr. (Disney) A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr. (Magic Tree House) Godspell Jr. Guys and Dolls Jr. Hairspray Jr. High School Musical Jr. (Disney) Honk! Jr. Into the Woods Jr. James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Roald Dahl) Junie B. Jones Jr. Legally Blonde Jr. The Lion King Jr. (Disney) The Little Mermaid Jr. (Disney) Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr. Mary Poppins Jr. (Disney/Cameron Mackintosh) Matilda Jr. (Roald Dahl) Mean Girls Jr. Moana Jr. (Disney) The Music Man Jr. My Son Pinocchio Jr. (Disney) Newsies Jr. (Disney) Oliver! Jr. Once on This Island Jr. Peter Pan Jr. (Broadway) The Phantom Tollbooth Jr. The Pirates of Penzance Jr. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer Jr. Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. Seussical Jr. Shrek Jr. Singin' In The Rain Jr. Sister Act Jr. Thoroughly Modern Millie Jr. Willy Wonka Jr. (Roald Dahl) Xanadu Jr. 30-Min.ute Musicals [KIDS] 30-Minute Musicals 101 Dalmatians KIDS (Disney) Aladdin KIDS (Disney) Annie KIDS Aristocats KIDS (Disney) Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS (Magic Tree House) Finding Nemo KIDS (Disney) Frozen KIDS (Disney) The Jungle Book KIDS (Disney) The Knight at Dawn KIDS (Magic Tree House) The Lion King KIDS (Disney) The Music Man KIDS Pirates Past Noon KIDS (Magic Tree House) Seussical KIDS Willy Wonka KIDS (Roald Dahl) Winnie the Pooh KIDS (Disney) A Year with Frog and Toad KIDS Product Information Musical Numbers Cast of Characters Credits Music by Alan Menken Lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice Book by Linda Woolverton Overview / Synopsis Based on the original Broadway production that ran for over thirteen years and was nominated for nine Tony Awards, and the Academy Award-winning motion picture, Disney's Beauty and the Beast JR. is a fantastic adaptation of the story of transformation and tolerance. Disney's Beauty and the Beast JR. features some of the most popular songs ever written by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman, along with new songs by Mr. Menken and Tim Rice. Audio Sampler - HL00403278 $10.00 ShowKit - HL00403279 $695.00 This ShowKit includes: 30 Libretto/Vocal Books Piano/Vocal Score Director's Guide Choreography Videos Guide Vocal Tracks Performance Accompaniment Tracks Logo Pack (Coming Soon!) 60-Minute JR. Request Individual Components 00403269 - Piano/Vocal Score $40.00 00403268 - Director's Guide $100.00 00403273 - Libretto/Vocal Score $10.00 00403274 - Libretto/Vocal Score 10 Pak $75.00 00403278 - Audio Sampler $10.00 Hear A Sample MUSICAL NUMBERS Prologue Belle Maurice's Entrance Into the Forest Stranger in the House Maurice and the Beast Belle (Reprise) You Follow Me! Home Home (Tag) Gaston Gaston (Reprise) Be Our Guest Something There Human Again Beauty and the Beast The Mob Song The Battle Fight in the West Wing Home (Reprise) Transformation Finale Bows Cast of Characters Cast Size: Medium (11 to 20 performers) Cast Type: Star Vehicle Female Dance Requirements: Standard Belle Belle is a smart, confident young woman from a small village. You will want a strong singer and actress who is able to stand up to Gaston while showing compassion for Maurice, the Servants and eventually the Beast. If there are several female students in your school who could perform the role, consider casting two girls to play Belle on alternating nights. Gender: Female Vocal range top: F5 Vocal range bottom: G3 Beast The Beast is a young prince who was hideously transformed by the Enchantress's spell. Casting for size is not as important as choosing a student who can handle this complex character: a dictator, a hurt child, a hero, a defender and a smitten prince. Cast an actor who can deliver a range of conflicting emotional states. Although the Beast does sing a small bit during "Something There" and the "Finale," this is truly an acting role (and his lyrics can be spoken if you cast a non-singer). If you choose to cast the Prince separately from the Beast, the Prince would end up singing the Beast's lines in the "Finale." Gender: Male Vocal range top: E5 Vocal range bottom: B3 Narrators The Narrators provide great opportunities to involve students who are more comfortable speaking than singing. The script is written to feature four Narrators, but you can incorporate more students (or fewer) depending on the size of your cast. Be sure the students you choose for these roles can enunciate and project, as they guide the focus and pace of this beautiful tale. These roles are non-singing, but the actors can also be a part of your ensemble. Gender: Any Old Beggar Woman/Enchantress The Old Beggar Woman/Enchantress should be portrayed by an actor with a flair for the visually dramatic as this is a non-speaking role. Her transformation in the Prologue needs to entice the audience into the story. After the Prologue, this student may join the ensemble as a Villager or castle Servant. Gender: Female Gaston Gaston is pompous and dim-witted and will do whatever it takes to win Belle's hand. Gaston has all the confidence in the world but lacks the humility to balance it. Finding a strong singer and actor is more important than physical size and stature for this role. He has to be able to sell his big eponymous number with gusto and arrogance as well as lead the Villagers in "The Mob Song." Biceps can be added to the costume, but the bravura needs to come from within. Gender: Male Vocal range top: F5 Vocal range bottom: A3 Maurice Maurice is an aging and eccentric inventor, but more importantly, the adoring and protective father of Belle. This non-solo singing role is perfect for the student who can have fun interpreting this crazy old man while conveying some very strong emotions: fear and fatherly love. Gender: Male Lefou Lefou is Gaston's equally dim-witted lackey. This character needs to be Gaston's foil and should double the laughs for them both. Consider auditioning Lefou and Gaston in pairs to find the right chemistry. Lefou should be able to sing, act and dance. Choose a student who has some gymnastics training if you wish to embed tumbling into Lefou's movement. Gender: Male Vocal range top: E5 Vocal range bottom: B3 Les Filles De La Ville Les Filles De La Ville are in love with Gaston and will do almost anything just to be near him. Look for three girls who can portray the comic nature of these roles and enjoy playing off each other. Les Filles De La Ville sing together in three numbers and their sound should mix well. Gender: Female Vocal range top: F5 Vocal range bottom: C4 Lumiere Lumiere is a confident, charming French mâitre d who (under the enchantress's spell) is becoming a candelabra. He has an incessant bickering rapport with Cogsworth, so consider auditioning in pairs to find a good fit. Lumiere should be a strong singer who can light up the stage in "Be Our Guest." If you have a student who can handle the French accent, fantastic! This role covers a range of emotions (from charming entertainer to brave soldier) and requires prominent song and dance, so try to cast a strong, versatile performer.is a self-confident, charming, French mâitre d' who (under the Enhantress's spell) is becoming a candelabra. He has a never-ending give-and-take with Cogsworth, so the student playing Lumiere must work well with the child you cast for that role. Consider auditioning in pairs. Lumiere should be a strong singer who can "light up" the stage in "Be Our Guest." If you have a child who can handle the French accent, fantastic! This role covers a range of emotions (from charming entertainer to brave soldier) and requires prominent song and dance, so try to cast a strong, reliable performer. Gender: Male Vocal range top: D5 Vocal range bottom: A3 Cogsworth Cogsworth is the British major-domo of the castle who is becoming a clock. Like all of the castle's Servants, he shows a fatherly compassion for Belle yet is perfectly submissive to the master, the Beast. Cogsworth enjoys feeling like the boss and has no problem getting into it with Lumiere. Cast a strong actor and singer who can act in charge. Gender: Male Vocal range top: E5 Vocal range bottom: A3 Mrs. Potts Mrs. Potts is the castle's endearing cook who is becoming a teapot. The actor you cast needs a strong, sweet voice and should be able to convey comforting, maternal qualities amidst the chaos that is breaking out in the castle. Look for a student who can play a loving mother figure to all the characters. Gender: Female Vocal range top: E5 Vocal range bottom: F3 Chip Chip is Mrs. Potts's son who is becoming a teacup. You may cast a younger student for this role, but it is not imperative. Chip has a wonderful naïveté that endears him to all of the Servants. Cast an actor who can portray the honesty and spirit of a child and is comfortable trying to sing Chip's few solo lines. Gender: Male Vocal range top: D5 Vocal range bottom: D4 Madame De La Grande Bouche Madame De La Grande Bouche is an opera singer who is becoming a wardrobe. Madame is larger-than-life in everything she does, including her singing and dancing. Look for that student who can portray the ultimate diva with a heart with an outsized personality and voice. Madame has some harmony lines with Mrs. Potts and Babette, so cast a singer who can hold her own but knows when to pull back in order to sound good with the others. Gender: Female Vocal range top: C5 Vocal range bottom: A3 Babette Babette is the maid of the castle who is turning into a feather duster. She misses the finer things in life. Babette is happy to be at Belle's service at a moment's notice, but her true heart comes through in Human Again. Look for a good actor with solid vocal skills to handle Babette's harmonies. Gender: Female Vocal range top: B4 Vocal range bottom: A3 Monsieur D'Arque Monsieur D'Arque is a sinister townsman who works for Gaston. Cast an actor who can believably exude his sinister personality. Although Monsieur D'Arque has few lines of solo singing in "The Mob Song," this is primarily a non-singing role, so look for a solid actor first. Monsieur D'Arque can double as a Servant in the rest of the show. Gender: Male Servants The Servants of the castle can include Statues, a Dust Pan, Flatware, Plates, an Egg Timer, Napkins, a Carpet, Salt & Pepper Shakers and any other household (or castle hold items) you and your cast can imagine. These enchanted characters are the Rockettes of the castle. They should be able to handle a potentially awkward costume while singing and dancing in two big production numbers. These roles can also accommodate multiple ages if you are looking to augment your cast with some young students. Gender: Any Villagers The Villagers are the inhabitants of Belle's town. There are some featured solos and lines that will come from this ensemble (Bookseller, Baker, etc.). The group must provide vocal power throughout the show and dance in the production numbers, so be sure to cast performers with a wide base of ability. These actors can double as the castle Servants if needed. Gender: Any
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