20th/21st Century Vocal music

This dissertation explores the rich Sephardic Art Song repertoire. It comprises a geographical and historical overview of the Sephardim; an introduction of the Ladino (Judeo-Espagnol) language; a musical overview of traditional Sephardic songs; and the development of the genre from its emergence to the present, including a list of all the 20th- and 21st-century composers that have contributed to the Sephardic Art Song genre and a catalog of their works; a discussion on performance practice, including a diction guide for Ladino; and three recital performances of a selection of works from this repertoire. The recordings of these live performances are available for view.

The Sephardim are a diasporic population of Jewish people, whose ancestry can be traced back to the Iberian Peninsula, specifically to the Jews that were expelled from Spain in 1492 as a result of the Spanish Inquisition. As they migrated all over the world, the Sephardim carried with them their culture, traditions, JudeoEspagnol language, and oral literature. Traditional Sephardic songs constitute a large portion of this literature and have been preserved to this day through oral transmission from generation to generation. The 20th century witnessed an emergence of a Sephardic song repertoire in the form of classical art song, as Western classical composers, such as Alberto Hemsi, showed interest in collecting and transcribing these folksongs, and in arranging them in the Western classical tradition for voice and various instruments, in various degrees of complexity. As of today, there are over forty-five 20th- and 21st-century Western classical composers that have made significant contributions to the Sephardic Art Song genre with their arrangements of over a hundred and ninety Sephardic folksongs, as well as their original compositions.

The composers discussed and the selection of 20th- and 21st-century works performed in this dissertation are the following: Yehezkel Braun, Seven Sephardic Romances; Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Three Sephardic Songs; José Antonio de Donostia, Canciones Sefardíes; Frederic Hand, Sephardic Songs; Alberto Hemsi, Coplas Sefardies; William Kenlon, Two Sephardic Songs; Manuel García Morante, 40 Canciones Sefardies; Joaquín Nin-Culmell, Six Chansons Populaires Séphardiques; Lorenzo Palomo, Cinco Canciones Sefardíes; Sid Robinovitch, Rodas Recordada; Joaquín Rodrigo, Cuatro Canciones Sefardíes; Wolf Simoni, Cuatro Cánticas Sefardíes; Manuel Valls, Canciones Sefarditas; Andrew Zohn, 8 Sephardic Songs.

Performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gt-7n6z9lQ8

The doctrine you desire,
absolute, perfect,
dogma that alone provides wisdom,
does not exist.

Nor should you long
for a perfect doctrine....

Rather, you should long
for the perfection
of yourself.

Truth reveals itself
in enigma;
let us approach it
with wonder and awe
as diviners of its mystery.

(text adapted in part from Hermann Hesse's "Glass Bead Game" and Gene Roddenberry)

In The 21st-Century Voice: Contemporary and Traditional Extra-Normal Voice, Michael Edward Edgerton considers contemporary vocal techniques within an acoustic and anatomical framework. Throughout, he proposes new directions for vocal exploration. Much more than a historical treatise on 20th-century masterworks or vocal science, The 21st-Century Voice explores experimental methods of sound production, offering a systematic series of approaches and methods for assessing, engaging, and, in some instances, overcoming the assumed limits of vocal singing.

Appearing a decade after the publication of the first edition, this second edition draws on and advances our current understandings of voice production. Divided into four parts—air flow, source, resonance/articulation, and heightened potentials—Edgerton considers crucial matters affecting vocal production, such as

    Registral challenges
    Filtering
    Airflow modification
    Combinatorial, multiphonic principles
    Extreme voice possibilities
    Multidimensional vocal issues


With more than 250 illustrations, 150 associated audio tracks, an extended appendix on voice science, a glossary of key terms, and lists of representative compositions, The 21st-Century Voice will appeal to composers and performers interested in exploring the ever-broadening range of vocal possibilities. Its engagement with the complexities of vocal production should also be relevant to students and scholars of voice science, acoustics, linguistics, computer modeling, and more. 

The lecture aims to present an overview of 20th century Brazilian vocal music, focusing on art song, folk and popular song and also choral music. To examine these distinct genres of vocal music, we analyse the song as the locus of alliance between word and music.

This paper examines the aesthetic impetus for Milton Babbitt’s rhythmic systems of composition and his use of complex rhythmic strata. The author examines the history of two of Babbitt’s early works including synthesizer with live performer, Vision and Prayer and Philomel, addressing issues in the composer’s rhythmic notation, particularly in Philomel. The first section of Philomel is rhythmically analyzed and re-notated in an effort to challenge Babbitt’s use of 3/4 time signatures as an arbitrary delineator for his system of time-point serialization., providing a more accurate rhythmic demarcation for the phrases of the section according to event onsets. Rhythmic notational errors in Babbitt’s score are also addressed, with possible solutions given.

African-American pianist and composer John Daniels Carter (1932Carter ( -1981 is widely recognized for his Cantata for voice and piano (also arranged for voice and orchestra), Carter's only published work. However, relatively little information has been published about Carter's life, his compositional output, or career as a pianist. His date of birth and death are often listed incorrectly; the last decade of his life remains undocumented. There is also confusion in the database of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) regarding the attributions of his unpublished compositions, compounded by the existence of another composer who has arranged several spirituals, and a jazz clarinetist, both named John Carter.

Nicht nur für das Theater geschriebene Musik verfügt über eine theatrale Schicht. Diese nicht als etwas der Musik Hinzugefügtes, sondern als etwas genuin Musikalisches zu begreifen, ist das Hauptanliegen dieses Buches. Der zweite Schlüsselbegriff neben dem Theatralen ist Latenz. Auf der Ebene von in der Musik latent angelegten Schichten geht es um autobiographische Verweise und Leerstellen in Werken von Alban Berg, Franz Schubert und György Kurtág. Allen diesen Werken ist nicht nur das Vorhandensein einer solchen latenten autobiographischen Schicht gemeinsam, sondern auch ein als modern zu bezeichnendes Verhältnis zur Form: das Fragmentarische. In diesem Spannungsfeld zwischen Abschluss und Öffnung der Form findet die latente Theatralität der Musik ihren Ort.

For a complete performance recording see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OD5QZEVXGCY

A work for thee unaccompanied voices  - male or female - that are low, medium, and high. Work premiered by Quince Ensemble in March, 2022.

Text for the work was adapted by Jordan Alexander Key from the First Criminal Trial of Oscar Wilde (April 26 to May 1, 1895), from the April 29 testimony of Oscar Wilde, cross-examined by prosecution attorney Charles Gill.

To the memory of Oscar Wilde:
May we never forget the atrocities we have committed upon one another
in the name of false prophets, senseless religions, and twisted moralities, lest we return to the wickedness of our past. - Jordan Alexander Key

Open access link: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/twentieth-century-music/article/lachenmanns-silent-voices-and-the-speechless-echoes-of-nono-and-stockhausen/8546573D813CA7BB6D33BC73D3AF6A7C/share/21fa489959327a40cc003cc1e6e02212a4339498

Este es mi Trabajo de Final de Máster, valorado con Sobresaliente por el comité evaluador de la Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

Utilizando como punto de partida el Ciclo de Música Judía op. 79 de Shostakovich, se realiza una reflexión crítica a modo de ensayo acerca de los numerosos problemas que ofrece la musicología y los riesgos de la historiografía aplicada a la música.

Si bien lo considero superado en muchos aspectos, considero que este trabajo ofrece ante todo una información de la que hay muy poca literatura en español, además de una bibliografía amplia sobre aspectos muy diferentes que pueden ser útiles al lector.

Quedo a vuestra disposición para cualquier tipo de consulta que sea necesaria.

The starting point of this paper is György Kurtág's ambivalent relationship to the stage and to the musical theatre. On the one hand, we have the prohibition of theatrical gestures and the commandment to express everything by purely musical means. On the other hand, there is Kurtág's desire to write an opera, resulting in plans, which remain unrealized. In between we find theatrical means - facial expressions, gestures, proxemics – penetrating into the scores since the Kafka Fragments. Finally, in Op. 30b there is not only a stage ("Scène") on the concert stage but then in the premiere we find Kurtág himself on this stage in the “part” of the pianist.
What types of latency of the theatrical exist in the works by Kurtág and what is the nature of the relationship between pure music and stage? These are the questions I first and foremost want to investigate on the basis of “Kafka Fragments”, Op. 24 and “What is the Word”, Op. 30b. The subject of this paper is not the realized theatricality of musical theatre performances, but the latent theatricality of Kurtág's scores and their musical presentation. Seeing that in Op. 30b Kurtág comes closer to musical theatre than ever before, we finally may ask, if he has arrived on the scene.

This chapter draws on an interview with mezzo-soprano Lotte Latukefu, an Australian of Tongan heritage, to discuss the preparation and performances of Daragang Magayon Cantata by Bruce Crossman. The interview revealed cultural, interpretative and pedagogical issues which form the focus of the paper. The singer’s views are presented within the frame of a performance analysis on vocal stamina, rhythm, emotion and vocal coloration; gender issues; relationships with the other performers and the composer; and the singer’s interpretation and understanding of the work.

Performance analysis is analysis by the performer for the performer, whereby ‘informed intuition’ guides the process of ‘performance analysis' and the performer draws on deep knowledge from past experience (Rink, 2002). The relevance of vocalist, Sharon Mabry’s (2002) writings on vocal requirements of 20th century music provides a platform for a discussion of strategies to overcome difficulties encountered by the singer in recent vocal compositions such as Crossman’s work. From the performance analysis of one professional singer, future directions, strategies and issues emerge for other singers tackling similarly demanding 20th and 21st century vocal repertoire.

Avant-garde vocalist, composer, and music critic, Joan La Barbara occupied a central role in late twentieth-century American experimentalism. Her early musique concrète piece Cathing (1977) features both her voice and that of Cathy Berberian, purported originator of extended vocal techniques. In a striking commentary, Cathing presents an excerpt of Berberian declaring in an interview that those who use extended vocal techniques are: “. . . freaks, they’re phenomena, what they used to call me. But it wasn’t really true in my case because I can really sing. . .”
Considering that scholarship on extended vocal techniques typically positions Berberian as founder, La Barbara’s illumination of this provocative interview reveals a significant historical oversight surrounding Berberian’s renunciation of extended vocality and La Barbara’s musical response. This paper investigates the social-historical context of Cathing and its attendant gender issues. Drawing from the work of Judith Butler and Suzanne Cusick, I posit that Berberian’s identification as a “singer” circumscribed her legibility as a musician due to cultural conflations of vocal and gender norms.
By contrast, the electronic treatment of musical texture and vocal timbre in Cathing substantiates La Barbara’s claim of voice as “instrumental.” By continually blurring the line between “human” and “technological” sound, Cathing challenges assumptions about the embodied nature of the voice through the rhetoric of instrumentalism and technology. This constantly shifting electronic treatment of both voices presents a sonic environment that subverts gender and vocal norms, and invites transformational possibility.

Ensayo en torno al papel de las estrellas del canto como referentes axiales para la reconfiguración de la tradición lírica decimonónica en una nueva cultura de masas durante las primeras décadas del siglo XX en España.
(Dosier sobre "La zarzuela mecánica", coordinado por Alberto González Lapuente).

The recent loss of composer Robert Ashley (1930–2014) prompted in some of us a grab-bag of reflections – private but perhaps peculiarly shareable. My first encounter with Ashley's music was when I was working in college radio in Chicago. We used to receive CDs from the label Lovely Music Ltd., among others. I suppose it was my first full-blown exposure to what we now call post-minimalist music, although these CDs did include earlier sound-art minimalism such as Alvin Lucier's. I'm not sure whether I got to hear William Duckworth's, Joan LaBarbara's, David Behrman's, Robert Ashley's, or ‘Blue’ Gene Tyranny's music first, but despite some scepticism, I did find all of this music strangely attractive in ways I didn't expect.

https://doi.org/10.1017/S004029821600070X

(Previously published version of the article: 
https://www.academia.edu/12166638/Crash_and_getting_me_started_How_Robert_Ashley_changed_my_mind)

Comisiynwyd gan Eisteddfod Genedlaethol yn y Bala yn 2009, cyfansoddwyd y gwaith hwn i'w berfformio ar y cyd â gosodiad celf Christine Mills dan yr un teitl. Mae'n adwaith cerddorol i'r traddodiad Cerdd Dant. 

Commissioned by the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Bala in 2009, this piece was composed to be performed during the art installation under the same title by Christine Mills. It is a musical reaction to the Cerdd Dant tradition.

Relato das práticas musicais desenvolvidas durante 35 anos junto ao Coro Feminino Cantares: ensino de técnica vocal, escolha de repertório, dinâmicas de ensaio e uso de aplicativos musicais. No texto, esses assuntos são relacionados à literatura científica e a relatos publicados por regentes e professores de canto. Comparando os resultados obtidos e as informações encontradas na revisão bibliográfica, encontra-se confirmação do bom encaminhamento das práticas implementadas.
Report of the musical practices developed during 35 years together with the Female Choir Cantares: teaching of vocal technique, repertoire choice, rehearsal dynamics and use of musical applications. In the text, these subjects are related to the scientific literature and to reports published by choir directors and singing teachers. Comparing the results obtained and the information found in the bibliographic review, we find confirmation of the good referral of the practices implemented.

Rebecca Saunders’ Komposition »Skin« fokussiert jenen Bereich, in dem die Stimme sowohl klangliches Erzeugnis als auch Kennzeichen des sie hervorbringenden Körpers ist und damit den Ort des Übergangs von der Physis in den Klang markiert. Während derVorarbeiten hat die Komponistin in Kooperation mit der Sopranistin Juliet Fraser die phänomenologischen Rahmenbedingungen des gesungenen und gesprochenen Stimmklangs untersucht und das daran gebundene Repertoire gestischer Elemente sondiert. Die Erkundung entsprechender Komponenten lässt ein tiefgehendes Interesse an der Erschließung des dramatischen Potenzials von Stimme und Körper sowie an den Strategien des Verbergens und Offenlegens der körperlichen Voraussetzungen von Sprache und Gesang erkennen.

The music of Salvatore Sciarrino’s opera Luci mie traditrici (1996-98) is based on the continuous (re-)combination and metamorphosis of vocal and instrumental »modules« – short musical elements that can be very flexibly cross-related and intermingled in multifarious ways and are intimately connected with the psychological development of the characters on stage. The present analysis explores four main facets of the opera’s ›semanticized‹ structure: (1) the stratified macrostructure of plot and dramaturgy, (2) the ambivalence and transformation of instrumental modules between naturalistic and psychological symbolism, (3) the re-invention of traditional libretto topoi in the text structure and of early baroque recitative aesthetics (Jacopo Peri, Giulio Caccini) in Sciarrino’s vocal style sillabazione scivolata (»gliding syllable articulation«) and (4) the microstructure and syntax of vocal modules exemplified by a detailed semiotic analysis of the vocal parts in the first scene. The confluence of cyclicity and linearity that can be traced in all four investigated fields prompts the metaphor of a ›spiral form‹ as an overall governing principle – a form that incorporates both the idea of musical plot and structure as a ›static allegory‹ and as a ›vortex of time‹.

Britten turned forty years of age in 1953 and, like most of us, this landmark no doubt gave him cause for pause, reflection and a stocktake of his life, work and mortality. The success generated by the London premiere of Peter Grimes in 1945 made Britten one of the most famous composers of his generation, a status that would surge in the years that followed. Having just written three operas in as many years, the ensuing years of the mid-1950s, were a relatively fallow period in Britten’s output. No doubt, the generally negative reaction to ‘Gloriana’ was a contributing factor as were several health problems and a self-imposed sabbatical from composing.  However, that such factors aligned in this ‘mature‘ period of his creative life, makes a focused study of the works created therein, all the more fascinating. Accordingly, this recording has selected four diverse vocal works between the years 1952 to 1958.

Η ιδιαίτερα μικρή έκταση που καταλαμβάνει η σύνθεση φωνητικής μουσικής στο έργο του Νίκου Σκαλκώτα, καθιστά ιδιαίτερα ενδιαφέρουσα την ερευνητική ενασχόληση με το εμβληματικότερο δείγμα της, τα 16 Τραγούδια για μεσόφωνο και πιάνο, γραμμένα την άνοιξη του 1941, τις μέρες της εισβολής των Γερμανών στην Αθήνα και ουσιαστικά της έναρξης της περιόδου της Κατοχής. Η ποικιλόμορφη και ιδιωματική γραφή αφορά τόσο το μέρος της φωνής όσο και του πιάνου σε κάθε επίπεδο μελωδικής σύλληψης και ποιητικής μελοθέτησης, αρμονικής συγκρότησης και ρυθμικής υφής, πολυφωνικής σύστασης και ηχοχρωματικών αναζητήσεων. Η ερμηνευτική προσέγγιση του κύκλου επιχειρεί να φωτίσει στοιχεία ύφους του συνθέτη που, αν και εδράζονται στην ατονική μουσική γλώσσα, δεν απολείπουν τις τονικές εκφάνσεις και τους εξωμουσικούς συμβολισμούς. Τα πραγματολογικά στοιχεία διασύνδεσης του ποιητικού κειμένου με τη φωνητική και πιανιστική γραφή, οι -άμεσες και έμμεσες- διασυνδέσεις των 16 Τραγουδιών με άλλα έργα  του συνθέτη, καθώς και η θέση του φωνητικού κύκλου μέσα στη συνολική συνθετική δημιουργία του Σκαλκώτα, στη νεοελληνική φωνητική μουσική του α΄ μισού του 20ου αιώνα γενικότερα αλλά και στην προπολεμική ευρωπαϊκή πρωτοπορία -εντός και εκτός Δεύτερης Σχολής της Βιέννης-, αποτελούν αλληλένδετα ερευνητικά ερεθίσματα της παρούσας μελέτης, στα οποία θα επιχειρηθεί να δοθούν απαντήσεις.

For performance recording with score-video see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiQSqwP5R-A

Jordan Alexander Key (b. 1990): "Meditation after the Death of Stephen Hawking," trio for soprano, flute, double bass, and fixed media on digital excerpts from Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking, Richard Dawkins, Malala Yousafzai, Jane Goodall, and Wangari Maathai.

Thank you, Stephen Hawking, for being an inspiration throughout my life, showing me the value of lifelong learning, impassioned teaching, unabashed imagination, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

Written for the Fonema Consort

Premier: March 29, 2019, The University of Florida, Friends of Music Room
Performance: The Fonema Consort

Also available on SoundCloud at: https://soundcloud.com/jordanalexanderkey

European history has rarely met changes as rapid, dense and radical as those that have taken place in the regions of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire over the past hundred years. This cultural area has experienced political conflicts, the setting and dissolution of borders, and the construction of similarities, differences, and ever-new identities.

Being tied to text, vocal music genres reflect such changes especially strongly. Operas and operettas, oratorios and cantatas, choir music, folksongs, and pop and rock hits have all helped to establish identities in many ways, connecting people on national, ethnical, local or social levels.

The contributions to this volume represent the proceedings of the Annual Congress of the Austrian Society for Musicology (Österreichische Gesellschaft für Musikwissenschaft – ÖGMw) in 2014. They open multiple perspectives on the identity-relevant implications of every kind of vocal music from the last days of the Habsburg Empire to the present day. As such, the book places the extensively discussed concept of Nationalism in music in the wider context of identity building.

Neste artigo, apresentamos dois exemplos do tratamento composicional da
direcionalidade de leitura encontrados no repertório coral brasileiro do século XX que faz uso da
notação não tradicional. A partir de metodologia que incluiu atividades práticas e referenciais
teórico-analíticos, discutimos questões como a desconstrução de parâmetros de leitura pré-
estabelecidos e o diálogo deste repertório com a aprendizagem musical. Como parte dos
resultados, a pesquisa demonstrou que é possível, em um ambiente de educação coral, adquirir
conhecimentos básicos para a abordagem da leitura e interpretação de partituras com notação não
tradicional.

The final article in this volume turns to a more
conventionally understood expression of Antisemitism,
the Holocaust. However, Galit Gertsenzon contributes a
perspective often overlooked when people think about
Jewish responses to persecution. In her article, Gertsenzon
considers musical compositions by three composers from
1936 to 1944 in order to delineate their respective musical
aesthetics of resistance. She highlights not only the anger
and calls for action in these works, but also the themes
of hope, dignity, and redemption that make these pieces
compelling responses to Antisemitism in their time and
for today. Composers discussed include Mordechai Gebirtig (Es Brent), Gideon Klein (Piano Sonata, Songs Op. 1), and Pavel Haas (Al Sefod).