Patter song
A patter song ( engl. About "Plapper Song") is a song, which is characterized in that as to be sung in the shortest possible time, many words. This is supported by the music in that each vocal syllable corresponds to its own tone and the meter often runs in eighth or sixteenth notes . Patter songs usually have a funny effect and are therefore often used in funny situations.
Even composers like Alessandro Scarlatti foresaw this technique (for example the duet Non ti voglio from Tiberio imperatore d'Oriente, 1702). Patter songs did not come into use until the 18th century, when composers introduced buffo solos , including Bartolo's aria La vendetta from Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro , Act 1, Scene III. The finale of the Cavatine Largo al factotum from Rossini's Barber of Seville is certainly one of the most famous examples . Further examples can be found in the works of Logroscino , Piccinni , Paisiello , Haydn and Donizetti .
In the English-speaking world, the Patter songs from Gilbert and Sullivan's comic operas are particularly well-known, including I am the very model of a modern major-general from Die Piraten von Penzance and the trio My eyes are fully open from Ruddigore . The latter contains the following lines:
- this particularly rapid, unintelligible patter
- isn't generally heard and if it is it doesn't matter.
In 1941, Ira Gershwin found use in Kurt Weill's musical Lady in the Dark for his student-written listing of fifty Russian composer names that took Danny Kaye less than a minute to rattle off. More recently z. B. To name Professor Ambronsius' song Truth from the musical Dance of the Vampires .
literature
- Patter song. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. by Stanley Sadie. Macmillan, London 2001, ISBN 0-333-60800-3