Torch song

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A torch song is a sentimental form of the love song, in which the singer typically complains about the unrequited or lost love.

pop music

It was mainly female singers of the popular song who were referred to as "torch singers" and whose repertoire consisted mainly of appropriate material. Torch singing is more of a niche than a genre and extends to traditional jazz singing , although the American tradition of torch songs is more based on the melodic structures of the blues . The name comes from the English saying to carry a torch for someone (Eng .: "secretly, ardently adore someone, long for someone").

Well-known singers from Torch Songs include Mildred Bailey , LaVern Baker , Shirley Bassey , Ruth Brown , Cher , June Christy , Rosemary Clooney , Chris Connor , Ella Fitzgerald , Billie Holiday , Shirley Horn , Lena Horne , Etta James , Eartha Kitt , Peggy Lee , Abbey Lincoln , Julie London , Big Maybelle , Carmen McRae , Helen Merrill , Anita O'Day , Otis Redding , Sade , Bessie Smith , Barbra Streisand , Dionne Warwick , Dinah Washington , Lee Wiley , Cassandra Wilson and Adele .

Film and theater

There are several films and theatrical productions that took up the topic. Worth mentioning are the two films of the same name, Torch Song (German title Hearts in Fever , 1953) by director Charles Walters (with Joan Crawford, Michael Wilding, Gig Young) and the TV production Torch Song (German title Die Macht der Liebe , 1993) by director Michael Miller (with Raquel Welch, Jack Scalia, Alicia Silverstone). A satirical film about a gay is the film Torch Song Trilogy (German title: Das Kuckucksei ) from 1988 with the director Paul Bogart and the actors Anne Bancroft, Matthew Broderick, Harvey Fierstein, Brian Kerwin. The film was based on Harvey Fierstein's Tony-winning play of the same name.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Larry D. Smith: Elvis Costello, Joni Mitchell and the Torch Song Tradition . Praeger Publ., Westport, Conn. 2004, ISBN 0-275-97392-1 , p. 9.
  2. ↑ a b Allan Forte: Listening to Classic American Popular Songs . Yale University Press, New Haven 2001, ISBN 0-300-08338-6 , p. 203 (+ 1 CD).
  3. ↑ heart fever in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  4. ↑ The power of love in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  5. ↑ Torch Song Trilogy - Das Kuckucksei
  6. ↑ The Cuckoo's Egg in the Internet Movie Database (English)
  7. ↑ Torch Song Trilogy in the Internet Broadway Database (English)