Vocalize
A vocalise is a piece of music that is only sung on vowels. The Vokalise thus represents a "song without words". It is only sung on vowels, not on solmization syllables . This singing technique is also called vocalizing . There are polyphonic vocalises and vocalises for a solo part.
Vocalises go back to the middle of the 18th century. Jean-Antoine Bérard (1710–1772) published a selection of songs by composers such as Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau in his singing textbook "L'Art du chant" in 1755 , but without publishing the associated words or lyrics. He had chosen these songs purely for their value as practice pieces for his singing course.
In the 19th century, vocalises were developed primarily for educational purposes in singing lessons (tone formation, etc.). A parallel development, but closely related to the Vokalise, took place in the early 19th century: Around 1828 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy founded the music genre of songs without words , in which an instrument (for example the piano) takes over the part of the song-like singing voice.
From these approaches, the vocalise and the song without words established themselves as an independent musical genre and art form. Gabriel Fauré , Nikolai Medtner , Igor Stravinsky , Heitor Villa-Lobos and Mauricio Kagel have composed vocalises, among others . The vocalises of the Italian Giuseppe Concone (1801–1861), which are now performed as Conconen, also became famous . Most vocalises are for female voices. Sergei Rachmaninoff's Vokalise op. 34 No. 14 from 1915 (written for the Russian soprano Antonina Neschdanowa ) is today probably the best-known piece of this musical genre, which Rachmaninov later orchestrated. The melody part of this work can be regarded as a prime example of the melody that is characteristic of Rachmaninoff and progresses in small intervals.
Due to censorship or self-censorship, it may happen that songs with an actual text are only published as vocalise. In 2010 Eduard Chil's vocalized interpretation of Arkadi Ostrowski's Я очень рад, ведь я, наконец, возвращаюсь домой (in German for example I'm very happy because I'm finally back home ) became an Internet phenomenon was as a trololo song . The song was originally supposed to be about a cowboy returning home; however, since this was "too American" in the Soviet Union, it was only recorded as a vocalize.
Remarks
- ↑ Jean-Baptiste Bérard: L'Art du chant, Paris 1755, ( dedicated to Madame Pompadour )
- ↑ Wendelin Bitzan: The Vokalise in the Creation of Russian Composers , in: Creativity Portal Music , Universität der Künste Berlin 2014, p. 5.
- ↑ a b Christian Stöcker: World success after 34 years: How the Trololo man conquered the network . Spiegel Online , April 1, 2010. Retrieved June 5, 2012
