Sprechgesang

Template:Short description Template:Italic title Template:Lang (Template:IPA, "spoken singing") and Template:Lang (Template:IPA, "spoken voice"), more commonly known as speak-singing in English, are expressionist musical vocal techniques between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, Template:Lang is directly related to the operatic recitative manner of singing (in which pitches are sung, but the articulation is rapid and loose like speech), whereas Template:Lang is closer to speech itself (because it does not emphasise any particular pitches).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

Template:Lang

Template:Lang is more closely aligned with the long-used musical techniques of recitative or Template:Lang than is Template:Lang. Where the term is employed in this way, it is usually in the context of the late Romantic German operas or "music dramas" that were composed by Richard Wagner and others in the 19th century. Thus, Template:Lang is often merely a German alternative to 'recitative'.<ref>Template:Harvnb: "'Sprechgesang' means a 'parlando' manner of singing, and indeed is translated in standard dictionaries as 'recitative,' whereas 'sprechstimme' in itself simply means 'speaking voice'".</ref>

Template:Lang

The earliest compositional use of the technique was in the first version of Engelbert Humperdinck's 1897 melodrama Königskinder (in the 1910 version it was replaced by conventional singing), where it may have been intended to imitate a style already in use by singers of lieder and popular song,<ref>Griffiths, Paul, "Sprechgesang", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001).</ref> but it is more closely associated with the composers of the Second Viennese School. Arnold Schoenberg asks for the technique in a number of pieces: the part of the Speaker in Gurre-Lieder (1911) is written in his notation for Template:Lang, but it was Pierrot lunaire (1912) where he used it throughout and left a note attempting to explain the technique. Alban Berg adopted the technique and asked for it in parts of his operas Wozzeck and Lulu.

History

In the foreword to Pierrot lunaire (1912), Schoenberg explains how his Template:Lang should be achieved. He explains that the indicated rhythms should be adhered to, but that whereas in ordinary singing a constant pitch is maintained through a note, here the singer "immediately abandons it by falling or rising. The goal is certainly not at all a realistic, natural speech. On the contrary, the difference between ordinary speech and speech that collaborates in a musical form must be made plain. But it should not call singing to mind, either."<ref>Schoenberg, Arnold. Verklärte Nacht and Pierrot Lunaire. Dover Publications. New York, 1994. Template:ISBN (p. 54)</ref>

For the first performances of Pierrot lunaire, Schoenberg was able to work directly with the vocalist and obtain exactly the result he desired, but later performances were problematic. Schoenberg had written many subsequent letters attempting to clarify, but he was unable to leave a definitive explanation and there has been much disagreement as to what was actually intended. Pierre Boulez wrote, "the question arises whether it is actually possible to speak according to a notation devised for singing. This was the real problem at the root of all the controversies. Schoenberg's own remarks on the subject are not in fact clear."<ref>Boulez, Pierre. Orientations. Faber and Faber. London, 1986. Template:ISBN (From the essay "Speaking, Playing, Singing", written 1963, pp. 330–335)</ref>

Schoenberg later used a notation without a traditional clef in the Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte (1942), A Survivor from Warsaw (1947) and his unfinished opera Moses und Aron, which eliminated any reference to a specific pitch, but retained the relative slides and articulations.

Notation

Examples of various notations

In Schoenberg's musical notation, Template:Lang is usually indicated by small crosses through the stems of the notes, or with the notehead itself being a small cross.

Schoenberg's later notation (first used in his Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte, 1942) replaced the 5-line staff with a single line having no clef. The note stems no longer bear the 'x', as it is now clear that no specific pitch is intended, and instead relative pitches are specified by placing the notes above or below the single line (sometimes on ledger lines).

Berg notates several degrees of Template:Lang, e. g. in Wozzeck, using single-line staff for rhythmic speaking, five-line staves with 'x' through the note stem, and a single stroke through the stem for close-to-singing Template:Lang.

In modern usage, it is most common to indicate Template:Lang by using an 'x' in place of a conventional notehead.<ref>Read, Gardner. Musical Notation. Taplinger Publishing, New York, 1979. Template:ISBN (p. 288)</ref>

Use in pop and rock music

Template:Lang-style talk-singing has appeared in contemporary pop, rock, punk, and alternative music since the 1960s.<ref name="schonfeld1">Template:Cite web</ref> The Template:Lang vocal style is also prominent in the Windmill scene, with several groups featuring a vocalist that uses the talk-sing method.<ref name="schonfeld1" />

The following pop and rock artists have been described as featuring Template:Lang or talk-sing vocals in their music

• The B-52s<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Black Country, New Road<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Black Midi<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Cake<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Nick Cave<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Cheekface<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Do Nothing<ref name="hann1">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Dry Cleaning<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Bob Dylan<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Billie Eilish<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• The Fall<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Fontaines D.C.<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• French Vanilla<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• The Hold Steady<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Kraftwerk<ref name="schonfeld1" /><ref name="Frere-Jones 2024">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Rubin 2009">Template:Cite news</ref>
• Life Without Buildings<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Lou Reed<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Jonathan Richman<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Olivia Rodrigo<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
• Self Esteem<ref name="kinney1">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Shame<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Sleaford Mods<ref name="kinney1"/>
• Slint<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Sonic Youth<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Sprain<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Squid<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• They Might Be Giants<ref name="schonfeld1" />
• Wet Leg<ref name="schonfeld1" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Yard Act<ref name="kinney1"/>

See also

• Rapping
• Spoken word
• Talking blues

External links

• Avior Byron, "The Test Pressings of Schoenberg Conducting Pierrot lunaire: Sprechstimme Reconsidered", Music Theory Online (MTO), 12/1 (February 2006)
• Avior Byron and Matthias Pasdzierny "Sprechstimme Reconsidered Once Again: '... though Mrs. Stiedry is never in pitchTemplate:'", Music Theory Online (MTO), 13/2 (June 2007)