Why art songs? #Yearofplay

With the launch of the Denver Art Song Project, a number of people have sent messages to find out "What is an art song?" and "Why aren't you recording opera arias?  You are an opera singer!"

Great questions and thanks to all of you who asked and thanks to all who have already pre-purchased the album.

Let's start with the second question first.

"Why aren't you recording opera arias?  You are an opera singer!"

I love opera.  I've been singing opera for years now and it has been the largest part of my career.  I chose art songs for my #yearofplay because making a high-quality opera aria album would be a larger project than I could have managed.  Operas are presented with an orchestra, I would have wanted to do the same for my album as well.  It would mean pulling together a lot of talent and the logistics of recording might have overwhelmed me.  I've always said, that I should keep my goals modest at first and focus on achieving a final product, not get stuck half-way because my ambitions outstrip my organizational skills.

"What is an art song?"

Art songs are poems set to music.  Generally, they are meant for voice and piano and are meant to be shared in a small setting with friends.  There are many exceptions to this rule, but let's keep it to this simple definition for now.

Since an art song is a poem set to music, this makes life easier for you as an audience member.  Here are some pros and cons:

Pros:
- You don't have to learn the whole long story of an opera.  These are little bite-sized musical experiences!
- You don't have to learn the translation of an entire opera.  (bite-sized!)
- You don't have to keep track of characters in an opera.
- Art songs are shorter than opera (3 minutes vs. 3 hours).
- As with most poetry, you get to do your own interpretation.  Take a look at this poem:

One's-Self I Sing

  One's-self I sing, a simple separate person,
  Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.

  Of physiology from top to toe I sing,
  Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the Muse, I say
      the Form complete is worthier far,
  The Female equally with the Male I sing.

  Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
  Cheerful, for freest action form'd under the laws divine,
  The Modern Man I sing.

(Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass. Text from Project Gutenberg)

Your interpretation could likely differ quite differently from mine based on your own personal experiences.  This could conflict with your values or support them.  With an opera, you have more to learn about the story and that could slow or cause you to misunderstand the song.

Cons:
- Art Songs.  What a pretentious name.
- They are short and we always want more.  (We do, don't we?)
- Sometimes we have to learn a bit about why the poem was written or sometimes about the poet themselves. (I'll look to provide that context in my liner notes and blog posts!)

Over the next few days, I will be posting some more thoughts about Art Songs and why we chose this genre for our recordings.