# Sprechgesang



## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Does anyone know of compositions which utilize Schoenberg's sprechgesang, beyond his own works and the operas of his disciple? I have found myself strangely attracted to the _Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte_ lately, especially the role of the narrator/singer, and would like to hear more things like it.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Try William Walton's Facade. It's a bit of a steal from Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire but no less entertaining for it.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

elgars ghost said:


> Try William Walton's Facade. It's a bit of a steal from Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire but no less entertaining for it.


The Walton work is far from Sprechgesang: it is the poetry of (Dame) Edith Sitwell, the speech a delivery in highly martialed and driving rhythmic staccato punched style, and _is_ a helluva lotta fun  The premiere recording, Sitwell reading, is one I would recommend (the poet's voice, and all that


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Cheyenne said:


> Does anyone know of compositions which utilize Schoenberg's sprechgesang, beyond his own works and the operas of his disciple? I have found myself strangely attracted to the _Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte_ lately, especially the role of the narrator/singer, and would like to hear more things like it.


Stravinsky used recitation in _Babel_ and _A Sermon, A Narrative, and A Prayer_ (the narrative part).


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Thank you all for the information; I'll look into these!


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

PetrB said:


> The Walton work is far from Sprechgesang: it is the poetry of (Dame) Edith Sitwell, the speech a delivery in highly martialed and driving rhythmic staccato punched style, and _is_ a helluva lotta fun  The premiere recording, Sitwell reading, is one I would recommend (the poet's voice, and all that


Fair cop, PetrB, but I think Facade occupies enough common ground with PL which might be of interest to Cheyenne if he's never heard it before.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

These, to more or less extent, use the technique:

Messiaen Poemes pour Mi
Zemlinsky Lyric Symphony
Boulez Le Marteau sans maitre
Ginastera String Quartet #3

Also look at Ives' songs (although he did it independent of Arnie).


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

elgars ghost said:


> Fair cop, PetrB, but I think Facade occupies enough common ground with PL which might be of interest to Cheyenne if he's never heard it before.


I recommended it highly, cited a particular recording as well. described what it was as well as wasn't (i.e. Sprechgesang.) 
A mere technicality outside the definition of an OP should not stop anyone from offering the cooler 'related' stuff!


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## tdc (Jan 17, 2011)

B-52's - _Love Shack_


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## dgee (Sep 26, 2013)

If you go in for hard core AG, there's a phenomenally intense speaking part in Beat Furrer's opera Fama (in German but oh my god) and also Interzone by Enno Poppe (which is W.S. Burroughs of course with all that brings). Also this - one of great voices of C20 (just sayin!):






Four point sumthin with a low-ride sumthin - how cool is that?


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Just adding here that my list wasn't all that prescriptive in terms of influence of sprechgesang. However its clear that in terms of Schoenberg's use of the mixed chamber ensemble to accompany the singer, many works where influenced by _Pierrot_. Its a pivotal work of the 20th century. As mentioned you have Stravinsky's _Soldier's Tale _and also Walton's _Facade_. Then there's Ravel's Mallarme poems and Madagascan songs. Post war composers like Birtwistle and Maxwell-Davies have also done works like this, and as I said Boulez.

But Schoenberg drew from cabaret so that ties in here too. Songs by the likes of Edith Piaf, and 'serious' classical like Satie, Les Six, and after WWII Piazzolla and Bolcolm come in the picture too. As part of my blog I did two topics on this, cabaret and its offshoots in Paris, Berlin and New York. Then there's jazz, Gershwin comes in here too.

I am adding this source (in green below) that explains a bit of how the concepts of sprechgesang has changed and been altered by various composers over time, and its a mix of 'highbrow' and 'lowbrow' anyway (but I often don't see a need to dilineate, even going back to Walton, _Facade_ drew just as much from Schoenberg as it did from the music halls of London, but funnily enough it caused a near riot upon its premiere, but the authorities where called out and the premiere went without incident).

So it boils down to our definition, whether we see it in a broad or narrow sense, or extend Schoenberg's influence beyond vocal techniques to the instrumental and even maybe that mix of high and low art which this work engaged with.

The part that talks about it being far from standardized was interesting, so too how Humperdinck of all people pioneered its use.

*Sprechgesang* (Ger. 'speech song') Kind of vocal delivery between speech and song, first required by Humperdinck in his opera _Konigskinder_ (1897), though replaced by normal singing in the edition of 1910. It was most thoroughly exploited by Schoenberg in his _Gurrelieder, Die gluckliche Hand, Pierrot Lunaire, De Jakobsleiter, Moses und Aron _(part of Moses) , _Ode to Napoleon_ and _A Survivor from Warsaw. _

The first four of these, like the Humperdinck, use of ordinary staff notation with some special indications: an 'x' on the note stem, as in _Die gluckliche Hand _and _Pierrot_, has become standard. However, the performance of _Sprechgesang_ is far from standardized. Schoenberg is most explicit in the preface to_ Pierrot_, where he asks that the voice should 'give pitch exactly, but then immediately leave it in a fall or rise': this has been taken as meaning anything from virtual singing to nightclub crooning or Expressionist dramatization.

It may be significant that Schoenberg did not use the term _Sprechgesang_ but rather _Sprechstimme_ (speaking voice), _Sprechmelodie _(speech melody) or _ Rezitation_; he also simplified his notation in the two last works mentioned above, using a 1-line staff so that the performer could choose his own pitch level.

Berg in _Wozzeck _followed Schoenberg's recent practice and introduced a new shade, 'half sung', between _Sprechgesang_ and song. Boulez's _Le visage nuptial _adds to these 'spoken intonation at the indicated pitch', between _Sprechgesang_ and speech.

- Paul Griffiths, _Encyclopaedia of 20th-Century Music_, Thames and Hudson, 1986.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Priaulx Rainier's Words for Declamation, and Tom O'Bedlam's Song by Richard Rodney Bennet. I think these are examples -- but maybe I've misinderstood the style. Anyway try to hear Peter Pears sing them.

Also Jon Vickers, at least live, was so declamatory it may as well have been sprechgesange. In Tristan Act 3.

Isn't there a relation between Sprechgesange and Recitative, and through composed operas like Capriccio? There's a cluster of quite difficult concepts here that I don't really understand.


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