# Chamber music question bouncing around in my head



## Operadowney

So as I mentioned in an earlier post I've looking for chamber music featuring the voice all evening for a recital I want to put together. And I keep on stumbling on the designation "chamber music" as it relates to string quartets/quintets, piano trios, you name it. But I've yet to see the designation "chamber music" relate to music performed with the voice. Normally that is classified under "vocal works" or worse "vocal works with accompaniment."

I just want to gauge the communities opinion on this. Is chamber music as a genre strictly defined by including only instruments? Or not??


----------



## Sid James

Some chamber pieces do have vocalist as part of it, here are some I can think of -

Ginastera - String Quartet #3
Schoenberg - String Quartet #2 ; Pierrot Lunaire (a seminal work in the field) ; Brettl-lieder (Cabaret Songs - most only with piano accompaniment, but a couple have trumpet & percussion added) ; Herzegawische (Heart's Foliage) ; Ode to Napoleon
Chausson - Chanson perpétuelle
Ravel - Chansons Medecasses; Trois poemes de Stephane Mallarme
Delage - 4 Poemes Hindous (the above three on THIS disc with Janet Baker singing)
Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras #5 for soprano & 8 cellos
Maxwell-Davies - 8 Songs for a Mad King
Birtwistle - Songs by Myself for soprano & chamber group
Shostakovich - 7 poems of Alexandr Blok for soprano & piano trio

Pieces with narration in chamber setting -
Walton - FAcade
Stravinsky - The Soldier's Tale
Debussy - Chansons Bilitis

Is that the kind of things you're looking for?


----------



## rborganist

Back in the late 1960's or early 1970's Beverly Sills made a recording with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (see if you can find it). It included Schubert's The Shepherd on the Rock and Mozart's Variations on A vous dire je maman. The Schubert has a lovely part for clarinet, but I don't remember whether there were other instruments other than piano and clarinet, and I don't remember the instrumentation on the Mozart. Try Amazon or your local library


----------



## PetrB

Schubert ~ Der Hirt auf dem Felsen was composed as a concert piece for Soprano, clarinet and piano. It is a masterpiece well worth looking into.









Brahms ~ Brahms：Gesänge für Frauenchor, 2 Hörner und Harfe, op17 (four songs; female chorus / 2 horns, harp.
These are quite wonderful.









Samuel Barber ~ Dover Beach, for Baritone and String Quartet





Darius Milhaud ~ Chamber Symphony No. 6 (Petit Symphonie de chambre) Op. 79, a lovely brief work for
Tenor, Soprano, Contralto, Bass; Oboe and 'Cello





Milhaud's "Trois Opéras-minutes" are of a similar disposition: 
L'enlèvement d'Europe, Op.94 (1927); 1 act, 8 scenes




L'abandon d'Ariane, Op.98 (1927); 1 act, 5 scenes




Le délivrance de Thésée, Op.99; 1 act, 6 scenes




(Libretti by Henri Hoppenot)
Stravinsky ~ Cantata (a few more in numbers than the above) 
soprano, tenor, female choir; two flutes, oboe, cor anglais (doubles as second oboe), 'cello
This is a substantial (and lovely) work, and would fill on large portion of a program.


----------



## Head_case

> So as I mentioned in an earlier post I've looking for chamber music featuring the voice all evening for a recital I want to put together. And I keep on stumbling on the designation "chamber music" as it relates to *string quartets*/quintets, piano trios, you name it.


Absolutely...! In that order too. String quartet hegemony on this subforum is the Darwinian order :lol:

Here's some less beaten track recommendations to try (not to say you will instantly love them - for example, the Wolpe is rather challenging for me):

Ray Schafer's Beauty & The Beast, and String Quartet no. IV










Augustyn: string quartet & voice [Dedication]










Stefan Wolpe - Cantata for Voice & Instruments:










Andrzej Krzanowski: 6th programme for soprano & string quartet;

Wojciech Widłak: Sottovoce 5 Songs for mezzosoprano and String Quartet


----------



## Quartetfore

Add to the list, Il tramonto poem for Mezzo and String Quartet by Respighi.


----------



## Novelette

Sid James said:


> Some chamber pieces do have vocalist as part of it, here are some I can think of -
> 
> Ginastera - String Quartet #3
> Schoenberg - String Quartet #2 ; Pierrot Lunaire (a seminal work in the field) ; Brettl-lieder (Cabaret Songs - most only with piano accompaniment, but a couple have trumpet & percussion added) ; Herzegawische (Heart's Foliage) ; Ode to Napoleon
> Chausson - Chanson perpétuelle
> Ravel - Chansons Medecasses; Trois poemes de Stephane Mallarme
> Delage - 4 Poemes Hindous (the above three on THIS disc with Janet Baker singing)
> Villa-Lobos - Bachianas Brasileiras #5 for soprano & 8 cellos
> Maxwell-Davies - 8 Songs for a Mad King
> Birtwistle - Songs by Myself for soprano & chamber group
> Shostakovich - 7 poems of Alexandr Blok for soprano & piano trio
> 
> Pieces with narration in chamber setting -
> Walton - FAcade
> Stravinsky - The Soldier's Tale
> Debussy - Chansons Bilitis
> 
> Is that the kind of things you're looking for?


Wow! Great list!


----------

