# Opera singing without words - what is it called? Recommendations?



## grease line (Jul 27, 2014)

Hello - 

I have a couple questions:

What is opera-style singing called without words, where only a melody is sung? This type of music has really caught my ear in the past, the first time I heard it, I found myself wondering what the instrument was that was making the sound! That was a piece from a CBC clip on female opera singers years ago and I wish I could find the artist/track. 

I've been trying to track down such music with little success. Does anyone have recommendations of exceptionally good singing of this type or what it is even called?

Recently, I was reminded of this when I ran across Selma Kurz singing Kreisler's Caprice Viennois with Vasa Prihoda on violin. I would post a link but it is not on youtube, I found it on deezer. 

I look forward to your input, thank you.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

"Vocalise" means singing the melody without words, though the term is not very often applied to opera.


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## grease line (Jul 27, 2014)

Thanks. I'm having a hard time finding any vocalized music anywhere. Any tips?


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## Danforth (May 12, 2013)

The only place where I have seen vocalise is in Philip Glass' _Akhnaten_, in which there are some vocalise songs in Acts II and III.

Actually, the ending of Richard Strauss' _Daphne_ also has vocalise.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

There's always this






Not opera, but a song without words


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Some of the better known of the vocalise genre of _classical_ song repertoire (and works using wordless chorus):

Sergei Rachmaninoff ~ _Vocalise_, Anna Moffo, soprano





Heitor Villa-Lobos ~ _Bachiana Brasiliera No. 5_ , part one, _Aria (cantilena)_, Barbara Hend~icks, soprano





Stravinsky ~ _Pastorale_, Joan Sutherland, soprano





There are pieces with wordless chorus, and / or wordless soprano solo:
Ralph Vaughan Williams ~ Symphony No. 7 (Sinfonia Antartica) wordless chorus + wordless soprano solo [Start link at 37'16'']





Claude Debussy _Sirènes (Nocturne N°3)_ uses a wordless female chorus.





Ravel's _Daphnis et Chloe_ is for large orchestra with the addition of a (wordless) full chorus, used as another section of the orchestra.





Nikolai Korndorff ~ _Hymn III (In Honour of Gustav Mahler)_, is for full symphony orchestra and soprano (1990) [_Not widely known, and imo a 'good' and lovely piece_]


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

PetrB said:


> Sergei Rachmaninoff ~ _Vocalise_, Anna Moffo, soprano


Actually this is somewhat better than the version I posted with Kiri. Moffo manages the more spacious tempo set by Stokowski with apparent ease, and revels in the top C# which Kiri rather glosses over. Mind you Kiri was 50 by then. Moffo is much younger here.


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## amfortas (Jun 15, 2011)

And, of course, Ennio Morricone ~ "Jill's Theme," from _Once Upon a Time in the West_.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

grease line said:


> Thanks. I'm having a hard time finding any vocalized music anywhere. Any tips?


Pssst: extract a list of all the various works cited by your TC colleagues in this thread


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## rgz (Mar 6, 2010)

The first 1:30 of Air des Clochettes / Bell Aria is a vocalise, and it is amazing. Especially when sung by Natalie Dessay





And another version of Rachmaninoff's Vocalise


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## Cosmicbrat (Jan 23, 2018)

*I love Vocalise.. Very hard to find.. I find it in bits & pieces...*

This piece isn't so much 'vocalize', but it gives the same thrill and emotion as quality vocalize..











She's the female background on the back-left in this video.. Sounds like she's three singers simyltaneous...

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This song has some super vocalize near the end.. I made it into a loop with Audacity and Sound Converter... 
Youtube surf 'Ubuntu Studio-16 demo', 'Audacity demo', and 'sound converter'.. If you aren't familiar with Linux, Google surf Sourceforge and Distrowatch.. Linux is Free and Easy..






(minute 4:25) I made a loop of it.. I asked to her make it into an hour cut.. Got zero response as usual.. If she did, I wager it could heal humanity's busted spirits, hate, and fried minds..

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I can't get enough of this background singer's voice.. I emailed the Tokens, asking about her.. They replied that they lost track of her after the recording sessions.. I wish I could get a copy of her practice tapes.. I wish I could find similar music...






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This lady has the vocalize perfection, but not vocalize, yet.. WOW!.. and WOW!!






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This video was taken-off the Net.. I don't know why.. You might be able to listen to it somewhere if you're lucky.. It doesn't get any better than this.. I was lucky to get a copy of the video.. 
It makes me fell so much love, freedom, purity, innocence, and youth inside.. Words can't do it justice.. We don't have the words.. This is probably the best piece of music in humanity... 
I'm guessing the comments section of the YouTube video became raunchy, so mummy and daddy pulled it from the Net.. I wager this wee lass is an old soul reincarnate.. Her music is angelic, pure, deep, honest, absolute, perfection, alive, seemingly full of love for everything, and she gives it her ALL.. I hope she never gets into coke.. Coke is suicide on all levels...

Unbelievable! 12 Years Old Girl Sing In Beauty Contest Stunning Performance! [360p] 
It's gone.. We will be hearing her in the future...





Those deleted videos slots was it.. It's gone.. So sad that it's gone...

_________________________________

Do you have any similar links..?


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## Cosmicbrat (Jan 23, 2018)

Regarding this amazing video, of the young lady singing Vocalize like a master, which was suddenly totally erased from the Internet.. In depth studying the video of the beauty pageant, I note that at key moments in sung high difficult notes by the lassy, key individuals are repeatedly focused upon by the camera operator, obviously to record specific individual's negative reactions, surprise, shock, and depression.. The targets seems to have been strategically placed on stage for clear easy videoing of their reactions.. Some of those targeted individuals are seemingly a little perturbed, grumpy, hateful, angry, maybe a little vengeful, in seemingly realizing they now don't stand a chance at winning the pageant.. Some shift their arms and postures in having essentially obviously 'thrown-in the towel', but feel trapped on stage to still perform for mummy and daddy and peers who expect them to win the coveted prize.. 
I conclude that this whole package of the young lady's opera singing lessons, the beautification of youth to full adultness, the fabrication of the local area beauty pageant by a wealthy individual, the singer's key-trained readiness at 12, and the cold 'gotcha gaze' of the singer, were essentially the components of a vendetta against specific girl bullies who bullied this petite beautiful 12-year old in school, probably out of girlie jealousness over her innocence, good looks, wealth, freedoms, luxuries, intelligence, and maybe over boyfriends status.. 
But her voice is so immaculate.. I have her majesty echoing throughout the home, and I'm running out of tissues.. I'm sure you know the feeling.. She sings deep as soul.. I want to hug her, to connect her to the afterlife with 'bluebeam soul to soul', but it's illegal...
I wager the comments section of the video started to gain complaints of the beauty pageant possibly being a scam, setup for revenge, thus the only possible reasoning for the video's deletion from the Net.. No one in its right mind would delete such perfection from the public's view, unless the embarrassment factor were present.. In this light it's a shame that evil begets evil, in how people who would love this video, yet are now not permitted to view it because of craziness.. Ugliness destroys Beauty.. The thing is that the evils applied to this item will stick negative karma to the singer and her family, because evil begets evil :devil:.. Beauty must not be stifled, but displayed and enjoyed.. Beauty is beauty because beauty is in mine eyes and ears... 
This item and incident has me wondering just how many small beauty pageants are created to implement a vendetta for peer bullying..? In this, the young singer would have likely won the beauty pageant hands-down even before it began if it was a scam...
The consolation is that we will probably be hearing this amazing singer's music in the near future, if karma doesn't catch up to her, and if she doesn't ingest cocaine.. Coke would destroy her voice and everything she is hard and fast.. I can only pray that she doesn't destroy herself with fun-poisons.. Her song touches my spirit deeply, nicely.. Her sound is candy for my spirit... :tiphat:

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In my authoring this textbook manual for a new university course, 'BBE The Philosophy of Psychiatry', I am toying with the idea that specific music should be played during specific studying and classes of specific chapters.. Vocalize is a good candidate for this music requirement, but Vocalize is rare and difficult to find, as most of it isn't published on the Net yet.. I Need Vocalize.. Where is Vocalize hiding..? How can we entice precious Vocalize to be published..? I'm thinking on it...


There are 5 sweethearts who accompany me on flights into cosmic space.. I played this music to my angels.. they cried.....


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## Monorail thru Music (Apr 15, 2018)

grease line said:


> Hello -
> 
> I have a couple questions:
> 
> ...


Hi, I ALSO am fascinated with opera singing without words, which I thought was to "vocalise". But when I search "vocalise", I only get results of the Rachmaninoff piece. And as you said, such pieces are very difficult to find. I look forward to reading other posts about this, I want to find more.


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