| From: Jeffrey Snider To: VOCALIST <vocalist> Subject: RE: Composers Intentions/was Brahms Serious Songs Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
When I was doing my final DMA project on the songs of American Composer Sidney Homer, I was able to ask his daughter Katharine hpow he felt about his songs being transposed. Since he composed primarily for his wife, American contralto Louise Homer, most of his songs are originally in LOW keys, and must be transposed UP for high voice.
She told me that, while he preferred his original keys, he knew that they would not sell well in the original keys only. There are many cases of composers transposing works themselves (e.g. there are contralto and tenor versions of the role of "Orfeo" in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice.)
There was an article many years ago in the Musical Quarterly about being "faithful to the composer's intentions." As I recall, the author thought that the concept was nonsense. Nonetheless, there are those who think that songs and arias should only be performed in their "original keys." (The people who suggest this are usually tenors and sopranos, however, who tend to have a higher percentage of the song literature in their keys than do lower and medium voices.)
Just some thoughts!
Jeffrey Snider, DMA Chair, Division of Vocal Studies College of Music University of North Texas Denton, TX USA ................................................................................. iWon.com http://www.iwon.com why wouldn't you? .................................................................................
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