I've been collecting a lot of sacred "art songs" over the past few years,
and will mention some of my favourites:
Vaughan Williams: FIVE MYSTICAL SONGS - particularly "The Call", "Easter",
and the alternate solo arrangement of "Antiphon"
Vaughan Williams: "The Bird's Song" from THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS, as
published (in a mezzo-friendly key) in the Oxford University Press's
Collected Songs of Vaughan Williams (I think it's Volume 3 or Volume 5 -
all the songs in it are from PILGRIM'S PROGRESS) - this is a wonderful
setting of the 23rd Psalm, a real partnership between voice and piano
Michael Head: Three Psalms - dedicated to Marilyn Horne
Arthur Honegger: Psaume XXXIV, Psaume CXL, and Psaume CXXXVIII - have to
do these in French, but they are quite lovely
Gounod: Repentir (O Divine Redeemer) - particularly effective when done
with both piano and organ obbligato (the Schirmer sheet music includes the organ
part). Le Calvaire (There is a green hill far away) is somewhat less
musically inspired, but has been well received whenever I've sung it.
Heinrich Schuetz: Was hast du Werwirket? (What was Thy Transgression?) -
this is my favourite of all his solo cantatas. If you don't want to
struggle with the alto-clef/figured bass original score, there's an
excellent mezzo-friendly arrangement with a very true English translation
in an anthology the title of which is totally eluding me at the moment -
but if you're interested, email me and I'll look in my collection and get
you the details. By the way, avoid the Concordia publication of 5 Schutz
sacred songs - the English translations are really poor.
Brahms: "Geistliches Wiegenlied" from his 2 songs for alto, op. 91 - you
have to have a viola or cello to do this song, but it's absolutely sublime
as a Christmas-season solo. Also, the fourth of his Vier ernste Gesaenge,
"Wenn ich mit Menschen und mit Engelszungen redete"; I find the other
three songs in this cycle much less compelling, but you may disagree
Ravel: both of his DEUX MELODIES HEBRAIQUES are good, but the first -
"Kaddisch" - is particularly good
Reger: in addition to his most famous Maria Wiegenlied (which uses the
same traditional carol as its inspiration as Brahms used in the piece I
mentioned above), wrote an entire set of Zwoelf geistliche Lieder (12
sacred songs), but I am not familiar with them, so can't attest to their
appeal.
Wolf: In his Moerike-Lieder made his own contribution to the Mary lullaby
genre, with his lovely "Schlafendes Jesuskind" (#25). Also from the
Moerike-Lieder, #28, "Gebet". There are also the 10 Geistliche Lieder in
his Spanisches Liederbuch, but I'm not that familiar with them, so can't
attest to their appeal.
Beethoven: Sechs Lieder nach Gedichten von Gellert, op. 48 (my favourite
of these is #4, "Die Ehre Gottes aus der Natur")
Purcell: Harmonia Sacra - full of wonderful sacred solos. Indeed, had
Purcell never written anything EXCEPT his "Lord, what is man?" he would
have been recognised as a genius. My other favourites from this collection are
"Evening Hymn" with its serene, almost organic "alleluia", and "We sing to
Him". "The Blessed Virgin's Expostulation" is also famous - I haven't
tried singing it yet, but the poem is wonderful!
Peter Warlock: from his Two Songs of Arthur Symonds, the "Prayer to St.
Anthony of Padua", as well as his settings of "Adam lay ybounden" and
"Balulalow" (two mediaeval Christmas carol texts), and "The First Mercy".
Faure: "Comme Dieu rayonne" from his song-cycle LA CHANSON D'EVE; also his
song "En priere"
John Ness Beck: "Lord, here am I"
And don't forget all the possibilities from oratorios - not just MESSIAH
(thought even that contains arias that just don't get done that often,
like "How beautiful are the feet" and "But Thou didst not leave his soul
in hell" and "Thou art gone up on high") - by the way, all you mezzos and
altos, the excellent recent Oxford University Press edition of MESSIAH
contains an optional version of "Come unto him" in the alto key,
enabling "He shall feed his flock/Come unto him" to be done as an extended
alto solo! - but also Handel's many other oratorios, and those by
Mendelssohn (both "Rest in the Lord" and the less often performed "Woe
unto them who forsake him" are wonderful alto solos), J.S. Bach (of
course), J.C. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Gounod, Pergolesi, etc. etc. etc.
I freely admit that I've excluded a lot of other possibilities mainly
because I'm either not familiar with them, or they just don't appeal to
_me_ - they might appeal to you, of course, so you should probably just
look through a few "complete works" lists for composers like Schubert,
Brahms, Britten, Dvorak (who did a number of Psalm settings, none of which
has ever really "grabbed" me, but which other people love), etc. Also,
I've excluded some other favourites that just can't be sung well by mezzo
because of their range/tessitura, like Bloch's wonderful DEUX PSAUMES and
Hovanhess' "Out of the Depths".
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
______________________________________
I will sing with the spirit, and I
will sing with the understanding also.
1 Corinthians 14:15
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