ideas for new chapters
Vocal Music: Song Forms
With such a rich tradition of works, it can be challenging to do justice to a topic like “song forms” in a reasonable space within the context of a project such as Open Music Theory. We’ve chosen to focus on just two of the many possibilities for now: Lieder (the German tradition) and Mélodie (the French tradition).
- This chapter is slightly different from the others on form in that it’s not focused on a single formal concept, but instead it describes several possible forms Lieder or Melodie might take.
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- We begin by summarizing several possible forms, then we provide examples of those forms by contextualizing their usage within a brief description of how these forms developed.
- One of the main goals of the chapter is to demonstrate an approach to song analysis.
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- Form summary
- Below is a list with descriptions of several common forms that appear in Lieder and Melodie
- Strophic (AAA…A)
- All stanzas of the text are sung to the same music
- These are commonly notated in three ways:
- The text for each stanza is written within the music, with each syllable aligned with notes as appropriate (Example X).
- The first stanza is written within the music, and the lyrics (only) for subsequent stanzas are written below the music (Example X).
- The first stanza is written within the music, and subsequent stanzas and their melodic settings are written below the music (Example X).
- Modified strophic (AA’A”…An)
- The music for the first stanza of the text acts like a theme and the remaining stanzas of the text are set to variations on that theme.
- Ternary (ABA or ABA’)
- Similar to the instrumental ternary form, but the demands of the text (for example, the text’s structure or its content) often mean that the sections are less strongly differentiated or independent from one another than they might be in an instrumental ternary-form work.
- Through-composed (ABCD…Z)
- Each stanza of text has new music
- Unique repetition scheme
- Many stanzas of text have new music, but one or more repeat music from earlier stanzas, or
- The song may feature a refrain that recurs between passages of new music
- Bar form (AAB)
- The first two stanzas are set to the same music, while the second stanza is set to contrasting music
- Occasionally a piece will exhibit an ABB form, and although not technically an example of “Bar form,” it does seem to bear a strong relation.
- Strophic (AAA…A)
- Below is a list with descriptions of several common forms that appear in Lieder and Melodie
- Lieder
- Earlier (18th century)
- While Lieder certainly existed before the 18th century, in the first half of that century a new style began to take hold in Hamburg, one that was described by J.A. Scheibe (year).
- In this new style, Scheibe says composers should focus on the melody, which must be “expressive, skillful, and affecting.” The melody shouldn’t wanger too far from the tonic, it should have a moderate range, and be “free, flowing,