Irish folksongs for the vocal studio, part 2.

[In the previous Journal of Singing publication, Dr. Angell wrote of the effectiveness of Irish folksongs for teaching basic skills and opened the doors to a great number of songs most likely unknown to most voice teachers. The author continues his compendium into the 20th and 21st centuries in this second part of the article.]

CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD (1852-1924) was the first Irish composer whose work consistently demonstrates the clear use of traditional melody within a trained European aesthetic. The very title of Stanford's 1893 volume, The Irish Melodies: the Original Airs Restored and Arranged for the Voice (available for free as a digitized volume), indicates that Stanford wishes to differentiate his approach from that of the many composers--such as Moffat, Balfe, and Somervell--whose Moore arrangements were published at a similar time. Stanford's approach is consistent: every song has a short piano ritornello that is a variation of the melody's first line, and the accompaniment is mostly chordal, with some running eighth notes and an occasional dissonance, permeated by the conservative Victorian sound of his oeuvre. He does provide pleasant variety between strophes in some songs, and although the accompaniment gestures do not necessarily reflect the text, they avoid monotony. The soaring melody of "Oh! Breathe Not His Name" is set for high voice in two brief verses with contrasting texture. The song requires the singer to use rubato, phrasing, contrasting dynamics, and clear diction to convey the emotion of the text, which elegizes national hero Robert Emmet. The accompaniment is not difficult, but it provides interesting countermelodies while still supporting the voice. "Rich and Rare" is one of Stanford's best Moore arrangements, with four verses that are varied in accompaniment motives and dynamics, and a text that relates a story. It is also among the most attractive melodies, and the key is appropriate for medium voice. The range is large, and a full rendition of all four long verses will test the singer's memorization and ability to sing without excessive effort. "How Dear to Me the Hour" is a beautiful, long-breathed melody that lengthens the end of each phrase a full measure beyond the expected duration. It provides a high-voiced singer with an exercise in breath management and singing legato through a line that ascends and descends between F and F. The accompaniment begins with a soft treble motive, and becomes fuller and deeper toward the end. Stanford's accompaniments for fast, rousing songs are less imaginative than those written for slow songs, although he is successful in his settings of the fast songs "Come, Send Round the Wine," "While Gazing on the Moon's Light," "I'd Mourn the Hopes That Leave Me," "Love's Young Dream," "To Ladies' Eyes," and "When First I Met Thee." Stanford's volume has a number of the slow, lyric songs of love or grief that became associated with John McCormack and that provide melodic leaps and expressive ornaments for lyric tenors. Such songs include "I Saw Thy Form" and the outstanding "At the Mid' Hour of Night." The latter has a varied accompaniment and a melody that carries its forward motion through cadences. The affect of subdued passion must be evident, and the singer must contrast full-voiced singing with engaged pianissimo. "The Last Rose of Summer" is through-composed for medium voice, with the germ of some devices that Britten later used more fully in his setting of this song, such as the ornaments written into the melody and the triplet accompaniment figure. The difficulty with this popular song is that the language is sentimental and the prolonged metaphor of a rose may not succeed in capturing the artistic imagination of a young singer. "The Song of Fionnuala" is one of the best arrangements in Stanford's volume, although the pianist must be careful to play the sixteenth note figure subtly so that it does not become too busy for the plaintive melody in the second verse (Example 1).

The harmonies are interesting, particularly Stanford's choice to eliminate the leading tone of the minor key that is present in other settings (Moffat and Stevenson), making it sound more modal. The vocal and emotional ranges of this song are large, requiring an advanced singer.

Stanford's 1901 collection Songs of Erin: a Collection of Fifty Irish Folk Songs (available for free as a digitized volume) is the best of his folksong settings from an aesthetic standpoint. It matches his 1914 A Sheaf of Songs from Leinster in inventiveness. However, the latter collection does not use traditional melodies, despite its Irish poetry and reference to some typically Irish musical sounds, and its six songs are comparable to Gerald Finzi's songs in the declamatory speech rhythms and accompaniment gestures. Most of the arrangements in Songs of Erin are skillfully written, with creative accompaniments that convey textual meaning and differ from verse to verse. "Lost Love of My Eyes" is a lament that calls for both a quiet whimper and loud outpouring of rage as a response to the loss of a husband. Although there are four long verses, each is set to a new accompaniment, and a talented mezzo would find this a tour de force. "The Stolen Heart" is a short song about an unfaithful lover, with a difficult arpeggiated accompaniment and a wide-ranging melody for mezzo or low soprano. This song would fit a young singer who is not ready for a long song or extensive text memorization, and it would allow the student to focus on portraying the distressed, bitter character. "Lovely Anne" is a soaring melody for tenor or high baritone, vacillating between major and minor and providing a demanding, varied accompaniment for every verse. Its slow tempo, legato line, and occasional pianissimo dynamic require the singer to release tension. "The Alarm" is a powerful, furious song for bass or baritone that brings to mind "Der Feuerreiter" or "An Schwager Kronos" with its desperate fury. The range is low, so that the pianist must be careful not to overpower the voice with its crashing accompaniment. Any singer is likely to be engaged by the frantic call to defend the village against Norse invaders. The technical challenge is to deliver the text with flexibility in the breath and vocal mechanism, rather than becoming tight with the emotion of the story. "Like a Stone in the Street" is a slow, bitter character piece for medium male voice, about a man who has lost everything to alcoholism. The singer should perform it sincerely, not as a parody; the destitute man's wailing should be chilling and sobering, like Barber's "Bessie Bobtail." To avoid a ploddingly slow tempo, the singer and pianist should choose places where the text justifies speeding up and building the song's energy.

Stanford's remarkable pedagogic lineage resulted in a fascinating string of Irish folksong arrangers connected to him: Somervell, Wood, Hughes, Britten, Clarke, Shaw, and Moeran all studied with Stanford or one of Stanford's students.

In the introduction to the 1893 collection Songs of the Four Nations: a Collection of Old Songs of the People of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (available for free as a digitized volume), composer Arthur Somervell (1863-1937) writes that folksongs need to be dealt with simply, stating that it is "manifestly absurd to try to lash into, or wring out of them, the kind of passion and sentiment appropriate to a great song which is the finished product of such supreme latter-day artists as Schumann or Brahms." (1) As a result of this attitude toward folksong arrangement, Somervell's settings are musically sufficient, but not as imaginative as his best song output. "The Gaol of Clonmel" is within the reach of most young baritones, and is an excellent tool for teaching expressive performance. Its moving text is set poignantly to a lamenting tune and a varied but uncomplicated accompaniment. This song has moments of great dynamic contrast, as well as a narrative element and deep emotions to be conveyed.

Charles Wood (1866-1926) published at least three excellent collections of folksongs. They display the inventive integration of folk and art song that is also seen in songs written by his better known student, Ralph Vaughan Williams. In his 1897 anthology Irish Folk-Songs (available for free as a digitized volume), "They Know Not My Heart" is possibly the best arrangement: an andante, lyric melody for tenor or soprano, it is set to moving text and a simple accompaniment (Example 2). The broad upward melodic leap, sometimes considered a typically Irish device, is a challenge of this song.

Wood's settings, with frequently contrapuntal, independent accompaniments, demonstrate a mastery of English song composition techniques. His Seven Irish Folk Songs, edited for publication by Ian Copley in 1982, show a taste for restraint and simplicity either on Wood's part or Copley's. "The Drinaun Dhun," a folk song that can be found under various names in numerous composers' collections, including Herbert Hughes's excellent setting, is one of the most attractive in this anthology. Hughes's version is a fast setting for high voiced female, while Wood's is an andante setting for low voiced male. The piano texture varies between chordal and arpeggiated, and it is useful for teaching a singer and pianist to follow the arc of a phrase together. The collaborators also are challenged to hand off the melodic motives to one another, completing each other's skillfully interwoven musical themes.

Wood's best songs are the six arrangements in the 1931 collection Anglo-Irish Folk Songs, with accompaniments that are artistic and yet fairly sparse, so that there is still a straightforward air to the songs. This sparseness within the context of exemplary classical voice leading, thematic development, and rhythmic independence between voice and piano is an approach that composers Nelson and Esposito have in common with Wood. Every verse is written out and varied, so that the strophic structure does not seem monotonous. "Molly Asthoreen" is among the most evocative settings in the repertoire, with an affective syncopated ostinato in the right hand that gives way to a bass line ostinato on the last verse. The poignant text, from the perspective of a widow, is set in the mezzo range, and would suit an advanced undergraduate singer. Both this song and the next, "Your Milkin' Days Are Over," have a modal sound as a result of the omission of leading tones and other accidentals, and this unfamiliar sonority is useful for developing the musicianship of young singers. The latter song is a short, lighthearted song of courtship from the male perspective, suitable for a high baritone. Its fast moving melody and diction challenges could help a hefty voiced singer to keep the voice buoyant and agile.

Hamilton Harty (1879-1941) was an Irish composer and conductor whose long association with the Halle Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and other prominent classical organizations bespeaks his eminent training. He composed a number of art songs and songs on Irish texts in which he used his own melodies rather than arranging melodies from Irish oral tradition. However, his Three Traditional Ulster Airs of 1905 (containing the famous "My Lagan Love") and Three Irish Folksongs of 1929 are excellent folksongs arrangements. Like Herbert Hughes, he writes out all verses with different accompaniments, with the vocal line also somewhat modified in each verse.

The folksong settings by Herbert Hughes (1882-1937) are better known than most of the repertoire, and they have been consistently performed and recorded. His four volumes of Irish Country Songs, released between 1909 and 1936 and now available for free as a digitized volume, are his most famous works. There are more useful songs for the vocal studio in Irish Country Songs than in any other collection, as Hughes consistently fashions evocative, challenging art songs from folk melodies in a late Romantic style. A number of excellent lighthearted character pieces include "The Verdant Braes of Skreen," "A Ballynure Ballad," You Couldn't Stop a Lover," "I Know My Love," "The Magpie's Nest," "The Old Turf Fire," "The Leprehaun," "I'm a Decent Good Irish Body," and "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye." Hughes also succeeds with love songs, including "Reynardine," "Rich and Rare," "I Know Where I'm Goin'," "I Will Walk with my Love," "Sally Gardens," "She Moved thro' the Fair," "Norah O'Neale," "An Island Spinning Song;" with mournful narrative ballads, including "The Fanaid Grove," "A Young Maid Stood in Her Father's Garden," "Oh, Breathe Not His Name," "An Irish Elegy," "Must I Go Bound?" "The Gartan Mother's Lullaby," "The Bard of Armagh," and "The Little Black Rose"; and with the masterpieces "Cruckhaun Finn," "My Roisin Dubh," "The Red-Haired Man's Wife," and "She Lived Beside the Anner."

The small compositional output of Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) includes an arrangement of Three Irish Country Songs (1926), based on materials she found in Herbert Hughes's Irish Country Songs, Vol. 1. These arrangements are suitable for helping an advanced soprano and violinist develop a sense of ensemble, as their witty canonic interplay is sometimes metrically difficult and dissonant. Excellent as a set--fast, slow, fast--they evoke an Irish sound by omitting piano and employing fiddle, and also foreshadow the nonstandard ensembles that later 20th century composers used.

The published arrangements of Irish folksongs by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) include the song "Down by the Salley Gardens" in Volume 1: British Isles (1943) and all ten songs in Volume 4: Moore's Irish Melodies (1960). "Down by the Salley Gardens" is the most tonal, simple song of these eleven, and is appropriate for high school or young college singers. A number of the other settings call for advanced singers, such as "Sail On, Sail On," in which the singer must preserve legato through long, quiet phrases with octave leaps and a contrasting accompaniment; "At the Mid Hour of Night," in which the piano disrupts the metrical pulse and plays dissonant harmonies; "Rich and Rare" with an accompaniment that employs canon and sequence; and "Dear Harp of my Country," with a difficult, flowing accompaniment and wide-ranging vocal melody that does not provide rests in which to breathe. Instead of adhering literally to specific melody transcriptions and simply decorating them, Britten uses folk melodies as motives that can be altered freely, creating piano ritornellos and using dissonance, giving his arrangements a style that accords with the rest of his output. Most of his songs are through-composed, and in the few strophic songs with repeats, such as "The Minstrel Boy," each verse is differentiated by dynamics and articulation.

Songs from County Kerry, by E. J. Moeran (1894-1950), contains seven songs that Moeran collected in the southwest of Ireland between 1934 and 1948 and published as a set in 1950. Moeran is respected as an early 20th century symphonic composer who wrote over 100 art songs, and these seven arrangements are well crafted and thematically developed. The songs function well as a set, with variety of tempo and subject matter. All but "The Roving Dingle Boy," which calls for a higher voice, can be performed by a baritone or mezzo who is comfortable singing a high F regularly. "The Roving Dingle Boy" has a pleasing, rippling accompaniment that ceases its motion only briefly in the third and fourth verse (Example 3). The arrangement combines a lyric line and humorous musical gestures with a narrative text, and requires agility, ease in the upper passaggio, and even breath flow. "The Tinker's Daughter" and "Kitty, I Am in Love with You" are rollicking character pieces that are sure to elicit laughs from the audience. Moeran introduces piano motifs--such as capricious runs that incorporate triplets to offset slower-moving vocal lines--and varies these motives throughout each song, calling for a skillful pianist and singer.

Havelock Nelson (1917-1996) arranged two folksong collections: Four Irish Songs for Soprano, Horn, and Piano, an undated collection from the 1950s or early 1960s; and An Irish Folksinger's Album, a 1957 collection with eight piano-vocal arrangements. A conductor and accompanist in Belfast for over thirty years, Nelson wrote in a conservative, Mahlerian style. Although Nelson titled these sets as groupings for soprano, most any voice could do them, as they rise only to a high F and sit mostly mid-staff. They give the impression that Nelson didn't want to obscure the melody, preferring to create a light, yet inventive piano context that celebrates the tune foremost. "Lovely Jimmy" and "Ned of the Hill" are legato ballads that challenge singers to regulate breath and release tension on ascending phrases, and in which the accompaniments remain within tonal bounds and generally support the vocal line.

Within recent decades, composers have shown a preference for through-composed folksong setting, and it has become commonplace to use folksong materials in new musical idioms and forms. The Blacksmith: Irish Folksong Arranged for Voice & Clarinet in B-flat, written in 2008 by Scottish composer James MacMillan (b. 1959), exemplifies an approach to folksong in which both instrumentation and harmony are unconventional.

The 1988 set Three Irish Folksong Settings for Voice and Flute by American composer John Corigliano (b. 1938) also omits the traditional piano accompaniment. The flute and vocal lines are rhythmically and melodically independent of one another. Timothy Hoekman (b. 1954), Professor of Vocal Coaching and Accompanying at Florida State University, composed Three Irish Folksongs for Voice, Clarinet, and Piano in 2010. Hoekman chooses three of the most commonly set Irish folksongs and applies 21st century harmonic language to them, using conventional harmonies alongside polytonal and atonal passages.

These anthologies offer a starting place for students and teachers interested in readily available classical literature derived from Irish folksongs. Singers may wish to explore related literature categories not examined in this study, including the following: songs by Irish composers that do not incorporate known Irish folksongs (Bax, Harty, Esposito, Needham, Victory, Hughes, Palmer); operas dealing with Ireland (Balfe, Benedict, Esposito, Lover, O' Dwyer, Palmer, Stanford, Wallace); and unaccompanied Irish songs and rare song collections not yet in the public domain. [Note: Please refer to the Appendix published in Part I of this series.]

NOTE

(1.) Arthur Somervell and Harold Boulton, Songs of the Four Nations: A Collection of Old Songs of the People of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (London: J. B. Cramer, 1893), x.

Article Details

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Title Annotation:	The Song File
Author:	Angell, Conor
Publication:	Journal of Singing
Geographic Code:	4EUIR
Date:	Mar 1, 2016
Words:	3005
Previous Article:	Vibrato by the Seashore.
Next Article:	Minding collab manners.
Topics:	Composers Folk music, Irish Influence Irish folk music Influence Vocal music Works