29 - Vocal performance in the twentieth century and beyond

Summary

Of styles and genres

The vast and far-reaching changes in musical style that have occurred in the past hundred years make it a richly rewarding period for singers. Faced with such a chaotic and variegated tapestry of stylistic strands, ranging from the truly bizarre to the comfortably familiar, the contemporary singer can be forgiven for proceeding with extreme caution. Yet, for those committed to keeping in touch with the new, it is a privilege to be caught up in the aftermath of the early twentieth century's exhilarating maelstrom of contrasting artistic influences, inspirations, experiments and occasional shockwaves, all of which reverberate to the present day.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, many European ‘late Romantic’ composers were working within the basic vocal traditions of the nineteenth century, while others had chosen to strike out in bracing new directions. In opera, composers such as Puccini (1858–1924) and Richard Strauss (1864–1949) maintained the tradition of predominantly lyrical writing, with a growing diversity of vocal characterisation, and the less-known figures of Franz Schreker (1878–1934) and Erich Korngold (1897–1957) enjoyed runaway successes with Der ferne Klang (1912) and Die tote Stadt (1920). The emergence across Eastern Europe of a new kind of pungently declamatory vocal writing, pioneered in the previous century by Musorgsky (1839–81), found its fulfilment in the Janáček operas, and those of Prokofiev (1891–1953) and Shostakovich (1906–75).