art song for mezzo-soprano or alto?

March 22, 2017 10:38 AM

I’m in my second year of voice lessons, and I need to find an art song in the mezzo-soprano or alto range for the final exam. Classical singers of MeFi, can you give me some suggestions?

My voice teacher is great, but she’s a true soprano, so she keeps suggesting things that go a little too high for me. My comfortable range is from middle C (do) to the high D (re), and I can hit a high E (mi) every once in a while as long as I don’t have to hang out up there. If I try and sing something that stays too high too long, my throat starts to hurt, so I’d rather not.

In terms of ability, I have a good ear for melodies but I don’t have a very strong voice. I’ve been working hard for a year and a half and my voice is no longer so breathy. But I’m still sorting out some breathing stuff, and I’m also still working on staying in resonance all the time.

In terms of languages, I’m very comfortable with German, Italian, and English. My French is horrible, and I’m currently living in a country where everyone speaks French, so I’d rather stay away from it.

To give you a sense of my musical taste, I love Beethoven, Bach, Dvorak, Brahms, and Handel. I’m not a huge Mozart fan. I don’t like Purcell much. I don’t mind Schubert or Schumann.

Do you have any suggestions?

posted by colfax to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

From the Messiah, Oh Thou that Tellest should be in your wheelhouse.
posted by rekrap at 10:50 AM on March 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

Handel has a lot of beautiful stuff that would be suitable. Given your range, I'd stick to the contralto repertoire rather than mezzo-soprano. Have a look at:

"Priva Son d'Ogni Conforto," Giulio Cesare
"Cessa Omai di Sospirare," Guilio Cesare
"Coperta la Frode," Ariodante (if you're not afraid of some coloratura)
"Stille Amare," Tolomeo
"But Who May Abide," Messiah

The sheet music for most of these (with the exception, I believe, of "Stille Amare") is available on imslp.org.
posted by holborne at 11:02 AM on March 22, 2017

A bit more ambitious, but within your vocal range (both Handel):

"Let Other Creatures Die," Jephtha
"Cara Sposa," Rinaldo
posted by holborne at 11:16 AM on March 22, 2017

Have you studied Ned Rorem? He's amazing, and he has some great songs for mezzo. One that comes to mind is "Early in the Morning" (not his other song, "As Adam, Early in the Morning"). Rorem is prolific and known for being excellent at picking poems; he's a writer himself, with several published memoirs.

One strategy I've heard is finding a fairly well-known singer whose voice is similar to yours, and then looking at their recorded repertoire, both for songs and for composers they like.
posted by amtho at 11:33 AM on March 22, 2017 [2 favorites]

"O Del Mio Dolce Ardor," Christoph Willibald Gluck is a contest standard.
posted by DrAstroZoom at 1:45 PM on March 22, 2017

I'm by no means a professional or even trained singer, but if I ever take singing lessons, I have a goal of singing parts of Exultate Jubilate by Mozart.
posted by matildaben at 2:39 PM on March 22, 2017

Obviously I'm going to suggest some Shostakovich. Namely, the lovely "Lullaby" from his cycle From Jewish Folk Poetry. You don't say how your Russian is, but you can find the Yiddish lyrics at lieder.net.

Or a more obscure piece - "The Dragonfly and the Ant" from Two Fables of Krylov; it's the first piece in this video.

I second amtho's suggestion of finding pieces that have been performed by singers with similar voices.
posted by Perodicticus potto at 4:40 PM on March 22, 2017

In the process of looking for suggestions I found the Aria Database, which allows you to search by range. Searching for C4-E5 returns a couple dozen arias that might be suitable.
posted by Johnny Assay at 5:10 PM on March 22, 2017 [1 favorite]

I'm not a singer, but I love Lieder and Chansons. How about something from Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben. (Sung here sung by mezzo Anne Sofie von Otter.) Such a lovely cycle!

Also, while this may not be true in the opera world, in the Lieder world my understanding is it's just fine to transpose a song into whatever key is comfortable for your range. Hans Hotter, for instance, who was more or less a bass, made a great recording of Die Winterreise, which Schubert wrote originally for a tenor range. Pianists who specialize in Lieder accompaniment are skilled in transposing their parts at sight. And publishers issue editions of the same songs pre-transposed for the various vocal ranges. So you shouldn't be limited to whatever key the composer happened to write in. Right?

Another, smaller cycle of Lieder for female voice I love and have to mention for consideration are Hugo Wolf's Mignon Lieder. They are more on the Wagnerian side of things, harmonically. Sung here by alto Christa Ludwig.
posted by bertran at 5:26 PM on March 22, 2017

If Wolf appeals to you, actually, there are plenty of real gems in his other collections too. Have a listen, say, to the Spanische Liederbuch. The first ten are on the slow and dark side; they pick up in tempo and variety of mood after that. Here's von Otter, again, singing them.
posted by bertran at 5:36 PM on March 22, 2017

First thing I thought of when you said art songs for mezzo-soprano was Schubert lieder. I'm not a mezzo-soprano (I'm more of a lyric), but I had a couple voice teachers try to force me into that range because they were more comfortable with it, and they gave me some Schubert lieder to work with. We eventually parted ways, but I did give it the old college try. I don't remember specific pieces (it was a long time ago), but you might try some of these (I see someone else recommended Hugo Wolf, whose works also appear on this album, so that's a bonus).
posted by tully_monster at 10:08 PM on March 22, 2017

I'm a mezzo with a similar range and when I took lessons, I looooved singing Non Posso Disperar .
posted by pazazygeek at 8:14 AM on March 23, 2017

Response by poster: Thank you! These are all great suggestions.
posted by colfax at 12:46 PM on March 24, 2017