vocal register

• MAPEH (MUSIC) Quarter 4 Vocal Music of Romantic Period
• What I Need to Know

  • After going through this session, you are expected to:

  1. Discuss briefly the life and works of opera composers of the Romantic Period
• Vocal Music of the Romantic Period (1820 – 1910)


  It can be express through writing, painting, dancing, singing or acting. What do you feel when these emotions are not expressed?
• Vocal Music of the Romantic Period


  Vocal music is one of the best tools for expressing one's feelings.
• Vocal Music of the Romantic Period


  1. This form of expression became more evident during the Romantic period

  2. The Romantic Period's basic quality is emotional subjectivity

  3. Composers explore feelings of grandiosity, intimacy, unpredictability, sad, rapture and longing
• Vocal Music of the Romantic Period


  • Romantic vocal forms like the art song and operas were about fantasy, supernatural, romance and the nature as mirror of the human heart
  • Virtuoso performers are not only instrumentalists but also singers
• Vocal Register


  A range of tones in the human voice produced by a particular vibratory pattern of the vocal folds. These registers include modal voice (or normal voice), vocal fry, falsetto, and the whistle register.
• Vocal Music of the Romantic Period


  1. The parallelisms of music and literature were evident in almost all forms of vocal music during the Romantic period

  2. Composers interpret poems, mood, atmosphere and imagery into music

  3. Musical compositions such as the ART SONG was written for solo voice and piano

  4. Mood is often set at the beginning with piano introduction and concluded with a piano postlude

  5. Vocal music in this period require singers to perform a greater range of tone color, dynamics and pitch
• Opera


  • It became an important source of musical expressions during the Romantic period
  • The birth of the opera houses came
  • It was the place where all the arts converged: not only music, but poetry, painting, architecture and the dance as well
• Franz Peter Schubert


  • Schubert was born on the 31st of January 1797 in Himmelpfortgrund, Austria and died in 1828 in Vienna, Austria at 31
  • The proper name for Franz Schubert songs is actually lieder, which is the German word for songs
  • Schubert developed lieder so that they had a powerful dramatic impact on the listeners. He tapped the poetry of writers like Johann Goethe
  • He is considered the last of the Classical composers and one of the first romantic ones. His famous vocal music works/ Lieder were: "Gretchen am Spinnrade", "Erlkonig", "Ellens Gesang III" ("Ave Maria") and "Schwanenge sang" ("Swan Song"). He also wrote piano pieces, string quartets, operetta and the Symphony No.8 in B minor ("Unfinished Symphony")
• Giuseppe Verdi


  • His characters are ordinary people and not those of the royal family like those found in German operas. He insisted on a good libretto and wrote operas for middle-class audience
  • Verdi was born in Parma, Italy on October 9, 1813. He studied in Busseto and later went to Milan where his first opera "Oberto" was performed in La Scala, the most important opera house at the time. Almost all of his works are serious love story with unhappy ending. Expressive vocal melody is the soul of a Verdi opera
  • He completed 25 operas throughout his career. His final opera ends with "All the world's a joke". Some of his famous operas are still being produced and performed worldwide. His much acclaimed works are; La Traviata, Rigoletto, Falstaff, Otello and Aida were he wrote for the opening of the Suez Canal. He died in Milan, Italy on January 27,1901
• Exterior of La Scala

  • The theatre's restored interior
• Giacomo Puccini


  • Giacomo Puccini was born in a poor family on December 22, 1858 in Lucca, Italy. He studied at the Milan Conservatory. He belonged to a group of composers who stressed realism. Therefore, he drew material from everyday life, rejecting heroic themes from mythology and history
  • Puccini's famous operas were: "La Boheme", "Tosca", "Madame Butterfly", and "Turandot"
• Poster for Madama Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini


  • Poster for the 1896 production for Puccini's La bohème
• Richard Wagner


  • Wilhelm Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig, Germany on May 22, 1813. He attended Leipzig University. He was very much inspired by Ludwig Van Beethoven
  • Wagner exerted a strong influence on the operatic medium. He was an advocate of a new form of opera which he called "music drama" where musical and dramatic elements were fused together
  • He developed a compositional style in which the orchestra has of equal importance in dramatic roles as the singers themselves. The expressiveness is aided by the use of "leitmotifs" or musical sequences standing for a particular character/plot element
  • His famous works are; "Tristan and Isolde", "Die Walkyrie", "Die Meistersinger", "Tannhäuser", and "Parsifal". His work would later influence modern film scores, including those of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings film series. Wagner died of a heart attack on February 13,1883 at age of 69
• Georges Bizet


  • Georges Bizet was registered with the legal name Alexandre-Cesar-Leopold Bizet, but was baptized Georges Bizet and was always known by the latter name. He was born October 25, 1838 in Paris, France. He entered the Paris Conservatory of music at a very young age
  • Bizet became famous for his operas. His most famous opera is "Carmen". However, when "Carmen" first opened in Paris, the reviews were terrible. The shows were criticized in horrible ways that resulted in poor audience attendance. During the first round of "Carmen" performances, Bizet died (June 3, 1875). He was only 36. Four months later, "Carmen" opened in Vienna, Austria, and was a smash hit. It is now one of the most popular operas ever written. Bizet never knew that audiences would come to consider it as his masterpiece
• Romantic Opera


  Opera became increasingly popular during the Romantic period. It is a musical composition having all or most of its text set to music with arias, recitative, choruses, duets, trios, etc. sung to orchestral accompaniment. The opera is usually characterized by elaborate costumes, scenery and choreography
• Components of an Opera

  • Libretto - the text of an opera. Librettist and the composer work closely together to tell the story
  • Score - the book that the composer and librettist put together. The score has all the musical notes, words and ideas to help the performers tell the story. Often, there are operas with overtures, preludes, prologues, several acts, finales and postludes
  • Aria – an air or solo singing part sung by a principal character. This song is what the public will remember best when leaving the opera house. Properly and well sung, a beautiful aria can bring an audience to its feet and decide the fate of an entire opera
• Sound/ Tone Color


  For opera, the performance is about the quality of sound that the singer makes. Singing opera requires you to sing long phrases and to sing loud enough to be heard over an orchestra in large halls.
• Bel Canto technique


  When singing opera, the focus of the performance is on the singing technique. Opera technique is called bel canto, which literally means beautiful singing. This is done by singing with your mouth and throat wide open and used with the proper breath support to project the voice through the entire hall. Endurance for long operas is an issue for singers. You have to practice a lot so that you can sing well for the entire length of the opera, which can be two to four hours.
• Language


  Opera singers often sing in Italian, French, German, or Russian. You don't have to be fluent in all these languages, but you want to be familiar enough with them that you can easily sing and sound like you are fluent in these languages.
• Male Voice Types


  • Tenor - highest male voice (B2 – G4)
  • Baritone - Middle male voice, lies between Bass and Tenor voices. It is the common male voice. (G2 – E4)
  • Bass - lowest male voice (E2 – C4)
• Female Voice Types


  • Soprano- highest female voice (C4 – A5)
  • Mezzo-Soprano- most common female voice; strong middle voice, tone is darker or deeper than the soprano (A3 – F5)
  • Contralto- lowest female voice and most unique among female (F3 – D5)
• Training to sing for opera usually requires a long process of voice lessons or study. It also requires a lengthy time of practice for you to master your voice. For many singers, the long process of studying also means starting early in life.
• The Romantic Era


  • The music is intensely emotional, deriving its strength from massive forces and vivid orchestration. It was also in this period, hat the virtuoso emerged and performed in numerous concerts
  • The art song (lied) became a special category of vocal music
  • The real achievements of the Romantics in theatre were in opera. One of the striking characteristics of the late 18th and early 19th centuries is the development of the idea of romantic love linked to marriage. Romantic operatic voice is trained to be full and rich, powerful enough to fill an opera house in the days before electronic amplification