Music Notation and Terminology

by Karl Wilson Gehrkens

The familiar solos from The Messiah—"Rejoice Greatly," and "The trumpet shall sound" are good examples of the aria style.

172. A lied (Ger. = song) is a vocal solo in which the text, the melody, and the accompaniment contribute more or less equally to the effect of the whole.

Strictly speaking the word lied means "a poem to be sung," and this meaning will explain at once the difference between the lied on the one hand, and the Italian recitative and aria on the other, for in the lied the text is of great importance, but the music is also interesting, while in the recitative the text was important but the music very slight, and in the aria the text was usually inconsequential while the music held the center of interest.

The most pronounced characteristic of the lied is the fact that it usually portrays a single mood, sentiment, or picture, thus differing from the ballad, which is narrative in style. It will be noted that this "single mood, or sentiment, or picture" was originally conceived by the poet who wrote the word-text, and that the composer in writing music to this text has first tried to get at the thought of the poet, and has then attempted to compose music which would intensify and make more vivid that thought. This intensification of the poet's thought comes as often through the rhythm, harmony, and dynamics of the accompaniment as through the expressiveness of the voice part.

The style of song-writing in which each verse is sung to the same tune is called the "strophe form," while that in which each verse has a different melody is often referred to as the "continuous" or "through-composed" form (Ger. durch-componiert).

173. A ballad was originally a short, simple song, the words being in narrative style, i.e., the word-text telling a story. In the earlier ballads each verse of the poem was usually sung to the same tune (strophe form), but in the art-ballad as developed by Loewe and others the continuous style of composition is employed, this giving the composer greater opportunities of making vivid through his music the events described by the poem. These later ballads are in consequence neither "short" nor "simple" but compare in structure with the lied itself.

174. A folk-song is a short song sung by and usually originating among the common people. Its dominant characteristic is usually simplicity, this applying to word-text, melody, and accompaniment (if there is one). The text of the folk-song is usually based on some event connected with ordinary life, but there are also many examples in which historical and legendary happenings are dealt with. Auld Lang Syne, and Comin' thru the Rye, are examples of folk-songs.

There has been some difference of opinion as to whether a song, the composer of which is known, can ever constitute a real folk-song: recent writers seem to be taking the sensible view of the matter, viz.: that if a song has the characteristics of a folk- rather than an art-song, and if it remains popular for some time among the common people, then it is just as much a folk-song whether the composer happens to be known or not.

175. A madrigal is a secular vocal composition having from three to eight parts. It is in contrapuntal style, like the motet, and is usually sung a capella.