This volume of The Pleasures of Singing, like the previous instalments, is destined for young singers and classes of musical training.
The pieces are presented in a medium-voice tessitura. For practical purposes, French translations have also been provided for three lieder (slightly altered, they date back to the 19th century).
In spite of their apparent easiness, most of the selected pieces require a rather slow movement, and are thus more difficult to sing legato and bring to life.
They will help young singers express their musical and poetic sense.
It is highly recommended for teachers to start the vocal training of their students with pieces set in the medium range, such as those in The Pleasures of Singing, before moving on to specific collections for Soprano, Mezzo, Tenor or Baritone at a later stage.
The first piece, L'Amour de Moy, which dates back to the 15th century, has been arranged here to a piano accompaniment composed specifically for this collection, but it can just as well be sung a capella, as it was written in the Bayeux manuscript. It can as such make excellent singing practice.
Until the end of the 18th century, ornaments and variations were not actually noted down in the scores, but were left to the musical imagination of singers (these "embellishments" could vary from concert to concert). This sense of improvisation has somewhat been lost, but students can draw their inspiration from the examples of standard ornaments and variations provided by the two singers in the CD.
All pieces in this collection can be sung indifferently by female or male voices.
For the CD recording, I have requested the collaboration of a soprano and a tenor for the sole purpose of varying vocal colour for the listener.
Both artists have sung with careful restraint so as to avoid setting too "lyrical" examples which could lead young singers to spend their energy wastefully and deleteriously.
The recorded piano solo accompaniment will help the student learn the setup of the piece before rehearsing it with the accompanist.
As for the preparatory exercises prior to the study of a piece, one can refer to the "exercises for beginnings" featured in my book Le Professeur de chant: un luthier qui construit une voix, published by Van de Velde. Experience has shown that all the pieces in this collection are taken up with pleasure by students and lead to substantial progress, both vocally and musically.
Jacqueline Bonnardot