PriscillaJaneSmith

XML vocabulary design project

The vocal music interpretation vocabulary is a vocabulary for describing a "grouping of information" about the interpretation, analysis, and performance of a single piece of classical vocal music, written for either voice and piano or voice and orchestra. It will describe the title, the author(s), instructions or suggestions regarding performance of the piece of music, the translation and interpretation of the text, voice types for which the piece would be appropriate, and where this "grouping of information" can be located. This type of "grouping of information" may be found in a published document or in the form of notes (commentary appended to a piece of music) taken in the form of prose, music notation, or pronunciation symbols. It is possible that some of these terms will not exist or will not be included in a given instance of the "grouping of information."

Defining the Terms

Name of piece: The name of the piece of music (also known as an aria, lied, mélodie, chanson, canción, art song, or song).
Name of work: The name of the larger work of music from which the piece of music originates.
Name of composer: The name of the person who wrote the piece of music.
Name of writer: The name of the person who wrote the text, also known as the librettist or lyricist.
Text source: The name of the larger work of prose from which the text originates.
Appropriate voice type: The particular type of singing voice (also known as the Fach) for which the piece would be appropriate in performance.
Original language of text: The language in which the text (as intended to be sung in this particular piece of music) was written.
Text in original language: The text of the piece, in its original language.
Text in English translation: If the text was not originally written in English, the full (or partial) translation of the text into English.
Pronunciation symbols: The full or partial conversion of the text to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) or other phonetic notation.
Name of interpreter: The name of the person who interpreted the meaning behind the elements of the piece of music.
Interpreter commentary on the composer: Relevant background information about the life of the composer.
Interpreter commentary on the music: Information to assist the performer(s) in the precise realization of the music, including tempo, dynamics, phrasing, rhythmic subtleties, coloring, nuance, and appropriate performance practice.
Interpreter commentary on the poet: Relevant background information about the life of the poet.
Interpreter commentary on the text: Information to assist the performer(s) in the precise realization of the text, including literary interpretation, pronunciation irregularities, accentuation of important words, rhythmic subtleties, appropriate performance practice, and recommendations for keeping the text intelligible while maintaining a beautiful tone.
Interpreter commentary on the historical context: Information about the social and historical events that may have played a part in the creation of the poetry or music of the piece.
Location: A description of where the "grouping of information" can be found.

An example

		<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?> 
			<vocal_music_interpretation>
				<name_of_work>Chansons de Bilitis</name_of_work>
				<name_of_piece>Le Tombeau des Naïades</name_of_piece>
				<composer>
					<name_of_composer>Claude Debussy</name_of_composer>
				</composer>
				<writer>
					<name_of_writer>Pierre Louys</name_of_writer>
				</writer>
				<text_source></text_source>
				<text>
					<text_in_original_language lang="fr">
						<line>Le long du bois couvert de givre, je marchais;</line>
						<line>mes cheveux, devant ma bouche,</line>
						<line>se fleurissaient de petits glaçons,</line>
						<line>et mes sandales étaient lourdes</line>
						<line>de neige fangeuse et tassée.</line>
						<line>Il me dit: 'Que cherches-tu?'</line>
						<line>-- 'Je suis la trace du satyre.</line>
						<line>Ses petits pas fourchus alternent</line>
						<line>comme des trous dans un manteau blanc.'</line>
						<line>Il me dit: 'Les satyres sont morts.</line>
						<line>Les satyres et les nymphes aussi.</line>
						<line>Depuis trente ans, il n'a pas fait un hiver aussi terrible.</line>
						<line>La trace que tu vois est celle d'un bouc.</line>
						<line>Mais restons ici, où est leur tombeau.'</line>
						<line>Et avec le fer de sa houe</line>
						<line>il cassa la glace de la source où jadis riaient les naïades.</line>
						<line>Il prenait de grands morceaux froids,</line>
						<line>et les soulevant vers le ciel pâle,</line>
						<line>il regardait au travers.</line>
					</text_in_original_language>
				</text>
				<interpretation>
					<interpreter>
						<name_of_interpreter>Pierre Bernac</name_of_interpreter>
					</interpreter>
					<interpreter>
						<name_of_interpreter>Winifred Radford</name_of_interpreter>
					</interpreter>
					<text_in_translation lang="en">
						<line>Along the wood covered with frost, I walked;</line>
						<line>my hair, hanging down before my mouth,</line>
						<line>was bespangled with little icicles,</line>
						<line>and my sandals were heavy</line>
						<line>with muddy, packed snow.</line>
						<line>He said to me: 'What do you seek?'</line>
						<line>-- 'I follow the track of the satyr.</line>
						<line>His little cloven hoof marks alternate</line>
						<line>like holes in a white mantle.'</line>
						<line>He said to me: 'The satyrs are dead.</line>
						<line>The satyrs and the nymphs too.</line>
						<line>For thirty years there has not been so terrible a winter.</line>
						<line>The track that you see is that of a buck.</line>
						<line>But let us stay here, where their tomb is.'</line>
						<line>And with the iron of his spade</line>
						<line>he broke the ice of the spring where formerly the naiads had laughed.</line>
						<line>He took some big, cold pieces,</line>
						<line>and raising them towards the pallid sky</line>
						<line>he looked through them.</line>
					</text_in_translation>
					<pronunciation_guide>
						<line>line 4: "sandales étaient" = [sãdalœzetɛ]</line>
						<line>line 5: "fangeuse et" = [fãʒœze]</line>
						<line>line 8: "fourchus alternent" = [furʃyzaltɛrnœ]</line>
						<line>line 9: "dans un" = [dãzœ̃]</line>
						<line>line 11: "satyres et" = [satirœze]</line>
						<line>line 11: "nymphes aussi" = [nœ̃fœzosi]</line>
						<line>line 12: "trente ans" = [trãtã]</line>
						<line>line 12: "fait un" = [fɛtã]</line>
						<line>line 13: "bouc" = [buk]</line>
						<line>line 14: "restons ici" = [rɛstõzisi]</line>
						<line>line 15: "et avec" = [e avɛk]</line>
						<line>line 16: "jadis" = [ʒadis]</line>
						<line>line 19: "regardait au" = [rœgardɛto]</line>
					</pronunciation_guide>
					<interpreter_commentary>
						<appropriate_voice_type></appropriate_voice_type>
						<composer>The three Chansons de Bilitis were completed in 1897.</composer>
						<music>
							<line>The tempo is approximately ♪ = 50, which gives the impression of the girl heavily trudging in the snow. Her slow, weary pace can be felt in the rhythm.</line>
							<line>The pianissimo on "et mes sandales" must not be emphasized and the triplets must be well sustained.</line>
							<line>A crescendo on "La trace que tu vois est celle d'un bouc" helps the pianist with his little climax on the bar in 2/4, followed by a molto diminuendo, which should be poco rubato. (In certain editions a B♮ is forgotten on the last semiquaver).</line>
							<line>The penultimate phrase of the text should crescendo as the voice goes up. There is no good place to breathe in this phrase; the least bad place is between "source" and "où".</line>
							<line>The final phrase of the text should not be too piano, with a crescendo on "au travers" and a beautiful diminuendo on the last D.</line>
							<line>The piano postlude is very important and quite orchestral. The even movement of the semiquavers of the flute should not be disturbed by the stresses of the rest of the orchestra, especially on the first beat of the last bar.</line>
						</music>
						<poet>The prose poems were supposed to be Greek poems translated by Pierre Louys, but they are really original works of this close friend of Debussy.</poet>
						<text>
							<line>Winter has come and passion has dimmed.</line>
							<line>The two voices (those of the girl and the boy) should be suggested, but with no exaggeration.</line>
							<line>The last words of the boy, "Mais restons ici, où est leur tombeau" are soft but serious. Then a contrast; she admires him very much.</line>
						</text>
						<historical_context></historical_context>
					</interpreter_commentary>
				</interpretation>
				<location>Bernac, Pierre. The Interpretation of French Song. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1978, pg. 199-201.</location>
			</vocal_music_interpretation>