The French repertoire is often
underestimated by French and foreign singers.
They barely remember a few works
though they are numerous and cover a large scale of styles and periods.
French or foreign singers sense the
same difficulty and dread the French language.
They often believe that this
language is more difficult to sing than other languages.
Many singers also have trouble with
the “ spoken declamation “, the transition between the spoken and the sung text
in the Opera-Comique and Opera-Bouffe repertoire.
Sometimes characteristics of the
French vocal music are blurred by a will to standardize.
It appears to me that we must offer
the young singers a specific training so that they may adapt to the French
repertoire.
We must give them the opportunity to
know it better in order to support it better.
French repertoire is huge. It
includes several styles :
- The baroque repertoire ( Lully, Rameau ….)
- The opera repertoire ( Massenet, Gounod, Saint-Saëns )
- The Opera-Comique repertoire (songs alternating with dialogues ) : as an exemple Carmen is part of the Opera-Comique
- Opera-Bouffe repertoire
- Operetta repertoire ( Offenbach, Lecocq, Planquette, Messager …)
- Melody repertoire (Gounod, Massenet, Debussy, Fauré, Poulenc…)
Choice
of the repertoire
Some
voices and some colors are more suitable to the French repertoire.
Which
repertoire is suited to which vocal category ?
Pronounciation in French music
- Tradition and modernity
- Open vowels and closed vowels
- Semi-vowels
- The mute “ E “
- Accent in the French language
- Rolled “ R “ or not ?
- Links : when do we have to use them and when not ?
- During this session, we will focus on the Opera, Opera-Comique repertoire and on melodies
