Part song

Apart song,part-songorpartsongis a form ofchoral musicthat consists of a song to asecularor non-liturgicalsacred text,written or arranged for severalvocal parts.Part songs are commonly sung by anSATBchoir, but sometimes for an all-male or all-female ensemble.Part songs are intended to be sunga cappella,that is without accompaniment, unless an instrumental accompaniment is particularly specified.

In Britain

The part song was created in Great Britain, growing out of themadrigaltradition (though initially with more emphasis onhomophonicharmony and less onpolyphonicpart writing) and the 18th centuryGlee.Paul Hillierdescribes the Glee as "a uniquely English creation...the convivial music of all-male musical societies". The classic Glee is "essentially a work for unaccompanied men's voices, in not less than three parts...simpler [than the madrigal] in texture, less sophisticated in design, and generally based on the simplest kind of diatonic harmony".One of the most famous examples isSamuel Webbe'sGlorious Apollo,composed in 1790.

The part song was soon established as more suitable for mixed-voice choirs, its development marked by increasing complexity of form and contrapuntal content.It gradually attracted the attention of a wider range of composers. One of these wasFelix Mendelssohn,already influential in the English choral tradition through his oratorios. Translated into English, his part songs became very popular in England. Mendelssohn was familiar with Glees, his teacherCarl Friedrich Zelterfounded theBerliner Liedertafelin 1808, the German equivalent of theGlee club.

Part songs were quickly seen as a commercial opportunity by music publishers. From the early 1840sNovello and Co'sMusical Times and Singing Class Circularincluded a simple piece of choral music (alternating secular and sacred) inside every issue, which choral society members subscribed to collectively for the sake of the music.

Early British composers of part songs includeJohn Liptrot Hatton,R. J. S. Stevens,Henry SmartandGeorge Alexander Macfarren,who was renowned for his Shakespearean settings. Around the turn of the 20th century in the heyday of the part song,Hubert Parry,Charles Villiers StanfordandEdward Elgarwere the principal exponents, often bringing a high-minded seriousness to their settings of great English poetry both contemporary and from earlier epochs. More recent major contributors to the genre includeRalph Vaughan Williams,Granville Bantock,Arnold Bax,Peter Warlock,Gustav HolstandBenjamin Britten(hisFive Flower Songsof 1950). Interest declined rapidly from the 1950s as more specialist choirs began to champion the madrigal tradition.

Composers have also successfully used the part song medium to make contemporary arrangements of traditionalfolk songs,including those ofScotland,England,WalesandIreland.Part songs can sometimes be sacred as well as secular. The unaccompaniedliturgical anthemcan be closely related in form and texture.Sullivan'sFive Sacred Partsongswere published in 1871.

In Europe

The first GermanLiedertafelmale-voice music society, was founded in Berlin byCarl Friedrich Zelterin 1808.Heinrich MarschnerandCarl Weberwrote examples for male voices only. These were followed by mixed-voiced pieces setting German romantic poetry bySchubert,Schumann,Mendelssohn,Peter CorneliusandBrahms.Similarly in France, the first Orphéons choral societies for men were established in the mid-19th century.Gounod,Saint-Saëns,Delibes,DebussyandRavelall wrote examples for mixed-voice choirs.

In Ukraine

In Ukraine part song replaced aZnamenny chant.About half a century before the advent of a party part song, the old hook notation began to be replaced by a non-linear one, close to the modern one. Orthodox fraternities initiated the introduction of party singing. They opened schools at monasteries and introduced the study of part song in fraternal and church choirs. The first mention of such a study is associated with the Lviv Stauropean Brotherhood and dates back to the 1590s. The theoretical foundations of part song have been set out in a number of treatises. The most famous of them and the only surviving (in several editions) - "Musical Grammar" byMykola Diletsky.

According to the number of voices and the nature of polyphony, Ukrainian part songs are divided into three groups: party concerts, party motets and party works with constant polyphony. Party concerts include all works with 8 or more voices, and motets include party works of variable polyphony with 6 or less voices. Seven-part works have not yet been found, so they are not included in this classification, but most likely they must also be included in concerts. According to the themes of the texts and the predominant musical means, the part songs are divided into two large groups: vivatno-panegyric (glorious) and lyrical-dramatic (repentant).

In the USA

The Mendelssohn Glee Club was founded in New York in 1866. Its second musical director wasEdward MacDowell.Part songs flourished in the USA from 1860 well into the 1930s. Examples were composed byAmy Beach,Dudley Buck,George Whitefield Chadwick,Arthur Foote,Henry Hadley,Margaret Ruthven Lang,Edward MacDowell andHoratio Parker,and more recently byRandall ThompsonandElliott Carter.

Examples

• Ye spotted snakes,text byShakespeare,music byR. J. S. Stevens(1782)
• Lay a garland,music byRobert Lucas Pearsall(1854)
• Orpheus with his lute,text by Shakespeare, music byGeorge Alexander Macfarren
• Sweet and Low,text byTennyson,music byJoseph Barnby(1865)
• The Long Day Closes,text byHenry Chorley,music byArthur Sullivan(1868)
• Waldesnacht,Op. 62, No. 3, text byPaul Heyse,music byBrahms(1874)
• Calme des nuits,Op 68 No 1, music bySaint Saens(1883)
• As Torrents in Summer,text byLongfellow,music byEdward Elgar(1896)
• The Bluebird,text byMary Coleridge,music byCharles Villiers Stanford(1910)
• Twilight Night,text byChristina Rossetti,music byJohn Ireland(1922)
• Songs of Springtime,texts by six authors, music byE J Moeran(1930)
• Five Flower Songs,texts by four authors, music byBenjamin Britten(1950)
• Three Shakespeare Songs– text by Shakespeare, music byVaughan Williams(1951)