Pitch Gliding with 'Voiced Consonants': Function and Application of a Means of Performance Style in Late-Romantic Lieder Singing

• Applicant: Dr. Kilian Sprau
• Subject Area: Musicology
• Term: from 2017 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 388847273

Gliding transitions from pitch to pitch, which can be deduced from written sources as well as from the earliest recordings, are one of the most common means of expression used by singers and (string) instrumental players during the late 19th and early 20th century. Given the omnipresence portamento and related devices of performance style these days, the extent to which they have disappeared from the performance practice of Western art music during the 20th century is remarkable. Even in musicological research the topic of portamento has only rarely come up: Versus aspects of time organization (e.g. agogics, choice and consistency of tempo), pitch gliding met relatively little scholarly interest till now. This is where my study will apply. My project will explore a special case of the use singers made and make of portamento: pitch gliding achieved not on vowels but - more subtly - on 'voiced consonants' ('Klinger'). This is a subject that has hardly ever been examined so far. The project will comprise an analysis of recordings, complemented by an evaluation of written sources. The corpus to be analyzed consists of representative recordings of lieder by the composer Richard Strauss; it allows a longitudinal cut through the recording history of this repertoire since the beginning of the recording era. The description of my project cites preliminary studies on which my work is based, states the purposes of my study and explicates the methods I will use.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants