Art Song Characteristics
While many pieces of vocal music are easily recognized as art songs, other are more difficult to categorize. For example, a wordless vocalise written by a classical composer is sometimes considered an art song. and sometimes not
Other factors help define art songs:
- Songs that are part of a staged work (such as an opera or a musical) are not usually considered art songs However, some Baroque arias that "appear with great frequency in recital performance" are now included in the art song repertoire.
- Songs with instruments besides piano and/or other singers are referred to as "vocal chamber music", and are usually not considered art songs.
- Songs originally written for voice and orchestra are called "orchestral songs" and are not usually considered art songs, unless their original version was for solo voice and piano.
- Folksongs are generally not considered art songs unless they are concert arrangements with piano accompaniment written by a specific composer Several examples of these songs include Aaron Copland's two volumes of Old American Songs, the Folksong arrangements by Benjamin Britten, and the Siete canciones populares españolas (Seven Spanish Folksongs) by Manuel de Falla.
- There is no agreement regarding sacred songs. Many song settings of biblical or sacred texts were composed for the concert stage and not for religious services; these are widely known as art songs (for example, the Vier ernste Gesänge by Johannes Brahms). Others sacred songs may or many not be considered art songs.
- A group of art songs composed to be performed in a group to form a narrative or dramatic whole is called a song cycle.
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