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Music 3942y: French Lyric Diction

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Diction books

Diction guides are found at the call number MT883. This section contains sample items in Western Libraries. This list does not represent everything available from Western Libraries. Additional relevant resources can be found by searching Omni.

IPA Source
The web's largest library of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions and literal translations of opera arias and art song texts.

Diction for singers: A concise reference for English, Italian, Latin, German, French, and Spanish pronunciation by Joan Wall
Call Number: MT883.D52 1990
The singer's manual of English diction by Madeleine Marshall
Call Number: MT883.M37

Publication Date: 1953
A Singer's Manual of Spanish Lyric Diction by Nico Castel
Call Number: MT883.C27 1994
Singing in French by Thomas Grubb
Call Number: MT883.G88

Publication Date: 1979
Singing in Latin, or, Pronunciation explor'd by Harold Copeman
Call Number: MT883.C664 1990
A handbook of diction for singers : Italian, German, French by David Adams
Publication Date: 2008

...a complete guide to achieving professional levels of diction in Italian, German, and French, the three major languages of the classical vocal repertory.
Diction: Italian, Latin, French, German; the sounds and 81 exercises for singing them by John Moriarty
Call Number: MT872.M67

Publication Date: 1975

French Verse and Song guides

This section contains sample items in Western Libraries. This list does not represent everything available from Western Libraries. Additional relevant resources can be found by searching Omni.

Gabriel Fauré: the Songs and Their Poets by Graham Johnson
Call Number: ML410.F27J64 2009

In this comprehensive and richly illustrated study each of Fauré's 109 songs receives a separate commentary. Additional chapters for the student singer and serious music lover discuss interpretation and performance in both aesthetical and practical terms. Richard Stokes provides parallel English translations of the original French texts.
Voice Lessons by Katherine Bergeron
Publication Date: 2010

...examines the modern musical art known as la melodie francaise and its rise to prominence in the years around 1900 - a period when France was pouring resources into national literacy and French scholars were beginning to grasp the nuances of the spoken tongue.
Understanding French Verse: A Guide for Singers by David Hunter
Call Number: PC2511.H86 2005

Aimed at singers and singing teachers interested in the French song repertoire. This work, using examples from well known song settings, sets out the basics of French versification, showing how an understanding of verse techniques can enhance the enjoyment and interpretation of the French melody. It also illustrates how rhyme works.
A Stage For Poets : Studies in the Theatre of Hugo and Musset by Charles Affron
Publication Date: 2015

...considers those characteristics of lyric poetry--time, voice, and metaphor--which bring us closest to the singular attitudes of Hugo and Musset. Then, examining the texts of Hernani, Les Burgraves, Torquemada, Fantasio, and Lorenzaccio as well as several lesser known plays, Mr. Affron discusses such topics as poetic time, the scope of analogy, theatrical and poetic rhetoric, the guises of the poet-hero, and the manner of sounding the poet's voice upon the stage.
Apollinaire, Visual Poetry, and Art Criticism by Willard Bohn
Call Number: PQ2601.P77Z5734 1993

...examines a series of visual poems that Guillaume Apollinaire composed in 1917 for an exhibition of paintings by Leopold Survage and Irene Lagut. By this date Apollinaire had become an accomplished practitioner of visual poetry and was thoroughly at ease with the genre.
Six French Poets of the Nineteenth Century : Lamartine, Hugo, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Mallarmé by A. M. Blackmore (Edited and Translated by); E. H. Blackmore (Edited and Translated by)
Call Number: PQ1170.E6S534 2000

This anthology includes generous selections from the six nineteenth-century French poets most often read in the English-speaking word today. Modern translations are printed opposite the original French verse, and the edition contains over a thousand lines of poetry never previously translated into English.
One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine by Paul Verlaine; Norman R. Shapiro (Translator)
ISBN: 0226853462

Publication Date: 1999

Norman Shapiro's superb translations display Verlaine's ability to transform into timeless verse the essence of everyday life and make evident the reasons for his renown in France and throughout the Western world.

Translations

Translations of arias, songs, and sacred vocal music may be found in several resources. This section contains sample items in Western Libraries. This list does not represent everything available from Western Libraries. Additional relevant resources can be found by searching Omni.

IPA Source
The web’s largest library of International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) transcriptions & literal translations of aria and art song texts.

Leyerle Publications (several titles)
These volumes include translations and set the standard for IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) for singers. Most of these titles are found on the Library's "singer's table"
LiederNet Archive
An archive of texts used in classical art songs, choral works, and other types of classical vocal pieces. The collection currently indexes 135,350 vocal settings and includes over 25,000 volunteer translations to English, French, Italian, Dutch, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages.
Aria Database
Besides providing basic information about various arias, the database includes translations and aria texts for those titles in the public domain. Though inactive since 2013, the database contains 389 aria translations.
Choral Public Domain Library
...free choral/vocal scores, texts, translations, and other useful information.

More Translations

One can also find translations in:

other books (scan the Music Library's holdings between ML47 and ML54.8)
the liner notes to sound recordings (e.g. CD booklets, and LPs)
and select, scholarly scores

Western Libraries also provides access to bilingual dictionaries, which offer translations between English and other languages both in print and online. E.g., English-Italian/Italian-English; English-German/German-English, etc.

If you use a translation from any resource - either for a paper or a performance - remember to cite it!