Singing is considered by many as the most accessible method of creating music. For this reason, vocal music exists in almost every culture. Therefore, I have chosen two pieces of music written for voice, one from the classical era written by Mozart in his opera Don Giovanni, and one from 1960s America.
When writing vocal music, there are many techniques that can be utilised by the composer which when used effectively can enhance the expressiveness of the text. These include the use of vocal range, dynamics, timbre and melody. I believe it is possible to demonstrate that they are applied similarly in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Carey/Fisher’s “You’ve Changed” sung by Sarah Vaughan. These are two stylistically and geographically separated pieces.
Don giovanni – ah fuggi il traditor!
ah fuggi il traditor is sung half way through the first act of the opera and features Donna Elvira singing to Zerlina preventing Don Giovanni from seducing her.
Youve changed sarah vaughan
You’ve Change is a song featured on Sarah Vaughan’s 1961 album ‘Dreamy’. The song expresses regret and hopelessness concerning her long term relationship, as she thinks her partner is no longer in love with her.
The techniques I will be exploring that are used in these songs are generally melodic techniques such as melisma, appoggiaturas and disjunct melodic lines. Repetition of thematic and harmonic material is also used within the piece.
Chromaticism is utilised in the aria Ah fuggi il traditor to contribute to the dramatic effect created by Mozart. This often appears as a descending chromatic movement signifying momentary modulation or the building of tension within a phrase.
Chromaticism is frequently present in jazz music, and in You’ve changed, it can be heard serving a purpose quite similar to that just observed in Don Giovanni, emphasising the significance of something coming to an end.
Mozart also demonstrates a large tessitura within the aria, ranging from an F above middle C to an A the octave above. This is relatively high but is emphasised by the use of a disjunct melody, featuring frequent leaps of an octave. This technique is generally avoided in classical music but works effectively here by adding to the anxiety and warning presented by Donna Elvira. Mozart uses this technique to make the vocal passages more expressive and exciting.
Mozart was an expert at composing lyrical and dramatic melodic lines, which are then joined by vivid orchestration.
It is with such a varying accompaniment that allows repetitive melodies to thrive.
There is also imitation between the orchestra and the vocalist at times.
The aria depicts her as a tragic character but it is composed in an out of date style, making her sound insincere.
The use of large intervals and notes in the outermost regions of the performers’ ranges link the two pieces.
There is also use of an anacrusis like figure which is always an ascending leap which heightens the dramatic effect but also helps the music to move forward.
The songs share a musical feature that dates back to the renaissance period, word painting. While “You’ve Changed” has very obvious examples of it, Ah, fuggi il traditor has some less obvious but still present ones. Most examples connect to the concept of downward movement in pitch signifying the end of something. This can be seen in the Mozart as although the melodic phrases usually climb up in pitch throughout, they end in a descending, usually scalic pattern. This is seen at all cadences in the aria. This can signify the end of something, in the case of You’ve changed Love and in Don Giovanni, it would be the end of the deceit of Zerlina.
Similarly in “You’ve Changed”, on the words ‘You’re bored of me in every way’ we hear a descending chromatic figure which is almost a sighing. And on the words “I can’t understand’ a new timbre is used within her voice which is almost a moaning. The use of single note repetition is also powerful in word painting within the song. We hear on ‘You’re not the angel I once knew’ emphasising this sadness. Finally on the last ‘It’s all over now’ there is a descending interval of a 6th which is reached using a glissando. This shows that she has fully given up on her partner.
The use of melismatic melodies is also present in both pieces. In ‘You’ve Changed’, There is an ascending chromatic scale on the syllable ‘you’of ‘you’ve changed, emphasising that it is the other person's fault not her own. This is emphasised by the fact that the phrase “You’ve changed is constantly repeated. This repetition makes the lyrics more convincing, leading to an increase in the overall persuasiveness and expression of the vocals.
In Ah, Fuggi il traditor the syllable ‘ah’ in the phrase ‘fallace il ciglio’, meaning ‘Woe befall thee’ is extended through the use of melisma.
Another feature heard in both songs is the repetition of lyrics. These repetitions are effective ways of emphasizing the content. This is seen through the repetition of the words ‘You’ve changed’ in the Vaughan and ‘fallace il ciglio’ in the Mozart. It is clearly visible that the repeated melody notes contribute to a great extent to the stressing of the key words.
The jazz-typical syncopations in ‘You’ve changed’ make them even more distinct and highlighted.
The timbre of vocal music is determined by many things such as the quality of a note that distinguishes it from another. The main timbral link between the two pieces in the instances where changes in timbre allow for certain effects.
In Don Giovanni, Donna Elvira has a similar timbre throughout the entire song, the change being that of the change between the technique used to sing the notes lower in the vocal range to that of the higher notes. This creates a vibrato rich, but also focused sound.
Sarah Vaughan makes use of several different timbres by adopting this ‘sighing’ style of singing as well as utilising falsetto. The use of falsetto seems to indicate a teasing, somewhat ridiculing tone in her vocals. This is also detectable towards the end when she sings the title words “I love you” in a very low register. This sighing is seen in the word ‘yawn’. This adds onomatopoeic qualities to a word which is not onomatopoeic in spoken english.
Furthermore, Vaughan often rounds off long notes with vibratos, giving some extra flavor to sustained notes where features such as dynamics and pitch do not change. This is also an effective way of connecting two musical phrases.
Another similarity between the two pieces is the orchestration. Both pieces are written for voice with an orchestral accompaniment. Both orchestras are string dominant with the brass and wind sections filling out the harmony to create a thicker texture.
The works studied have obvious dissimilarities such as geographical, cultural, genre and style differences, and that the act of communicating the meaning of the songs is mostly in the hands of the composer concerning Don Giovanni, while more up to the performer concerning You’ve changed. Despite this, the approaches of Mozart and Sarah Vaughan have many similarities. Audiences during the Classical period were likely to react similarly to these techniques, as audiences would today. This is because composers and performers of the 20th century have used them in similar ways to convey similar moods.
Other primary links between the two works include word painting, considerable intervals, the use of full vocal ranges, and timbral changes for effect. These features may have different individual effects, but they certainly make the music more expressive.