Key learning points

1. Composers have used voices in many different ways.
2. Solo songs, such as lieder, were particularly common from the Romantic period onwards.
3. They often used techniques such as word-painting and melisma.
4. Opera used solo singers, a chorus and orchestra to tell epic stories, using arias and recitative.
5. In the Baroque period, oratorios and anthems are two key genres of vocal music.

Keywords

• Choir / chorus - a group of singers, often including soprano, alto, tenor and bass voices (SATB)

• Lied - a solo song, most common in the Romantic period, usually with piano accompaniment (plural 'lieder')

• Recitative - a vocal style that sounds semi-spoken, often used for dialogue in opera

• Word-painting - where a vocal melody reflects the meaning of the words (e.g. a descending melody on the word ‘falls’)

• Melisma - where multiple notes are sung during one syllable of a word

Common misconception