Music genre help???

Question:I need some help. If you could help me out that would be great. For an audition I need songs that are "art song, Lieder, oratorio, opera or folk ballad literature."

If you can give me some examples of what these are and evensome suggestions for solo pieces that would be great.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I need some help. If you could help me out that would be great. For an audition I need songs that are "art song, Lieder, oratorio, opera or folk ballad literature."

If you can give me some examples of what these are and evensome suggestions for solo pieces that would be great.

Art songs: solo songs in English by folks like Barber and Rorem. Some would include English solo songs going back as far as the Elizabethan lutenists.

Lieder: art songs in German, people like Schubert, Schumann Brahms

Oratorio: large religious works, Handel's Messiah or Mendelssohn's Elijah

Opera: totally sung drama, featuring moments of reflection and character development known as "arias".

Folk ballads: songs by unknown composers transmitted orally. Benjamin Britten did a number of arrangements of British folk songs.

Specific suggestions are harder, as we don't know your voice type. I suspect that you haven't studied voice, at least not very long, because if you had, you'd have encountered all these genres. So I'll be as basic as I can.

Art songs: Thomas Campion , esp. "Never weather-beaten sail". Barber, "Sure on this shining night" Lieder: Schubert "Heidenr?slein" or "An die Musik". Oratorio or opera I'd stay away from, but you can do some of the arie antiche from the old Schirmer "24 Italian songs and arias" (Jocularly known to voice students as "Double dozen D--- ditties" (the Alfred Publishing "26 Italian..." is the same material but in a better edition)

Schirmer also publishes a series, "the first book of <insert voice range> solos". there are 3 of these for each voice type, and chock-full of the material you need.

Oh yeah, and find a good teacher. Good luck!

Oratorio could be from the "Messiah" by Handel, folk could be "Barbara Allen", Art song - "Fog" (I don't recall the composer), Opera - "Non Lo Diro" also by Handel I think.

They want some music from the "great" composers, not some Broadway show tunes or rock songs or country classics.

Here are some composers to consider:

Art song or lieder: Shubert, Wagner, Beethoven, Mendelssohn.

Oratorio: Handel, Bach

Opera: Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Bizet, Britten

Folk Ballad literature: arrangements by John Jacob Niles, Gustav Holst, Richard Dyer Bennet. Look at a good music store for "Black is the Color of my True Love's Hair" or "Lass of the Low Countrie".