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{{Italic title}}{{short description|Expressionist vocal techniques between singing and speaking}}' ({{IPA-de|ˈʃpʀɛçɡəˌzaŋ|lang}}, "spoken singing") and ' ({{IPA-de|ˈʃpʀɛçˌʃtɪmə|lang}}, "spoken voice"), more commonly known as speak-singing in English, are expressionist musical vocal techniques between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, is directly related to the operatic recitative manner of singing (in which pitches are sung, but the articulation is rapid and loose like speech), whereas is closer to speech itself (because it does not emphasise any particular pitches).JOURNAL, Wood, Ralph W., Concerning 'Sprechgesang', Tempo (journal), Tempo, New series, 2, December 1946, 3–6, 943969,

The earliest compositional use of the technique was in the first version of Engelbert Humperdinck's 1897 melodrama Königskinder (in the 1910 version it was replaced by conventional singing), where it may have been intended to imitate a style already in use by singers of lieder and popular song,Griffiths, Paul, "Sprechgesang", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan, 2001). but it is more closely associated with the composers of the Second Viennese School. Arnold Schoenberg asks for the technique in a number of pieces: the part of the Speaker in Gurre-Lieder (1911) is written in his notation for , but it was Pierrot lunaire (1912) where he used it throughout and left a note attempting to explain the technique. Alban Berg adopted the technique and asked for it in parts of his operas Wozzeck and Lulu.

History

In the foreword to Pierrot lunaire (1912), Schoenberg explains how his should be achieved. He explains that the indicated rhythms should be adhered to, but that whereas in ordinary singing a constant pitch is maintained through a note, here the singer "immediately abandons it by falling or rising. The goal is certainly not at all a realistic, natural speech. On the contrary, the difference between ordinary speech and speech that collaborates in a musical form must be made plain. But it should not call singing to mind, either."Schoenberg, Arnold. Verklärte Nacht and Pierrot Lunaire. Dover Publications. New York, 1994. {{ISBN|0-486-27885-9}} (p. 54)For the first performances of Pierrot lunaire, Schoenberg was able to work directly with the vocalist and obtain exactly the result he desired, but later performances were problematic. Schoenberg had written many subsequent letters attempting to clarify, but he was unable to leave a definitive explanation and there has been much disagreement as to what was actually intended. Pierre Boulez wrote, "the question arises whether it is actually possible to speak according to a notation devised for singing. This was the real problem at the root of all the controversies. Schoenberg's own remarks on the subject are not in fact clear."Boulez, Pierre. Orientations. Faber and Faber. London, 1986. {{ISBN|0-571-14347-4}} (From the essay "Speaking, Playing, Singing", written 1963, pp. 330–335)Schoenberg later used a notation without a traditional clef in the Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte (1942), A Survivor from Warsaw (1947) and his unfinished opera Moses und Aron, which eliminated any reference to a specific pitch, but retained the relative slides and articulations.

Notation

(File:Sprechstimme examples.gif|thumb|upright=1.8|Examples of various notations)In Schoenberg's musical notation, is usually indicated by small crosses through the stems of the notes, or with the notehead itself being a small cross.Schoenberg's later notation (first used in his Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte, 1942) replaced the 5-line staff with a single line having no clef. The note stems no longer bear the 'x', as it is now clear that no specific pitch is intended, and instead relative pitches are specified by placing the notes above or below the single line (sometimes on ledger lines). Berg notates several degrees of , e. g. in Wozzeck, using single-line staff for rhythmic speaking, five-line staves with 'x' through the note stem, and a single stroke through the stem for close-to-singing .In modern usage, it is most common to indicate by using an 'x' in place of a conventional notehead.Read, Gardner. Musical Notation. Taplinger Publishing, New York, 1979. {{ISBN|0-8008-5453-5}} (p. 288)

Use in pop and rock music

-style talk-singing has appeared in contemporary pop, rock, punk, and alternative music since the 1960s.WEB, Schonfeld, Zach, The Eternal Cool of Talk Singing,weblink The Ringer (website), The Ringer, 7 December 2021, 13 October 2021, The vocal style is also prominent in the (Post-punk revival#2011–present: Resurgence|British post-punk scene of the 2020s), with several groups featuring a vocalist that uses the talk-sing method.

The following pop and rock artists have been described as featuring or talk-sing vocals in their music:

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• The B-52s
• Black Country, New Road
• Cake
• Nick Cave
• Cheekface
• Do NothingWEB, Hann, Michael, All talk: why 2019's best bands speak instead of sing,weblink The Guardian, 1 April 2024, 31 October 2019,
• Dry Cleaning
• Bob Dylan
• Billie Eilish
• The Fall
• Fontaines D.C.
• French Vanilla
• The Hold Steady
• Life Without Buildings
• Lou Reed
• Jonathan Richman
• Olivia RodrigoNEWS, Petridis, Alexis, 2023-09-08, Olivia Rodrigo: Guts review – dramatic dispatches from the dark side of youth, en-GB, The Guardian,weblink 2023-12-08, 0261-3077,
• Self EsteemWEB, Kinney, Fergal, Landfill Sprechgesang? Yard Act's The Overload Reviewed,weblink The Quietus, 1 April 2024, en-us,
• Shame
• Sleaford Mods
• Slint
• Sonic Youth
• Squid
• They Might Be Giants
• Wet LegWEB, Deville, Chris, Album Of The Week: Wet Leg 'Wet Leg',weblink Stereogum, 1 April 2024, en, 5 April 2022,
• Yard Act

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See also

• Rapping
• Spoken word
• Talking blues

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

• Avior Byron, "The Test Pressings of Schoenberg Conducting Pierrot lunaire: Sprechstimme Reconsidered", Music Theory Online (MTO), 12/1 (February 2006)
• Avior Byron and Matthias Pasdzierny "Sprechstimme Reconsidered Once Again: '... though Mrs. Stiedry is never in pitch' ", Music Theory Online (MTO), 13/2 (June 2007)

{{Extended techniques}}{{Opera terms}}{{Vocal music}}{{Authority control}}