Lodewijk Muns

What remains of a song if you ignore the lyrics? What makes a song without words a ‘song’? And why is singing without lyrics such a rare phenomenon?

00:00 Intro
00:36 Casual listening
07:53 Music as poetry
10:53 The ‘song without words’
19:06 Childish games
25:36 The marginal existence of the vocalise

Music fragments:

02:41 F. Schubert, An de Mond D259. Wolfgang Holzmair, Gérard Wyss. Tudor 791. 1992.
05:03 F. Schubert, An de Mond D296. Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Jörg Demus. Deutsche Grammophon 00289 479 6018.
06:47 F. Schubert, An de Mond D296. Piano*
12:06 F. Liszt, Sonetto 104 del Petrarca. Piano*
21:55 F. Mendelssohn, Lied ohne Worte op. 62 nr. 1 (complete). Piano*
27:24 M. Ravel, Vocalise en forme de habanera. Teresa Berganza, Dalton Baldwin. EMI 7243 5 69299 2 0.
28:17 R. Glier, Concerto for Coloratura Soprano and Orchestra op. 82. Erna Berger, Sergiu Celibidache, Berliner Philharmoniker. Berlin 1946/47. Audiophile.
39:35 L. Muns, Aria-Vocalise from the Chamber Opera Pedrillo Botón.

*Lodewijk Muns, piano

Main sources:

Cooper, J. M. “Words without Songs?: Of Texts, Titles, and Mendelssohn’s ‘Lieder Ohne Worte.’” In Musik als Text Bd. 2. Kassel: Bärenreiter 1998.
Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, F. Sämtliche Briefe. Kassel: Bärenreiter 2008-2017.
Todd, R. L.“Mendelssohn’s Lieder ohne Worte and the Limits of Musical Expression.” In Nicole Grimes and Angela Mace (eds). Mendelssohn Perspectives. Farnham: Ashgate 2012.