Art Song

The art song is a through-composed setting of a poem for solo voice and piano, in which the accompaniment is an equal expressive partner rather than support: harmony, figuration and postludes interpret the text as fully as the vocal line. Known in German as the Lied, in French as the mélodie and in English as the art song, the form flourished in the nineteenth-century salon and recital hall, setting lyric poetry by Goethe, Heine, Müller and their successors. Songs are frequently gathered into cycles unified by a poet, a narrative or a journey, and demand the combined artistry of singer and pianist.