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Audition for the Bachelor of Music Degree in Performance (Voice)

To gain admission to the B.Mus. in Performance (Voice), a student must pass an entrance audition before a faculty jury of three, to be appointed by the chairperson. The audition will occur near the end of the second semester of college and must demonstrate the student’s ability to perform well challenging repertoire representing several historical periods and styles. A student wishing to perform an entrance audition must notify the chairperson in writing at least three weeks prior to the audition. Only after passing the entrance audition may the student declare as a major the B.Mus. in Performance (Voice). A student who does not pass the entrance audition in the second semester may have a second opportunity in the third semester. A prospective candidate for the B.Mus. in Performance (Voice) may declare a major in Music prior to the semesters stated above. The student will be listed as a candidate for the B.A. Music until he or she passes the audition or portfolio review.

Repertoire Requirements for the Audition for the Bachelor of Music in Performance (Voice)

The student who wishes to qualify for the B.Mus. in Performance (Voice) is to sing four pieces chosen from the following two lists. (With the teacher's permission, repertory may be chosen from the Post-Qualifying-Jury List.)

• Easier songs and arias in Italian from collections by 17th- and 18th-Century composers, such as
• Per la gloria d'adorarvi (Bononcini)
• Alma del core; Amarilli, mia bella; and Sebben, crudele (Caldara)
• Caro mio ben (Giordano)
• Lasciatemi morire (Monteverdi)
• Gia il sole dal Gange (A. Scarlatti)
• Tu lo sai (Torelli)


• Songs in English by American and British composers, such as
• selections from Six Songs from ?A Shropshire Lad” (Butterworth)
• Ah, may the red rose live alway! and Beautiful Dreamer (Foster)
• My mother bids me bind my hair and The Mermaid's Song (Haydn)
• My Days Have Been So Wondr'ous Free and Beneath a Weeping Willow's Shade (Hopkinson)
• I attempt from love's sickness, If music be the food of love (1st version), Nymphs and Shepherds, and What can we poor females do? (Purcell)
• Sleep you no more, sad fountains; Take, O take those lips away (Quilter)

Because significant vocal development does not take place until the later teens or even early twenties, first-years singers typically have less formal pre-college training than do instrumentalists. Therefore, as may be apparent from the above listing, a student seeking to qualify for the B.Mus. degree in Vocal Performance need not demonstrate advanced vocal technique and musicianship in the execution of demanding repertory. What should be demonstrated to the jury, however, is the solidity of the aspiring singer's technical foundation-namely:

• sureness of breath management,
• ability to negotiate registers smoothly,
• ease of vowel production and the ability to modify those vowels when the range
• demands, and
• clarity of Italian and English lyric diction.

What should also be apparent to the qualifying panel is the young singer's innate musicianship and response to linguistic demands as evidenced by:

• secure intonation,
• accuracy of pitches and rhythms,
• phrase shaping through dynamic gradation,
• choice of appropriate tempos,
• sensitivity to and communication of the meaning of the text, and
• confident stage deportment.

Requirements for B.Mus. in Vocal Performance Candidates enrolled in MUS 240

Repertory each semester
eight* songs/arias from memory

* If in the teacher's opinion a single piece is equivalent in length to two pieces, that work may count as two. Likewise, if the teacher deems very short pieces not equivalent in length to an average single piece, the teacher may require two or more of them to count as one.

End-of-Semester Jury
six songs/arias from memory
*****

Representative Repertory for Undergraduate Study (Post Qualifying Jury)

The B.Mus. Vocal Performance major must demonstrate on the Senior I.S. Recital the ability to sing in two languages in addition to English. The repertory studied will be determined by the student's language background and training. A sampling of repertory studied and performed by voice majors in recent years (and thus characteristic) follows.

More advanced songs and arias in Italian collections by 17th- and 18th-Century composers, such as Danza, danza, fanciulla gentile (Durante); O del mio dolce ardor (Gluck); Pur di cesti, o bocca bella (Lotti); O mio bel foco Ù Quella fiamma (Marcello); Le violette (A. Scarlatti)

Dominick Argento–selections from sets (e.g., Six Elizabethan Songs, Songs about Spring)

Johann Sebastian Bach–recitatives and arias from major works (e.g., B-Minor Mass, Christmas Oratorio, Magnificat) and cantatas

Samuel Barber–songs (The Daisies, Nun Takes the Veil, Rain Has Fallen, Sleep Now, Sure on This Shining Night, With Rue My Heart Is Laden) and selections from Hermit Songs

Ludwig van Beethoven–songs (Adelaide, Bitten, Ich liebe dich, In questa tomba oscura)

Leonard Bernstein–I Hate Music! and selections from Mass and Candide

Johannes Brahms–songs (Feldeinsamkeit, Der Gang zum Liebchen, Immer leise wird mein schlummer, Nicht mehr zu dir zu gehen, Sonntag, Der Tod das ist die kŽhle Nacht, Vergebliches St’ndchen, Von ewiger Liebe, Wie Melodien zieht es)

Benjamin Britten–selections from sets and cycles (e.g., Beware!, Cabaret Songs, Charm of Lullabies, Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Holy Sonnets of John Donne, Tit for Tat, Winter Words) and folksong arrangements

John Alden Carpenter–selections from Gitanjali

Ernest Chausson–songs (Le charme, Le colibri, Les papillons, SÌrÌnade italienne, Le temps des lilas)

Aaron Copland–selections from Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson and The Tender Land

Claude Debussy–songs (Beau soir, C'est l'extase langoureuse, Chevaux de bois, Clai de lune, En sourdine, Fantoches, Green, Il pleure dans mon coeur, Mandoline, Nuit d'Ìtoiles)

Manuel de Falla–Siete canciones populares espaúolas

Gabriel FaurÌ–arias from Requiem; songs (Aprñs un rÆve, Au bord de l'eau, Aurore, Automne, Chanson d'amour, En sourdine, Ici bas, Mai, Le secret)

Irving Fine–selections from Childhood Fables for Grownups

Gerald Finzi–selections from sets and cycles (e.g., Before and After Summer, I Said to Love, Let Us Garlands Bring, Till Earth Outwears, Young Man's Exhortation)

Gordon Getty–selections from The White Election

Enrique Granados–selections from Tonadillas

George Frideric Handel–recitatives and arias from operas and oratorios (e.g., Alcina, Atalanta, Giulio Cesare, Israel in Egypt, Judas Maccabaeus, Messiah, Rinaldo, Samson, Semele, Serse)

Franz Joseph Haydn–recitatives and arias from oratorios (e.g., The Creation and The Seasons); songs (Piercing Eyes, She Never Told Her Love, Spirit's Song)

Lee Hoiby–songs (The Lamb, The Shepherd, Where the Music Comes From)

Gustav Holst–Four Songs (with violin); selections from Vedic Hymns

Jacques Ibert–Chansons de Don Quichotte

Charles Ives–songs (?1, 2, 3,”Ann Street, Charlie Rutlage, Children's Hour, Greatest Man, Like a Sick Eagle, Maple Leaves, Tom Sails Away, Two Little Flowers)

Felix Mendelssohn–arias from Elijah and St. Paul

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart–recitatives and arias from operas (e.g., Don Giovanni, Le nozze di Figaro, Die ZauberflÝte) and songs (Abendempfindung an Laura, Als Luise die Briefe, Sehnsucht nach dem FrŽhling, Das Veilchen)

Fernando Obradors–selections from Canciones cl¶sicas espaúolas

Francis Poulenc–songs (C, Paul et Virginie) and selections from cycles (Airs chantÌs, BanalitÌs, Le bestiaire, Chansons gaillardes, Fianåailles pour rire, Miroirs brƒlants)

Giacomo Puccini–arias from operas (e.g., La bohñme, Gianni Schicchi, Madama Butterfly, Tosca)

Maurice Ravel–Don Quichotte õ DulcinÌe, Five Greek Folk Songs
Joaquin Rodrigo-Cuatro madrigales amatorios

Ned Rorem–songs (As Adam Early in the Morning, For Susan, Gliding O'er All, Look Down Fair Moon, Lordly Hudson, Rain in Spring, Sally's Smile, Silver Swan, Such Beauty as Hurts to Behold, What If Some Little Pain) and selections from sets and cycles (e.g., Flight for Heaven, From an Unknown Past, Women's Voices)

Franz Schubert–songs (An die Musik, Du bist die Ruh, Die Forelle, Geheimes, Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, Lachen und weinen, Die Liebe hat gelogen, Rastlose Liebe, Der Tod und das M’dchen, Der Wanderer)

Robert Schumann–songs (Der arme Peter I-III, Die beiden Grenadiere, Der Nussbaum, Widmung) and selections from cycles (e.g., Dichterliebe; Frauen-Liebe und Leben; Liederkreis, Op. 24; Liederkreis, Op. 39)

Ralph Vaughan Williams–selections from sets and cycles (e.g., Along the Field [with violin], Four Last Songs, House of Life, Songs of Travel, Songs from ?The Pilgrim's Progress,” Three Poems by Walt Whitman)

Peter Warlock–songs (Fair and True, Pretty Ring Time, Rest Sweet Nymphs, Sleep, Spring, Sweet and Twenty)

Hugo Wolf–selections from large cycles (e.g., Italienisches Liederbuch, MÝrike-Lieder, Spanisches Liederbuch)