Read this line aloud: “The President conferred with congressional leaders this afternoon on matters of global importance.”
Now, read it again, placing stress on the capitalized syllable: “The Pres-I-dent CON-ferred with CON-gress-i-onal lead-ERS this af-TER-noon on mat-TERS of glo-BAL im-por-TANCE.”
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?
In any language, syllabic stress is a critical component in understanding what is being said. Similarly in music, certain beats within a measure are stressed, which gives the line a sense of equilibrium, thus understanding. Try singing “Happy Birthday” with the stress placed on beat three (your head will spin).
For centuries, composers have struggled with the issue of text versus music. A composer may have a preconceived notion, but their musical vision does not fit a particular text. The results can be awkward, at best. Many composers have strived to set wonderful music to beautiful texts in such a way that the two work together seamlessly. The history of our art is replete with shining examples of their accomplishment, while those works that fail in this area seem to disappear.
Current-day composers continue to struggle with this matter. Recently, on the ChoralNet Composer’s Forum Joy DeCoursey-Porter posed this question anew, saying:
“In short– As a singer I have sung beautiful pieces where conventional word stresses are definitely not the priority, yet somehow they have made it into the publishing and performance world. Admittedly some have annoyed me and others have worked well. As a composer I sometimes- not often- struggle with preferring the unconventional word stress for the sake of other musical or metric priorites. So I guess my question is of a purely subjective nature: How important are these conventions to you all?”
With that in mind, let’s evaluate a composition performed during a recent ACDA divisional conference. In this excerpt, two contrasting settings of the “Salve Regina” text are paired; one from the 11th century, the other quite current. While bearing in mind that the musical language is separated by 1,000 years, listen to the manner in which two different composers treat this important poetry. There are some striking differences in word stresses.
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