Melodeclamation that is Borderlands of Song-Writing Cover Image

Melodeklamacja, czyli pogranicza piosenki
Melodeclamation that is Borderlands of Song-Writing

Author(s): Małgorzata Sokalska
Subject(s): Music, Sociology of Art
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego
Keywords: melorecitation; melodeclamation; song; vocal text interpretation;

Summary/Abstract: The notions of melodeclamation and melorecitation are almost synonymous with the genre definition of a song understood as multi-code unity of textual and musical components, for which the appropriate existence form is an audio realisation. Meanwhile, a broader academic research on the phenomenon of melorecitation is lacking, aside from short dictionary descriptions as well as relatively recent connection with the performance style characteristic for rap music. It seems that only there the expression of recitation is treated as something inspiring in connection with the musical element, as in other styles and genres the recitation with music in the background has become synonymous with being kitschy, vocally unskilled and characteri- stic for school as well as amateur performances of poetry. However, the historical tradition of melodeclamation and the modern examples of introducing recitation and melorecitation to songs with high art aspirations encourage us to looks at such practices more closely. Melorecitation can become a more widely used artistic choice amongst the professional performers (ac- tor song, poetry song) but also a unobvious experiment by the artists using other’s voices – of the poet reciting his own poems – in their own projects.

  • Issue Year: 20/2023
  • Issue No: 2
  • Page Range: 78-98
  • Page Count: 21
  • Language: Polish