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Summary: Patter Songs

15878
MUSI 730 Anglo-American Operetta and Musical Theater I
Assignment 3, Article Summary by Felix Polendey Summary.       
There are two things that show humor in the comic operettas of W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan: words and music.  Laura Kasson Fiss argues that there is a third kind of humor: patter song.  By definition, a patter song is a song that is sung at a rapid tempo where each syllable in the phrase is represented by one note.  The 1880 edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians states that a patter song ‘is a kind of song, the humor of which consists in getting the greatest number of words to fit the smallest number of notes.’ (98) This definition is true considering this was developed after the G&S began to be noticed.
Originating in the 1830s, the term “patter” was used to describe performances in popular entertainment. Fiss relates patter to the kind of speech that a salesperson would used to make a sale, or a magician would use when performing a magic show.  The patter song, when relating it to music, has characteristics of this type of speech.  It is a song that resembles speech that then resembles music.
There are two types of patter songs: list and narrative.  Narrative is more straight forward in that it is related to the plot.  It is important to the audience that they understand and can comprehend the content in these types of patter songs because it helps drive the story.  An example of this type of patter song is “When you’re lying awake” from Iolanthe.  List patter songs are more common.  It doesn’t necessarily follow the plot of the story, and thus listeners are more likely to miss words within. An example of this type of patter is “I am the very Model of a Modern Major General” from The Pirates of Penzance and “My eyes are fully open to my awful situation” from Ruddigore.
The main focus of this article is the intelligibility or lack thereof that can sometimes be found in patter songs. The way a singer conveys lyrics is important because it is what the listener is hearing.  The singer should pay close attention to diction, word stress, the direction of the vocal line, etc. The audience is also responsible for being able to understand or comprehend what the singer is singing about. In addition to how a singer sings and how an audience interprets, the words and music also need to be considered when determining the intelligibility of patter songs.  Intricate melodies can play a part in making lyrics indiscernible.  Repeated notes may be easier to understand versus melodies that skip in thirds.  Singers also have to battle between emphasising consonants which make the lyrics intelligible, or emphasising vowels which make the music intelligible.
 Sources.
            Fiss uses a variety of sources in her examination of the intelligibility of patter songs including the 1880 edition of Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, The New Grove Dictionary of Music, as well as theater reviews, and passages from some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas.
 

This page has paths:

  1. Literature Summaries & Research Abstracts Steven Gerber

This page has tags:

  1. Person: Sullivan, Arthur Steven Gerber
  2. Person: Gilbert, William S. Steven Gerber
  3. Work: Iolanthe Steven Gerber
  4. Topic: Genre/Form Steven Gerber
  5. Topic: Musical/Theatrical Features Steven Gerber

Contents of this tag:

  1. Participant: Polendey, Felix