A Brief Analysis Of The Performance Style Of French Art Songs-the Four Vocal Music Works Of Fauré And Debussy

The development of French art songs began in the second half of the 19 th century.Gabriel Faure(1845-1924)and Achille-Claude Debussy(1862-1918)were the representative composers in this field.Their works are of great value and contribute greatly to the development of French art songs.This article first analyses Faure’s two art songs Les Roses d’Ispahan(Isfahan’s Roses)and Reve d’Amour(" the dream of love ")as well as Debussy’s art songs Beau soir(the beautiful sunset)and Nuit d’Etoiles(" the starry night)and then combines with author’s practice in the art field to understand the similarities and differences between the two composers in such aspects as creative techniques,singing skills and emotional treatment of singers.Then it has a preliminary understanding of the deductive style of the works,which promotes the formation of the interpretation style of art songs and the exploration of how to impact the performance of other composers’ art songs.On the basis of this,the author puts forward some application rules and technical goals about vocal music performance and music teaching in the future.This paper is divided into five parts:introduction,conclusion and three main chapters.The first chapter summarizes the similarities of Faure and Debussy’s works in terms of performing style by contrasting Faure and Debussy’s four art songs in terms of lyrics feeling,singing techniques,pronunciation charm and emotional expression.The second chapter analyzes the differences in the deductive character of Faure and Debussy’s related works based on their different musical styles,different techniques of singing and the comparison among various versions.Mastering a song’s deductive style should be an application rule for a singer when he/she performs French art songs and for a music teacher in the teaching process.Understanding this could help us better master the deductive style of French art songs.I hope this article and my personal experience could provide some inspirations for other vocal workers in music.At the same time,I hope it can prompt more people focus on the study of Debussy and Faure’s art songs.A further understanding of French art songs style could help masses of students and professionals in music better feel the charming of French art songs.