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Ask IPA Source: “The Requiem Mass – Complete Text” and “The Ordinary of the Mass – Complete Text compared

December 28, 2020 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

An IPA Source customer asks:

What is the difference between “The Requiem Mass – Complete Text” and “The Ordinary of the Mass – Complete Text“?

Is one of them more extensive than the other?

Bard answers:

The Ordinary is the invariable part of the Mass such as the Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei are part of every Mass. The Requiem is a specific type of Mass for the dead that includes the other “variable” parts of the liturgy such as the introit, tract, and requiescat in pace. Since it is variable, composers may set different parts of The Requiem to music.

Thanks for your question. I hope this helps.

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Filed Under: Ask IPA Source, Languages Tagged With: Latin, The Ordinary of the Mass, The Requiem Mass

Ask IPA Source: Why are double consonants not indicated in the IPA for Die Forelle?

February 15, 2018 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

An IPA Source customer asks:

It seems double consonants are not indicated in the IPA for Die Forelle.  Am I missing something? 

Please clarify.

Bard answers:

Unlike Italian, German (like French) does not stress double consonants except for expressive reasons. In French, doubles are not pronounced excepted for words like immense where both mm’s are sounded. The double -mm expresses the feeling of vastness. The expressive doubles are a part of standard pronunciation in French and are always noted in dictionaries and in our transcriptions.

German is a bit different in that in standard speech and in singing from amateur choirs (Leien Chöre) doubles are generally sounded. In “classical” singing, the tradition is not to stress doubles except for overwhelming expressive reasons, and then only at the taste of the singer. Generally, one does not sing strong double consonants in Wellen [’wɛl.lən] or Mutter [’mʊt.tɐ] but rather [’wɛ.lən] and [’mʊ.tɐ]. Instead of singing double consonants, their presents is indicated by the open vowel. In our texts all double consonants will be transcribed as single consonants. This is also keeping with standard transcription practices for German and exactly how you will find IPA transcriptions in dictionaries and from other authorities on German Lyric diction (Castel, Glass, etc.).

I just looked through the Die Forelle text to see if there were any instances of the expressive use of the double consonants. Words like helle, Forelle, and Quelle should be pronounced with single consonants in all cases. However, the words Wasser and zappelt might be handled differently. To express the sound of the splashing water, one might double the -s. Likewise, in zappelt, the -p could be doubled to illustrate the fish flapping about on the fishline. These expressive use of double consonants in singing should never be dictated and are always a matter of taste and should reflect the emotional choice of the singer who has a good feeling for the meaning of the language.

There are a few other points that might be added to this discussion about vowel length in singing – for example, how we differentiate between the words staat [ʃta:t] and statt [ʃtat] when length is dictated by the notation, but I’ll leave that for another time.

Thanks for your question. I hope this helps.

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Filed Under: Ask IPA Source, Composers Tagged With: composers, Franz Peter Schubert, German, schubert

Ask IPA Source: Looking for Edvard Grieg Opus 67 texts

December 21, 2017 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

An IPA Source customer asks:

I would like to have songs of Edvard Grieg that are not in IPA source. Would it be possible? It’s the opus 67.

Bard answers:

Thanks for contacting us.

The cycle Haugtussa, op. 67 is originally written in Norwegian, a language we do not offer.

Fortunately, I can direct you to Leyerle Publications which publishes the cycle in the “A Grieg Song Anthology” http://www.leyerlepublications.com/index.php?v=song_anths_d#1-878617-00-1.

It is only $12.95 and available directly from the publisher.

Thanks for writing!

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Filed Under: Ask IPA Source, Composers Tagged With: Edvard Grieg, Haugtussa, Norwegian, op. 67

Ask IPA Source: Do you offer Russian literature?

June 13, 2017 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

An IPA Source customer asks:

I am an enormous fan and user of IPA Source. You do a wonderful job and your work has no competition. However, I’m surprised to find you don’t have Russian titles. Is there a plan to move forward with Russian songs? Rachmaninoff, etc.?

Bard answers:

Thanks for contacting us.

No, we don’t have Russian literature. You can find much of what you might need in the books published by Leyerle Publications – they carry a large number of books with texts to the works of TCHAIKOVSKY, RACHMANINOV, MUSSORGSKY, and SHOSTAKOVICH as well as Russian aria collections. They aren’t particularly expensive but you might also find them in your university library or on interlibrary loan.

Thanks for writing!

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Filed Under: Ask IPA Source Tagged With: AskIPASource, literature, Mussorgsky, questions, Rachmaninov, Russian, Shostakovich, Tchaikovsky

Ask IPA Source: Are apostrophes in Italian IPA transcriptions the accents?

May 18, 2017 By Nora Miller Rubinoff Leave a Comment

An IPA Source customer asks:

Are apostrophes in Italian IPA transcriptions the accents? I was told to look for underlined syllables which denote that they are accented.

Bard answers:

Underlined vowels are sometimes used to indicate word stress in IPA transcriptions of singing texts (John Paton’s editions come to mind) but while quite clear, this is not considered the proper usage. The appropriate symbols to indicate stress are the primary and secondary stress marks placed before the stressed syllable. Here is an example of both stress marks (your “apostrophes” and what looks like a comma) quoted from the “Handbook of the International Phonetic Association” on page 43.

phonetician  [ˌfonə’tɪʃən]

At IPA Source we also add syllable dots (periods, if you like) which denote the division of syllables within the word. The syllable dot is less commonly seen in transcriptions but nonetheless, it is an accepted IPA symbol that I feel is helpful for singers when dividing syllables between the musical notes of a song.

phonetician  [ˌfo.nə.’tɪ.ʃən]

This is the convention we follow at IPA Source.

Thanks for writing!

International Phonetic Association. (2007). Handbook of the International Phonetic Association: A guide to the use of the international phonetic alphabet. Cambridge [u.a.] Univ. Press.

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Filed Under: Ask IPA Source Tagged With: AskIPASource, questions

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