Music Recommendations
Sheet Music
For beginning singers, and intermediate singers wishing to inexpensively fill out their sheet music collection, these anthologies contain a lot of the standard works appropriate for young singers. They also contain text translations, pronounciation guides, and a bit of historical context for each song or aria. Recordings of the piano parts are also often available. However, serious singers are advised to work from more scholarly editions.
For the convenience of my students, I have provided links for the purchase of basic singing anthologies that contain many pieces I commonly use with beginning/intermediate students. By hovering over each link, you can see basic ordering info from Amazon, and clicking on the link will take you to their site. These books, as well as a wide variety of other editions, are also available from music stores around the Twin Cities, such as Schmitt Music, The Podium, and Groth Music, and on-line from J. W. Pepper.
Arie Antiche
Schirmer's "24" have been standard introductory teaching material for beginning singers for over a century, although their edition is fairly romantic. A more heavily researched and "authentic" edition by John Paton offers students greater insight into the historical style and pronounciation of the songs, although they are musically more challenging for the beginning singer.
- 24 Italian Songs and Arias of the 17th and 18th Centuries (Medium High Voice, Book and CD), by G. Schirmer, Inc.
- 24 Italian Songs and Arias of the 17th and 18th Centuries (Medium Low Voice, Book and CD), by G. Schirmer, Inc.
- 26 Italian Songs and Arias: Medium High (Book and CD), by John Glenn Paton
- 26 Italian Songs and Arias: Medium Low (Book and CD??), by John Glenn Paton
Aria Anthologies
Formerly known as the 'Prima Donna Album,' these anthologies contain a wide variety of standard audition pieces, although the repertoire does tend to lean more heavily in the lyric direction.
- Arias for Soprano (G. Schirmer Opera Anthology)
- Arias for Mezzo-Soprano (G. Schirmer Opera Anthology)
- Arias for Tenor (G. Schirmer Opera Anthology)
- Arias for Baritone (G. Schirmer Opera Anthology)
Oratorio Anthologies
Singers who are interested in building their knowledge of sacred repertoire can find a lot of useful material in these anthologies.
- The Oratorio Anthology - Soprano: The Vocal Library
- The Oratorio Anthology - Mezzo-Soprano/Alto: The Vocal Library
- The Oratorio Anthology - Tenor : The Vocal Library
- The Oratorio Anthology - Baritone/Bass: The Vocal Library
Musical Theater Anthologies
These anthologies offer students interested in musical theater an introduction to the repertoire along with CDs that contain the piano accompaniments for practicing.
- Singer's Musical Theatre Anthology - Volume 1: Soprano Book/2 CDs Pack
- The First Book of Broadway Solos: Soprano (Book/Audio CD)
- Singer's Musical Theatre Anthology - Volume 3: Mezzo-Soprano Book/2 CDs Pack
- The First Book of Broadway Solos - Mezzo-Soprano (Book/CD)
- Singer's Musical Theatre Anthology - Volume 4: Tenor Book/2 CDs Pack
- The First Book of Broadway Solos - Tenor (Book/CD)
- Singer's Musical Theatre Anthology - Volume 1: Baritone/Bass Book/2 CDs Pack
- The First Book of Broadway Solos - Baritone/Bass (Book/CD)
Song Anthologies
For singers just beginning to explore art song repertoire, these anthologies contain a lot of representative works from the French and German literature.
- French Song Anthology: The Vocal Library, High Voice and Accompaniment CDs
- French Song Anthology: The Vocal Library, Low Voice and Accompaniment CDs
- The Lieder Anthology: 65 Songs by 13 Composers, High Voice and Accompaniment CDs
- The Lieder Anthology: 65 Songs by 13 Composers, Low Voice and Accompaniment CDs
Composer Albums
Ultimately, committed singers will wish to obtain more complete collections of art songs. These books are a step in that direction, although even more complete and scholarly (and expensive...) editions are published by houses like Peters and International, while more contemporary and less mainstream composers may only be found published by houses like Boosey & Hawkes, Universal, Salabert, etc.
- Mozart: Lieder - C.F. Peters
- Franz Schubert - 100 Songs, High Voice (The Vocal Library)
- Franz Schubert - 100 Songs, Low Voice (The Vocal Library)
- Robert Schumann - Selected Songs for Solo Voice and Piano (Dover)
- Johannes Brahms: 75 Songs, High Voice (The Vocal Library)
- Johannes Brahms: 75 Songs, Low Voice (The Vocal Library)
- Gabriel Faure: 50 Songs: High Voice (The Vocal Library)
- Gabriel Faure: 50 Songs: Low Voice (The Vocal Library)
- Claude Debussy - Songs, 1880-1904 (Dover)