LOOKING FOR: "Songs of the Sea" for mezzo/contralto and piano

[sound67]

Hi,

For a recording project, I'm looking into works for mezzo/contralto solo voice and piano, with "sea" as the subject matter.

The piece I'm going to do is Elgar's "Sea Pictures" in the composer's own arrangement with piano accompaniment, but I'm unsure about how to fill the CD. Stanford wrote the "Songs of the Sea" and "Songs of the Fleet", but both can really only be performed by male singers.

Any suggestions which other songs would fit the bill? Doesn't have to be English music. Works in the public domain are favored. 

Thomas

[sound67]

Wow. No ideas? 

I though you were experts. 

Thomas

[Anne]

Wow. No ideas? 

I though you were experts. 

Thomas

I can't think of any.  Seems like Schubert should have some.  Janet Baker is a good mezzo.  Would you accept arias instead?  There is Dido's lament.

If you want some more "sea" instrumentals, there are the 4 Sea Interludes from Britten's Peter Grimes.  They are paired on a Bernstein CD coupled with Beethoven's Seventh Symphony (I think).  It was Bernstein's last recording.  I compared the Interludes with Colin Davis on the Grimes opera with Bernstein's on the Beethoven's Symphony and the Bernstein wins hands down IMHO.

[Wendell_E]

I don't know all the Schubert Lieder on this CD, or how well they'd work for that voice range, but they're all about water, and three of them do have "Meer" or "See" in the title:

http://www.amazon.com/Auf-dem-Wasser-singen-Schubert/dp/B0000521W7/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1221736049&sr=1-7

[knight66]

Sorry, I have only just come across this thread. OK, Here are some suggestions; not specifically Mezzo songs, so it may simply be a case of getting them in the right key. I am avoiding the ones I feel are overtly male songs.

Wolf: Seemans Abschied.
Chausson: Poeme de L'amour et de La Mer: This is a major piece with three movements; only the two outer movements have words, the middle one is an orchestral interlude.
Chausson: Serenade Italienne, this is a straight forward song with piano accompaniment.
Borodin: The Sea, probably more usually sung by a Bass, but it could be effectiive with a Mezzo.
Haydn, The Mermaid's song
Faure: L'horision chimerique
Berlioz: L'ile inconnue
Brahms: Die Meere
Quilter: Love's Philosophy...the sea gets several mentions.
Gustav Mahler: From Des Knaben Wunderhorn: Des Antonius von Padua Fischpredigt
There are various settings of Die Lorelei, watery, though not specifically about the sea. Schubert and Liszt.
Liszt: Der Fischerknabe; again, watery, but no seas.


There is also this from Rossini: I think there are three such settings by him of songs to be sung from a gondola.
http://www.recmusic.org/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=21107

Mike