Sprechgesangn.
/ˈʃprɛkɡəzaŋ/, /ˈʃprɛxɡəzaŋ/, U.S. /ˈʃprɛ(k)ɡəˌzæŋ/ Music.
A style of dramatic vocalization intermediate between speech and song. See Sprechstimme n.
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speech-song1909
Sprechstimme1922
Sprechgesang1925
1925 W. H. Kerridge tr. Wellesz Arnold Schönberg 138 The Dreimal sieben Gedichte (Thrice seven songs), from Albert Giraud's Pierrot Lunaire..are written for a Sprechgesang (song-speech), piano, flute.., clarinet.., violin.., and violoncello.
1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 883/1 ‘Sprechgesang’, the older term, is properly singing tinged with a speaking quality, whereas ‘Sprechstimme’ is rather speech tinged with a singing quality.
1947 E. Newman Life Richard Wagner iv. xxii. 437 There used to be much talk, a generation or so ago, about the so-called Sprechgesang—a term apparently designed to make more acceptable to us the canine sounds emitted by some Wagnerian singers.
1959 Listener 11 June 1039/3 The Stravinsky sounded tense and its Sprechgesang (or was it perhaps just ordinary muttering) very dramatic.
1978 P. Griffiths Conc. Hist. Mod. Music iii. 36 Pierrot lunaire is an ambiguous work in many senses. The soloist is required to use Sprechgesang, a mode of vocalization lying between song and speech.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1925