Sprechstimmen.
/ˈʃprɛxʃtɪmə/ Music.
A term used by Schoenberg to describe the voice of a performer singing according to the principles of Sprechgesang; also loosely, = Sprechgesang n.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > singing > [noun] > vocalization between speech and song
speech-song1909
Sprechstimme1922
Sprechgesang1925
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > singing > singing voice > [noun] > voice of specific quality
voce velata1838
voce di gola1876
voix blanche1920
Sprechstimme1922
1922 Music & Lett. 3 83 Pierrot Lunaire..represents the zenith of Schönberg's powers... In a foreword the composer explains that the voice part is to be what he calls a ‘Sprechstimme’, neither song nor speech, but something in between.
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.
1954 Grove's Dict. Music (ed. 5) VIII. 26/2 Sprechstimme.., a human voice written for by a composer who requires from the performer a delivery according to the principles of Sprechgesang.
1961 Listener 17 Aug. 257/3 The Gurrelieder provided Schönberg with the first occasion to make use of a speaking part that anticipates the Sprechstimme of Pierrot Lunaire in being in strict rhythms and with a fixed pitch.
1968 Listener 31 Oct. 591/2 Berg's strict distinction between Schoenbergian sprechstimme and half-sung phrases frequently receives cavalier treatment.
1982 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 June 693/2 His words are shared out among the whole company, cowled and carrying candles, like a coven going in for sprechstimme.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1986; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1922