AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW OF CABARET

Abstract

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to provide both singer and accompanist a guide to performance practice of selected cabaret songs from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, written by selected composers who worked from 1900 to the present. The chosen composers and cabaret songs are Erik Satie (Dive de l'empire, Je te veux), Francis Poulenc (Torèador, A sa guitar), Arnold Schoenberg (Galathea, Gigerlette, Der Genüngsame Liebhaber, Mahnung), Kurt Weill (Je ne t'aime pas, Youkali), Benjamin Britten (Calypso, Funeral Blues), and Benjamin Moore (See How a Flower Blossoms, Let the Walls Fall Down). Each composer's involvement with the cabaret genre has been well documented in other scholarly sources.

For stylistic information I have consulted three coaches; each was asked to coach me in specific song selections, covering historical information, stylistic choices and traditions. Mr. Martin Katz coached the Satie and Poulenc selections, Mr. Steven Blier coached the Schönberg, Weill and Britten selections, and, lastly, Mr. Ben Moore coached his own and even demonstrated them by playing and singing them for me. That information is covered in the later part of the study.