Voice recitals are part of a voice student’s degree fulfillment requirements. Whether you are preparing for a Junior Recital, Senior Recital, or Graduate Recital, identifying and grouping texts to display your vocal skill is key. Texts may be selected and grouped by language, emotion, or level of difficulty. Texts may also be selected and grouped by composer or as a cycle of work from a single composer.
Although we often see a division in the Lyric Tenor Fach, there are technically only five Fächer for the tenor voice. (Want to learn more about the Fäch System and tenor voice? View our multi-part series on the Fäch System here: https://blog.ipasource.com2017/04/24/the-fach-system-the-tenor-voice/)
Grouped by Aria and Art Song, this post offers texts for a tenor voice performer to consider including in a recital program.
Arias
Deposuit potentes from Magnificat, BWV 243 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Listen to Francisco Araiza: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wel2444olaQ
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Frohe Hirten, eilt, ach eilet from the Weihnachtsoratorium, BWV 248 by J.S. Bach
Listen to Fritz Wunderlich: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L03yopokHlY
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Fac me cruce custodiri from Stabat Mater – Franz Joseph Haydn
Listen to Andrea Semerar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyTSJPTo4AQ
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Where’Er You Walk from Semele – Georg Friedric Händel
Listen to Richard Lewis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7DXssuBNck
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Total Eclipse from Samson – Georg Friedric Händel
Listen to Jon Vickers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU4MZxe9beU
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Jour et nuit je me mets en quatre from Les Contes d’Hoffmann – Jacques Offenbach
Listen to Francois Testory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FckaKGzUR5Q
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De’ miei bollenti spiriti…, from La traviata – Guiseppe Verde
Listen to Luciano Pavarotti: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpluE_l-aHk
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Salut! demeure chaste et pure, from Faust – Charles Gounod
Listen to Jonas Kaufmann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8K-gUwc330
Art Songs
Selections from Winterreise – Franz Schubert
Listen to Ian Bostridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAShNLQzyxI
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From Airs chantés by Francis Poulenc
Listen to Nicolai Gedda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPFDatjGMIc
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Gebet – Hugo Wolf
Listen to Werner Güra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyiffjMDCwc
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Lachen und Weinen – Franz Schubert
Listen to Ian Partridge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBfmB9XfL4w
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Verborgenheit – Hugo Wolf
Listen to Rudolf Schock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTVI6XAe_YU
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Zueignung – Richard Strauss
Listen to Jonas Kaufmann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3Ls0XtqZ-Q
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Aimons-nous – Camille Saint-Saëns
Listen to Charles Rousselière: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-ZHqkELzNc