For
well over thirty years Hundley's
songs have
been performed by the foremost
singers in
major centers throughout the United States, Canada, South
America, Asia and Europe. They continue to grow in
popularity, but little has been written regarding their use
in the college-level vocal studio.
His melodies employ the vocal elements of bel canto and are
supported by an accompaniment that uses contemporary
harmonies, i.e. altered chords, non-classical cadences, and
extensive use of meter change. They call for a beautiful
tone, purity of intonation, and a clear resonate sound.
These songs are a valuable resource to the voice teacher,
coach and accompanist, as well as the voice student.
Research into this composer and his vocal works, with
specific emphasis on the pedagogical use of his songs would
provide information about a composer and his work that up to
now has been neglected. The purpose of this web page is to
add visibility to this important composer of 20th century
American Art Song.
Voice teachers are often burdened with an overabundance of
available repertoire, but have very little time to research
the lessor known songs of contemporary composers. The
increasing interest in contemporary American vocal music is
reflected in the publications of several works that focus
solely on American art song. One of the most comprehensive
is "Art Song in the United States: An Annotated
Bibliography", first published by the National Association of
Teachers of Singing (NATS) in 1963.
Included in the second edition of "Art Song in the United
States" is Richard Hundley (1931 - ), a composer whose
catalog includes art song, choral works, some chamber music
for winds, and a piano sonata. Throughout his career, his
primary focus has been the solo song for voice, 23 of which
have been published. The NATS publication
includes eight entries for Hundley, representing a variety
of his songs.
Throughout his compositional career, Hundley has focused
primarily on the art song. One can draw parallels between
Hundley and composers like Charles Ives, Samuel Barber, and
Virgil Thompson. Like Ives, Hundley takes a thoroughly
American approach with the desire to preserve the natural
cadence of American speech. Like Barber, Hundley was trained
as a singer and has an expert knowledge of the voice. And
with Thomson, Hundley shares a delight in language and
poetry and the challenge of "solving the problems of musical
declamation in the English language." (Friedberg, p 29,
1984) His songs employ flowing, lyrical vocal lines and use
melodic movement supported by harmonic material "rethought
so that it comes across freshly in the contemporary spirit."
(Friedberg, p 249)
This web site is
designed to be a resource for voice teachers, coaches,
accompanists and voice students interested in Richard
Hundley's contributions to 20th century American Art Songs.
Here you will be able to hear a breif introduction from Richard
Hundley, find
inforamtion about his life
and work,
listen to selected compositions, read and join discussions, and communicate with experts. In addition, there is
list of noted performences and performers of Hundley's songs.
Most of the material included in this web site comes from
Esther Jane Hardenbergh's thesis, "The
Solo Vocal Repertoire of Richard Hundley: A Pedagogical and
Performance Guide to the Published Works". The thesis catalogs,
describes and analyses Hundley's work from his earliest
years to the present day. It is the most complete academic
study of Richard Hundley's life and work to date.
We hope that this Web Site will prove to be a valuable
resource. All comments and suggestions are welcomed.
