UNDERSTANDING FRENCH VERSE: A GUIDE FOR SINGERS

Advice to young singers often follows the standard line of the great French singer Claire Croiza: Study the poem away from the music, so that you know what the words really mean. But Croiza's advice is notoriously difficult to follow when performing French melodies. Just how do you approach a French poem? In the lyric poetry on which the melodie is based, meaning is conveyed not just through the words but also through the poem's formal structure. Understanding French Verse: A Guide for Singers explains this formal structure and sets out the basics of French versification, using examples drawn from a wide range of well-known song settings. Its chapters examine French meters, stanzaic forms, sonnets, rondels and other fixed forms, rhyme and sound patterning, and free verse poems. Written in a clear and concise way, it explains the Alexandrine, how to distinguish different meters by counting syllables, and how to identify stresses in French verse. The book also illustrates how