For high school students, the books most often used are those containing songs from Parisotti's Arie Antiche. John Glenn Paton has given us a few books published by Alfred with more authentic settings of these same songs. However, I usually go with whichever collection will best serve the needs of that particular student. Parisotti's settings are often overly Romanticized, but that often is helpful, giving energy to the singer and movement to the line. The Floridia settings are even less authentic, but really appeal to students that love the drama of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I talk with my students about authenticity and what these songs might have sounded like when they were first performed, but ultimately I don't care if they do authentic performances at this stage of their development. What I care about is healthy vocal production while singing songs that they love.
I'll start off today with Parisotti's Arie Antiche, published in 3 volumes by Ricordi. Volumes one and two are also available in G. Schrimer and Kalmus editions under the title Anthology of Italian Songs. Ricordi also has a 5 volume set out now called Arie Antiche. I haven't looked at them much, but I believe that they are the same songs as the 3 volumes, but spread out over 5 books. This particular edition also comes with diction lessons and CD accompaniments. If you are getting tired of "Caro mio ben", "Se tu m'ami" and all the other lovely tunes in the 24, 26, and 28 books, these are great resources for other songs by the same composers and at about the same difficulty level. Even if you don't have students purchase these, I recommend you have them in your library for reference.
For many of us in the over 40 crowd, our first introduction to Italian Songs was G. Schirmer's 24 Italian Songs and Arias. I still have the cassette accompaniment tapes that came with my book. Now the book is available either with or without CD. As far as I know, purchasing the book alone is still the cheapest option for buying Italian songs.
If cost is an issue, I have students buy the 24 Italian Songs and Arias, but if they can afford it and these are the songs we want, I'll usually sent them to buy the 28 Italian Songs and Arias. Here's why: IPA and word by word translations, background, and a CD with dictions lessons and accompaniments. Plus 4 more songs. This newer edition also comes in 5 different keys. I own all 5, and the students can use the CDs in the computers and change key, so we really can find the best key for them even if they need the High key for one song and the medium key for another. They also just released the complete version which includes all 28 songs in all 5 keys in one book. As a teacher, if you don't own this yet, the complete version is the way to go.
Newer teachers might not even be familiar with "the yellow book" having just sung from "the purple book" or "the blue book" in their own lessons. I loved teaching from this book because of the IPA and translations for each song. Now that the 28 Italian has that plus diction lessons, I've kind of swung back to G. Schirmer. However, sometimes the songs in this book just fit a particular student a little better because of the key they are in, or the different style created by the sparser accompaniments, or because of the ornaments (or lack thereof). If a student think lots of notes sounds hard and impressive and they want that, then I assign this book. The volume also has my favorite setting of "Star vicino" which is a great song for a first Italian song. This book also comes with or without accompaniment CDs. I'm hoping that soon Alfred with join the trend of including diction lessons.
Italian Arias of the Baroque and Classical Era, a lesser known book by Paton, follows the same structure, including background on the composers and songs as well as IPA and word by word transcriptions. Although I own the High, Medium, and Low books, I've mostly sent students to purchase the Medium Key. I really like these settings of "Amor, preparami", "Deh, piu a me non v'ascondete", "Dimmi amor", "Ogni amatore", "Stizzoso, mio stizzoso", and "Vezzosette e care pupillette". Maybe it's because I learned them here first, but I actually prefer these to the Parisotti settings. These books are also available with accompaniment CDs.
Classic Italian Songs for School and Studio in Three Volumes with "modern concert transcriptions" by Pietro Floridia is another under-used resource. I especially love Vol. 2 in the Medium Low Key for my students that want a challenge with language but aren't quite ready for extreme ranges or difficulty yet. "Star vicino", "Presto, presto io m'innamoro", "Deh, rendetimi" and "Non vogl'io se non vederti" are the songs I use the most from this volume. These are becoming more difficult to find and I don't even see all the volumes in both keys on the Theodore Presser website. According to jwpepper.com, volume 2 medium low is out of print. Searching Amazon, or asking someone in your local music store who knows a lot about vocal music are probably the best ways to get these. By the way, just because a store sells vocal music, that does not mean they know about vocal music. I've given up sending students to one store because they tell students that certain books don't exist when they do. I've also started sending students a picture of the book so they can take that with them to the store.
I know there are other Italian books out there, but these are the ones that I have found most useful for my studio. Does anyone use any of the books listed below? Are they appropriate for use with the average high school singer or would I end up using just a few if any of the songs with my students? Would you like to write a post about them?
Gateway to Italian Songs and Arias
Italian Musical Treasures of the 17th and 18th Centuries
Italian Art Songs of the Romantic Era
Italian Art Songs of the 20th Century
Arie, Ariette e Romanze Vol. 2
Next up: my student's favorite category--musical theatre and popular styles.
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