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newbie
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newbie
Joined: Jan 2002
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Libretto: All words sung
Quasi libretto (my term): All words sung and a few sung
Libretto; and script: All words sung; and all words spoken
But, really, librettos should include all the lyrics for the songs and recitatives in an opera, shouldn't they? I guess it's come to mean something different, but, strictly speaking, are librettos and their inclusive lyrics really from the world of opera?
Really wondering what they are,
OrB
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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...but, strictly speaking, are librettos and their inclusive lyrics really from the world of opera?Faldage would probably tell you it's Italian for "little book." But far be it from me to speak for him... we all know that can get us in trouble  
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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From the record jacket of My Fair Lady, Original Cast Recording:
" book and lyrics by : Alan Jay Lerner
music by : Frederic Loewe"
The Oklahoma cover says
"Music by RICHARD ROGERS Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II"
West Side Story reports
"Music by LEONARD BERSNTEIN
Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Book by ARTHUR LAURENTS"
Libretto seems to be reserved for opera and operetta, and includes all the words spoken and sung. Broadway designates them - and credits them - individually. Mix and match. Seems to take different skills to do words and songs both.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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lyrics by : Alan Jay Lerner
But Oklahoma, West side Story, et al are collections of songs, so it would be correct to say, "the lyrics of the songs are by ..." whereas it would be correct to say, "the lyric to 'Maria' is by Sondheim."
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Please, people, can't we all just get along?
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Joined: Aug 2001
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Once upon a time a local newspaper columnist ran a little puzzle contest a` la "26 L of the A means what?" type. He had the foresight to include in the instructions the disclaimer "The correct answers are the ones kept in the top right-hand drawer of my office desk."
There doesn't seem to be much consistency in the way people - even professionals - refer to these things. We could (just did) spend a lot of time pointing out all the examples of this, I suppose.
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Joined: Mar 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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Please, people, can't we all just get along?
You want we should rejoice in our diversity, already?
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 1,385 |
the singular "melody" is appropriate when referring to the collection of notes ... but we want to make the words of a song plural.
That's because the words ARE plural, Flatlander. We don't perceive a succession of notes as individual notes (unless, of course, we are the composer). But each word in a song has recognizable meaning. Hence we think of the words of a song in the plural and we refer to them as the "lyrics" of a song. This is quite logical and any convention which flies in the face of logic will sooner or later succumb to the weight of that logic, I submit.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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I'd like to hear a lexicographer's take on this lyric/lyrics controversy. Have a bit of history here.
Now where could we find a lexicographer? Hmmmmm....I see a vision rising! And it has a great cape! And on its chest is emblazoned--yes, I can see it taking form--a great 't'!!!
It's a bird...no, it's a plane...it's tsuwmperman!!!
OK, tsuwmperman! Tell us the tales of those times when lyric has been used to mean the words of a song!
Best regards,
WordWaiting
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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A lyric was originally the words of a lyric poem suitable for setting to the music of a lyre, as per the roving troubadours of old. This is from Webster's Collegiate:
1 lyric \'lir-ik\ adj 1: suitable for singing to the lyre or for being set to music and sung 2 a: expressing direct usu. intense personal emotion<~poetry> b: EXUBERANT, RHAPSODIC 3 of an opera singer: having a light voice and a melodic style -- compare DRAMATIC
2 lyric n 1: a lyric composition; specif: a lyric poem 2 pl the words of a popular song or musical-comedy number
Note 2:2 stresses plural for the words of a song
lyricist n: a writer of lyrics
lyrist n : 1. \'ly(e)r-est\ a player on the lyre 2. \'lir-est\ : LYRICIST
(Oh, and lyre is from the ME lire, OF lyra, and is derived from Greek...so there's something for you, Dr. Bill)
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