A piece of music in two or more voice-parts without independent accompaniment. In theory, the term encompasses forms such as the glee, madrigal and unaccompanied anthem. In practice, however, it usually refers to small-scale secular pieces for unaccompanied choral singing. No precise definition is possible: the supposition that partsongs differ from madrigals in moving homophonically with the melody in the top voice overlooks the textural variety of both madrigals and partsongs. Nor is the text definitive, since there are sacred examples such as Sullivan's Five Sacred Partsongs (1871). Partsongs are usually single entities, but there exist lengthy multi-sectional works, possibly intended as competitive showpieces, that are susceptible to no other definition. Other languages have no exact equivalent of the term: this may be a reflection of its breadth and inexactitude in all countries where partsongs flourish.
The partsong was cultivated in England from the early 17th century. Collections of rounds, catches and quodlibets, usually on topical, witty and sometimes bawdy texts, provided material for convivial music-making. These pieces were simpler than madrigals. Composers such as Weelkes and, later, William and Henry Lawes, Arne and Purcell wrote many examples. In the late 18th century the inception of men's singing clubs led to a formalization of partsinging. The Glee, typically a short, predominantly homophonic piece, superseded earlier forms, but members of glee clubs sang a wider variety of music, including madrigals and arrangements, than their name suggests. Competitions were established for the composition and performance of glees and partsongs.
In the 19th century, interest in music of the past stimulated a revival of the madrigal as a distinct type within the partsong. Pearsall and other composers transcended pastiche with richly expressive madrigals. Sterndale Bennett, Barnby, Sullivan, Macfarren, Pearsall, Benedict and numerous others produced partsongs, varied as much in length, substance, mood and texture as in quality and originality. Except where archaism was intended, the musical language of the partsong typified its time, and it often miniaturized standard forms of the period, ternary or rounded binary form being frequent choices. Reciprocal influence between partsong and anthem, canticle, hymn and even Anglican psalm-chant is evident. The increase in musical literacy, the popularity of choral singing, and the accessibility of relatively cheap printed music were both causes and effects of the partsong's enormous popularity.
The late 19th-century festival movement stimulated demand for partsongs that were technically more challenging and of greater musical worth. Partsongs by Parry, Stanford, Elgar, Charles Wood and others met this demand, with imaginative use of textures, sensitivity towards texts and regard for the organization, balance and sentiment of each piece. Their early 20th-century successors extended this tradition, some, such as Holst and Vaughan Williams, incorporating folksong arrangements. These composers and others such as Finzi, Ireland, Moeran and Howells produced partsongs of great originality that transcended the reflective, lilting style that characterized some English music of this period. Most of the later repertory was by lesser composers, although Britten was a notable exception: his Five Flower Songs (1950) showed that English partsongs about nature could be energetic, colourful and witty. Later composers have incorporated modern choral techniques, including improvisation, into the partsong, challenging even the most expert choirs.
Similar developments occurred in Germany from the 19th century. The Liedertafel, a male-voice music society, was founded in Berlin in 1808 by Mendelssohn's teacher Zelter and first met the following year. Its aim was convivial as well as musical, and it provided a model for other choirs (the men's choir movement, often linked to local customs and the wearing of traditional costume, survives). Some composers, such as Marschner, Weber and Wagner, confined their partsong output to male voices only. Later in the 19th century, mixed choirs and competitive choral festivals were established. The partsongs of composers including Schubert, Schumann, Franz, Mendelssohn, Cornelius and Brahms set much German Romantic poetry, and show parallels with their lieder in both style and sentiment. Reciprocal influence is apparent between Mendelssohn's partsongs and contemporaneous smaller English choral forms. Some of Bruckner's and Brahms's partsongs show affinities with their unaccompanied church music. Towards the end of the 19th century, partsongs diversified in character. Composers such as Wolf and Schoenberg produced longer unaccompanied secular choral pieces for highly accomplished choirs. In the 20th century the partsong tradition continued in Germany, and its boundaries were extended by composers such as Pfitzner, Distler, Webern, Hindemith, Pepping and Richard Strauss.
In France, men's choral societies (‘Orphéons’) were established from the mid-19th century. They travelled widely to competitive festivals, and large choirs went abroad to give concerts. Gounod and others wrote specially for these societies and for mixed choirs. A few partsongs were written by Saint-Saëns, Delibes, Debussy and Ravel. Those by d'Indy are more numerous but hardly more diverse. There are some examples by later French composers, but unaccompanied settings of sacred texts form the stronger tradition. In the Latin countries the partsong has been largely neglected. In eastern Europe partsongs were written by Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov in Russia, by Bartók and Kodály in Hungary, and by Dvořák and Janáček in Bohemia and Czechoslovakia; in all these countries folksong has been influential. In the USA the partsong has been cultivated as part of a wider tradition of choral singing, particularly involving college choirs, by composers including Macdowell, Horatio Parker, Randall Thompson and, most conspicuously, Elliott Carter.
See also Barbershop; Catch; Quodlibet; and Round.
M. Hurd: ‘Glees, Madrigals and Partsongs’, Music in Britain: the Romantic Age, 1800–1914, ed. N. Temperley (London, 1981), 242–65
J. Blezzard: ‘Richard Strauss a Cappella’, Tempo, no.176 (1991), 21–8
J. Blezzard: ‘Peter Cornelius: the Later Mixed Partsongs and their Unknown Antecedents’, MR, liii (1992), 191–209
J. Blezzard: ‘Sing, Hear: the German Romantic Partsong’, MT, cxxxiv (1993), 254–6
JUDITH BLEZZARD