On May 6, 2007, at 2:48 PM, John Howell wrote:
I have a feeling, Mark, that in your mind you are thinking solo singers, while in mine I am thinking ensemble singers. A great deal should be left to an (experienced!) solo vocalist's discretion, but a great deal absolutely has to be indicated to ensure unanimity in ensemble music.
You're right that I was thinking of solo singing in the examples you quoted, but doesn't the same principle apply to a chorus?
There are always going to be little questions of text interpretation. Do we cut this note short by an eighth in order to clearly enunciate the final consonant, or sing through the vowel and elide the consonant to the next word? Do we use the old-fashioned pronunciation even though it sounds funny, or use modern pronunciation and sacrifice the rhyme?
Whether singing solo or chorus, the same artistic decisions are there to be made. The only difference is who is the artist making the decision? With a chorus you'll typically have a choral director. He or she will make the decision and pass on instruction to the singers accordingly. With a small ensemble you might not have a leader, but you still make decisions by consensus.
In situations like the ones we were discussing, even if the music is for chorus, why not leave the decision of whether to sing "fye-er" or "fah-ayre" to the chorus director? If your argument is that a composer/editor needs to be more explicit about interpretation when writing for a chorus than when writing for a soloist, I think we disagree.
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