Musical setting

A musical setting is a musical composition that is written on the basis of a literary work. The literary work is said to be set, or adapted, to music. Musical settings include choral music and other vocal music.^[1] A musical setting is made to particular words, such as poems.^[2] By contrast, a musical arrangement is a musical reconceptualization of a previously composed work, rather than a brand new piece of music. An arrangement often refers to a change in medium or style and can be instrumental, not necessarily vocal music.^[3]

Texts commonly used in choral settings include the mass and the requiem in Western Christianity, and the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the All-night vigil in Eastern Christianity. Examples include Mozart's Great Mass, and Leontovych's Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

A poem that has been set to music is known as an art song^[4] or Lied (German variant). Composers known for their art songs include Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.

Some notable settings

• George Frideric Handel's setting of Zadok the Priest (1721)
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's setting of Ave verum corpus (1791)
• Franz Schubert's setting of Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart's poem, Die Forelle, "The Trout" (1817)
• Giuseppe Verdi's setting of the Requiem Mass (1874)
• Hubert Parry's setting of William Blake's poem And did those feet in ancient time, also known as "Jerusalem" (1916)

See also

• List of songs based on poems
• Church music
• Contrafactum

References

1. Definition Cambridge dictionary
2. Oxford dictionary
3. Arrangement, Encyclopædia Britannica online
4. Randel, Don Michael (2003), The Harvard Dictionary of Music, Harvard University Press, p. 61, ISBN 0-674-01163-5, retrieved 2012-10-22