Andrew HannMay 4, 2014Song Analysis Dr. SmookeAll The Things You Are An Examination of Performers Interpretation Affecting the Protagonist

Jerome Kerns hit song All The Things You Are, originally written for the musical Very Warm for May, has become famous as a stand alone song; both as a jazz standard and classic American musical theatre piece. Although originally written for stage, it has been reinterpreted by many jazz artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Sarah Vaughn. Kerns ability to write a soaring vocal line over an interesting harmonic progression is responsible for the songs success through time. Although it would have been simple to remain in the simple harmonic pattern for most musical theatre hits of his time, Kern experiments with an interesting harmonic approach.The text for All The Things You Are is written by Oscar Hammerstein II. Although at times this text seems to be poetic with the intention of seeming poetic; it creates a protagonist that is obviously experiencing some kind of new love. The language suggests someone who is so overwhelmed by the newness of their emotions, they resort to using poetic language to express their emotions. Text such as You are the morning glow that lights a star, is clearly just poetic verse with the intent of being poetic. However, the clear longing and sense of gratitude in finding this new love is evident throughout the text. The opening recitative section evokes the feeling of longing and unsureness before discovering the new love. There is a clear contrast shown between time spent before being in love, and the new sense of gratification in life with love. When the Refrain section begins, the text changes from describing the past and present, and turns to the emotions evoked by the presence of this relationship. It draws a contrast between the new feeling of spring as opposed to winter, the hush of evening that now has given into a lovely song. Then the protagonist decides these are too mundane, and turns to expressing their love as the angel glow of the starts and all the dearest things ever. With the final text finally showing that there is some obstacle found in this new relationship with the text stating that someday the object of their affection will be theirs. Comment by Andrew Hann: replaceMusically Kern does a beautiful job of crafting a piece that clearly represents the protagonists feeling of longing and anticipation harmonically. The opening recitative section is straightforward with two-bar phrases, with a half cadence after six bars, continuing to a perfect authentic cadence at the end of the opening section. Kern returns to the E for each vocal phrase, with a little interest of deceptively changing to a C# for touching your hand, but then returns to the E for the final phrase. This straightforward approach makes it seems like the following song will be a standard ballad with a regular cadential structure. However the beauty and intrigue of this piece hinges on Kerns ability to blur the key structure of each unit of the Refrain section until the final cadence. He starts in BbM-gm section, then continues to FM-dm, to bm, and finally with using an augmented Bb chord ends up in what could be gm or Bb, and only with the final cadence is it clear that the song has been in Bb. The continuous shift in harmonic center, without a clear modality indicated, increases the sense of anticipation and longing felt by the protagonist. It is interesting to note that at the point it is revealed that these characters are not together yet, and there is a feeling of unclarity, Kern chose finally to give harmonic clarity. There is also a climax on the word are which then relaxes into are mine which shows the protagonists excitement in all of the wonderful things found in this new love, then settles for the envisioning a lifetime spent together.While I find Kerns music to be composed beautifully fitting into the musical theatre style of the time while showing his mastery of harmony, it is most interesting to examine the control the different artistic interpretations and their affect on the protagonist and overall effect of the song. In this paper, the performances by Ella Fitzgerald, Elly Ameling, Jessye Norman, Kiri Te Kanawa, Lois Hunt/Earl Wrightson, Marni Nixon and Michael Jackson will be compared. While immense respect should be upheld for all these artists, it is interesting to see the limits as to what interpretations can work for a given piece. In regard to this piece, I found three separate categories being: performances who evoked the protagonist as clearly suggested by the text and implicit musical persons, performances who created a protagonist that works with both text and music but is not the most obvious choice, and those who created no clear protagonist. In the group of evoking the protagonist as clearly shown through the text and music I place Marni Nixon and Elly Ameling. Both approach the song in a classical musical theatre style with jazz influences. While Marni Nixon presents a performance that is clearly heavily influenced by the classical 1950s musical theatre style. For the opening recitative section harp, flute, and strings are used. Although it is a classical sound, she clearly is creating a younger naive sound through her vocal coloring. There is a beautiful legato line while not overusing portamento to evoke a more mature character. She also decides at the end of the piece to keep the final lower octave instead of taking it up which other performers decide. I believe this adds to a feeling of resolution to the end. Elly Ameling, while using jazz combo rather than a musical theatre orchestration, still stays true to both the implications by the music and text. Although she is completely able to sing this song as if it were a standard art song, she clearly chooses to evoke a younger sound with more of a crossover influence. Her addition of a whistling section also adds to the youthful, vibrant feel in her performance. Although she decides to move the final notes up the octave, she floats them which maintains a feeling of youth. The second group of performers who clearly change the musical persona, but create a clear new character are Lois Hunt/Earl Wrightson, Ella Fitzgerald, Carly Simon, and Michael Jackson. The first performance by Lois Hunt and Early Wrightson clearly change the protagonist by adding a protagonist. By changing the song into a duet, we get the sense that the characters share the same emotion and longing. While they might be temporarily separated, it is clear that they will be reunited. The lighter bouncy introduction adds to a lessoning of anticipation and longing. They also sing more classically with an older sound, which makes it sound like it is a relationship that has not just begun, yet it is still fresh and new to both characters. The addition of high ahs by the soprano, while a bit overdone, show a feeling of elation and shared affection as the bass-baritone continues with text. While this obviously changes the previous protagonist stated by interpreting music and text, it is a valid interpretation that can still be found in text and music. Ella Fitzgeralds changes the accompaniment to a more up-tempo full jazz band accompaniment with a returning newly composed figure played by the band. This figure creates a feeling of a laid-back atmosphere which lends itself well to the vocal color of Ella. Her approach to singing this song changes the character from a young person newly discovering love, into someone who has experienced love and is looking to embark on a new relationship. The only point of contention that I find, is that the sense of real longing and anticipation is almost lost in this performance. While I believe it is still a valid interpretation, I think the overall impression created by both text and music, is longing and desire. Much like Ella, Carly Simon also uses her folky, smoky tone to her advantage and changes the protagonist to an older protagonist. Something about the laid back feeling in this performance seems to create a protagonist who is looking back on some past relationship that is lost. The trumpet interlude could then be seen as the character looking back and remembering this previous relationship. The addition of riffing to the end also lends itself to a more introspective protagonist and less of a feeling of finality and resolution. The final performance that I also find to be valid, but almost completely not what was originally intended by Kern, is Michael Jacksons interpretation. Obviously a very young recording made by Jackson, which evokes an experience of first love. This character is almost the closest to what is immediately evoked by the text, however Jackson has chosen to have the accompaniment be inspired by the 70s disco era sound. He riffs (as only this artist can) which adds to a feeling of excitement and elation at experiencing love for the first time. Jackson also extends the ending with an exciting riffing section of all the things you are, are mine. Although perhaps the sense of longing is lost, and the sincerity of the original musical persona are changed, it is still a true interpretation that creates a clear protagonist that can be found in both text and music. Although, it is clear Jackson is the artist who has taken these limits to the extreme, which some might even feel crosses into an invalid performance. The final section would be those performances that do not create a clear protagonist. While I feel it is important to mention that extreme respect should be held for both these artists, both of their performances bring into question what needs to be present in order for a valid interpretation. The first performance I find fault with is Kiri Te Kanawas. Although the music is beautifully sung, and the accompaniment is closer to what Kern originally composed for, the clarity of the protagonist is lost by focusing on extreme vocalism. By using an inconsistent vocal color between classical theatre and operatic tone, the age and sincerity of the protagonist is lost. The overuse of portamento and the extreme addition of vibrato for higher notes, leads one not to believe there is a protagonist. Also added to the sense of insincerity is the addition of the sweeping orchestral interlude. When a singer focuses on vocality rather than staying true to the protagonist found in the music and text, it creates confusion for the audience. The audience can enjoy the beauty of the voice, but not a fully formed performance. The final performance, and the interpretation which is clearly the least close to what is found in either text or music, is Jessye Normans interpretation. This performance seems to be styled in a way that gives the audience the experience of musical evolution rather than forming a protagonist. The opening begins with a baroque style accompaniment with harpsichord and orchestra that obviously quotes J.S. Bach. Norman sings in a standard classical style, waiting during the lifted baroque interludes that are off-putting to the audience. All the sudden at you are the angel glow the orchestra fills out in a more romantic style which is matched by Normans vocal tone. After finishing the first verse she then returns to the opening recitative section, which textually does not fit. This is incorporated with another drastic change in accompaniment and vocal style. It suddenly becomes more bouncy and the harpsichord regains. Ms. Norman chooses at this time to switch to a more crossover style of singing. As this section progresses the orchestration shifts back to a more standard musical theatre style orchestration. However, as the listener finally believes things have settles, the accompaniment again fills into a more romantic style. Then it returns to a baroque style at some day my happy arms will hold you again with harpsichord, but not for long because it must end more romantic, but still down the octave for the final vocal note. This performance is the most confusing and least effective. By the constant shifts in both the vocal line and accompaniment, there is no clear protagonist. If the performance would have only utilized one of these styles and stayed consistent, a case could still be made for a clear protagonist, even though it might not be obvious by the text and music. However, the constant shifting back and forth creates confusion, and the only argument for a clear protagonist could be one who is bi-polar. This performance was clearly crafted in a clever way to put a new spin on a standard, but fails. Without a clear connection to music and text shown by a protagonist, the audience is cut-off from the performer and unable to enjoy the interpretation. Through all of these performances it is evident that Kern was extremely successful on creating a piece that is easily adaptable for multiple interpretations in many different genres. It also creates a discussion of how much control the performers have over the protagonist and ultimately the overall effect of a piece. I believe that any of the performances that created a clear protagonist are still valid. While it might not be to the taste of individual listeners, or perhaps even the composer or librettist, it is still creating an atmosphere which involves the audience in creating a fully formed performance. All of the artists presented in this paper have been able in their given musical genres to present performances that are valid and involve the audience, however, for this song the most successful performances were those which used their own personal skills in service of the music. Elly Amelling, while not immediately the singer one chooses to sing music theatre or jazz, creates an intimate, young, naive protagonist that clearly evokes the protagonist most desired by Kern and Hammerstein. However, also affective, is Michael Jacksons delivery that stays true to the style that he connected with most. Perhaps if Jackson had attempted to sing with a classical theatre tone, it would be as off-putting as Normans version.