Analysis Of The Artistic Value And Singing Technology Of The Aria "Mein Sehnen,Mein W?hnen" In The Opera "Die Tote Stadt"

For nearly half a century,since Korngold’s exile in the United States in the 1930 s,he disappeared into the hustle and bustle of the following 20 th century as a classical composer,writing numerous film scores for Hollywood during his exile and winning two Academy Awards,so many musical sources focus on his second career as a Hollywood film composer and ignore his contribution to classical music.He wrote a large number of film scores for Hollywood during his time in the United States and won two Academy Awards.In fact,he composed five operas,the most famous of which is Die tote Stadt(The City of the Dead).This work had its world premiere in 1920 in both Hamburg and Cologne.The theme of the opera is about bereavement,with a melancholy and decadent tune and an overall symbolist style.This theme resonated with contemporary audiences who were experiencing the trauma of the First World War and indirectly contributed to the popularity of the work.Within two years of its premiere,it had been performed worldwide and was the first German-language opera to be performed at the Metropolitan Opera in New York since the First World War.In 2021,I became interested in studying the work after being captivated by the first prize winner of the Cardiff World Vocal Competition,the Korean baritone Gihoon Kim,who sang the Act II aria "Mein sehnen,Mein w?hnen"(My Thoughts,My Fantasies)from Dead City.This thesis takes the aria "Mein sehnen,Mein w?hnen" from Die tote Stadt(The City of the Dead)as the main case study.The lyrical baritone aria "Mein sehnen,Mein w?hnen",also known as "Pierrot’s Song",is a classic among Korngold’s masterpieces and is one of the most well-known pieces in Die tote Stadt.In China,however,there are few books about Korngold,and both Paul Henry Lang’s Music in Western Civilization and Norton’s Music of the Twentieth Century in the Transitional History of Music completely ignore Korngold’s existence.As a result,not many people are familiar with Korngold’s music,and even among professional vocal students and music lovers,there is a lack of further understanding of the artistic value of this aria.In this paper,we will explore this work in depth by analyzing the subject matter,structure,plot and singing techniques of the aria "My Thoughts,My Fantasy",in order to provide a useful reference for the appreciation,singing and character interpretation of this work from theory to practice.