There Are Foreign Languages. And Then There Is French.

In preparation for the Solo/Ensemble competition, I occasionally give a French song to voice students who are particularly ambitious or have taken voice lessons for a few years.  It’s not that French is somehow more difficult to learn than any other foreign language…it’s just that it is so different from any other Western language.
 
There are historical reasons for the French language’s uniqueness.  Basically, France was what we call the first modern “nation-state” in the West, which means essentially that it had a modern form of government tied to a specific culture or nationality.  Because the French kings gained power over time, they were able to spread their power in cultural ways.  The French monarchy established different schools that attempted to regulate culture and in particular language.  And because language was given uniformity by the state, it was less affected by grassroots changes or cultural spread from other neighboring languages and countries. 
 
This evolution is very much in contrast to English.  English is pretty much the opposite of French.  English was VERY susceptible to foreign influences because England kept getting conquered by different nationalities who brought their own linguistic traditions.  That is why English has SO MANY exceptions to the rules; our language is basically a weird mish-mash of German, French, Latin, and some other minor languages to boot. 
 
Oddly enough, while French may be initially difficult to learn for English speakers, it is actually easy once you understand the rules.  French, unlike English, is VERY uniform.  Once you know the rules, it really is hard to mess up French.  Most of my singers find French challenging because of the unique nasal vowels and oddities of dropped consonants, but once they pick those rules up, they find it quite easy to navigate.
 
And once you feel comfortable singing in French, there is a world of beautiful music to discover.  The French music scene was quite developed and has a unique sound compared to their German and Italian counterparts.  Faure, Bizet, Chausson, Duparc, Massenet, Debussy, the list goes on and on of successful French composers.  Oddly enough, the French opera tradition is weak compared to songs.  This again relates back to history.  The French kings determined that operas were too important culturally to leave alone, so again, they established a music school that heavily influenced opera composers.  This influence was, in the long-term, detrimental to the popularity of French opera abroad.  French opera became stuffed with five acts, required ballet scenes, and a general slavishness to the monarchy in early operas because French composers wanted to show their loyalty to the monarchy.  French songs and operettas (the ancestor of the modern musical), did far better because the monarchy simply cared less about ‘regulating’ those compositions. 
 
I hope you enjoyed your history lesson before Spring Break!  Take care everyone and keep singing!