Information and guide: The Archive of Voices of Spanish Poets
The voice is the beginning and end of poetry; the voices of poets constitute a key cultural heritage that we nowadays have the possibility and duty to preserve, value and study from new and interdisciplinary standpoints.
Up until very recently, readings, preserved thanks to recordings —first analog and then digital—, have been disregarded in literary and linguistic studies. Nevertheless, they represent a valuable resource for a deeper knowledge and understanding not only of the authors but also of the written text: recitation provides an additional text that is superimposed on the page. Moreover, they constitute a specific typology of speech, ‘poetic speech’, that in linguistic and phonetic terms offers a plethora of stimuli and is suitable for a wide range of research.
However, what can listening to a poetic text read by its author or by another poet reveal? Has the way poetry is read changed over time? When listening to a reading aloud, are we equipped to recognise the key features that characterise the interpretation?
The dynamic vocal archive Voices of Spanish Poets (VSP) is the first online platform that allows users to listen to some of the most representative voices of contemporary Spanish poetry.
The dynamic vocal archive Voices of Spanish Poets (VSP) is the first online platform that allows users to listen to some of the most representative voices of contemporary Spanish poetry. The recordings are accompanied by an innovative guide that focuses on phonetic awareness of poetry readings. It is intended to be both a useful tool for poetry lovers and a didactic resource for education in the literary, linguistic and theatrical fields.
The tools for the acoustic description of the readings are the result of an experimental phonetic study model (VIP-VSP-Radar) developed, refined and applied first to Italian (Voices of Italian Poets - VIP project, University of Turin) and then to Spanish by Colonna (2021), Colonna et al. (2024). Applied in this project to a selection of readings, these tools aim to describe the readings phonetically while tracing the first historical overview of the reading of Spanish poetry from the last century to the present day. This makes it possible to reveal the immeasurable musical richness that unites and distinguishes the poets’ reading styles; each reading aloud, thus, a unique piece.
The archive is a living project that aims to expand over time, not claiming to be all-encompassing of the whole panorama. Its rapid growth has been the result of fruitful relationships with institutions that have made it possible to record the poets. Firstly, it is worth mentioning the collaboration with Granada Ciudad de la Literatura UNESCO and the Centro Federico García Lorca, thanks to which the ‘Voces de Granada’ section was born, a selection of the most representative voices of Granada now. Other collaborations such as those with the Marpoética festival or with the Principality of Asturias have made it possible to expand the network of poets involved and represent the linguistic reality of the Spanish national territory.
The historical focus of the project made it necessary to work with source material from the twentieth century. The availability of recordings from the last century, preserved thanks to the commendable work of historical archives such as Voz Viva in Mexico and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., has been crucial for our purpose. These invaluable collaborations have made it possible to study these voices and include them in the archive so as to be freely accessed. In case the audio file is copyrighted and not available online, even though not included, its description is included so that it becomes part of the historical traces.
An unprecedented contribution of our vocal archive is the incorporation of interpretations in the voice of contemporary poets of a selection of texts by Federico García Lorca. This section, which is unique in the international scene and in connection with the VIP project, not only pays homage to the poet of the Generation of ‘27 ―whose voice has not been preserved―, but also reveals the musical richness that the same poetic text can encompass when read by different voices. In this case, the objective is also to provide phonetic research tools for the listener.
The VSP Vocal Archive is currently comprised of more than 800 recordings amassed in less than a year and a half. The platform offers a multitude of search options, ranging from alphabetical sorting according to performer or recording title to several other categories. Thus, users can conduct searches within, for instance, Lorca readings (filter “Federico García Lorca”), “Voices of Granada” or groupings relative to the history of Spanish poetry reading.
Regarding the latter, we are developing a phonetic history that ranges from the twentieth century to today, which makes it possible to identify the main variations in the modalities of poetry reading over time. It is based on the model previously developed for the Italian context in Colonna (2022), in which the materials were sourced from broadcasting archives. Although most audio files in this project have not been drawn from these types of repositories, we have opted to inherit the same classification so as to continue the study of the evolution of media speech in recent history.
Therefore, in accordance with the aforementioned paradigm, two phases can be identified in the past century: first radio-television and second radio-television. These are followed by a current contemporary phase (today) which is expected to be further divided in future studies. The proposed organisation of the readings is not strictly chronological; rather, it is based on stylistic similarities.
Additionally, when searching, the criteria of phonetic analyses can be accessed in order to gain insight into the groupings based on the typology of similar readings according to the set parameters.
The audio files contain all the essential metadata for their preservation, including the source of ownership or recorder and the editor. In the case of VSP materials, the acronyms refer to those who have been involved in the creation of the archive up to the present date. Specifically, Valentina Colonna (VC) for recording and/or editing and Ana Vinuesa Antiñolo (AVA) for editing. The latter worked on the project within the framework of a training internship, contributing to the rapid creation of the archive in a short time frame.
In order to facilitate the utilisation of the archive at various levels, a comprehensive manual of presentation and introduction to its terminology and methodology is provided below.
Phonetic Guide for Listening to the Poets
This manual outlines the essential information relating to the phonetic data provided by the archive, which aims to accompany the user in conscious listening to the voices of the poets. The data, which is currently only available in a selection of readings, will make it possible to trace the changes in poetic reading over time. However, it is hoped that the data analysed ―and recordings incorporated― will continue to grow in order to perceive the variations and commonalities of reading styles today.
When we speak of poetic reading, three descriptive categories are essential for a first framing: the organisation of the reading in relation to the written page (prosodic organisation), the purely acoustic characteristics (acoustic parameters), and the style of the reading as a whole according to aspects that consider the starting text, but above all the richness of the approaches taken (prosodic styles).
To address these three levels of analysis, a selection of descriptive indices has been identified. The following section provides a detailed subdivision of the three macro-categories into the points used to describe each recording under consideration.
Prosodic organisation: Prosodic organisation is the reorganisation of the written poetic page when reading aloud. This relates to a prosodic text structured in units that do not necessarily align with those on the page. In fact, when we speak and when we read aloud, we produce chains of sounds (‘phonetic chains’) that hardly encompass the individual words we think of orthographically in their spatiality on the page. In the case of poetry, prosodic organisation is distinguished into four types which can usually also be found in combinations, and which describe the management of speech units (‘prosodic curves’) interspersed by pauses, in relation to the written text on the page. The four types of organisation are as follows:
- Metrical: The organisation of the prosodic units faithfully follows the verse.
- Syntagmatic: The organisation of the prosodic units predominantly follows the syntagmatic cells and orthographic words, constituting units inferior to the measure of the verse
- Syntactic: The organisation of the prosodic units follows the punctuation and/or logical development, giving priority to it over the verse measure, which is often reorganised in prosodic fragments straddling these.
- Stanzas-based/macro-syntactic: The organisation of the prosodic units follows a general, logical, punctuational and structural unity, encompassing in a single unit more lines of verse.
Acoustic Parameters: The acoustic parameters that characterise a reading are manifold and can be analysed in different types of speech even outside the poetic. However, for a characterisation of the poetic voice, it is necessary to take them into account. They provide acoustic information about the reading and are specifically the following:
- Speed: Speed of reading (‘speech rate’) calculated in syllables per second.
- Intensity: The relative average intensity of the reading, which may also be interpreted as the average loudness, calculated in dB.
- Mean Pitch: The average melodic level of the reading within a melodic gap. It can be understood as the pitch of the average musical note used in the reading since it is the average frequency, calculated in Hz.
- Melodic Interval: Melodic range between a maximum and minimum pitch (or note), which we can compare with a musical interval, calculated in semitones.
- Melodic Changes: Rate of variation in the use of melody within the reading; whether it is more varied in the use of the voice or is mostly constant and flatter.
Prosodic Style: Prosodic style is the description of the general style of a poetic reading. It is articulated in several aspects that may or may not be present (e.g. staccato) staccatoand which may in combined in different proportions (e.g. accentual dimensionappoggiato or articolato― or the variation of speed ―trattenuto or accelerando―). The Italian name of some indices respect and pay homage to the international musical language. These indices are specific to the poetic voice and are as follows:
- Staccato: The reading is stylistically marked by an internal fragmentation given by a strategic use of silence within or between the prosodic units.
- Articolato(Articulated): The accentuation of the reading is marked by silence between melodic units, comparable to the musical articulation of phrasing (see: Baroque period). It is given by a scanning of major prosodic units into minor units interspersed by pauses.
- Appoggiato(Supported): The accentuation of the reading is determined by a marking of speech-internal nuclei (internal to the prosodic curves) as accents comparable to musical appoggiaturas.
- Intonational Rhetoric: The use of melody in poetic reading can be strategic and rhetorical, as it is based on the repetition of equal or similar melodies that are repeated.
- Declarative Intonation: One of the most internationally recurring intonations in poetic reading is the poetic declarative; an intonation that declares, explains and leaves its assertion open.
- Trattenuto: Presence in the reading of slowing down and a style perceived as slow overall.
- Accelerando: Presence in the reading of accelerations and style perceived as fast overall.
- Pausal rhetoric of enjambment: In the presence of enjambment in the text, the reading presents a pause between the upper and lower line, reproducing with silence the fracture given by the rhetorical figure.
- Plenus: Reading with a high presence of speech, clearly superior with respect to the duration and presence of pauses, which are generally short or reduced.
The aforementioned indices allow for a classification, on average, of three categories: low (or absent), medium, high and very high.