The Diction Police

Ellen Rissinger•thedictionpolice.podbean.com

Arts

Performing Arts

Practical Diction for Classical Singers

Last refreshed: August 15th, 2025 at 10:54 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

Episode 11

Back to German Diction, with the texts to Strauss' "Zueignung" and the first two poems of Schumann's Frauenliebe und -leben . Our guests this week are Rainer Mühlbach and Stephanie Atanasov, and we review some sounds that we've already talked about, like Äs and Ls, and also talk about the prefix ZU- (so that no one will ever mispronounce "Zueignung" again!) and the suffix -IG. Texts for these songs can be found at The LiederNet Archive . If you have any questions or comments for me, feel free to...

Jun 11, 2010•26 min

Episode 10

This week we talk about Russian Diction with Maria Fontosh. First we discuss the text to Tatjana's Aria from Yevgeny (Eugene) Onegin and then we go through the alphabet to try to take some of the fear out of reading Cyrillic! We focus on a, я and unstressed o. The only online Russian libretto I found for Onegin is a zip file you can download at the end of the Wikipedia Article . This is the text I refer to when I mention "paragraphs" in the episode. The Wikipedia page for the Russian alphabet wi...

Jun 04, 2010•32 min

Episode 9

French Diction is our topic this week--we concentrate on the texts to "À Chloris" by Reynaldo Hahn and "Chanson à boire" from Ravel's Don Quichotte à Dulcinée , with a discussion of the nasal vowels and bright [a] and dark [ɑ] with Dr. Francois Germain, a coach and French Diction teacher on the faculty of the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam. You can find the texts to these songs at The LiederNet Archive . If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me here, on the Fa...

May 28, 2010•30 min

Episode 8

"Auch kleine Dinge" and "Die Nacht" are our texts this week, with Nadja Mchantaf and Mirko Roschkowski. We talk a little about what to do with Ts and Ds that follow one another ("und duftet doch"), some open and closed Us, and show you a few words with ß that crop up in many Lieder. The texts for these songs can be found at The LiederNet Archive . Auch kleine Dinge is actually found under the title Le cose piccoline . If you are interested in Der kleine Hey , the ISBN for the book is 3-7957-8702...

May 20, 2010•34 min

Episode 7

This week we work through 2 arias from Il barbiere di Siviglia --"La calunnia" and "Una voce poco fa". Our guest is Andrea Sanguineti, an Italian coach/conductor with the Staatsoper Hannover, and we talk about the letters C and G in Italian and some standard suffixes with stressed E and O. There is an online libretto for Il barbiere di Siviglia here , just click under Act 1, Scene 5 Cavatina for Una voce poco fa, or Act 1, Scene 8 Aria for La calunnia. If you are interested in the podcast "Audio...

May 14, 2010•31 min

Episode 6

This week we discuss the texts to Orlovsky's Aria from Die Fledermaus and "Morgens steh' ich auf und frage" (from Schumann's Liederkreis op. 24) with Stephanie Atanasov and Markus Marquardt. We also talk about diphthongs and the pronunciation of the letter S before T and P with coach Markus Henn. There is an online libretto for Die Fledermaus at the Opera Guide here , just scroll down to No. 7 Couplet for Orlovsky's Aria, and the text for "Morgens steh' ich auf und frage" can be found from the L...

May 07, 2010•29 min

Episode 5

In Episode 5 we talk with Nathalie de Montmollin about French Diction in 2 Fauré songs, Mai and Aprés un rêve . We specifically talk about the letters E and I, mute E, the nasal vowels, and some rules about obligatory, forbidden and optional liaison. You'll see this is a longer episode--I've also included an interview with Philip Shepard, author of What the Fach?! , on working in opera in the German-speaking countries and in the US for both singers and coaches, and there was so much useful infor...

Apr 30, 2010•49 min

Episode 4

This week we work through Gretchen am Spinnrade with Netta Or and Die Post with Markus Marquardt, and then discuss German Diction in a more general way with coach Hans Sotin. We talk a little more about open and closed U and Ü and devoicing consonants. If you need the texts, follow the link to the Lied and Art Song Text Page at the right. Feel free to leave comments here, at the Facebook page, or you can send me specific questions at ellen@ellenrissinger.com...

Apr 23, 2010•30 min

Episode 3

This weeks show contains 3 arias from Die Zauberflöte : "Ach, ich fühl's" with Nadja Mchantaf; "Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön" with Oliver Ringelhahn; and "Papageno's Suicide" with Markus Marquardt. We'll be concentrating on 3 specific sounds: the letter ä, the letter r in many positions, and the German schwa. If you want to follow the text, you can find an online libretto at this Opera Guide website or if you would like to see the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (the critical edition of the full score)...

Apr 15, 2010•33 min

Episode 2

In Episode 2 we concentrate on Le Violette (from 24 Italian Songs and Arias), Il fervido desiderio (Bellini), and O del mio amato ben (Donaudy), and discuss some basic rules of Italian diction with Fabio Centanni, an Italian coach who accompanies Renata Scotto's Opera Studio in Rome! The texts are available from the LiederNet Archive by clicking on the titles above. Feel free to leave comments here or you can write to me with specific questions at ellen@ellenrissinger.com...

Apr 03, 2010•29 min

Episode 1

Well, here it is! In Episode 1 we discuss the texts of "Heidenröslein" and "Der Gärtner" with Nadja Mchantaf and Hans Sotin, focusing on the long vowel [øː] and the short [œ], and talk with conductor Rainer Mühlbach about singing in German. Hope you enjoy it! The texts are available from the LiederNet Archive, " Heidenröslein " and " Der Gärtner ". Please feel free to leave comments here or to write to me at ellen@ellenrissinger.com...

Apr 01, 2010•28 min

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