Editing Ned Rorem (section)

===Songs===
[[File:Spring by Rorem excerpt.png|thumb|upright=1.3|Opening measures of ''Spring'' (1947) by Rorem. The piano's left hand employs [[ground bass]] below a higher melody]]
He is best known for his [[art song]]s, of which he wrote more than 500.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ paras 6–7}}{{refn|While older publications such as {{harvtxt|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 7}} approximate Rorem's song output as "nearly 400", the music critic [[Tim Page (music critic)|Tim Page]] explains that "By the time Mr. Rorem was 40, he had written more than 400 such songs", and that by his death "In all, he wrote{{nbsp}}... more than 500 songs".{{sfn|Page|2022}}|group=n}} Many are coupled into some thirty or so [[song cycle]]s, written from the early 1940s to 2000s.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ "Works"}}{{refn|Many of his earliest songs remain unpublished;{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=12}} his first published cycle was ''Flight for Heaven'' (1950), a setting of nine poems by the [[Lyric poetry|lyric]] poet [[Robert Herrick (poet)|Robert Herrick]], along with a piano interlude.{{sfn|Henry|1986|pp=33–36}} See {{harvtxt|Henry|1986|pp=12–14}} for an overview on Rorem's early unpublished song cycles.|group=n}} Rorem stressed the importance of a cycle's overall structure, paying close attention to the song order, progression of [[key signature|key]]s and transition between songs.{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=14}} He also emphasized [[theatricality]], aiming to convey an overarching message via a unified emotional affect or mood.{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=15}} Like in other genres, the musicologist Philip Lieson Miller remarked that "Rorem's chosen field of song is not for the avant garde and he must be classified as{{nbsp}}... conservative", and that "he has never striven for novelty".{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=31}} Rorem's strict definitions of what constitutes a song has molded them to be typically be single-voice and piano settings of lyrical poems of moderate length.{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=26}} He named songs by [[Monteverdi]], [[Schumann]], [[Poulenc]] and [[the Beatles]] as particular favorites.{{sfn|Lewis|2022}} To obtain certain effects, however, Rorem has occasionally experimented with more modernist sentiments, such as intense [[Chromatic scale|chromaticism]], successive [[Modulation (music)|modulations]] and alternating [[time signature]]s.{{sfn|Miller|1978|pp=27–31}}

Rorem's main interest in the art song is the setting of poetry, rather than the sound of the human voice.{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 7}}{{sfn|Beck|Rorem|1993|p=31}} Numerous commentators have lauded his abilities in prosody, with ''[[Grove Music Online]]'' noting that he "sets words with naturalness and clarity, without compromising the range and scope of vocal lines".{{sfn|Holmes|Tommasini|McDonald|2003|loc=§ para 7}} The vast majority of Rorem's songs are set in English and he has criticized American colleagues who prioritize setting other languages over English.{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=26}}{{sfn|Peyser|1987}} In his early years, he was particularly devoted to the poems of his friend [[Paul Goodman]], and later set many works by [[Theodore Roethke]].{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=26}} Rorem often composed entire cycles to the poetry of a single writer: [[John Ashbery]], [[Witter Bynner]], [[Demetrios Capetanakis]], [[George Darley]], [[Frank O'Hara]], [[Robert Herrick (poet)|Robert Herrick]], [[Kenneth Koch]], [[Howard Moss]], [[Sylvia Plath]], [[Wallace Stevens]], [[Alfred, Lord Tennyson]], and [[Walt Whitman]], to whom he dedicated three cycles.{{sfn|Henry|1986|pp=115–116}} His few settings in other languages include French poems by [[Jean-Antoine de Baïf]], [[Jean Daurat]], {{ill|Olivier de Magny|fr}}, [[Henri de Régnier]], [[Pierre de Ronsard]], as well as ancient Greek texts by [[Plato]].{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=13}}

Many of Rorem's songs are accompanied by piano, though some have mixed instrumental ensemble or orchestral accompaniment.{{sfn|Henry|1986|p=v}} A pianist himself, his accompaniment parts for the instrument are not completely secondary to the voice and more a "full complement to the melody".{{sfn|Page|2022}} They include motives to emphasize textual elements—such as rain and clouds—and are wildly diverse in function, sometimes responding to the voice in counterpoint or simply [[Voicing (music)#Doubling|doubling]] the vocal line.{{sfn|Miller|1978|pp=30–31}} He sometimes uses the [[Renaissance music|Renaissance]]-derived [[ground bass]] technique of a slow and repeated [[bassline]] in the left hand.{{sfn|Miller|1978|p=30}} Reflecting on his piano accompaniments, the writer Bret Johnson describes Rorem's musical hallmarks as "chiming piano, rushing triplets, sumptuous harmonies".{{sfn|Johnson|1985|p=10}}