Accent d'insistance
This is a quick introduction to the "accent d'insistance".
While you could translate this quite literally to "insistence accent", it relates better in English as a "leaning accent".
As you may know, in the French language, we do not speak of accented syllables, but inflections. The inflection systematically goes to the end of the word, which means the "goal" of the word is on the last syllable, except when the word ends with the letter "e" pronounced as [œ] (or schwa), in which case the inflection will be on the penultimate syllable.
The "accent d'insistance" is French's way of strengthening the message of a word, by leaning on another syllable than the inflected one, at the beginning of the word. If a word starts with a consonant, the accent d'insistance can be placed on the first syllable. If a word starts with a vowel, the accent d'insistance can be placed on the second syllable.
What does it look like? Looking in the scores of Jules Massenet, you will find some of the first written examples. Later composers who incorporated them into their scores include Reynaldo Hahn and the Boulanger sisters (They all studied from one another, so that makes sense). Refer to the picture attached to this post, the "accent d'insistence" is the tenuto-like dash located above the note in this example.
What are the benefits of using the "accent d'insistance" in singing? As the great Gait Sirguey has said "The accent d'insistance makes the difference between someone singing with great French diction and someone who actually sounds French". Simple as that. One can study French pronunciation for years, but if the "accent d'insistance" is not utilized, the result does not sound like authentic French.
It is tricky explaining how the "accent d'insistance" actually sounds, in writing. Take a listen at the astounding Gérard Souzay in Fauré's famous song "Après un rêve":
Take note of words like "sommeil", "charmait", "bonheur", "sonore", "mystérieuse" or "divine" for example. Do you hear how Souzay leans on the first syllable of those words in tasteful emphasis? This is how "accents d'insistance" sound.
While being paramount to accurate rendition of French music/style, and fulfilling its purely linguistic role, the accent d'insistance, when incorporated in singing, can also accomplish the following:
- linguistic: bringing attention to a word important to the plot of the phrase. For example, in Carmen's aria "En vain pour éviter", in the phrase "Si le mot redoutable est écrit par le sort" (if the dreaded word shall be written by fate), the word she refers to is "mort" (death), and she qualifies it as "dreadful", letting transpire how scared she is of death being her fateful and inescapable card. The "accent d'insistance" should be placed on the syllable "re-" in "redoutable". Look at the text of that aria, and try to identify which words emphasize a feeling or advance the plot of a phrase, those are fundamentally good candidates for "accents d'insistance".
- musical: by musical, I am referring to the flow of the music. An efficient example of this is Souzay's version of "Après un rêve" and his use of the accent d'insistance as a perfect vector to keep the vocal line alive and forward-flowing. Not only does this benefit the singer, by effectively "melting" his/her energy and the accompaniment together and giving "check in" points to keep the support engaged, but it also gives the listener a less linear, flat, one might even say boring, experience of the execution of the music.
- vocal: the first way the "accent d'insistance" can be used to enhance a singer's vocal production in French is by ensuring no syllables are left unaccented, or discarded, or shortened. More specifically and for example, I often witness sixteenth notes that are a pick up to a new bar being shortened, or barely uttered, to the point where A- the word is unintelligible. B- the vocal line and the closure of the chords is interrupted. C- the rhythm of the French language is disturbed (remember, no accented or non-accented syllables in French, only inflections). Take Juliette's recit before her aria "Amour, ranime mon courage": many a time, the words "ce poignard" (this dagger) are blurted out with the only goal of getting to the F, and then the A, on the syllable "-gnard". In truth, putting an "accent d'insistance" on the syllable "poi-" in "poignard" has clear advantages here: A- dramatically, the word "poignard" itself can be made to sound excruciating to pronounce, emphasizing even more her state of mind at the time. B- vocally, not interrupting the support to the voice and the closure of the chords, but leaning on the support and utilizing the "accent d'insistance" to decompose the syllable into all its helpful elements: the unvoiced consonant "p" to get to the high pitch, gradually opening in to the [a] vowel through the help of a well-pronounced semi-vowel [w].
- another vocal habit the "accent d'insistance" can remedy is the tendency to double consonants, when in fact, 99.99% of the time,French does not have pronounced double consonants (yes we can talk about "immense" and "immobile" later, as a different topic). Let's stay with Juliette for a moment, and look at the first phrase in that recit "Dieu, quel frisson court dans mes veines?". The placement of the word "frisson" over the bar makes it particularly susceptible for the singer to shorten "fris-", while acoustically doubling the "s", both mistakes made in good faith to emphasize the word and land on the downbeat. This effectively interrupts the vocal line, and makes the word sound kind of staccato. Putting an "accent d'insistance" on the syllable "fri-" and even a shadow vowel between the "f" and "r" will effectively perpetuate the flow of the phrase, while keeping the vocal line consistent and the word clearly pronounced.
Using terms such as "vocal", "musical" or "linguistic" is a bit tricky, as you may have seen all the above-mentioned points really pertain to all those topics.
This is only a glimpse of what the "accent d'insistance" can do for a singer in French. I hope it gives you a clearer idea of its execution and benefits.