Refrain

A refrain (from Vulgar Latin refringere, "to repeat", and later from Old French refraindre) is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song. Poetic fixed forms that feature refrains include the villanelle, the virelay, and the sestina.

The use of refrains is particularly associated with where the verse-chorus-verse song structure typically places a refrain in almost every song. The refrain or chorus often sharply contrasts the verse melodically, rhythmically, and harmonically, and assumes a higher level of dynamics and activity, often with added instrumentation. Chorus form, or strophic form, is a sectional and/or additive way of structuring a piece of music based on the repetition of one formal section or block played repeatedly. See also verse-chorus form.

Usage in history

Renaissance period in music: Thomas Morley (Ballett ca.1595): "My bonny lass she smileth." Fa la la refrain in bar five.

In music, a refrain has two parts: the lyrics of the song, and the melody. Sometimes refrains vary their words slightly when repeated; recognisability is given to the refrain by the fact that it is always sung to the same tune, and the rhymes, if present, are preserved despite the variations of the words. Such a refrain is featured in "The Star-Spangled Banner," which contains a refrain which is introduced by a different phrase in each verse, but which always ends:

Refrain (Stockhausen)

Refrain for three players (piano with woodblocks, vibraphone with alpine cowbells, and amplified celesta with antique cymbals) is a chamber-music composition by Karlheinz Stockhausen, and is number 11 in his catalog of works.

History

Refrain was composed in June and July 1959 on commission from G. von Westerman for the Berlin Festwochen, and is dedicated to Ernst Brücher (Stockhausen 1964, 101). It was premiered on 2 October 1959 by David Tudor (piano), Cornelius Cardew (celesta), and a percussionist from the WDR Symphony Orchestra, Siegfried Rockstroh (vibraphone), at the Berlin Congresshalle, as part of an all-Stockhausen concert that also included Kreuzspiel, Zeitmaße, Zyklus, and the Klavierstücke I, IV, V, VII, VIII, and XI (Kurtz 1992, 98).

Materials and form

The title refers to the disturbance six times of a placid and wide-rangingly composed sound texture by a short refrain (Stockhausen 1964, 101). These refrains are notated on a rotatable transparent plastic strip, superimposed on curved staves which allow the refrain to be repositioned in order to introduce these disturbances in different places (Maconie 2005, 188).

Refrain (Lys Assia song)

"Refrain" was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1956, co-written by Émile Gardaz and Géo Voumard, performed by Lys Assia representing Switzerland. It was the first-ever winner of the Contest, but not the first-ever performance by Switzerland. This apparent anomaly is due to the rules of the 1956 Contest allowing (for the only time to date) each competing country to be represented by two songs. Assia represented Switzerland singing both songs (one of only two performers to do this), and had previously performed "Das alte Karussell" in German ("Refrain" was sung in French).

The song is in the classic chanson mode and laments the lost loves of the singer's "adolescence" (the French original reads "vingt ans", which can also be rendered "twenties" in English).

The song was performed 9th on the night of the contest, following the Netherlands' Corry Brokken with "Voorgoed voorbij" and preceding Belgium's Mony Marc "Le plus beau jour de ma vie". It was the winner of the contest, however the number of points given to it was never revealed.