What it is, what to hear first, and what sits next to it.
An art song is a vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano or orchestral accompaniment. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the genre of such songs. Although categorizing a piece of vocal music as art song rather than as another type of song (such as a folk song, or an aria) can sometimes be difficult, most art songs are: * settings of lyric poetry * not part of a staged work (such as an opera or a musical) .