Recitative

Hello everybody,

I am studying how to write an opera and I have already been confronted with many problems.
One of these is how to notate a recitative.
When I want the players to act like without music how do I notate this? 

Some examples in scores would be really appreciated too.

Thanks!

Maarten

It dependes on the kind of recitative: no music at all, Sprechgesang / Sprechstimme (see Pierrot Lunaire, Schönberg). In romantic style the recitative is fully orchestrated (Verdi), or lightly orchestrated (Bellini). In baroque was frequent a continuo.

46 minutes ago, Luis Hernández said:

It dependes on the kind of recitative: no music at all, Sprechgesang / Sprechstimme (see Pierrot Lunaire, Schönberg). In romantic style the recitative is fully orchestrated (Verdi), or lightly orchestrated (Bellini). In baroque was frequent a continuo.

 

How do I notate the text if I want no music at all and the players have the complete freedom of speaking?

Do I have to write the text above the voice staff and write a fermata?

And: does Sprechgesang has actual pitch or is it an indication of high and lower notes?

I you want no music at all, I suppose you have two choices:

Write the text as it is, in the score (with no music, of course), inserted.

Put the indication: Recitative, and that's all. Because the text would be in the libretto.

Wikipedia: 

Sprechgesang (German: [ˈʃpʀɛçɡəˌzaŋ], "spoken singing") and Sprechstimme (German: [ˈʃpʀɛçˌʃtɪmə], "spoken voice") are expressionist vocal techniques between singing and speaking. Though sometimes used interchangeably, Sprechgesang is directly related to the operatic recitative manner of singing (in which pitches are sung, but the articulation is rapid and loose like speech), whereas Sprechstimme is closer to speech itself (because it does not emphasise any particular pitches).

Schönberg was not the first to use it, but the best is you hear something from Pierrot Lunaire.