A textless vocal exercise or concert piece, sung to one or more vowels. Since the mid-18th century, singing teachers have used vocal music without words as exercises, and in the early 19th teachers began to publish solfeggios and exercises for wordless voice and accompaniment. A number of vocalise-style compositions have been written, including a sonatina with piano by Spohr, pieces by Fauré, Ravel, Rakhmaninov, Medtner, Giordano and Respighi; there is a concerto for soprano and orchestra by Glier. Choral ‘vocalisation’ has been used by several composers, including Debussy (Sirènes) and Holst (The Planets). In jazz, ‘vocalese’ refers to a vocal arrangement of an instrumental number.
