I decided to do this Recital because of my love of music. I have an Endorsement in music, but majored in Elementary Education. I thought that doing a Recital now might be my only chance to do something meaningful with the music that I love. I know that once I start teaching, I will not have the time or the resources to undertake something like this again. Selfishly, I wanted to give myself the opportunity to perform and to be in the spotlight. Since I needed to complete an Honors Thesis, I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to do a Recital.The written portion of my thesis is my program notes. They are intended to be handed out along with the program and translations at my Recital. These program notes should help the audience learn more about each of the songs I am singing. For each song I have included background information on the composers, the style of music, and (in some cases) background information about the opera from which the song comes. Finally, I included what the song and the music are expressing, and what the singer is attempting to convey during each song.