Principles of Orchestration Part 30

_Examples:_

_Legend of Kitesh_ [[34]], [[36]], [[297]] (cf. Ex. 34 and 231).

No. 272-274. _Tsar Saltan_ [[104]], [[162-165]] (cf. also [[147-148]]).

* _Russian Easter Fete_, before [[V]].

The whole question as to what is allowed and what forbidden in the employment of notes extraneous to the harmony is one of the most difficult in the whole range of composition; the permissible length of such notes is in no way established. In absence of artistic feeling, the composer who relies entirely on the difference between two timbres will often find himself using the most painful discords. Innovations in this direction in the latest post-Wagnerian music are often very questionable; they depress the ear and deaden the musical senses, leading to the unnatural conclusion that what is good, taken separately, must necessarily be good in combination.

Artificial effects.

I apply this name to some orchestral operations which are based on certain defects of hearing and faculty of perception. Having no wish to specify those that already exist or to foretell those which may yet be invented, I will mention, in pa.s.sing, a few which have been used by me in my own works. To this cla.s.s belong _glissando_ scales or arpeggios in the harp, the notes of which do not correspond with those played simultaneously by other instruments, but which are used from the fact that long _glissandi_ are more resonant and brilliant than short ones.

_Examples:_

_Snegourotchka_ [[325]] (cf. Ex. 95).

No. 275. _Pan Voyevoda_ [[128]].

* _Sheherazade_, 3rd movement [[M]], 5th bar (cf. Ex. 248).

* _Russian Easter Fete_ [[D]] (cf. Ex. 248).

* Enharmonic _glissando_ in the strings should also be mentioned.

No. 276. _The Christmas Night_ [[180]], 13th bar--'Cellos _glissando_.

Use of percussion instruments for rhythm and colour.

Whenever some portion of the orchestra executes a rhythmic figure, percussion instruments should always be employed concurrently. An insignificant and playful rhythm is suitable to the triangle, tambourine, castanets and side drum, a vigourous and straightforward rhythm may be given to the ba.s.s drum, cymbals and gong. The strokes on these instruments should almost invariably correspond to the strong beats of the bar, highly-accented syncopated notes or disconnected _sforzandi_. The triangle, side drum and tambourine are capable of various rhythmic figures. Sometimes the percussion is used separately, independently of any other group of instruments.

The bra.s.s and wood-wind are the two groups which combine the most satisfactorily with percussion from the standpoint of colour. The triangle, side drum, and tambourine go best with harmony in the upper register; cymbals, ba.s.s drum and gong with harmony in the lower. The following are the combinations most generally employed: _tremolo_ on the triangle and tambourine with trills in wood-wind and violins; _tremolo_ on the side drum, or cymbals struck with drum sticks, and sustained chords on trumpets and horns; _tremolo_ on the ba.s.s drum or the gong with chords on trombones or low sustained notes on 'cellos and double ba.s.ses. It must not be forgotten that the ba.s.s drum, cymbals, gong and a _tremolo_ on the side drum, played _fortissimo_, is sufficient to overpower any orchestral _tutti_.

* The reader will find instances of the use of percussion instruments in any full score, and in several examples of the present work.

_Examples:_

* _Sheherazade_ pp. 107-119, also many pa.s.sages in 4th movement.

* _Antar_ [[40]], [[43]] (cf. Ex. 73, 29).

* _Spanish capriccio_ [[P]] (cf. Ex. 64); the cadences to be studied in the 4th movement, where they are accompanied by various percussion instruments.

* _Russian Easter Fete_ [[K]] (cf. Ex. 217).

* _The Tsar's Bride_ [[140]].

* _Legend of Kitesh_ [[196-197]]--"The Battle of Kerjemetz".

* _Pan Voyevoda_ [[71-72]].

Economy in orchestral colour.

Neither musical feeling nor the ear itself can stand, for long, the full resources of the orchestra combined together. The favourite group of instruments is the strings, then follow in order the wood-wind, bra.s.s, kettle-drums, harps, _pizzicato_ effects, and lastly the percussion, also, in point of order, triangle, cymbals, big drum, side drum, tambourine, gong. Further removed stand the celesta, _glockenspiel_ and xylophone, which instruments, though melodic, are too characteristic in timbre to be employed over frequently. The same may be said of the piano and castanets. A quant.i.ty of national instruments not included in the present work may be incorporated into the orchestra; such are the guitar, the domra, zither, mandoline, the oriental tambourine, small tambourine etc. These instruments are employed from time to time for descriptive-aesthetic purposes.

These instruments are most frequently used in the above-named order. A group of instruments which has been silent for some time gains fresh interest upon its reappearance. The trombones, trumpets and tuba are occasionally _tacet_ for long periods, the percussion is seldom employed, and practically never all together, but in single instruments or in two's and three's. In national dances or music in ballad style, percussion instruments may be used more freely.

After a long rest the re-entry of the horns, trombones and tuba should coincide with some characteristic intensity of tone, either _pp_ or _ff_; _piano_ and _forte_ re-entries are less successful, while re-introducing these instruments _mezzo-forte_ or _mezzo-piano_ produces a colourless and common-place effect. This remark is capable of wider application. For the same reasons it is not good to commence or finish any piece of music either _mf_ or _mp_. The scope of the musical examples in this work does not permit of ill.u.s.trating by quotation the use of economy in orchestral colour, nor the re-entry of instruments thrown into prominence by prolonged rests. The reader must examine these questions in full scores.

Chapter V.

COMBINATION OF THE HUMAN VOICE WITH ORCHESTRA. THE STAGE BAND.

Orchestral accompaniment of solo voices.

General remarks.

In accompanying the voice orchestral scoring should be light enough for the singer to make free use of all the dynamic shades of expression without hardness of tone. In overflowing lyrical moments, where full voice is required, the singer should be well supported by the orchestra.

Opera singing may be divided into two general cla.s.ses, lyric singing and declamation or recitative. The full, round, _legato_ aria affords greater facility for tone production than florid music or recitative, and the more movement and rhythmic detail contained in the vocal part, the greater freedom and liberty must there be given to the voice. In such a case the latter should not be doubled by the orchestra, neither should rhythmical figures be written for any instrument corresponding with those in the vocal part. In accompanying the voice the composer should bear these points in mind before turning his attention to the choice of orchestral colour. A confused, heavy accompaniment will overpower the singer; an accompaniment which is too simple in character will lack interest, and one which is too weak will not sustain the voice sufficiently.

In modern opera it is rare that orchestral writing is confined to accompaniment pure and simple. It frequently happens that the princ.i.p.al musical idea, often complex in character, is contained in the orchestra. The voice may then be said to form the accompaniment, exchanging musical for literary interest. It becomes subordinate to the orchestra, as though it were an extra part, subsequently added as an after-thought. But it is evident that great care must be taken with orchestral writing in such cases. The scoring must not be so heavy or complicated as to drown the voice and prevent the words from being heard, thereby breaking the thread of the text, and leaving the musical imagery unexplained. Certain moments may require great volume of orchestral tone, so great that a voice of even phenomenal power is incapable of being heard. Even if the singer is audible, such unequal struggles between voice and orchestra are most inartistic, and the composer should reserve his orchestral outbursts for the intervals during which the voice is silent, distributing the singer's phrases and pauses in a free and natural manner, according to the sense of the words. If a prolonged _forte_ pa.s.sage occurs in the orchestra it may be used concurrently with action on the stage. All artificial reduction of tone contrary to the true feeling of a pa.s.sage, the sole object being to allow the voice to come through, should be strictly avoided, as it deprives orchestral writing of its distinctive brilliance. It must also be remembered that too great a disparity in volume of tone between purely orchestral pa.s.sages and those which accompany the voice create an inartistic comparison. Therefore, when the orchestra is strengthened by the use of wood-wind in three's or four's, and bra.s.s in large numbers, the division of tone and colour must be manipulated skillfully and with the greatest care.

In previous sections I have frequently stated that the structure of the orchestra is closely related to the music itself. The scoring of a vocal work proves this relations.h.i.+p in a striking manner, and, indeed, it may be stipulated that _only that which is well written can be well orchestrated_.

Transparence of accompaniment. Harmony.

The group of strings is the most transparent medium and the one least likely to overpower the voice. Then come the wood-wind and the bra.s.s, the latter in the following order: horns, trombones, trumpets. A combination of strings, _pizz._, and the harp forms a setting eminently favourable for the voice. As a general rule a singer is more easily overpowered by long sustained notes than by short detached ones. Strings doubled in the wood-wind and bra.s.s, and bra.s.s doubled by wood-wind are combinations liable to drown the singer. This may be done even more easily by _tremolando_ in the kettle-drums and other percussion instruments, which, even by themselves are capable of overpowering any other orchestral group of instruments. Doubling of wood-wind and horns, and the use of two clarinets, two oboes or two horns in unison to form one harmonic part is likewise to be avoided, as such combinations will have a similar effect on the voice. The frequent use of long sustained notes in the double ba.s.ses is another course unfavourable to the singer; these notes in combination with the human voice produce a peculiar throbbing effect.

Juxtaposition of strings and wood-wind which overweights _legato_ or declamatory singing may nevertheless be employed if one of the groups forms the harmony in sustained notes and the other executes a melodic design, when, for instance the sustaining instruments are clarinet, and ba.s.soon, or ba.s.soon and horn, and the melodic design is entrusted to violins or violas--or in the opposite case, when the harmony is given to violas and 'cellos _divisi_, and the harmonic [Transcriber's Note: melodic] figure to the clarinets.

Sustained harmony in the register of the second octave to the middle of the third does not overpower women's voices, as these develop _outside_ this range; neither is it too heavy for men's voices, which although opening out _within_ the range itself sound an octave higher, as in the case of the tenor voice. As a rule women's voices suffer more than men's when they come in contact with harmony in a register similar to their own. Taken separately, and used in moderation, each group of orchestral instruments may be considered favourable to each type of voice. But the combination of two or three groups cannot be so considered unless they each play an independent part and are not united together at full strength. Incessant four-part harmony is to be deprecated. Satisfactory results will be obtained when the number of harmonic parts is gradually decreased, with some of them sustaining pedal notes, and when the harmony, interspersed with necessary pauses is confined to the limits of one octave, distributed over several octaves, or duplicated in the higher register.

These manipulations allow the composer to come to the singer's aid; in voice-modulations, when the singer pa.s.ses from the _cantabile_ to the declamatory style, the composer may reduce or eliminate some harmony which is found to be too heavy as the vocal tone diminishes, and conversely, support the voice by a fuller orchestral tone in broad phrases and climaxes.

Ornamental writing and polyphonic accompaniment should never be too intricate in character, entailing the use of an unnecessary number of instruments. Some complicated figures are better partially entrusted to _pizz._ strings and harp, as this combination has little chance of overpowering the voice. Some examples of accompanying an _aria_ are given below.

_Examples:_

_The Tsar's Bride_, Lykow's supplementary _Aria_ (Act III).