Principles of Orchestration Part 28

Chords of different tone quality used alternately.

1. The most usual practice is to employ chords on different groups of instruments alternately. In dealing with chords in different registers care should be taken that the progression of parts, though broken in pa.s.sing from one group to another, remains as regular as if there were no leap from octave to octave; this applies specially to chromatic pa.s.sages in order to avoid false relation.

_Examples:_

No. 239. _Ivan the Terrible_, Act II [[29]].

No. 240-241. _The Tsar's Bride_ [[123]], before [[124]].

* No. 242-243. " " " [[178]], [[179]].

* _Note._ The rules regulating progression of parts may sometimes be ignored, when extreme contrast of timbre between two adjacent chords is intended.

_Examples:_

* _Sheherazade_, 8th bar from the beginning, (the chromatic progression at the 12th bar is undertaken by the same instruments, the 2nd cl. is therefore placed above the first in the opening)--cf. Ex. 109.

* _The Christmas Night_, opening (cf. Ex. 106).

2. Another excellent method consists in transferring _the same chord or its inversion_ from one orchestral group to another. This operation demands perfect balance in progression of parts as well as register.

The first group strikes a chord of short value, the other group takes possession of it simultaneously in the same position and distribution, either in the same octave or in another. The dynamic gradations of tone need not necessarily be the same in both groups.

_Examples:_

_Ivan the Terrible_, commencement of the overture (cf. Ex. 85).

No. 244. _Snegourotchka_ [[140]].

Amplification and elimination of tone qualities.

The operation which consists in contrasting the resonance of two different groups (* or the different timbres of one and the same group), either in sustained notes or chords, transforms a simple into a complex timbre, suddenly, or by degrees. It is used in establis.h.i.+ng a _crescendo_. While the first group effects the _crescendo_ gradually, the second group enters _piano_ or _pianissimo_, and attains its _crescendo_ more rapidly. The whole process is thereby rendered more tense as the timbre changes. The converse operation--the transition from a complex to a simple timbre, by the suppression of one of the groups, belongs essentially to the _diminuendo_.

_Examples:_

No. 245. _Snegourotchka_ [[313]].

" [[140]] (cf. Ex. 244).

_A Fairy Tale_ [[V]].

_Sheherazade_, 2nd movement [[D]] (cf. Ex. 74).

* " 4th movement p. 221.

No. 246. _Servilia_ [[228]]; cf. also [[44]].

_The Christmas Night_ [[165]] (cf. Ex. 143).

No. 247. _The Tsar's Bride_, before [[205]].

* No. 248. _Russian Easter Fete_ [[D]].

* No. 249-250. _Legend of Kitesh_ [[5]], [[162]].

Repet.i.tion of phrases, imitation, echo.

As regards choice of timbre, phrases in imitation are subject to the law of register. When a phrase is imitated in the upper register it should be given to an instrument of higher range and _vice versa_. If this rule is ignored an unnatural effect will be produced, as when the clarinet in its upper range replies to the oboe in the lower compa.s.s etc. The same rule must be followed in dealing with phrases, actually different, but similar in character; repeated phrases of different character should be scored in a manner most suitable to each.

_Examples:_

_The Tsar's Bride_ [[157]], [[161]].

_Legend of Kitesh_ [[40-41]].

* No. 251. _Spanish Capriccio_ [[S]].

In echo phrases, that is to say imitation entailing not only decrease in volume of tone but also an effect of distance, the second instrument should be weaker than the first, but the two should possess some sort of affinity. An echo given to muted bra.s.s following the same phrase not muted produces this distant effect. Muted trumpets are eminently suited to echo a theme in the oboes; flutes also may imitate clarinets and oboes successfully. A wood-wind instrument cannot be used to echo the strings, or _vice versa_, on account of the dissimilarity in timbre. Imitation in octaves (with a decrease in resonance) creates an effect resembling an echo.

_Examples:_

_Ivan the Terrible_, Act III [[3]].

No. 252. _Sadko_ [[264]].

* _Spanish Capriccio_ [[E]].--This example is not precisely an echo but resembles one in character (cf. Ex. 44).

* _Sheherazade_, 4th movement before [[O]].

_Sforzando-piano_ and _piano-sforzando_ chords.

Besides the natural dynamic process of obtaining these marks of expression, a process which depends upon the player, they may also be produced by artificial means of orchestration.

a) At the moment when the wood-wind begins a _piano_ chord, the strings attack it _sforzando_, a compound chord for preference, either _arco_ or _pizz._ In the opposite case the _sf_ in the strings must occur at the end of the wood-wind chord. The first method is also employed for a _sf-dim._, and the second for a _cresc.-sf_ effect.

b) It is not so effective, and therefore less frequent to give the notes of sustained value to the strings, and the short chords to the wood-wind. In such cases the _tenuto_ chord is played _tremolando_ on the strings.

_Examples:_

_Vera Scheloga_, before [[35]], [[38]], 10th bar.

* No. 253. _Legend of Kitesh_, before [[15-16]].

* _Sheherazade_, 2nd movement, [[P]], 14th bar.