Klangfarbenmelodie

Klangfarbenmelodie

Klangfarbenmelodie (German for sound-color-melody) is a musical technique that involves distributing a musical line or melody to several instruments, rather than assigning it to just one instrument, thereby adding color (timbre) and texture to the melodic line. The technique is sometimes referred to as "Pointillism", a term borrowed from a neo-impressionist painting technique.

The term was coined by Arnold Schoenberg in his text on harmony, Harmonielehre (1911), where he discusses the creation of "timbre-structures." Schoenberg and Anton Webern are particularly noted for their use of the technique, Schoenberg most notably in the third of his Five Pieces for Orchestra (Op. 16), and Webern in his Op. 10 (likely a response to Schoenberg's Op. 16), his Concerto for Nine Instruments (Op. 24), the Op. 11 pieces for cello and piano, and his orchestration of the six-part ricercar from Bach's Musical Offering:

Klangfarbenmelodie in Webern's arrangement of Bach's Ricercar

This may be compared with Bach's open score of the subject and the traditional homogeneous timbre used in arrangements:

Bach's open score of his Ricercar subject

Notable examples of such voice distribution that preceded the use of the term are Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique where, in the fourth movement (March to the Scaffold, bars 109-112), the melody is passed between the strings and the winds several times; and the works of Claude Debussy. Regarding the latter, Samson writes: "To a marked degree the music of Debussy elevates timbre to an unprecedented structural status; already in Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune the color of flute and harp functions referentially."[1]

In the 1950s, the concept inspired a number of European composers including Karlheinz Stockhausen to attempt systematization of timbre along serial lines, especially in electronic music.[2]

The French term mélodie de timbres is essentially synonymous and was used by Olivier Messiaen to describe his Couleurs de la cité céleste.[citation needed]

Isao Tomita uses the technique in his works, although rather than employing musical instruments he uses different synthesizer voices; Frank Zappa used the term "Klangfarbenmusik" to describe his instrumental piece "Alien Orifice" from the album Frank Zappa Meets the Mothers of Prevention.[citation needed]

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ Samson,[page needed]
  2. ^ Rushton.
  • Rushton, Julian (2001). "Klangfarbenmelodie", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
  • Samson, Jim (1977). Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900-1920. W.W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-02193-9. 

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Klangfarbenmelodie — Klangfarbenmelodie,   von A. Schönberg (»Harmonielehre«, 1911) geprägte Bezeichnung für die Aufeinanderfolge wechselnder Klangfarben eines Tons oder Akkords in Analogie zu den wechselnden Tonhöhen einer Melodie aus Tönen, erstmals verwirklicht in …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Klangfarbenmelodie — Littéralement de l allemand, le terme klangfarbenmelodie signifie jeu de mélodie et de timbre . Cette technique musicale consiste à confier aux différents instruments des interventions très concises dans un kaléidoscope de timbres différents. Les …   Wikipédia en Français

  • klangfarbenmelodie — /klæŋˈfabənˌmɛlədi/ (say klang fahbuhn.meluhdee) noun a succession of different timbres, as from different orchestral instruments, linked together in a discernible form, as pitches are linked together to make a melody. {German} …  

  • Melody — This article is about melody in music. For other senses of this word, see Melody (disambiguation). A bar from J.S. Bach s Fugue No.17 in A flat , BWV 862, from Das Wohltemperirte Clavier (Part I), an example of counterpoint …   Wikipedia

  • A Survivor from Warsaw — Ein Überlebender aus Warschau (Originaltitel A Survivor from Warsaw for Narrator, Men’s Chorus and Orchestra op. 46) ist ein Melodram von Arnold Schönberg für einen Sprecher, Männerchor und Orchester aus dem Jahre 1947. Die Uraufführung fand am 4 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ein Überlebender aus Warschau — (Originaltitel A Survivor from Warsaw for Narrator, Men’s Chorus and Orchestra), op. 46, ist ein Melodram von Arnold Schönberg für einen Sprecher, Männerchor und Orchester aus dem Jahre 1947. Die Uraufführung fand am 4. November 1948 in… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Пуантилизм (музыка) — У этого термина существуют и другие значения, см. Пуантилизм (значения). Пуантилизм (музыка)  стилевое проявление художественного пуантилизма (англ. Pointillism) в музыкальном искусстве[1]; одна из техник сериального письма,… …   Википедия

  • Atonality — in its broadest sense describes music that lacks a tonal center, or key. Atonality in this sense usually describes compositions written from about 1907 to the present day where a hierarchy of pitches focusing on a single, central tone is not used …   Wikipedia

  • Orchestration — For the use of the term orchestration in computer science, see orchestration (computers). Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble) or of adapting for orchestra music… …   Wikipedia

  • Anton Webern — Biography Webern was born in Vienna, Austria, as Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern. He never used his middle names and dropped the von in 1918 as directed by the Austrian government s reforms after World War I. After spending much of his youth… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”