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Klangfarbenmelodie

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(Redirected from Mélodie de timbres)

Klangfarbenmelodie (German for "sound-color melody") is a musical concept that treats timbre as a melodic element. Arnold Schoenberg originated the idea that timbres could be viewed melodically.

History

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In 1911, Arnold Schoenberg analyzed musical sound (Klang) as consisting of pitch, timbre, and volume. He noted that pitch was the only element that had undergone close examination, but he viewed it as subordinate to timbre, "...tone becomes perceptible by virtue of tone color, of which one dimension is pitch". He looked forward to a more sophisticated appreciation of tone color. Schoenberg also described a "futuristic fantasy" of tone color "progressions whose relations with another work with a kind of logic entirely equivalent to that logic which satisfies us in the melody of pitches.[1]: 421–2  He rhapsodized:

Tone-color melodies! How acute the senses that would be able to perceive them! How high the development of spirit that could find pleasure in such subtle things!

In its original sense, Schoenberg envisioned klangfarbenmelodie as purely a sequence of tone colors. The pitch could be static, but the changing timbres would create a kind of melody.[2] His concept eventually became synonymous with the pointillistic technique of dividing the different notes of a melody between various timbres. This evolution of Schoenberg's concept is the familiar meaning of klangfarbenmelodie.[3]

There are many historical precedents to the concept. In practice, composers are writing in hocket when they deploy klangfarbenmelodie.[4] The technique can also be found in polyphonic precedents like Annibale Padovano's treatment of the cantus firmus in his music.[5]

Usage

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Schoenberg explored klangfarbenmelodie in Five Orchestral Pieces op. 16 (1909). Originally, the third piece in the suite was even titled "Farben".[6]

Anton Webern made extensive use of the technique. It is evident in Sechs Stücke op. 6 (1909)[7] The first of Webern's Fünf Stücke op. 10 (1913) and his orchestration of the six-part ricercar from Bach's Musical Offering are also notable examples:[6]

Klangfarbenmelodie in Webern's arrangement of Bach's Ricercar

There are further instances in the works of Claude Debussy:

Prélude à L'Après-midi d'un faune, bars, 35-40
Prélude à L'Après-midi d'un faune, bars 35-40

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."[8]

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]

During the late 20th century, musicians within the progressive rock genre experimented with using this compositional technique, a notable example being Gentle Giant. [citation needed]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Schoenberg, Arnold. Theory of Harmony. Translated by Roy E. Carter. University of California Press, 1978.
  2. ^ a b Rushton, Julian. "Klangfarbenmelodie." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press.
  3. ^ Hoffer, Charles. Music Listening Today. Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2010. 297.
  4. ^ Ball, PhilipThe Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without ItOxford University Press, 2010. 237.
  5. ^ [ https://doi.org/10.31022/R027 Ensemble Ricercars by Cristofano Malvezzi, Jacopo Peri, and Annibale Padovano], in Recent Researches of the Music of the Renaissance, Volume XXVII. Edited by Milton A. Swenson. A-R Editions. xv.
  6. ^ a b "Klangfarbenmelodie", The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Don Randel. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986. 430–1.
  7. ^ Forte, Allen. The Atonal Music of Anton Webern. Yale University Press, 1998. 110.
  8. ^ Samson 1977, p. 195.

Sources

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  • Grove, George (1898). Beethoven and His Nine Symphonies. London: Novello. Reprinted, New York: Dover Publications, 1962.
  • Hoffer, Charles (2009). Music Listening Today. [full citation needed]. ISBN 9780495571995. ISBN 9780495916147.
  • MacDonald, Malcolm (1976). Schoenberg. Dent. ISBN 978-0-460-03143-1.
  • Nadel, Ira B., ed. (1999). The Cambridge Companion to Ezra Pound. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-64920-9.
  • Rogers, Michael R. (2004). Teaching Approaches in Music Theory: An Overview of Pedagogical Philosophies. [full citation needed]. ISBN 9780809388790.
  • Gardiner, John Eliot (2014). Music in the Castle of Heaven: A Portrait of Johann Sebastian Bach. London: Allen Lane.
  • 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. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 0-393-02193-9.
  • Schoenberg, Arnold (1966). Harmonielehre (seventh ed.). Vienna: Universal-Edition. [First edition, Leipzig and Vienna: Verlagseigentum der Universal-Edition, 1911.]
  • Schoenberg, Arnold (1978). Theory of Harmony. translated by Roy E. Carter. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.
  • Swenson, Milton, ed. (1978). Annibale Padovano, Cristofano Malvezzi, Jacopo Peri and Annibale Padovano: Ensemble Ricercars, [full citation needed]A-R Editions. ISBN 9780895790897.
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