Klangfarbenmelodie
Klangfarbenmelodie (German for "sound-color melody") is a musical concept that treats timbre as a melodic element. Arnold Schoenberg originated the idea. It has become synonymous with the technique of fragmenting a melodic line between different timbres.
Origins
[edit]During the 19th century, a sophisticated treatment of musical timbre started to emerge in works like Claude Debussy's Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.[1] In 1911, Arnold Schoenberg analyzed musical sound (klang) as consisting of pitch (höhe), timbre (farbe), and volume (stärke). 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". 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![2]: 421–2
In its original sense, Schoenberg envisioned klangfarbenmelodie as a sequence of tone colors. There could be just one pitch, but the changing timbres are what create the semblance of melody.[3] Because Schoenberg never clearly defined the term, it was widely misunderstood.[4]
In 1951, Schoenberg felt compelled to revisit the concept in two short writings. One was an essay about Anton Webern's use of klangfarbenmelodie. He balked at Webern's use of traditional form schemes while using the technique. Just as melody and counterpoint gave birth to unique forms, Schoenberg believed that klangfarbenmelodie would require new forms that suited their nature.[5]
Schoenberg also dispatched duplicate letters to Luigi Dallapiccola and Josef Rufer on January 19, 1951. He asked them to only reveal the notes if his invention of klangfarbenmelodie were ever doubted. The letter also expands on the concept by explaining the "klänge" in question could be entire passages of music that would be modulated by tone color. He specifically pointed to three examples from his catalogue: "the tomb scene of Pelleas und Melisande, or much of the introduction to the fourth movement of my second String Quartet, or the fugue figure from the second Piano Piece...They are never merely individual tones of different instruments at different times, but rather combinations of moving voices."[6]
Evolution
[edit]The more familiar meaning of klangfarbenmelodie is when a melodic line is fragmented between different timbres.[7] Anton Webern used this pointillistic technique extensively. The opening melodic statement of his Fünf Stücke für Orchester Op. 10 (1913) requires the efforts of the flute, trumpet, celeste, harp, glockenspiel, viola, and clarinet often playing just one note each.
There are many historical precedents to the concept. In practice, composers are writing in hocket when they deploy klangfarbenmelodie.[8] The technique can also be found in polyphonic precedents like Annibale Padovano's treatment of the cantus firmus in his music.[9]
Usage
[edit]Schoenberg explored klangfarbenmelodie in Five Orchestral Pieces op. 16 (1909). The third piece in the suite is titled "Farben".[10] It features a standing chord that is translated into a klangfarbenmelodie through the restless orchestration.[11]
Anton Webern made extensive use of the technique. It is evident in Sechs Stücke op. 6 (1909).[12] 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.[10]
Webern's Concerto for Nine Instruments op. 24 (1934) thoroughly demonstrates his preoccupation with klangfarbenmelodie.[1] It is also a landmark in the development of serial music, which continued the treatment of timbre as a parameter that could be controlled. Serialism was a continuation of the Second Viennese School's innovations. Composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen systematized musical parameters like pitch, rhythm, and timbre.[3] Klangfarbenmelodie was particularly influential in the development of electronic music.[10]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Samson, Jim (1977). Music in Transition: A Study of Tonal Expansion and Atonality, 1900–1920. W. W. Norton & Company, 1977. 195–6.
- ^ Schoenberg, Arnold. Theory of Harmony. Translated by Roy E. Carter. University of California Press, 1978.
- ^ a b Rushton, Julian. "Klangfarbenmelodie." Grove Music Online. 2001. Oxford University Press.
- ^ Zeller, Matthew. "Klangfarbenmelodie, Chromophony, and Timbral Function in Arnold Schoenberg’s 'Farben'", Music Theory Online. Volume 29, Number 3, September 2023.
- ^ Schoenberg, Arnold. "Anton Webern: Klangfarbenmelodie" (1951), in Style and Idea. University of California Press, 1985. 485.
- ^ Rufer, Josef. “Noch einmal Schönbergs Opus 16,” Melos 36. September, 1969. 367.
- The entire letter is printed in Zeller.
- ^ Hoffer, Charles. Music Listening Today. Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2010. 297.
- ^ Ball, Philip. The Music Instinct: How Music Works and Why We Can't Do Without It. Oxford University Press, 2010. 237.
- ^ 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.
- ^ a b c "Klangfarbenmelodie", The New Harvard Dictionary of Music. Edited by Don Randel. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1986. 430–1.
- ^ Rösing, Helmut. "Klangfarbe." Klangfarbe und Sound in der ›westlichen‹ Musik, Klangfarbe in der abendländischen Kunstmusik. MGG Online, edited by Laurenz Lütteken. RILM, Bärenreiter, Metzler, 2016–.
- ^ Forte, Allen. The Atonal Music of Anton Webern. Yale University Press, 1998. 110.
Further Reading
[edit]- Cramer, Alfred. “Schoenberg’s Klangfarbenmelodie: A Principle of Early Atonal Harmony.” Music Theory Spectrum, vol. 24, no. 1, 2002. 1–34.
External links
[edit]- Patteson, Thomas. "Anton Webern: “Orchestration of the six-part ricercar from the Musical Offering of J. S. Bach” (1935)", Acousmata. May 5, 2009.
- Concerto Op. 24 by Anton Webern.
- Five Pieces for Orchestra by Arnold Schoenberg.
- Fuga Ricercata arranged by Anton Webern.