The Evolution of Modern OrchestrationCoerne, Louis Adolphe
History
The Evolution of Modern Orchestration
Coerne, Louis Adolphe
Instrumentation and orchestration
The section further embodies some six motives that are either
reminiscences from former or anticipations of subsequent thematic
material. Rösch calls attention to an interesting passage at the
close of this section, a passage that cannot be justified by any
rules of harmony. He suggests that in modern orchestration many
seemingly irreconcilable harmonic combinations become perfectly
logical if the auditor train himself to follow the harmonic corollary
of complex counterpoint "horizontally" instead of "vertically." The
passage in question consists of a protracted chord, G flat major,
sustained by muted strings, while various instruments of wood
super-impose a number of independent themes whose concentrated effect
forms chords entirely foreign to the underlying key of G major. The
present writer, however, is inclined to regard this hazy film of
string-tone as nothing more than a tonic and dominant organ-point
with the third of the triad unobtrusively added.
The "program" of No. IV is symbolic of martial strife, the depictment
of which, subdivided into three parts together with an introduction,
extends almost to the end of the movement, when a coda in two short
divisions portrays victory and embodies a hymn of praise. From a
musical standpoint, No. IV may be looked upon as that section of the
entire symphonic poem in which the leading themes are subjected to
systematic and elaborate musical development. In addition, one finds
some ten new themes, such as a striking fanfare for trumpets behind
the scenes (No. 27) and other warlike strains, of which Nos. 28 and
29 represent the missiles of the enemy.
This fanfare (No. 27) exhibits one of the most remarkable mixtures of
three simultaneously combined keys that has ever emanated from the
mind of man:
[Music: No. 27.]
By examining the first trumpet part by itself:
[Music]
one discovers a perfectly harmless figure in the key of B flat major.
The second trumpet, however, holds tenaciously to the key of G flat
major:
[Music]
The third trumpet is unquestionably in the key of B flat minor, or,
at a pinch, in its relative major--D flat:
[Music]
The resultant cross-relation caused by such an amalgamation of
otherwise unoriginal figures excites a most remarkable impression.
The next two examples embody characteristic employment of wood-wind
instruments:
[Music: No. 28.]
[Music: No. 29.]
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