March 15, 1923
24
MUSICAL COURIER
PRACTICAL INSTRUMENTATION
For School, Popular and Symphony Orchestras
By FRANK PATTERSON Author of The Perfect Modernist
[Eleventh Installment!
Copyrighted, 1923, by The Musical Courier Company.
The student will often be puzzled as to the best treatment of passages which have a “thin,” unorchestral appearance, where there is no weight, no solidity, such as one is led to expect in the orchestra (and, be it said in passing, many students hate to let their instruments rest and often puzzle their teachers by asking what they are to do with this, that, or the other instrument. It is amusing, too, to see instruments playing away vigorously and earnestly in productions of works by the masters of the day, when we know very well that these instruments are so weak of tone that they add nothing to the whole— like the harp in the forte passages of the Strauss poems, or the piano and celesta in works of Korngold).
Of course it does not matter, and if noise is wanted, and confusion, every little no doubt helps. But we are concerned just now with just the opposite condition—where noise is not wanted, though the passage is loud and vigorous. Take another passage from Trinkaus—his Pastoral. (Witmark.)
Ex 24a. Piano golo
This example (Ex. 24a) shows the piano solo, the whole passage being high up in the treble. The problem with which the arranger is confronted is this: Are there any instruments in the small orchestra that will make this passage strong enough so as not to sound thin? One may argue that the piano solo alone is strong enough, since such passages are often played on the piano alone. But that is not true, not in orchestra music. The psychological effect of the piano with orchestra, except as a support, brings about a sense of weakness and inadequacy if the piano is used, or evidently intended to be used, as an orchestral instrument. If the piano leads, as a solo instrument, as in concertos with orchestra, the psychology of expectation brings about a different mental reaction.
And in the case now being considered the piano may be omitted altogether. Even if it is present, the orchestra must cover it. As has been already several times stated, such a problem may be solved in many ways. It will depend entirely upon the intention of the composer and the taste of the arranger. In this case it would appear that Mr. Trinkaus does not want thickness or great solidity or sonority. His orchestration is shown in Ex. 24b.
Ex. 24b.
FI.and Oboe
Evidently the upper D has a special meaning, for it is given to flute, oboe and violins, while the B is_ played only by the second violins. The melody is played in octaves by the viola and cello. An accent is made by a single pizzicato note on the basses at the beginning of the first bar.
Evidently if more weight were desired the accompanying chords could be doubled in the lower octave on the trumpets. The melody might even be again doubled in the lower octave on the bass violins, and a third octave of accompaniment added for horns—and so on to the point of absurdity, where it would cease to be a Pastoral Idyl, but with piccolo above and bass drum below the approach of a thunder storm. The modern passion for solidity often destroys beauty—is often a cloak for lack of inspiration—and music that cannot be performed with less than a hundred instruments is likely to be less lovely than that which may be played with ten. At least the music of Puccini, Grieg Smdmg, Wagner, Tschaikowsky, and many other real masters is arranged for small orchestra after the patterns here illustrated—and that of ־some of the great moderns with their gigantic scores is not. A pound of idea is worth a ton of noise, and the composer who says his music cannot be played on the small orchestra is simply condemning himself.
[To he continued]
Piano Reductions
Our next example will continue our consideration of the relationship between piano and orchestra arrangement, especially with regard to the arpeggio. It is taken from Tristan, the prelude, the fortissimo climax just before the end. The piano arrangement is first shown. (Ex. 23a.)
Ex. 23a
Here we have apparently a simple arpeggio, or broken chord, rushing down with a clean sweep from the upper to the lower octave, accompanied by a simple sustained chord in. the left hand, then chord and melody in the right hand with an octave tremolo in the left. It is a thoroughly practical and pianistic arrangement (by Kleinmichel) and is probably about as good as could be made under the circumstances. But it differs very materially from the original orchestra score. In this the arpeggio is syncopated, not slurred, but each note vigorously attacked, and it continues, not through the first three beats of this six-eighth time, but through five beats, the final notes, F, E, D sharp coming as a triplet on the last beat of the bar. It illustrates, better than anything else could, the essential difference between the piano technic and the orchestra technic, between what will be highly effective on the piano and what will be equally effective on the orchestra, and, therefore, how little the student should depend upon the piano in making orchestra arrangments. The orchestration of this passage is given in Ex. 23b.
Ex. 23b
It will be noted that the tremolo continues throughout on the strings, except the celli, which hold E flat in spite of the fact that the violins approach the same note. In other words, there is no avoidance. It will be noted that the various winds drop down on odd beats to notes which bring them to the proper resolution into the chord that follows. This shows how, in orchestra part writing, the lines must often be broken so as to get the instruments into proper position for desired effects. Very often the instruments are stopped altogether so as to make their entrance effective. Here it will be noted, too, how the parts drop off one by one—the brass between the beats, the strings at the beginning of the new bar (except the first violins). The movement of the oboes, the horn, and even the English horn, to their new positions, are, of course’ not intended to be heard, and are actually not heard, being covered up by the brass, and the chief care of the composer is to maintain the proper balance, and, as already stated, to arrive smoothly at the new chord. The orchestration of the second bar was evidently planned first and that of the first bar made to accord with it.