1 Nov
2016
1 Nov
'16
3:57 p.m.
On 11/01/2016 10:01 AM, J. C. wrote:
Nov 1 2016, David Santamauro has written:
...
If you are concerned about orchestration of polyphony (your own or an
orchestration of someone else), then I'd grab an orchestration book and
study examples of fore/middle/background techniques[1]. Of course,
Mozart's Jupiter symphony is by far one of the more complex examples
(quintuple fugue). Adler analyzes this section quite nicely (pulled book
off shelf and blew the dust off :) ). There are other examples that are
analyzed in that section and although not strictly polyphonic, they
detail the idea of orchestral colors for each of the elements
(fore/middle/background)--and of course, what is polyphony if not a
collection of elements ...
Have a look at Mahler, Symphony #5 2nd and 3rd movements. The 3rd has a
small fugue that is developed throughout. Brahms' Symphony #1 1st
movement has "vertical" polyphony per se and the presto has wonderful
imitation based on the rising/descending lines of the introduction. And
of course, Holst Planets (Jupiter): wonderful fore/middle/background
technique.
Hope that helps ...
[1] Adler: The Study of Orchestration (Ch 15)
I can probably help you more if you give a bit
more detail as to what
you want from these examples.
As Dave said above, you will find many more examples in chamber music
than the symphony.
Hello Daivd and Dave,
thank you both for the pointers. I'm a quite familiar with Bach and the
forms of his time. Thus, I've seen a bit of counterpoint - and even
played it. :) Though I'll give Beethoven's "Große Fuge" a go.
The intention is to hear examples of strong, independent voices in a big
orchestra. I can imagine that most composers didn't go too far, in the
iterest of having discernable music and not one great mush. But I'd like
to know what can be done, and what people have done, when they wanted to
do more than simple accompaniment to the main melody. If you put 19th
centure concertos on one end of the spectrum (e.g. Grieg's A minor piano
concerto) and something like Beethoven's 9th symph0ony on the other end,
I'm looking for more works on the latter end. I need some inspiration
and practical demonstration of techniques/scoring.