ORCHESTRATION by Books by Walter Piston y conor WALTER PISTON COUNTERPOINT PROFESSOR OF MUSIC, HARVARD UNIVERSITY LONDON VICTOR GOLLANCZ LTD 1969First published November 1955 Second impression June 1938 ‘Third impression May 1 oe Fourth impeeaion September 1965 Fifth impression May 1969 eos oni 8 4 CONTENTS FOREWORD vii ONE . THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE ORCHESTRA 1. STRINGED INSTRUMENTS 3 THE VIOLIN 37 3. THE VIOLA fi Un eS - 4. THE VIOLONCELLO 80 OF TASMANIA 5. THE DOUBLE-DASS 98 LERARY 6, WOODWIND INSTRUMENTS 4 { 7. THE FLU 28 8. THE onoe 146 9. THE CLARINET 163 ns re 10. THE BASSOON 188 11, BRASS INSTRUMENTS 206 12, THE HORN 13. THE TRUMPET 1g. THE TROMBONE 15. THE TUBA priya 1 hear BRITAIN BY 16. PERCUSSION INSTRUMENTS 296 17. THE HARP 333 18, KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS 340ORCHE RATION TWO ANALYSIS OF ORCHESTRATION ‘TYPES OF TEXTURE—TYPE I, ORCHESTRAL UNISON TYPES OF TEXTURE—TYPE Il, MELODY AND ACcOM- PANIMENT TYPES OF TEXTURE—TYPE Il, SECONDARY MELODY TYPES OF TEXTURE—TYPE IV, PART WRITING ‘TYPES OF TEXTURE—TYPE V, CONTRAPUNTAL TEXTURE TYPES OF TEXTURE—TYPE VI, CHORDS ‘TYPES OF TEXTURE—TYPE VI, COMPLEX TEXTURE THREE - PROBLEMS IN ORCHESTRATION ORCHESTRATION OF MELODY BACKGROUND AND ACCOMPANIMENT. SCORING OF CHORDS VOICE LEADING AND COUNTERPOINT CONCLUSION INDEX 355 364 374 382 388 396 405 ans Bt 452 461 463 FOREWORD He true art of orchestration is inseparable from the creative act | ‘of composing music, The sounds made by the orchestra are the ultimate external manifestation of musical ideas germi- nated in the mind of the composer. One skilled in the technique of or- chestration may practice a somewhat lesser att of transcribing for orchestra music originally writcen for another medium. This can be a fine though difficult art, provided the orchestrator is able to put him- self momentarily in the composer's place, and, so to speak, to think the composer's thoughts, Failing this, the result is unlikely to amount to more than a display of skill and craft, often of a superficial and artificial nature, Orchestration, in the sense here employed, refers to the process of writing music for the orchestra, using principles of instrumental com- bination essentially those observed operating in the scores of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, It is a common technique, employed in present-day symphonic music as well as in that of the classical and romantic periods. For the present purposes it will not be considered to embrace earlier processes based on improvisation, fortuitous instru- ‘mental balance, and the stabilizing influence of a keyboard instrument, with basso continuo. The technical equipment of both composer and orchestrator must include a thorough knowledge of the individual instruments, their capabilities and characteristics, and a mental conception of the sound of each. Then the effects and resources of instrumental combination must be learned, involving such matters as balance of tone, mixed tone colors, clarity in texture, and the like. Finally, the orchestra is to be sensed as itself an individual instrument, flexibly employed to present the music, in form and content, with fidelity and effectiveness.vii ORCHESTRATION A multitude of obstacles and unsolved problems has prevented the establishment of a science of orchestration, The imperfection and vagueness of our musical notation makes it impossible to indicate with accuracy dynamic and rhythmic quantities as well as pitch, to say nothing of shades of rone color, warmth and intensity. One conse~ ce of this is the preponderance of the role played by the per- formers and the conductor in the translation of written notes into sound. It is a well-known fact that no two performances of a work sound alike, and we find pleasure and satisfaction in this versatility of music as written. But for the student anxious to know the effect in sound of what he has put on paper, the unknown quantity of the performer's understanding has to be acknowledged in his calculations There are also mechanical and physical influences that cause vari- ants i the sound of an orchestral score. No two orchestras sound alike. They may differ in the number of strings, in the quality and make of the instruments, and quite naturally in the capabilities of the players. A wide difference exists in the acoustic properties of the various auditoriums in which the individual orchestras habitually play, and the same orchestra will sound different in a different place. Because of this variety in the sounds produced from the same given notes, and also because the student of orchestration seldom has an op- portunity to hear those notes played at all, the student works under severe handicaps in striving to cultivate a capacity for the mental hearing of orchestral scores. In the event that his opportunities are limited to hearing phono- graph records and radio broadcasts, he must be cautioned that these resources often have serious and misleading deficiencies, It is possible to doube that the usual commercial recording of a symphonic work can stand the test of comparison with the printed score. At least in this writer's experience, almost every recording produces some sounds that do not exist in the score, and fails to produce some of the notes printed therein, besides showing numerous other discrepancies. The phono- graph record is valuable as a means of conveying the over-all effect of a composition, but it is an insecure medium through which to store up instrumental sounds in the memory, or to ascertain the sound effect of a printed page of orchestration. ‘The shortcomings of radio broadcasting of music are too well FOREWORD ix known to need description here. The complex vicissitudes suffered by a musical tone from the time it leaves the orchestra until itis perceived by the ear of the listener all have their effect upon the quality of the tone. When recordings are broadcast, the efficiency of the initial “pick up” is improved, but often the records are worn, and frequently the pitch is clearly not the same as the pitch of the performance from which the recording was made, This means that a variation in speed has been introduced at some stage of the recording or reproducing process. This, in turn, means a loss of fidelity not only in pitch, but also in tempo and in the tone color of each instrument. - Through a realization of these existing conditions, a philosophy of musical experience can be formed, so that conclusions are drawn not from one or two examples of actual sound, but from the cumulative evidence of many experiences, and even then held subject to subse- quent revision The three esentl aspects ofthe study of orchestration are treated in the three divisions of this book. In Part One, the instruments and their playing techniques are studied in detail. In Part Two, an ap- proach to the analysis of orchestration is suggested, and in Part Three, typical problems in orchestration are given wtih some examples of their solution, ~ Throughout the book emphasis is placed on the method of stud the orientation of the student's program of action, to help him in con- tinuing further studies along the paths suggested. The material cov ered is designed for a ycar’s course in orchestration at the college level, but it is the author's conviction thar the subject matter is too flexible co be presented as a course of graduated steps and exercises. ‘A presentation is called for that will be adaptable to varied musical backgrounds, although it will always be difficult for persons lacki a knowledge of harmony and counterpoint to work out problems orchestration. The student should be stimulated to make acquaintance with scores, and to develop self-reliance and initiative in seeking a deep knowledge of the instruments and how they are combined. Such a presentation will be found, it is hoped, in this introduction to the art of orchestration.ONE THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE ORCHESTRACHAPTER ONE me STRINGED INSTRUMENTS inovoHtour the comparatively brief history of orchestration the | string group—violins, violas, ‘cellos, and double-basses—has maintained its position as dominant element of the symphony orchestra’ Countless scores from all periods bear evidence that their composers regarded woodwind and brass rather as accessories and were hesitant to entrust much of their essential music: stringed instruments ‘Such an attitude is partly justifiable because of the superiority of the stri virtually any kind of music. They have a greater dynamic range than wind instruments and far more expressive capacity. The ton of the string group is fairly homogeneous from top to bottom, varia~ tions in the different registers being much more subt Ac the same time, stringed instrum ing different kinds of sound. As string tone is rich in overtones all is practical. One does not tire of hear- ing string tone as soon as one tires of wind tone; in fact, there exists a sizable literature of compositions written for string orchestra without wind instruments. The string section of a typical symphony orchestra usually consists of sixteen first violins, fourteen second violins, twelve violas, ten violoncellos, and eight double-basses. Variations in these proportions may be found, reflecting the predilections of individual conductors, or perhaps determined by some such circumstance as the size of the con- material to any but in so many important respects. Strings are tireless and can play 1¢ color le than in the winds. are the most versatile in produc. manner of close and open spacing cert stage. ,INSTRUMENTS TUNING ‘The four strings of cach of these instruments are tuned as follows. dontlebes viol ile ello Fig. 1 Inthe case of the double-bass the actual sound isan octave lower than the written notes. The pitch of a vibrating string can be expressed in terms of the frequency, or rapidity, of its vibrations. For instance, the upper string of the viola sounds the A which in present-day tuning has a frequency of 440 vibrations per second. A stretched string can be varied in pitch by varying the tension, Stringed instruments are tuned by turning the tuning pegs to which the strings are attached. Tightening a string increases the frequency of its vibration; hence raises its pitch. The weight of the string has an important influence on the frequency of its vibration. Thus the four strings on the same instrument may be identical in length, but may differ widely in pitch because they are made to differ in weight. Furthermore, by making use of this principle, can be tuned to their various pitches without the necessity of too great a difference in their tensions. The lower-pitched strings are not only thicker, bur they are made still heavier by winding the gut orsteel with fine wire of copper, silver, aluminum, or other metals. Variation in the length of the string produces proportional variation in pitch, A longer string vibrates more slowly than a shorter one, other conditions being equal. It is found, for example, that halving the string length doubles the frequency and raises the pitch an octave. FINGERING The action of the left-hand fingers stopping the string firmly against the fingerboard shortens the sounding length of the string, thereby raising the pitch. STRINGED INSTRUMENTS 5 ogeepoora wesge Fig. 2. Violin m, note that the sounding length of the string, to be set in motion by the bow, is that between the stopping finger and the ‘The remainder of the string will of course be silent, Since halving the string length raises the pitch an octave, the point at which a string is stopped to sound the octave above its open, or un- stopped, pitch will be exactly one-half the distance from nut to bridge. If we wish to raise the pitch another octave we will find the point of stopping one-half the distance from this middle point to the bridge, or three-fourths the total string length from the nut. ‘The principle demonstrated is that fingering a given interval does not imply covering a fixed length of string, but a length that diminishes as the hand moves toward the bridge. When playing a succession of equal intervals on one string, the fingers measure off not equal divisions of string length but proportional divisions. For example, on the viola a major second above an open string means a distance of about 1%4 inches, whereas the same interval in a very high position measures less than % inch. A major second above an open string on the violin meas- tures about 1%4 inches, on the ’cello about 23% inches, and on the bass about 4% inches. Another characteristic of string fingering is that when the hand is in a given position on one string the fingers can readily stop tones on any of the four strings, without the necessity of moving the hand. Each6 INSTRUMENTS position is identified by a number derived from the number of diatonic steps between the first finger and the open string. In string technique, and also in the fing nger, not the thumb, is called first finger. sing of wind instruments, the index sting © fist psiion second puivon chil postion Fig. 4 Detailed description of the fingering systems of the several stringed instruments will be given in succeeding chapters. DOUBLE-STOPS Ieis possible to scop notes on two adjacent strings in such a way that the bow can sound both notes at once. This is called double-stopping. Triple- and quadruple-stops (chords) are also feasible, although it will presently be scen that the simultancous sound of three or four notes cannot be prolonged by the bow DIVIDED STRINGS In the orchestra, double notes are customarily divided between the two players reading from the same desk, The part should be marked divisi, Italian for divided (Fr., divisés; Ger., geteilt), most often ab- breviated to div. The right-hand player at each desk takes the upper note, When the part returns to single notes it should be marked unisoni (Ft, unis; Ger.. nicht geteilt), usually abbreviated unis. If double notes are written, and the composer wishes each player to play all the notes, using double-stops, he writes a precautionary non div, (in German lly Doppelgriff). This indication is used only when there 2 one nove, to prevent dividing. is more d STRINGED INSTRUMENTS 1 A division of a section into more than two parts would be marked div, in 3 (Fr. div. d 3; Ger., dreifach geteilt), necessitating indications in the individual players’ music to show which part each is to play. Sometimes the divided parts are given separate lines in the score, for legibility. If the parts are complex, better results may be obtained by a leggit; Fr., par pupitres; Ger., pultweise), the odd-numbered desks taking the upper part. If only half the members of a section are to play, the part is marked half (It, la metas Fr., la moitié; Ger., die Hiilfte). The players on the left at cach desk will then remain silent until given the indication all (c,, tutti; Fe. tous; Ger., alle). dividing by desks (It, VIBRATO In the playing of stringed instruments the tone is given life and warmth through the use of vibrato of the left hand. This is a combina~ tion of impulses involving the muscles of the hand, wrist, and arm, and its effect at the fingertip is an almost imperceptible oscillation in pitch of the note. The vibrato is employed on all stopped tones except those of short duration and needs no indication for its use. However, there are times when one prefers the peculiar tone quality obtainable only by suppressing the vibrato, in which case the direction senza vibrato should be given. BOWING rishthandfinges 1 8 3 4 pi Peel (fro8) Fig, 6. Violin Bow The bow-stick is of fine, light wood, generally Pernambuco, which is remarkable for its elastic quality. The stick is curved inward toward the hair, and, when the hair is tightened by means of the screw at the heel of the bow, the resulting tension brings into play the resilience of the stick, an important factor in the various bow strokes. The hair is horsehair, although in recent times other materials, such as nylon, have8 INSTRUMENTS been tried, There ate over a hundred hairs in a violin bow. Ie s the habit of string players to rub a specially prepared rosin on the bow hairs to help in securing the right amount of friction on the strings. The bow is held firmly, yet lightly, between the fingers and thumb of the right hand, as shown in Fig. 6. The first to exert varying pressure on the bow-stick, while the little finger is used mainly to balance the bow, according to (The so-called German style of bowing for the double-bass will be described later.) The bow is drawn at right angles to the string, ordinarily at a place about halfway between the bridge and the end of the fingerboard, For a louder and more brilliant tone, and for the normal production of high notes, the bow is played nearer the bridge. For softer tones it is moved nearer to the fingerboard. The hair may be placed flat, so that all the hairs are in contact with the string; but usually the bow is turned on edge, so that only part of the hair is engaged. This enables the player to control the amount of hair being used. For the violin and viola the tilt is away from the player; for the ’cello and bass the opposite is more convenient. The part of the bow near the point is called the upper part of the bow; that nearer the heel, the lower part. When the bow is drawn stare- ing at the lower part and proceeding toward the point, straightening the elbow joint, the stroke is called down-bow. The opposite is up-bow. Both are more clearly expressed by the French tiré (drawn) for down bow, and poussé (pushed) for up-bow. The signs mn (down-bow) and y (up-bow) are in universal use. nger is in a position position on the string, LecaTo If no slurs are marked, each note calls for a change in the direction of the bow STRINGED INSTRUMENTS 9 ex. 1. Franck Symphony p-27.ed. Enlenburg, Allegro non troppo wos v0 ————— == tiebe: These changes in the direction of the bow are made by a good player with practically no break in the continuity of the tone, by virtue of a supple wrist and a skillful cobrdination of all muscular movements. When slurs are marked, all notes under one slur are to be played “in one bow", that is, with no char 1 direction of the bow. Ex. 2. Schubert—Symphony no. 5 p. 24, ed. Eulenburg Andante con moro ‘A violinist would instinctively begin the phrase shown above with an up-bow. The up-bow, in string style, is associated with the up-beat, or anacrusis, whereas the down-beat, as in Ex. r, suggests a down-bow to the player. It is impossible, and often inadvisable, to apply this principle to every up-beat or down-beat, but the principle is con- tinually in evidence in good bowing. Fora vigorous attack on a long note, to be followed by a down-bow chord or accent, it is well to begin down-bow, changing immediately to up-bow. This change of bow will not be perceived by the ear if properly performed, and will permit the use of the more energetic down-bow for both atcacks.