Principles of Orchestration

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9780486316970
• Topic: Medien & darstellende Kunst
• Subtopic: Musik

`To orchestrate is to create, and this cannot be taught,` wrote Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, the great Russian composer whose genius for brilliant, highly colored orchestration is unsurpassed. But invention, in all art, is closely allied to technique, and technique can be taught. This book, therefore, which differs from most other texts on the subject because of its tremendous wealth of musical examples and its systematic arrangement of material according to each constituent of the orchestra, will undoubtedly be of value to any music student. It is a music classic, perhaps the only book on classical orchestration written by a major composer.
In it, the composer aims to provide the reader with the fundamental principles of modern orchestration from the standpoint of brilliance and imagination, and he devotes considerable space to the study of tonal resonance and orchestral combination. In his course, he demonstrates such things as how to produce a good-sounding chord of certain tone-quality, uniformly distributed; how to detach a melody from its harmonic setting; correct progression of parts; and other similar problems.
The first chapter is a general review of orchestral groups, with an instrument-by-instrument breakdown and material on such technical questions as fingering, range, emission of sound, etc. There follows two chapters on melody and harmony in strings, winds, brasses, and combined groups. Chapter IV, Composition of the Orchestra, covers different ways of orchestrating the same music; effects that can be achieved with full tutti; tutti in winds, tutti pizzicato, soli in the strings, etc.; chords; progressions; and so on. The last two chapters deal with opera and include discussion of solo and choral accompaniment, instruments on stage or in the wings, technical terms, soloists (range, register, vocalization, vowels, etc.), voices in combination, and choral singing.
Immediately following this text are some 330 pages of musical examples drawn from `Sheherazade,` the `Antar Symphony,` `Capriccio Espagnol,` `Sadko,` `Ivan the Terrible,` `Le Coq d'Or,` `Mlada,` `The Tsar's Bride,` and others of Rimsky-Korsakov's works. These excerpts are all referred to in the text itself, where they illustrate, far better than words, particular points of theory and actual musical practice. They are largely responsible for making this book the very special (and very useful) publication it is.
This single-volume edition also includes a brief preface by the editor and extracts from Rimsky-Korsakov's 1891 draft and final versions of his own preface, as well as an appendixed chart of single tutti chords in the composer's works.

Principles
of Orchestration

in two volumes bound as one
I—Text

CONTENTS

______

Editor’s Preface

Extract from the Author’s preface (1891)

Extract from the Preface to the last edition

Chapter I. — General review of orchestral groups

A. Stringed instruments

B. Wind instruments:

Wood-wind

Brass

C. Instruments of little sustaining power:

Plucked strings

Pizzicato

Harp

Percussion instruments producing determinate sounds, keyed instruments

Kettle-drums

Piano and Celesta

Glockenspiel, Bells, Xylophone

Percussion instruments producing indefinite sounds

Comparison of resonance in orchestral groups, and combination of different tone qualities

Chapter II. — Melody

Melody in stringed instruments

Grouping in unison

Stringed instruments doubling in octaves

Melody in double octaves

Doubling in three and four octaves

Melody in thirds and sixths

Melody in the wood-wind

Combination in unison

Combination in octaves

Doubling in two, three and four octaves

Melody in thirds and sixths

Thirds and sixths together

Melody in the brass

Brass in unison, in octaves, thirds and sixths

Melody in different groups of instruments combined together.

A. Combination of wind and brass in unison

B. Combination of wind and brass in octaves

C. Combination of strings and wind

D. Combination of strings and brass

E. Combination of the three groups

Chapter III. — Harmony

General observations

Number of harmonic parts — Duplication

Distribution of notes in chords

String harmony

Wood-wind harmony

Four-part and three-part harmony

Harmony in several parts

Duplication of timbres

Remarks

Harmony in the brass

Four-part writing

Three-part writing

Writing in several parts

Duplication in the brass

Harmony in combined groups

A. Combination of wind and brass

1. In unison

2. Overlaying, crossing, enclosure of parts

B. Combination of strings and wind

C. Combination of the three groups

Chapter IV. — Composition of the orchestra

Different ways of orchestrating the same music

Full Tutti

Tutti in the wind

Tutti pizzicato

Tutti in one, two and three parts

Soli in the strings

Limits of orchestral range

Transference of passages and phrases

Chords of different tone quality used alternately

Amplification and elimination of tone qualities

Repetition of phrases, imitation, echo

Sforzando-piano and piano-sforzando chords

Method of emphasising certain notes and chords

Crescendo and diminuendo

Diverging and converging progressions

Tone quality as a harmonic force. Harmonic basis

Artificial effects

Use of percussion instruments for rhythm and colour

Economy in orchestral colour

Chapter V. — Combination of the human voice with orchestra. The Stage band

Orchestral accompaniment of solo voices

General remarks

Transparence of accompaniment. Harmony

Doubling voices in the orchestra

Recitative and declamation

Orchestral accompaniment of the chorus

Solo voice with chorus

Instruments on the stage and in the wings

Chapter VI (Supplementary) — Voices

Technical terms

Soloists

Range and register

Vocalisation

Vowels

Flexibility

Colour and character of voices

Voices in combination

Duet

Trios, quartets etc

Chorus

Range and register

Melody

A. Mixed chorus

Chorus in unison

Progression in octaves

Voices divisi; harmonic use of the mixed chorus

B. Men’s chorus and Women’s chorus

Editor’s Preface.

______

Rimsky-Korsakov had long been engrossed in his treatise on orchestration. We have in our possession a thick note book of some 200 pages in fine hand writing, dating from the years 1873—1874, containing a monograph on the question of acoustics, a classification of wind instruments and a detailed description of the construction and fingering of the different kinds of flute, the oboe, clarinet and horn. (1)

In his “Memoirs of my musical life” (1^st edition, p. 120) the following passage occurs: “I had planned to devote all my energies to the compilation of a full treatise on orchestration. To this end I made several rough copies, jotting down explanatory notes detailing the technique of different instruments. What I intended to present to the world on this subject, was to include everything. The writing of this treatise, or, to be more exact, the sketch for it took up most of my time in the years 1873 and 1874. After reading the works of Tyndall and Helmholtz, I framed an introduction to my work, in which I endeavoured to expound the laws of acoustics as applied to the principles governing the construction of musical instruments. My manual was to begin with a detailed list of instruments, classified in groups and tabulated, including a description of the various systems in use at the present day. I had not yet thought of the second part of the book which was to be devoted to instruments in combination. But I soon realised that I had gone too far. With wind instruments in particular, the different systems were innumerable, and each manufacturer favoured his own pet theory. By the addition of a certain key the maker endowed his instrument with the possibility of a new trill, and made some difficult passages more playable than on an instrument of another kind.

There was no end to such complications. In the brass, I found instruments with three, four, and five valves, the mechanism varying according to the make. Obviously, I could not hope to cover so large a field; besides, of what value would such a treatise be to the student? Such a mass of detailed description of the various systems, ...