Part 6 (1/2)
Melody planned in the upper parts stands out from the very fact of position alone, and likewise, to a less degree when it is situated in the low register. In the middle of the orchestral range it is not so prominent and the methods referred to above come into operation. They may also be employed for two part melody (in thirds and sixths) and for polyphonic writing.
Melody in stringed instruments.
Instances of the melodic use of stringed instruments are innumerable.
The reader will find many examples in the present treatise. With the exception of the double ba.s.ses,--dull in tone and of little flexibility, chiefly employed in unison or in octaves with the violoncellos,--each of the other stringed instruments, taken independently, is qualified to a.s.sume full responsibility for the melodic line.
a) Violins.
Melody in the soprano-alto register and an extra-high compa.s.s usually falls to the lot of the 1st Violins, sometimes to the 2nd Violins or to both in unison, a process which produces fuller resonance without impairing quality of tone.
_Examples:_
_The Tsar's Bride_ [[84]].[C]--_Pianissimo_ melody (Vns I) of a troubled dramatic character. Harmonic accompaniment (Vns II and Violas _tremolando_--middle parts; the Violoncellos forming the ba.s.s).
[Footnote C: The present volume is divided into two parts, text (pp.
1-152) and musical examples (pp. 1-333). The first page of the second part lists the standard full-score editions of Rimsky-Korsakov's works that are referred to throughout the book. These references to specific pa.s.sages are always indicated by boxed numbers or boxed letters corresponding to the ones marking the sub-divisions of the particular score. On the other hand, references in the text to the 312 musical examples in the second part of the book are always indicated as ”No.
1,” ”No. 2,” etc. Thus, ”_The Tsar's Bride_ [[84]]” indicates that the reader should look at section [[84]] of the score of _The Tsar's Bride_ as published by Belaieff in Leipzig, the music of which is not reprinted here; whereas ”No. 1. _Sheherazade_ 2nd movement [[B]]”
indicates that the reader should look at the first musical example in the second part of the present book, which comes from the section marked [[B]] in the second movement of the score of _Sheherazade_ as published by Belaieff.]
_Antar_, before [[70]].--Descending melodic phrase, Vns I _con sordini piano_.
No. 1. _Sheherazade_ 2nd movement [[B]]. A _piano_ melody (Vns I) graceful in character.
_Antar_ [[12]]. Light graceful melody, oriental in style; a dance measure (Vns I _con sord._), the mutes producing a dull ethereal quality of tone.
No. 2. _The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitesh_ [[283]].
No. 3. _Spanish Capriccio_ [[J]]. Vns I in the upper register doubling the high register of the wood-wind. Choice resonance.
b) Violas.
Melody in the alto-tenor register and a still higher compa.s.s is a.s.signed to the violas. _Cantabile_ melodies however are not so frequently written for violas as for violins and 'cellos, partly because the viola tone is slightly nasal in quality and better fitted for short characteristic phrases, partly because the number of viola players in an orchestra is smaller. Melodies confided to the violas are generally doubled by other strings or by the wood-wind.
_Examples:_
No. 4. _Pan Voyevoda_, duet in Act II [[145]]. A long _cantabile_ melody in the violas, _dolce_, in unison with the _mezzo soprano_ voice.
No. 5. _The Golden c.o.c.kerel_ [[193]].--Flowing _cantabile_.
No. 6. _Sadko._ Symphonic tableau [[12]].--Muted violas. A short dance theme, _piano_ in _D[flat]_ major. (The same theme in Eng. horn in the 6th scene of the opera _Sadko_ is slightly more penetrating in tone).
c) Violoncellos.
Violoncellos, representing the tenor-ba.s.s range + an extra-high compa.s.s are more often entrusted with tense pa.s.sionate _cantabile_ melody than with distinctive figures or rapid phrases. Such melodies are usually laid out for the top string (_A_) which possesses a wonderfully rich ”chest” quality.
_Examples:_