A. Combination of wind and brass.
Wind and brass instruments may be combined by the method of placing a chord in one timbre side by side with the same chord in another timbre, or by any of the three methods already described: overlaying, crossing and enclosure of parts.
1. In unison (juxtaposition or contrast of tone qualities).
This class of combination possesses the same features as combinations in the melodic line (cf. [Chap. II]). Wood-wind reinforces the brass, softens it and reduces its characteristic qualities. Arrangements such as the following are possible:
| 2 Trumpets + 2 Fl.; 3 Trumpets + 3 Fl.; | 2 Trumpets + 2 Ob.; 3 Trumpets + 3 Ob.; | 2 Trumpets + 2 Cl. 3 Trumpets + 3 Cl. |
Also
as well as:
| 2 Horns + 2 Fag.; 3 Horns + 3 Fag.; | 2 Horns + 2 Cl.; 3 Horns + 3 Cl.; and: |
2 Horns + 2 Fag. + 2 Cl. etc.
The combinations 3 Trombones + 3 Fag., or 3 Trombones + 3 Cl. are very rare.
A chord scored for full brass doubled by the same chords scored for full wood-wind (in pairs) produces a magnificent and uniform tone.
Examples:
Snegourotchka 315—2 Horns + 2 Cl. and 2 Horns + 2 Ob. (cf. [Ex. 236]).
[No. 141.] The Tsar's Bride 50—4 Horns + 2 Cl., 2 Fag.
[No. 142.]"""142—Juxtaposition of full wind and brass.
Ivan the Terrible, Act II 30—Juxtaposition and enclosure (cf. [Table of chords] II, Ex. 8).
[No. 143.] The Christmas Night 165—4 Horns + Fl., Cl., Fag.
* [No. 144.] Sadko, before 79—Horn, Trumpet + doubled wood-wind.[15]
[No. 145.]"242—Full brass + Fl., Cl.
Legend of Kitesh, beginning—Horn, Trombones + Cl., Fag. (cf. also 5—[Ex. 249]).
* [No. 146.] Legend of Kitesh 10—Eng. horn, 2 Cl., Fag. legato + 4 Horns non legato.
"""324—Full brass + wind.
* [No. 147.] The Golden Cockerel 233—
| Trumpets + Ob. Horn + Cl. | >[ | 8. |
Stopped or muted notes in trumpets and horns resemble the oboe and Eng. horn in quality; the combination of these instruments produces a magnificent tone.
Examples:
[No. 148.] Russian Easter Fête, p. 11.—Horn (+), Trumpets (low register) + Ob., Cl.
* The Christmas Night, before 154—Full muted brass + wind.
* [No. 149.] Tsar Saltan 129—2 Ob., Eng. horn, + 3 Trumpets muted (3 Cl. at the bottom).
* [No. 150.]""131 17th bar.—Same combination with added horns.
* [No. 151.] Antar 7—Ob., Eng. horn, 2 Fag. + 4 Horns (+).
A beautiful dark tone is derived from the combination of middle notes in stopped horns and deep notes in the clarinet:
If bassoons are substituted for clarinets the effect loses part of its character.
Examples:
* Kashtcheï the Immortal 29, 11th bar,—2 Ob., 2 Cl. + 4 Horns (+).
"""107, 6th bar.—2 Cl., Fag. + 3 Horns (+).
* The Christmas Night, p. 249—Cl., Fag. + 3 Horns (+).
* Mlada, Act III 19—3 Horns (+) + 3 Fag. and 3 Horns (+) + 3 Ob. (cf. [Ex. 259]).
2. Overlaying (superposition), crossing, enclosure of parts.
It has already been stated that the bassoon and horn are the two instruments best capable of reconciling the groups of wood-wind and brass. Four-part harmony given to two bassoons and two horns, especially in soft passages, yields a finely-balanced tone recalling the effect of a quartet of horns, but possessing slightly greater transparence. In forte passages the horns overwhelm the bassoons, and it is wiser to employ four horns alone. In the former case crossing of parts is to be recommended for the purposes of blend, the concords being given to the horns, the discords to the bassoons:
| and not: | ||
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Bassoons may also be written inside the horns, but the inverse process is not to be recommended:
The same insetting of parts may be used for sustained trumpet notes in octaves. In soft passages, thirds played in the low register of the flutes, sometimes combined with clarinets, produce a beautiful mysterious effect between trumpets in octaves. In a chain of consecutive chords it is advisable to entrust the stationary parts to the brass, the moving parts to the wood-wind.
Clarinets, on account of their tone quality should rarely be set inside the horns, but, in the upper register, and in the higher harmonic parts, a chord of four horns, (piano), may be completed by clarinets as effectively as by oboes or flutes; the bassoon may then double the base an octave below:
Played forte, the horns are more powerful than the wood-wind; balance may be established by doubling the upper harmonic parts:
Examples:
a) Superposition.
* Sadko, Symphonic Tableau 1, 9—Fl., Ob., Cl., Horn (basis).
"before 14—2 Fl., Cl., Horns.
"final chord—Fl., Cl., Horn.
* Antar 22—Fl., Cl., Horns (basis).
[No. 152.] Antar 56—3 Fl., 4 Horns (basis).
* Snegourotchka 300—Full wind and horns.
* Shéhérazade—Final chords of 1st and 4th movements.
* Russian Easter Fête D—Fl., Cl., Horn; later trumpets and trombones in juxtaposition (cf. [Ex. 248]).
* [No. 153.] The Christmas Night 212, 10th bar.—Wind and Horns; trumpets and trombones added later.
"""215
| 3 Fl. + 3 Cl. 3 Horns | >[ | 8. |
* Sadko, Opera 165—Juxtaposition and Superposition.
[No. 154.] Sadko 338—Same distribution.
[No. 155.] Servilia 73
| 3 Fl + 2 Ob., Cl. 4 Horns. |
* [No. 156.] Legend of Kitesh, before 157—3 Flutes, 3 Trombones.
"""final chord (cf. [Table III of chords], Ex. 15).
* The Golden Cockerel, before 219—Mixed timbre of wood-wind, 4 Horns.
b) Crossing.
* The Christmas Night, before 53—Horn, Fag.
"""107—Clar., Horn, Fag.
* Legend of Tsar Saltan, before 62—Horn, Fag.
* The Golden Cockerel 220—3 Trombones, 2 Fag., C-fag. (cf. [Ex. 232]).
* [No. 157.] Antar, before 30—Wood-wind, Horns, then Trumpets.
c) Enclosure:
[No. 158.] Ivan the Terrible, Act I 33—Flutes within horns; later horns within bassoons.
[No. 159.] Snegourotchka 183—
| Trumpet Fl., 2 Cl. Trumpet |
* Sadko, symphonic tableau 3—
| Cl. + Fag. 4 Horns Cl. + Fag. |
* Antar before 37—
| Fag. 2 Horns (+) Cl. |
* Sadko, Opera 105—Harmonic basis; oboes within trumpets (cf. [Ex. 260]).
* [No. 160.] Sadko, Opera, before 155—Flutes within trumpets.
* The Tsar's Bride, end of Overture—Bassoons within horns (cf. [Table III of chords], Ex. 14).
* [No. 161.] Tsar Saltan 50—Trumpets within wood-wind doubled.
[No. 162.]""59—Flutes within trumpets; clarinets within horns.
* [No. 163.] Legend of Kitesh 82—Oboes and clarinets within trumpets.
The relationship which has been shown to exist between stopped horns and oboe or Eng. horn authorizes the simultaneous use of these instruments in one and the same chord, played p or sfp:
Examples:
* The Christmas Night 75—3 Horns (+) + Oboe.
The Tsar's Bride 123—Ob., Eng. horn, Horn (+) (cf. [Ex. 240]).
* Legend of Kitesh 244—Cl., 2 Fl., + 2 Ob., Eng. horn, 3 Horn (+).
* [No. 164.] Legend of Kitesh, before 256—
| 2 Ob., Eng. horn 3 Horns (+) | >[ | 8. |
* Cf. also Tsar Saltan, before 115—
| Horn (+) 2 Fl. + 2 Fag. | ([Ex. 110]). |
If trumpets and trombones take part in a chord, flutes, oboes and clarinets are better used to form the harmonic part above the trumpets. The following should be the arrangement:
Examples:
* Sadko, symphonic tableau 20.
* [No. 165.] The May Night, Act I Ee—3 Trombones, 2 Ob. + 2 Cl. + 2 Fag.
"""p. 325.—Final chord, C maj. (cf. [Table I of chords], Ex. 1).
* [No. 166.] Snegourotchka 198; cf. also 200 and before 210.
* Shéhérazade, 1st movement E, 2nd movement P, 3rd movement M, 4th movement p. 203 (cf. [Ex. 195], [19], [210], [77]).
[No. 167.] The Christmas Night 205; cf. also 161, 212, 14th bar. ([Ex. 100], [153]).
* Mlada, end of Act I (cf. [Chord Table II], Ex. 13). Act II 20.
No. [168]-[169]. Sadko, Opera, before 249, 302; cf. also [Ex. 120].
[No. 170.] Sadko, Opera 244—Chord of widely extended range; bassoons at the limit of low compass.
""142, 239; cf. also 3 ([Ex. 86]).
* The Tsar's Bride 179 (cf. [Ex. 243]).
Antar 65—Alternation of notes in horns and wood-wind on trombone chords (cf. [Ex. 32]).
General observations. It is not always possible to secure proper balance in scoring for full wood-wind. For instance, in a succession of chords where the melodic position is constantly changing, distribution is subordinate to correct progression of parts. In practice, however, any inequality of tone may be counterbalanced by the following acoustic phenomenon: in every chord the parts in octaves strengthen one another, the harmonic sounds in the lowest register coinciding with and supporting those in the highest. In spite of this fact it rests entirely with the orchestrator to obtain the best possible balance of tone; in difficult cases this may be secured by judicious dynamic grading, marking the wood-wind one degree louder than the brass.