* 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:
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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: