In previous sections I have frequently stated that the structure of the orchestra is closely related to the music itself. The scoring of a vocal work proves this relationship in a striking manner, and, indeed, it may be stipulated that only that which is well written can be well orchestrated.
Transparence of accompaniment. Harmony.
The group of strings is the most transparent medium and the one least likely to overpower the voice. Then come the wood-wind and the brass, the latter in the following order: horns, trombones, trumpets. A combination of strings, pizz., and the harp forms a setting eminently favourable for the voice. As a general rule a singer is more easily overpowered by long sustained notes than by short detached ones. Strings doubled in the wood-wind and brass, and brass doubled by wood-wind are combinations liable to drown the singer. This may be done even more easily by tremolando in the kettle-drums and other percussion instruments, which, even by themselves are capable of overpowering any other orchestral group of instruments. Doubling of wood-wind and horns, and the use of two clarinets, two oboes or two horns in unison to form one harmonic part is likewise to be avoided, as such combinations will have a similar effect on the voice. The frequent use of long sustained notes in the double basses is another course unfavourable to the singer; these notes in combination with the human voice produce a peculiar throbbing effect.
Juxtaposition of strings and wood-wind which overweights legato or declamatory singing may nevertheless be employed if one of the groups forms the harmony in sustained notes and the other executes a melodic design, when, for instance the sustaining instruments are clarinet, and bassoon, or bassoon and horn, and the melodic design is entrusted to violins or violas—or in the opposite case, when the harmony is given to violas and 'cellos divisi, and the harmonic figure to the clarinets.
Sustained harmony in the register of the second octave to the middle of the third does not overpower women's voices, as these develop outside this range; neither is it too heavy for men's voices, which although opening out within the range itself sound an octave higher, as in the case of the tenor voice. As a rule women's voices suffer more than men's when they come in contact with harmony in a register similar to their own. Taken separately, and used in moderation, each group of orchestral instruments may be considered favourable to each type of voice. But the combination of two or three groups cannot be so considered unless they each play an independent part and are not united together at full strength. Incessant four-part harmony is to be deprecated. Satisfactory results will be obtained when the number of harmonic parts is gradually decreased, with some of them sustaining pedal notes, and when the harmony, interspersed with necessary pauses is confined to the limits of one octave, distributed over several octaves, or duplicated in the higher register.
These manipulations allow the composer to come to the singer's aid; in voice-modulations, when the singer passes from the cantabile to the declamatory style, the composer may reduce or eliminate some harmony which is found to be too heavy as the vocal tone diminishes, and conversely, support the voice by a fuller orchestral tone in broad phrases and climaxes.
Ornamental writing and polyphonic accompaniment should never be too intricate in character, entailing the use of an unnecessary number of instruments. Some complicated figures are better partially entrusted to pizz. strings and harp, as this combination has little chance of overpowering the voice. Some examples of accompanying an aria are given below.
Examples:
The Tsar's Bride, Lykow's supplementary Aria (Act III).
""" 16-19—Griasnov's Aria.