Chapter III: Act III: of “Tannhäuser” may be commended

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III

Wind-Instruments of Brass

THE HORN

The brass choir is composed of horns, trumpets, and trombones, with the addition in most modern scores of a contra-bass tuba. Wagner has used also bass trumpets and tenor tubas to enrich the color of this part of his orchestra. The horn, or French horn, as it is often called, is the old hunting horn adapted to orchestral purposes. It is an extremely valuable instrument, because it has a most noble and expressive tone, which makes it very interesting as a solo voice, and equally because it blends admirably with either strings or wood, as well as with brass. In the older compositions the reader will find that two horns were used, but it is customary with modern composers to employ four, thus making a full four-part harmony possible. Wagner generally doubles his horn parts, requiring eight instruments.

It was impossible in earlier times to play in all keys on any one horn, and so horns in various keys had to be used. The reader will find that many scores call for horns in D, in E flat, in B flat, etc. Players now use almost exclusively the horn in F, with valves, upon which it is possible to play in all keys. It is customary with many composers, however, to write horn parts in various keys, and the players have to transpose them. As no opera is more familiar than “Faust,” the reader may readily identify the horn as a solo instrument in the first act when _Mephistopheles_ shows _Faust_ the vision of _Marguerite_.

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In Wagner’s “Siegfried” the horn plays all the passages which the young hero is supposed to intone on his hunting horn. The quartet of horns employed in the modern orchestra is frequently heard alone, and the effect of this full harmony of mellow brass is incomparably fine. Such effects are heard in the hunting fanfare which precedes the entrance of the _Landgrave_ and his party in Act I. of “Tannhäuser,” and in the echoing through the woods of the departing hunt in the beginning of Act II. of “Tristan und Isolde.” It must not be supposed, however, that horn quartets are used only for hunting effects. One has only to recall the beautiful passage in Saint-Säen’s “Phäeton.”

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Stopped tones are frequently given to the horns. These are produced by inserting the hand in the bell of the instrument, where it has an effect not unlike that of a sordine on a violin-string. The quality of stopped tones is nasal and stertorous. They are used with much significance in dramatic music.

THE TRUMPET

This fine instrument, the soprano of the brass choir, is too often replaced by the cornet. Indeed, in the United States I have heard trumpets only in the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Walter Damrosch’s orchestra. The trumpet has a full, round, brilliant tone, for which that of the blatant and brassy cornet is not a good substitute. But it is much easier to get good cornet-players than good trumpeters, so the cornet is quite common. The pealing, militant character of the trumpet is always associated in the mind with that of the army bugle, which it closely resembles. The trumpets are usually employed in chords written for the brass, or in the big mass effects of the orchestra. They are seldom called upon to intone a melody except in passages in which the brass plays alone, or when a very brilliant and forcible orchestration is used. The instrument is so familiar that no illustration is necessary. Trumpets in various keys were formerly always employed, but it is now customary to use chiefly the F trumpet, with valves. Cornets employed in the orchestra are in A and B flat. There is a high cornet in E flat, but it is used only in military bands. Stopped tones are easily produced from the cornet or trumpet, and are often used for comic effects. They sound much like the voice of a person singing in a falsetto voice through his nose. Trumpets and cornets are generally used in pairs in the orchestra.

THE TROMBONE

The trombone is one of the noblest of all orchestral instruments. When it sounds ignoble, it is either because its part is not well written or because it is badly played. In respect of register there are three principal kinds of trombones--alto, tenor, and bass. The alto has a compass extending from A at the bottom of the bass clef to the E flat in the top space of the treble clef. The tenor ranges from E below the bass clef to the B flat in the middle of the treble clef, and this is the instrument most frequently employed. The bass trombone’s register runs from B below the bass to the F in the first space of the treble clef. The alto trombone is in E flat, the tenor in B flat, and the bass in F. There is also a contra-bass trombone in B flat, sounding an octave lower than the tenor trombone. It is very fatiguing to play, and is usually replaced by the tuba, whose tone is of a considerably different character. Although all these trombones stand in keys other than C, they are not treated as transposing, but are written in the key of the composition.

The tone of the trombone is grave and majestic, but it may be made to rage hoarsely. In all solemn or broadly dignified music trombones play a conspicuous part. It is customary to write in three parts for these instruments, but when necessary they may be made to play in unison, as in the proclamation of the pilgrims’ chorus in the overture to “Tannhäuser,” or the curse motive in various parts of the Nibelung series. A fine example of the employment of trombones in several parts is to be found in the first act of “Die Walküre” on the first appearance of the “Walhalla” motive.

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THE TUBA

The tuba is a deep-toned brass instrument of double-bass quality. It is, in fact, the double-bass of the brass choir. Its quality of tone is noble and blends well with that of trombones. The instrument usually employed in the modern orchestra is the bass tuba in B flat. Wagner employs tenor tubas in the funeral march of the “Götterdämmerung” in order to get a generally consistent sombre color in the brass. He uses in other places both bass and contra-bass tubas, but his writing for these instruments cannot be regarded as invariably felicitous.

The tuba is really a member of the large family of Saxhorns, of which there are six principal types, all in E flat or B flat. These are the sopranino, or piccolo Saxhorn in E flat (A below treble to B flat above), soprano Saxhorn in B flat (German flügelhorn--E below treble to B flat above), alto in E flat (bass A to E flat in fourth space of treble), tenor in B flat (E below bass to B flat treble), bass in B flat, called in Germany bass tuba, and in England euphonium (B flat below bass to F above it), bass in E flat (same compass less one upper note), and contra-bass in B flat (E flat an octave below the bass to F on the third line). These instruments belong primarily to the military band, but an orchestral composer may employ any of them that suit his purpose.

In some older scores the music-lover will find instead of the tuba the ophicleide, which is the bass of the keyed bugle family. Its coarse and blatant tone is happily replaced by that of the tuba.

IV

Other Instruments

THE TYMPANI

The tympani, or kettle-drums, belong to the department of instruments of percussion. They are the only drums which can be tuned to sound certain notes. The other instruments of percussion need not be described until the department is discussed as a whole. The older composers employed only two kettle-drums. The modern writers often use three and sometimes four. There are low and high kettle-drums. The low drum can be tuned to any note from F below the bass clef to C in the second space, and the high drum from B flat on the second line to F on the fourth. The early composers used kettle-drums almost invariably with the trumpets, and found no better employment for them than the accentuation of rhythm and changes of harmony. Beethoven, who was one of the keenest of all composers in his appreciation of the individuality of instruments, saw that the kettle-drums could be used for special effects.

The early composers always tuned them to the tonic key and its dominant. Beethoven, in the scherzo of the Ninth Symphony, tuned them in octaves and produced a striking effect. Again in the slow movement of the same symphony he made the two drums play simultaneously on two notes of a chord. This also was novel. In the andante of his First Symphony he had already made the tympani play the bass to a melody of violins and flutes, and in the Fourth Symphony the tympani take their turn with the other instruments in playing the theme of two notes often repeated. The solo effects of the tympani in the scherzo of the Fifth Symphony and in the opening of the violin concerto are well known. Beethoven thus paved the way for subsequent composers to make a wide and varied use not only of the tympani but of other percussive instruments.

Other instruments of percussion employed in the orchestra are the military snare-drum, bass-drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, castanets, the carillon (a set of steel bars which produce sounds like those of small bells), the xylophone, large bells (or heavy steel tubes to imitate them), and the gong.

THE HARP

The reader will look in vain for the harp in the older symphonic scores. It was in its early employment wholly an instrument of the theatre. Although it found its way into the orchestra early, it was not employed as a genuine orchestral instrument. Up to the beginning of the present century, as Gevaert has clearly pointed out, composers used it for the sake of its historical character. Thus Handel introduced it in the first version of his “Esther” (1720), Gluck in his “Orfeo” (1762), and Beethoven in his “Prometheus” ballet (1799). In Gluck’s “Orfeo,” for example, the harp is heard only when _Orpheus_ is supposed to play on the instrument carried by him. In this same manner Wagner employs the harp in “Tannhäuser.” It was employed in a similar manner in the early part of the present century by composers for the theatre, chiefly in France. Biblical and classical subjects, in which the harps of the daughters of Israel or the lyres of Greece and Rome might be heard, naturally suggested the use of the harp, and thus it was employed by Méhul in his “Joseph” (1809), Spontini in “La Vestale” (1807), and Rossini in “Moïse” (1827). Again, scenes in Scotland or Ireland required the local color of the gleeman’s harp, and for this purpose it was employed by Méhul in his “Uthal” (1803), Lesueur in “Les Bardes” (1807), and Catel in “Wallace” (1817).

The perfection of the pedal mechanism by Sebastian Erard in 1810 led to a much wider use of the harp. Meyerbeer and Wagner began to use it extensively in their operas, and Berlioz introduced it into symphonic music of the romantic school.

The harp is provided with seven pedals, operated by the player’s feet. By means of these pedals the tension of the strings can be instantly altered, thus changing the pitch of the scale, or, in other words, putting the harp into another key. It is this mechanism which enables the harpist of to-day to play in all keys, while in earlier times only a few were practicable.

The reader of orchestra scores will find that harp parts are written on two staves, like piano music, and placed in the score just above the parts of the string quintet. The harp is a non-transposing instrument and its music is written as it sounds. Sometimes, however, in remote keys composers remove some of a harp-player’s difficulties by changing the key signature. For instance, certain kinds of passages, if written in the key of B natural, are very difficult for the harp, whereas if written in C flat (which sounds precisely the same) they become easy. This is because the Erard system of tuning makes C flat the fundamental key of the harp.

The instrument is much used in our day in orchestral music, as well as in the opera. Its treatment is usually either in broad chords, as in the air “Roi du ciel” in Meyerbeer’s “Le Prophète,” or in running arpeggios, as in “Anges purs et radieux” in “Faust.” Glissando effects--smooth-running passages produced by sliding the hands rapidly over the strings without stopping to pluck them--are often used in modern music, as in the orchestral arrangements of Liszt’s Hungarian rhapsodies. Harmonics can be produced on the harp. They sound like the faint tinkle of a muffled glass bell, and are very pretty when properly applied. A familiar example is to be found in the waltz of the sylphs in the ballet music of Berlioz’s “Damnation of Faust.”

Wagner has used the harp very freely in his music dramas. Sometimes he employs it historically, sometimes for the sake of its luxuriant tone in the accompaniment of lyric song, and again with a remarkable insight into its power of combination with other instruments in descriptive music. In this latter manner it is superbly used in the magic fire-music of “Die Walküre:”

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V

The Orchestral Score

The printed form of an orchestral composition, or one for voices and orchestra, is called a score. (German, Partitur.) In it are comprised the parts to be played by all the instruments. It is read across the page precisely as a piece of piano music is, with the important difference that while in a piano piece there are only two staves--one for the treble and one for the bass--in an orchestral score there are from sixteen to twenty-four, according to the number of the parts. The name of the instrument is printed at the beginning of its part and also the key in which it stands, if it is a transposing instrument. The customary order of the instruments from top to bottom of the page is as follows: Flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns, trumpets, trombones, tuba, tympani, and other instruments of percussion, harps, violins, violas, ’cellos, and double-basses. This order is sometimes changed for the sake of convenience. If there are voices, as in an opera or oratorio, they will be found in the older scores between the viola and ’cello parts. The more modern custom is to put them above the first violins, so that the parts of the string choir are not separated. In a concerto the solo instrument is similarly placed. The names of the instruments of the score are usually given in Italian, but sometimes in German. The following list gives the names of the instruments in English, Italian, German, and French, with the plurals where needed:

Italian. German. French.

Flute Flautŏ(i) Flöte(n) Flute.
Oboe Oboe(i) Hoboe(n) Hautbois.
English Horn Cornŏ Inglese Englische Horn Cor Anglais.
Clarinet Clarinettŏ(i) Clarinette(n) Clarinette.
Bassoon Fagottŏ(i) Fagott(e) Basson.
Horn Cornŏ(i) Horn(er) Cor.
Trumpet Tromba(e) Trompete(n) Trompette.
Cornet Cornettó(i) Cornet(te) Cornette à pistons.
Trombone Trombonó(i) Posaune(n) Trombone.
Tuba Tuba Tuba Tuba.
Bass Drum Gran Cassa Grosse Trommel Grosse Caisse.
Cymbals Piatti Becken Cymbales.
Kettle-drums Timpani Pauken Timbales.
Harp Arpa Harfe Harpe.
Violin Violino Geige Violone.
Viola Viola Bratsche Alto.
Violoncello Violoncello Violoncell Violoncelle.
Bass Basso Bass Contrebasse.

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In German scores the Italian names are often used. Sometimes each instrument has a separate staff, but more frequently a pair of instruments, as two flutes, or two oboes, is written on one staff. In such cases the tails of the notes for the upper instrument are turned up and of those for the lower down. If there are two sets of tails, one up and one down, to one set of notes, it indicates that two instruments are to play the same passage. In the case of four horns, two staves are used, the upper for the first and second and the lower for the third and fourth. In old scores the reader will find many different orders of placing the instruments on the page. That which I have given is the present method.

The reader will find many directions and abbreviations in scores not used in piano music. The meaning of any of these can be ascertained by consulting a dictionary of music. One or two may be explained here. The word “divisi” written over a part in double notes (or more) means that one instrument is to play the upper line and another the lower. First violins are thus sometimes subdivided, and so are other stringed instruments. The words “A due” are used as a direction for all to play together again. The letters A, B, C, etc., often seen at the tops and bottoms of pages, are for the convenience of conductors in rehearsing.

“If you please, gentlemen, let us go back to four bars before the letter G,” or something of that kind, is a familiar remark at orchestra rehearsals.

The reader will find that in many scores space is saved by omitting from some pages the staves of those instruments which have nothing on those pages. Usually when this is done the names of the instruments which are playing are indicated by abbreviations placed just above the staves, as “Fl., Cl., Fg.,” etc. The full names of the instruments employed in any movement are given only at the beginning, and the reader of scores should note how many staves are employed. Sometimes the flutes are written on two staves, sometimes on one. The same is true of the other wind-instruments. Usually the wood-choir staves are bound together by a continuous double bar at the beginning of each page, and sometimes the horns have one double bar. The score-reader will soon become familiar with the various arrangements. One who loves orchestral music and wishes to understand how its effects are produced should study scores. Study your score first at home and try to imagine how it ought to sound. Then follow the performance with it and note what combinations of instruments produce particular effects. After a time you will find that your understanding of the orchestra has greatly increased, and you will get new enjoyment from the performance of symphonies and overtures.

ARTHUR NIKISCH.]

The conventional seating plan of the orchestra will help the reader to familiarize himself with the instruments. In concerts the stringed instruments are always placed at the front of the stage, with the wind-instruments behind them, in order that the tone of the strings may come out fully and without obstruction. The first violins are always on the left of the audience, and second violins on the right. Violas are usually placed immediately behind the second violins, though some conductors put them behind the first. The ’cellos are arranged usually on the side opposite the violas, and double-basses are placed at the sides or the back, according to the conductor’s idea. The wood occupies the middle of the stage, and the brass and instruments of percussion are at the rear. The diagram on the next page shows the seating plan of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

A--Conductor.
B--First Violins.
C--Second Violins.
D--Violas.
E--Violoncellos.
O--Double Basses.
F--Flutes.
G--Oboes and English Horn.
H--Clarinets.
I--Bassoons.
J--Horns.
K--Trumpets.
L--Trombones.
M--Tuba.
N--Tympani.
P--Triangle.
Q--Bass Drum.
R--Bells, etc.

SEATING PLAN OF THE BOSTON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA.]

Amateurs will find that they must extend their musical knowledge a little, if they desire to read orchestra scores. Persons who have studied only piano playing are nonplussed when they find themselves in the presence of transposing instruments and other clefs than those known as the treble and the bass. I have already briefly explained the peculiarity of what are called transposing instruments, but it will be well to give the reader some further help in dealing with them in reading scores. A question which I have frequently heard is, “Why don’t they make all instruments in C?” The answer to this question is that there could only be one reason for doing so, namely, to make it easy for amateurs to read scores. There are many more substantial reasons for making instruments in various keys. For instance, brass instruments produce most easily and with the finest tone and richest sonority their natural notes--those notes which are produced without any aid from valves or pistons as the notes of a cavalry bugle. If a composer in writing a brilliant march in B natural, a bright and incisive key for the strings, wishes to introduce trumpets, he can make most effective use of those in B natural. But it is not possible always to have clarinets, trumpets, and horns in every key ready for instant use, so custom and experience have induced musicians to make a judicious selection. Clarinets in A and B flat are now used far more than those in C. As Gevaert says: “The choice among the three clarinets is not always made from the simple consideration of facility; often it is guided by the character of the tone peculiar to each. The clarinet in C has a timbre brilliant almost to rudeness.” He further notes that it is therefore used by the classic composers mostly in brilliant movements in the simple diatonic scales. The clarinet in B flat or that in A may be chosen for reasons of a like nature. The reader, however, will probably be more interested in knowing how he is to read clarinet parts. If they are in C, he will have no trouble, because there will be no transposition. A clarinet in B flat playing music written in C, sounds one tone lower than that scale. Hence the key of C is used for a clarinet in B flat only when the violins are playing in B flat.

In other words, every sound which issues from a B flat clarinet is one whole tone lower than that written in the score. If you write C, the instrument sounds B flat. If you wish the instrument to sound C, you must write D. If you wish it to sound F sharp, you must write G sharp. If you wish it to sound E natural, you must write F sharp or G flat.

The composer has the choice of two methods of writing his clarinet part. He may write always without any key signature and mark all flats and sharps as accidentals, or he may use a key signature. Custom has sanctioned the latter method, which is the more rational. I have just said that every tone which issues from a B flat clarinet is a whole interval below the written character. Therefore, all music for a B flat clarinet must be written one interval higher than it is intended to sound, and this, the reader will see, simply results in transposing a B flat clarinet part into a key one tone higher than that of the composition. For a composition in C write for B flat clarinets in the key of D. For one in D write for B flat clarinets in E. For one in E flat write for B flat clarinets in F. There is another simple way of looking at this matter. Clarinets in B flat have already two flats in their open scale. If you want them to play in C, you must contradict these two flats by two sharps, and two sharps are the signature of the key of D. Hence, write in D for B flat clarinets to play in C. In reading a score all that the amateur needs to do is to remember that every note written for the B flat clarinet sounds one tone lower than written. Thus the chord of C for two flutes, two oboes, and two clarinets might be written as at A so as to sound as at B.

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In the case of clarinets in A the same principles apply. The clarinet in A sounds A when C is written, and it sounds the entire scale of A when the scale of C is written. As C is one tone and a half above A, it follows that notes for the A clarinet are always written a tone and a half higher than the sounds to be produced, and the score-reader must conceive the A clarinet parts as sounding that much lower than they are written. Thus, to get C out of an A clarinet, you must write E flat, and to make an A clarinet play in unison with flutes in the key of C, you must write in E flat for the clarinet. The chord just written would have to be rewritten thus:

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One of the peculiarities of orchestra scores is that music for horns and trumpets is always written without any key signature--that is, just as if it were in C major--and all the sharps and flats are put in as accidentals. This makes difficult reading at times for an amateur. In order to aid the music-lover I give herewith the written notes and the corresponding real sounds of the horn in F, which is the most frequently used. The same table will answer for the trumpet in F.

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The rules of transposition given above apply to all music for transposing instruments. A tuba in E flat, for instance, is one which sounds E flat when the composer writes C. Persons accustomed to sight-reading with a “movable Do” have very little trouble in the study of orchestra scores, and I earnestly advise all who wish to read scores to study sight-reading.

Next comes the matter of clefs. As I have stated, it is customary to write the viola part on the alto clef. When a bassoon or a ’cello runs up so high that it is inconvenient to employ the bass clef, the tenor clef is used, and if it goes still higher, the treble clef may be introduced. These various clefs are troublesome to the amateur because he is familiar only with the treble and bass clefs. The treble clef is known also as the G clef; because the character [G clef symbol] is placed upon the second line to indicate that the treble G is there located. A clef sign simply fixes the place of some note, and the others are located accordingly. The bass clef is also called the F clef, because the character [F clef symbol] is placed so as to indicate that F is on the fourth line. Now in the alto and tenor clefs the character [alto clef symbol] is used, and its purpose is to locate the note C. In the alto clef it is on the third line, where B is in the treble clef. In the tenor clef it is on the fourth line, where D is in the treble clef. The question which will arise in the amateur’s mind is this: Which C is it that is thus located? The answer is simple and easily remembered. It is best expressed by the following illustration:

[Music: Alto clef. Real sound. Tenor clef. Real sound.]

Here are two scales, one alto and one tenor, with the real sounds.

[Music: Alto.

Real sounds.]

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It will be seen from these illustrations that the C located by the clef sign in the alto on the third line and the tenor clef on the fourth line is the one situated on the first leger line below the staff in the treble clef. Having this fact in mind, the lover of orchestral music can learn, with a little practice, to read viola parts and ’cello or bassoon passages which run up into the tenor clef. The following illustration shows a ’cello passage with the middle measure written on the tenor clef, and also the same passage written wholly on the bass clef:

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In some scores the music-lover will find the three trombone parts written on three clefs, alto, tenor, and bass, while in others they are written on the bass clef only. I have already noted that bass clarinet parts are written sometimes on the treble and sometimes on the bass clef. The former is always used by French composers, and the latter nearly always by Germans.