Klangfarbenmelodie (German for "sound-color melody") is a musical concept that treatstimbre as a melodic element.Arnold Schoenberg originated the idea. It has become synonymous with the technique of fragmenting a melodic line between different timbres.
Late in the 19th century, a sophisticated treatment of musical timbre started to emerge in works likeClaude Debussy'sPrélude à l'après-midi d'un faune.[1] During the same period,Hermann von Helmholtz theorized that timbre is part of what enables a listener to perceive melody.[2]
In 1911,Arnold Schoenberg analyzed musical sound (klang) as consisting of pitch (höhe), timbre (farbe), and volume (stärke). He noted that pitch was the only element that had undergone close examination, but he viewed it as subordinate to timbre, "...tone becomes perceptible by virtue of tone color, of which one dimension is pitch". He looked forward to a more sophisticated appreciation of tone color. Schoenberg also described a "futuristic fantasy" of tone color "progressions whose relations with another work with a kind of logic entirely equivalent to that logic which satisfies us in the melody of pitches". He rhapsodized:
Tone-color melodies! How acute the senses that would be able to perceive them! How high the development of spirit that could find pleasure in such subtle things![3]: 421–2
In its original sense, Schoenberg envisionedklangfarbenmelodie as a sequence of tone colors. There could be just one pitch, but the changing timbres are what create the semblance of melody.[4] Because Schoenberg never clearly defined the term, it was widely misunderstood.[5] There remains no clear definition of the term.[6]: 142
In 1951, Schoenberg felt compelled to revisit the concept in two short writings. One was an essay about Anton Webern's use ofklangfarbenmelodie. He balked at Webern's use of traditional form schemes while using the technique. Just as melody and counterpoint gave birth to unique forms, Schoenberg believed thatklangfarbenmelodie would require new forms that suited their nature.[7]
Schoenberg also dispatched duplicate letters toLuigi Dallapiccola andJosef Rufer on January 19, 1951. He asked them to only reveal the missives if his invention ofklangfarbenmelodie were ever doubted. The letter also expands on the concept by explaining the "klänge" in question could be entire passages of music that would be modulated by tone color. He specifically pointed to three examples from his catalogue: "the tomb scene ofPelleas und Melisande, or much of the introduction to the fourth movement of mysecond String Quartet, or the fugue figure from the secondPiano Piece...They are never merely individual tones of different instruments at different times, but rather combinations of moving voices."[8]
Schoenberg exploredklangfarbenmelodie inFive Orchestral Pieces op. 16 (1909). The third piece in the suite is titled "Farben".[9] It features a standing chord that is translated into a klangfarbenmelodie through the restless orchestration.[10]Alban Berg used this technique in the first of hisAltenberg Lieder.[11]
This original sense ofklangfarbenmelodie has its most direct descendants in the practitioners ofspectral music, which prizes timbre as a structural element.[12]
The more familiar meaning ofklangfarbenmelodie is when a melodic line is fragmented between different timbres.[13] There are many historical precedents to the concept. In practice, composers are writing inhocket when they deployklangfarbenmelodie.[14] The technique can also be found in polyphonic precedents likeAnnibale Padovano's treatment of thecantus firmus in his music.[15]
Anton Webern used thispointillistic technique extensively. A classic example is the opening melodic statement of hisFünf Stücke für Orchester Op. 10 (1913) which requires the efforts of the flute, trumpet, celeste, harp, glockenspiel, viola, and clarinet often playing just one note each. In Webern's hocketization of Schoenberg's concept, timbres are often mixed but not combined. The effect creates a sense of a compound melody, where the pitch content moves more swiftly than the timbres.[16] The music feels contrapuntally dense while it is in fact quite sparse.[17]: 508 In Schoenberg's 1951 letter, he wrote, "My conception ofKlangfarbenmelodie would have been fulfilled in Webern’s compositions only in the slightest part." He felt that Webern's understanding of the concept was an error. The impetus for Schoenberg's letter was partially to reclaim ownership of the concept which had become so synonymous with his pupil's work.[8]
In fact, Webern was employing the concept in pieces likeSechs Stücke op. 6 (1909) before Schoenberg wrote about it.[18] The first movement of Webern'sSymphony op. 21 offers an archetypal example ofklangfarbenmelodie, where nearly every pitch is colored by a different instrument.[17]: 506 In Webern's usage,klangenfarbenmelodie articulates the motivic structure of a piece. This is especially evident in hisorchestration of the six-partricercar fromBach'sMusical Offering.[19]
Webern's preoccupation withklangenfarbenmelodie continues through his seminalConcerto for Nine Instruments op. 24 (1934).[1] It became a landmark in the development of serial music.Serialism was a continuation of theSecond Viennese School's innovations. Composers likeKarlheinz Stockhausen systematized musical parameters like pitch, rhythm, and timbre.[4]Klangfarbenmelodie was particularly influential in the development ofelectronic music.[9]