The Importance of Texture

Welcome back!

This time at Music Analysis 101, we finally get to do what the title implies!

The first topic we're discussing is their contrasting textures. Musical texture can cover a few different things, but it usually has to do with the melodic lines in a piece, and the relationship between them.

Both of these pieces have incredibly different textures. To start, Londonderry Air doesn't have a set texture, because there is no specified instrumentation. It's a folk piece, so it is hard to determine the original instrumentation the composer had in mind. Despite this, you could assume that it used an Irish harp, and either a tin whistle or a fiddle. (6) Based on that instrumentation, the two-voice texture allows the melody to be heard clearly, without being muddled by excessive ornamentation. The melody is clearly heard, and the harp is used to supplement the chordal structure of the piece, much like a bass continuo. This fills the piece with mainly consonance. The harmonic structure is basic because of the limited number of parts. Though this was a standard instrumentation used in Irish Folk Music, we can't be sure this was the Londonderry Air used. This makes it difficult to determine the importance of texture in this piece. At the same time it also opens up more possibilities to develop and rework the texture of the piece, which many composers/arrangers have done before.

In Spem in Alium, the complete opposite is true. The forty-voice texture that Tallis uses is essential to the piece itself. Spem in Alium consists of 8 5-part choirs, and each part plays an important role in the mood of the piece. (7) The basic motifs are passed from voice to voice within a choir, and then the choirs pass the motifs around to one another. This constant exchange creates a distinct flow within the piece, and almost makes it sound ambient.

The depth of the texture is also important to the level of dynamics the piece achieves. Until the classic period, people didn't write in or put much focus on dynamics, but they would use the number of instruments to make the piece louder or softer. This technique is seen all throughout the Tallis piece. One way he does that is by adding in each voice or choir slowly, to create a slow crescendo in the piece. But the most powerful use of the texture is when he has a pause in the piece, and then uses all forty voices at once, to create the climax of the piece (an example is in measure 122, refer to picture below). Texture is an important technique used in Spem in Alium, and it plays a crucial role in the form of the piece.

It is clear that texture plays very different roles in each piece. Though texture is one of the principle aspects in Spem in Alium, the texture in Londonderry Air matters very little to the core of the piece. Regardless, it's important to analyze both styles of texture!

With this in mind, next time we will look at a different aspect of both pieces!

Signing off!
Brianna

SN: 000210-0003

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Figure 5

(These pictures depict measure 121-122 of Spem in Alium. Note the pause at the end of measure 121, followed by all 8 choirs joining in simultaneously in measure 122)