Timbre and Ornamentation

Hello again!

Today we're going to talk about another link between the two pieces: timbre (or tone color) and ornamentation. When discussing timbre in music, it usually refers to the distinctive characteristics of the sound an instrument produces. (8) It describes the difference you hear between a sound made by a clarinet, versus the sound produced by a vocalist. Ornamentation refers to any musical flourishes that embellish a melody, with the intent to make the piece more pleasing. (9) Both Londonderry Air and Spem in Alium have distinguished attributes in regards to tone and ornamentation.

In Londonderry Air, the tone color and ornamentation can vary, in the same way that the texture can. Depending on the arrangement that you listen to, the piece may have different timbres and degrees of ornamentation. For example, in most versions of Danny Boy, you hear different types of vocal timbres. As with most choral pieces, the choir part has 4 voices, and uses a combination of head voice and chest voice. The singers use different articulation styles or vibrato to shape the mood of the piece. To portray the sorrow that the lyrics already have, most people sing it with a full, rounded sound, to ensure the notes (and the message) carry well. In solely instrumental arrangements of Londonderry Air (such as An Irish Tune from County Derry), the different timbres associated with woodwind and string instruments are featured in symphonic renditions of the piece. As far as ornamentation goes, I haven't found too many versions of Londonderry Air that use heavy ornamentation. This doesn't take away from the elaborate accompaniments that supplement the main melody in the piece.

When looking at the timbre and ornamentation used in Spem in Alium, you can see that it has similar timbre to Danny Boy. They are both choral pieces, and because of that, they have similar vocal timbres. Though the head voice in the soprano lines are most prominent, there are many different styles of voice being heard throughout Spem in Alium. The bass and tenor parts use predominantly chest voice. All of these voices have a pristine quality about them, and they create a pure sound, regardless of what dynamic they are singing. This piece also has a similar lack of ornamentation. Though some portions of the melody may be altered and moved around different choirs, the effect is almost fugal, and not strictly in the parameters of ornamentation that are listed above. Despite this, the piece still has a full sound, with plenty of complex layering.

Both Londonderry Air and Spem in Alium have minimal ornamentation, and clear vocal timbre. Though Londonderry Air was not originally written for voice, the arrangements that have come from that song have comparable characteristics of Spem in Alium.


'Til next time!
Brianna

Figure 6

SN: 000210-0003