Climax |

from lat. culmen, will give birth. case culminis – the highest point, peak; German Culmination

The moment of the highest tension in a piece of music or any relatively completed part of it. K. are formed already in the melody, where they make up the peaks of melodic. waves. However, K. does not always represent the highest melodic sound. waves – the metro-rhythm is of great importance here. and fret harmonic. factors. As a rule, the climax sound, in addition to height, stands out for its duration, metric. accent (strong beat). From the fret side of the climax. the sound is more or less unstable (VI, sometimes III, VII, and other steps). If the melody consists of several melodic waves, each can have its own “local” K., one of which is the K. of the whole melody as a wave of a larger plan. Such K. is most often found in the 2nd half of the melodic. construction (eg, period), near the so-called. golden section points. There are also cases when a k. is located at the beginning of a melody (its first or second sound). K. of this kind is close to the so-called. “top-source” (the term of L. A. Mazel), characteristic of the song of the glory. peoples, in particular Russian and Ukrainian. In melodies with the top-source K. in its true sense, i.e. as the moment of the highest tension achieved in the process of development is absent. There are also melodies with a “dispersed” K. – the so-called. “peak-horizon” (term L. A. Mazel). Sometimes K. is not one sound, but a whole melodic. turnover, and in relation to very drawn-out, widely developed melodies, one can speak of a whole climax. area, zone. K. in many goals. homophonic music is a deepening, amplification of melodic. K., incl. with the help of harmonious, dynamic. and timbres. K. in a major music. form is more extended, often it forms a climax. carrying out one of the topics. Such a curve is also usually located near the point of the golden section of the whole. In sonata allegro, K. often falls at the end of the development and the beginning of the reprise (1st part of Beethoven’s 9th symphony). In the musical stage. prod. K. is formed in accordance with the general laws of drama as one of the claims; its concert manifestations in decomp. types of music and drama. compositions (see Musical Dramaturgy).

References: Mazel L. A., O melody, M., 1952, p. 114-35; his own, Structure of musical works, M., I960, p. 58-64; Mazel L. A., Zukkerman V. A., Analysis of musical works, M., 1967, p. 79-94. See also lit. to the articles Melody and Musical Form.