Voice leading |

German Stimmführung, English. part-writing, voice-leading (in the USA), French conduite des voix

The movement of an individual voice and all voices together in a polyphonic piece of music during the transition from one combination of sounds to another, in other words, the general principle of the development of melodic. lines (voices), from which the music is composed. fabric (texture) of the work.

G.’s features depend on the stylistic. principles of the composer, entire composer schools and creativity. directions, as well as on the composition of the performers for which this composition was written. In a broad sense, G. is subordinate to both melodic and harmonic. patterns. Under the supervision of the voices affect his location in the muses. fabrics (top, bottom, middle, etc.) and perform. the capabilities of the instrument, to which its execution is entrusted.

According to the ratio of voices, G. is distinguished direct, indirect and opposite. Direct (variant – parallel) movement is characterized by a single ascending or descending direction of movement in all voices, indirect – leaving one or more voices unchanged. height, the opposite – diff. the direction of moving voices (in its pure form it is possible only in two-voice, with a larger number of voices it is necessarily combined with direct or indirect movement).

Each voice can move in steps or jumps. Stepwise movement provides the greatest smoothness and coherence of consonances; second shifts of all voices can make natural even the succession of harmonically distant from each other consonances. Particular smoothness is achieved with indirect movement, when the general tone of the chords is maintained, while the other voices move at close distances. Depending on the type of interconnection between simultaneously sounding voices, harmonic, heterophonic-subvocal, and polyphonic voices are distinguished.

harmonic g. associated with chordal, choral (see Chorale) texture, which is distinguished by the unity of the rhythm of all voices. The optimal historical number of voices is four, which corresponds to the voices of the choir: soprano, alto, tenor and bass. These votes can be doubled. The combination of chords with indirect movement is called harmony, with direct and opposite – melodic. connections. Often harmonious. G. is subordinate to the accompaniment of the leading melody (usually in the upper voice) and belongs to the so-called. homophonic harmonic. warehouse (see Homophony).

Heterofonno-podgolosochnoe G. (see heterophony) is characterized by direct (often parallel) movement. In decomp. voices sound variants of the same melody; the degree of variation depends on the style and national. originality of the work. Heterophonic-vocal voice is characteristic of a number of musical and stylistic phenomena, for example. for Gregorian chant (Europe 11-14 centuries), a number of couples. music cultures (in particular, for the Russian drawl song); found in the works of composers who, to one degree or another, used the vocal traditions of Nar. music (M. I. Glinka, M. P. Mussorgsky, A. P. Borodin, S. V. Rakhmaninov, D. D. Shostakovich, S. S. Prokofiev, I. F. Stravinsky and others).

A. P. Borodin. Chorus of villagers from the opera “Prince Igor”.

polyphonic g. (see Polyphony) is associated with the same time. holding several more or less independent. melodies.

R. Wagner. Overture to the opera “The Mastersingers of Nuremberg”.

A characteristic feature of polyphonic G. is the independence of rhythm in each of the voices with their indirect movement.

This ensures good recognition of each melody by ear and allows you to follow their combination.

Practicing musicians and theorists have begun to pay attention to the guitar since the early Middle Ages. Thus, Guido d’Arezzo spoke out against the Parallels. Hukbald’s organum and in his theory occursus formulated the rules for combining voices in cadences. The subsequent development of the doctrine of G. directly reflects the evolution of the muses. art, its main styles. Until the 16th century G.’s rules for decomp. the voices were different – in the countertenor joining the tenor and treble (for instr. performance), jumps, crossing with other voices were allowed. In the 16th century thanks to the vocalization of music. fabrics and the use of imitations occurs means. equalization of votes. Mn. the rules of counterpoint were essentially the rules of G. – the opposite movement of voices as the basis, the prohibition of parallels. movements and crossings, the preference for reduced intervals over increased ones (since after the jump, melodic movement in the other direction seemed natural), etc. (these rules, to a certain extent, retained their significance in the homophonic choral texture). Since the 17th century the so-called difference was established. strict and free styles. The strict style was characterized, among other things, by non-ism. the number of voices in the work, in a free style, it constantly changed (along with the so-called real voices, complementary voices and sounds appeared), many “liberties” were allowed by G. In the era of the bass general, G. gradually freed himself from the strict rules of counterpoint; at the same time, the upper voice becomes the most melodically developed, while the rest occupy a subordinate position. A similar ratio is largely preserved even after the general bass ceased to be used, especially in the piano. and orchestral music (predominantly “filling” the role of middle voices), although from the beginning. 20th century the value of polyphonic G. increased again.

References: Skrebkov S., Polyphonic analysis, M., 1940; his own, Textbook of polyphony, M., 1965; his, Harmony in modern music, M., 1965; Mazel L., O melody, M., 1952; Berkov V., Harmony, textbook, part 1, M., 1962, 2 under the title: Textbook of harmony, M., 1970; Protopopov Vl., The history of polyphony in its most important phenomena. Russian classical and Soviet music, M., 1962; his, History of polyphony in its most important phenomena. Western European classics of the XVIII-XIX centuries, M., 1965; Sposobin I., Musical form, M., 1964; Tyulin Yu. and Privano N., Theoretical Foundations of Harmony, M., 1965; Stepanov A., Harmony, M., 1971; Stepanov A., Chugaev A., Polyphony, M., 1972.

F. G. Arzamanov