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In the Berlioz: Requiem , the text “Hosanna in excelsis ” is first sung by high voices and instruments. When low voices and instruments enter, the change in register creates an emphasis.
Similarly, in Kristof Penderecki’s Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima , each string entrance is emphasized by a change in register.
The greater the change, the greater the emphasis. In the Finale of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 2 , the change in density is sudden and dramatic.
In “Danse de la fureur” from Olivier Messaien’s Quartet for the End of Time , a sudden change in dynamics creates a strong emphasis.
The longer a particular state has been maintained, the greater the emphasis of the change.
The opening of Alfred Schnittke’s Concerto Grosso No. 1 begins with spare sounds played on the prepared piano (a piano with objects inserted inside the instrument to make its pitch more undefined). The solo violins enter quietly. But after such a long introduction, a well-marked emphasis is created by the change of instrumentation.
Extremes are another powerful means of emphasis: A moment of silence stresses the solemnity of a memorial service; blaring sirens alert us to the dangers of a fire. A solitary figure on the street highlights the late hour; a standing-room only crowd draws attention to a show’s success.
Musical extremes include fastest and slowest, longest and shortest, highest and lowest, loudest and softest, densest and most spare.
Beethoven’s Violin Concerto begins with the following melody.
Later, the soloist emphasizes the melody by playing it in an extremely high register.
Gyorgy Ligeti’s Desordre presents a melody in the upper register, echoed in the low.
The melody is particularly emphasized when both of the pianist’s hands play in a very high register.
The longer an extreme is maintained, the more emphatic it is.
An emphasis on its own may catch our attention. When several emphases join together to mark an important structural moment, it creates a stronger accentuation that we will term rhetorical reinforcement .
Consider the relation between the film and score in a conventional Hollywood film: The role of score is to support the action. The score helps to underline significant moments in the film by being synchronized with them. If you’re familiar with 007 films, you know who appears on screen at the end of this sound-clip:
When James Bond has appeared, there was a change of texture, a steady pulse was established and new instruments entered. The film and music joined together to create a united emphasis. By virtue of its compounding of emphases, rhetorical reinforcement promotes clarity .
Opera and ballet often have a similar relationship between narrative and music.
The overture of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Don Giovanni opens with stark chords.
As the stage action begins, Don Giovanni murders the Commendatore, the father of one of his lovers. Many scenes later, Don Giovanni and his servant are scheming in a churchyard when the dead man’s statue issues a warning. Don Giovanni blithely invites the statue to dinner.
The Don is celebrating later at the banquet when the statue of the Commendatore suddenly appears before him. The return of the stark chords--not heard since the overture--heralds the Commendatore’s reappearance: Silence, and abrupt changes in texture and speed contribute to the emphasis. Music and narrative are aligned, creating a powerful dramatic arrival point.
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