Diminuendo And Crescendo

It depends; in the event that there were a climax towards the fortissimo where one sees a massive expansion of the range against an ascending motion of the treble part and a descending motion of the bass part... in both cases there would be a crescendo and the bass part would descend (perhaps reinforced).

Therefore, it depends on the context

Gennarino wrote:

It seems to me that I have understood that the melody should follow the dynamics, so if I want to achieve an effective diminuendo I should go down with the melodic line and vice versa if I want to achieve a crescendo I should go up.

To be clear, pitch and intensity are directly proportional.

But who told you that???

Carlos wrote:

But who told you that???

Exactly, and who says otherwise???

Natan wrote:

It depends; in the event that there were a climax towards the fortissimo where one sees a massive expansion of the range against an ascending motion of the treble part and a descending motion of the bass part... in both cases there would be a crescendo and the bass part would descend (perhaps reinforced).

Therefore, it depends on the context

Ok, I understand the example, but narrowing the field... in cantabile passages and not in "explosive" climaxes in terms of dynamics...?

Gennarino wrote:

Exactly, and who says otherwise???

Musical literature, meaning a few hundred composers over the last 400 years.

I remember a note made to someone specifically on this topic, an intriguing issue.

Any glaring little examples of a descending melody in crescendo or conversely an ascending melody in diminuendo?

AbateFaria wrote:

Any glaring examples of a descending melody in crescendo or conversely an ascending melody in diminuendo?

Dwell, naturally your question has put me in the famous condition of the "Schönberg's millipede," do you know it? A millipede who was asked how he coordinated all his little legs, and upon thinking about it, became unable to walk... Obviously, at this moment, I can only think of examples of idiomatic treatment of melody, which is typical especially of the nineteenth-century repertoire. "All'armi!" we will never hear with a descending melodic direction, for example, but there are some exceptions (there must be...) and what comes to mind is the end of "Celeste Aida" ("Un trono vicino al sol...") which ends dying away on a high B-flat (which no tenor actually sings that way because it's extremely difficult, that's another story...). Perhaps one must dig through the late nineteenth-century, impressionist and decadent repertoire to find suitable examples. Debussy should/could be "the one," but right now I don't have time to verify it. I will take a look at the score of Pelléas et Mélisande. What I meant by my "who told you that" is that it is not a rule (that of accompanying crescendos and diminuendos with ascents and descents of the melody) and that the fact that much of the repertoire (especially Romantic) uses this device (I repeat: in an almost "idiomatic" manner) does not make it a rule. I will redeem myself, I sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeear! (this one was in crescendo, but I don't know if it was ascending...)

The point is that if they used it, it means it worked, let's call it a rule of good taste... then anything can always be done, but one must see the results

Surely in a stylistic reconstruction (nineteenth-century, a romance or something, I don't know) it is a parameter to keep well in mind

I'm planting a seed of doubt, it could also depend on the instrument

A glaring example is Chopin's Ballade No. 4, more or less around page 3/4, when the enriched theme reappears on the right; the left hand has descending scales/arpeggios in octaves that are performed with a forte crescendo ... just to cite a very famous example ...

that then depends on the instrument, as Valkyrie says, is a given ... performing a crescendo with a descending musical line is practically impossible with the flute and with the oboe ... probably the brass are more at ease, but here we would need the support of some instrumentalists.

aside from that, the organ deserves mention as it has registers that can be added.

What can you tell me about the piano sound, despite the sustain pedal, which has a fast sound decay ... given the robustness of the lower notes compared to the highs ... in relation to crescendo/diminuendo?