Col legno: Difference between revisions

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col legno performed on a violin:
0 sec: battuto,
9 sec: tratto,
20 sec: ... with tremolo,
33 sec: ... with glissando,
48 sec: battuto with movement of the bow across the fingerboard

In music for bowed string instruments, col legno, or more precisely col legno battuto (Italian for 'with the wood [being hit]'; pronounced [kol ˈleɲɲo batˈtuːto]), is an instruction to strike the string with the stick of the bow across the strings.

History

The earliest known use of col legno in Western music is to be found in a piece entitled "Harke, harke," from the First Part of Ayres (1605) by Tobias Hume, where he instructs the gambist to "drum this with the backe of your bow".^[1]

Sound

The percussive sound of battuto has a clear pitch element determined by the distance of the bow from the bridge at the point of contact. As a group of players will never strike the string in exactly the same place, the sound of a section of violins playing col legno battuto is dramatically different from the sound of a single violin doing so.

The wood of the bow can also be drawn across the string — a technique called col legno tratto ("with the wood drawn"). This is much less common, and the plain marking col legno is invariably interpreted to mean battuto rather than tratto. The sound produced by col legno tratto is very quiet, with an overlay of white noise, but the pitch of the stopped note can be clearly heard. If the sound is too quiet, the bow can be slightly rolled so that a few bow hairs touch the string as well, leading to a slightly less "airy" sound.

Equipment

Some string players object to col legno playing as it can damage the bow; many players have a cheaper bow which they use for such passages, or for pieces which require extended passages.^[2] Some players tap the strings with pencils instead of bows, producing a further percussive, lighter sound.^[3]

References

^ Peter Walls, "Bow" II. Bowing, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001): §2, xi.
^ Blatter, A.: "Instrumentation and Orchestration", page 37. Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 1997
^ Strange, Patricia; Allen Strange (2001). The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4616-6410-9.

[1] Peter Walls, "Bow" II. Bowing, The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001): §2, xi.

[2] Blatter, A.: "Instrumentation and Orchestration", page 37. Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 1997

[3] Strange, Patricia; Allen Strange (2001). The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-1-4616-6410-9.

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+{{Short description|Using the wood backing of a bow to hit the strings of an instrument}}
-[[File:Col legno violin.jpg|thumb|A viola being played col legno.]]
+{{distinguish|Collegno}}
-[[File:col legno violin.ogg|thumb|right|Col legno performed on a violin:<br>
+{{Italic title}}
-sec: battuto,<br>
+[[File:Col legno violin.jpg|thumb|A viola being played {{lang|it|col legno}}.]]
-sec: tratto,<br>
+[[File:col legno violin.ogg|thumb|right|{{lang|it|col legno}} performed on a violin:<br />
-sec: ... with tremolo,<br>
-sec: ... with glissando,<br>
+sec: [[battuto]],<br />
+sec: tratto,<br />
+sec: ... with [[tremolo]],<br />
+sec: ... with [[glissando]],<br />
 sec: battuto with movement of the bow across the fingerboard]]
+In music for [[bowed string instrument]]s, '''{{lang|it|col legno}}''', or more precisely {{langnf|it|'''col legno battuto'''|with the wood [being hit]|paren=left}}; {{IPA|it|kol ˈleɲɲo batˈtuːto|pron}}), is an instruction to strike the string with the stick of the bow across the strings.
-In music for [[bowed string instrument]]s, '''col legno''', or more precisely '''col legno battuto''' ({{IPA-it|kɔl ˈleɲɲo batˈtuːto}}, [[Italian language|Italian]] for "hit with the wood"), is an instruction to strike the string with the stick of the bow, rather than by drawing the hair of the bow across the strings.
 == History ==
-The earliest known use of ''col legno'' in Western music is to be found in a piece entitled "Harke, harke," from the ''First Part of Ayres'' (1605) by [[Tobias Hume]], where he instructs the [[gambist]] to "drum this with the backe of your bow".<ref>Peter Walls, "Bow" II. Bowing, ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (professor of music)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001): §2, xi.</ref>
+The earliest known use of {{lang|it|col legno}} in Western music is to be found in a piece entitled "Harke, harke," from the ''First Part of Ayres'' (1605) by [[Tobias Hume]], where he instructs the [[gambist]] to "drum this with the backe of your bow".<ref>Peter Walls, "Bow" II. Bowing, ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (professor of music)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001): §2, xi.</ref>
 == Sound ==
-The percussive sound of ''col legno battuto'' has a clear pitch element determined by the distance of the bow from the bridge at the point of contact. As a group of players will never strike the string in exactly the same place, the sound of a section of violins playing ''col legno battuto'' is dramatically different from the sound of a single violin doing so.
+The percussive sound of battuto has a clear pitch element determined by the distance of the bow from the bridge at the point of contact. As a group of players will never strike the string in exactly the same place, the sound of a section of violins playing {{lang|it|col legno battuto}} is dramatically different from the sound of a single violin doing so.
-The wood of the bow can also be drawn across the string — a technique called ''col legno tratto'' ("with the wood drawn"). This is much less common, and the plain marking ''col legno'' is invariably interpreted to mean ''battuto'' rather than ''tratto''. The sound produced by ''col legno tratto'' is very quiet, with an overlay of white noise, but the pitch of the [[stopped note]] can be clearly heard. If the sound is too quiet, the bow can be slightly rolled so that a few bow hairs touch the string as well, leading to a slightly less "airy" sound.
+The wood of the bow can also be drawn across the string — a technique called {{lang|it|col legno tratto}} ("with the wood drawn"). This is much less common, and the plain marking {{lang|it|col legno}} is invariably interpreted to mean ''battuto'' rather than ''tratto''. The sound produced by {{lang|it|col legno tratto}} is very quiet, with an overlay of white noise, but the pitch of the [[stopped note]] can be clearly heard. If the sound is too quiet, the bow can be slightly rolled so that a few bow hairs touch the string as well, leading to a slightly less "airy" sound.
 == Equipment ==
-Some string players object to ''col legno'' playing as it can damage the bow; many players have a cheaper bow which they use for ''col legno'' passages, or for pieces which require extended passages of ''col legno''.<ref>Blatter, A.: "Instrumentation and Orchestration", page 37. Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 1997</ref> Some players tap the strings with pencils instead of bows, producing a further{{huh?|date=March 2016}} percussive, lighter sound{{fact|date=March 2016}}.
+Some string players object to {{lang|it|col legno}} playing as it can damage the bow; many players have a cheaper bow which they use for such passages, or for pieces which require extended passages.<ref>Blatter, A.: "Instrumentation and Orchestration", page 37. Wadsworth/Thomson Learning, 1997</ref> Some players tap the strings with pencils instead of bows, producing a further percussive, lighter sound.<ref>{{cite book | last= Strange | first= Patricia | author2= Allen Strange | title= The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques| year= 2001| location= Berkeley | publisher= University of California Press | page=108 |isbn= 978-1-4616-6410-9}}</ref>
-== Examples ==
-Some notable examples are:
-* [[Joseph Haydn]] directs the strings to play ''col legno'' at the end of the slow movement of his [[Symphony No. 67 (Haydn)|Symphony No. 67]].
-* [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] uses this technique in the final movement of his [[Violin Concerto No. 5 (Mozart)|Violin Concerto No. 5]], where the low strings play ''col legno'' accompaining the soloist, which gave this concerto the nickname "''The Turkish''".
-* The final movement of the [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Chopin)|Piano Concerto No. 2]] by [[Frédéric Chopin]].
-* The "Dream of Witches' Sabbath" in the final movement of [[Berlioz]]'s ''[[Symphonie Fantastique]]'', as used in the score of the film [[Alien (film)|Alien]] by Jerry Goldsmith{{Citation needed|date=April 2011}}.
-* "Mars, the Bringer of War" from [[Gustav Holst|Holst]]'s ''[[The Planets]]''
-* The first movement of [[Mahler]]'s [[Symphony No. 2 (Mahler)|Symphony No. 2]]
-* [[Modest Mussorgsky|Mussorgsky's]] ''[[Night on Bald Mountain]]''
-* [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]]'s [[Symphony No. 7 (Shostakovich)|Symphony No. 7]] where the violins have a counter melody with the winds, or in the fourth movement of his [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Shostakovich)|Piano Concerto No. 1]], where strings maintain the background pulse while the trumpet carries out its solo.
-* The Mexican dance in [[Aaron Copland]]'s ''[[Billy the Kid]]'', where the ''col legno'' provides a joyful dance feeling to the music.
-* ''Col legno tratto'' is used in the first and the third movements of [[Webern]]'s ''Four Pieces'' for violin and piano, Op. 7, as well as in the opening of the second scene of [[Alban Berg|Berg]]'s opera ''[[Wozzeck]]''.
-* "[[Burn the Witch (Radiohead song)|Burn the Witch]]" from [[Radiohead]]'s ''[[A Moon Shaped Pool]]''.
-*[https://www.jwpepper.com/Lion-City/10066399.item "Lion City"] a modern string orchestra piece by [[Soon Hee Newbold]]
 ==References==
 {{Reflist}}
@@ Line 45: / Line 31: @@
 [[Category:String performance techniques]]
 [[Category:Italian words and phrases]]
+[[Category:Wood]]
 [[da:Col legno]]

v t e Musical techniques
General	Articulation Bowing Damping Double stop Extended technique Fingering Finger substitution Finger vibrato Glissando Harmonics Intonation Multiphonic Phrasing Pizzicato Position Slapping Stopped note Thumb position Tremolo Vibrato
Wind instruments	Saxophone technique Circular breathing Embouchure Flutter-tonguing Growling Harmonica technique Overblowing Slap tonguing Split tone Tonguing
Piano	Piano extended techniques Finger tapping Luthéal Three-hand technique Prepared piano String piano Tack piano
Bowed string instruments	Bowed string instrument extended technique Violin technique Cello technique Bariolage Pizzicato Bartók pizz. Col legno Free bowing Martelé Spiccato Two bows
Guitar	Downpicking Fingerstyle Flatpicking Picking Hybrid picking String bending Tambour Third bridge Prepared guitar
Harp	Prepared harp
Percussion	Snare drum technique Burton grip Cymbal choke Drum roll Stevens grip Rimshot
Human voice	Extended vocal technique Beatboxing Death growl Overtone singing Screaming Sprechgesang
Related articles	Étude
Category:Musical performance techniques