About the Timbre Functionality of the Viola in String Quartets by 19th Century Russian Composers

Main Article Content

Natalia A. Bobyr

Abstract

The genre of the string quartet presents a fertile ground for
studying the paths of discovery by composers of the potential
of expressive means of the viola. The present article attempts
to follow the process of enrichment of the timbre functionality
of the viola in works by 19th century Russian composers on the
material of string quartets by Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Borodin
and Piotr Tchaikovsky. The introduction of features of Russian
national music and traits of Western European romanticism into
this classical genre led to a change of the role of the viola timbre
in the manifestation of the musical image. For the first time the
viola was presented in the role of the human voice performing
melodies in the veins of art song or folk polyphonic texture.
Because it manifested fantastic imagery the viola timbre began
to be applied for intensification of the effect of mysteriousness
and non-reality.

Keywords: timbre functionality, Russian composers, viola,
string quartet

Article Details

How to Cite
Bobyr, N. A. (2014). About the Timbre Functionality of the Viola in String Quartets by 19th Century Russian Composers. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, (3), 16–19. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/78
Section
Music Theory
Author Biography

Natalia A. Bobyr, Saratov State L. V. Sobinov Conservatory

Graduate student of the Music Theory
and Comrosition Department

References

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