The
bowed string instrument
Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound.
Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to t ...
musical technique
Musical technique is the ability of instrumental and vocal musicians to exert optimal control of their instruments or vocal cords in order to produce the precise musical effects they desire. Improving one's technique generally entails practicin ...
''bariolage'' ( or, since the word is a noun rather than an adjective, "odd mixture of colours", from the verb ''barioler'', "to streak with several colors") involves "the alternation of notes on adjacent strings, one of which is usually
open
Open or OPEN may refer to:
Music
* Open (band), Australian pop/rock band
* The Open (band), English indie rock band
* ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969
* ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999
* ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001
* ''Open'' (YF ...
",
[Stowell, Robin (1990). ''Violin Technique and Performance Practice in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries'', p.172. Cambridge. .] exploiting "the individual
timbre
In music, timbre ( ), also known as tone color or tone quality (from psychoacoustics), is the perceived sound quality of a musical note, sound or musical tone, tone. Timbre distinguishes different types of sound production, such as choir voice ...
of the various strings."
[Patricia, Strange and Strange, Allen (2003). ''The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques'', p.32. Scarecrow. .] This may involve quick alternation between a
static note and changing notes that form a
melody
A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
either above or below the static note. The static note is usually an open string note, which creates a highly
resonant
Resonance describes the phenomenon of increased amplitude that occurs when the frequency of an applied periodic force (or a Fourier component of it) is equal or close to a natural frequency of the system on which it acts. When an oscillatin ...
sound. "''Bariolage''" is a nineteenth-century term for an
eighteenth-century violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
technique (requiring flexibility in the wrist and forearm), the mechanics of which are not discussed by nineteenth-century writers.
The usual bowing technique required, which also may be used separately from bariolage, is called ''ondulé'' in French or ''
ondeggiando'' In Italian. However, it may also be executed with separate bow strokes. In
bluegrass fiddling the technique is known as "cross-fingering".
Perhaps looking back on what he considered an earlier, less advanced time, one pedagogue explains that
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
used this effect in the minuet of his
Symphony No. 28, in the finale of the
"Farewell" Symphony, No. 45, and throughout the finale of his
String Quartet Op. 50, No. 6. The "croaking" or "gurgling"
[Hunter, Mary and Will, Richard (2012). ''Engaging Haydn: Culture, Context, and Criticism'', p.283. Cambridge. .] unison ''bariolage'' passages on D and A gives this quartet its nickname of ''
The Frog
''The Frog'' is a 1937 British crime film directed by Jack Raymond and starring Gordon Harker, Noah Beery, Jack Hawkins and Carol Goodner. The film is about the police chasing a criminal mastermind who goes by the name of The Frog, and the 1936 ...
''.
In the following example, from a violin sonata by
Handel
George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training i ...
, the second
measure
Measure may refer to:
* Measurement, the assignment of a number to a characteristic of an object or event
Law
* Ballot measure, proposed legislation in the United States
* Church of England Measure, legislation of the Church of England
* Mea ...
is to be played with ''bariolage''. The repeated A is played on the open A string, alternating with Fs and Es
fingered on the adjacent D string.
The notes on the D string (E and F natural) would be fingered as normal (first finger and low second), but the fingerings given above the second measure would be
040 1040 2040 1040 indicating the switch (''bariolage'') from open A string to the stopped fourth finger on the D string, also playing the note A.
![Bariolage Handel](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/59/Bariolage_Handel.jpg)
Another well-known example of ''bariolage'' is in Bach's ''Preludio'' to the E major
Partita No. 3 for solo violin, where three strings are involved in the maneuver (one open string and two fingered notes).
In the nineteenth century, notable examples of its use are found in
Brahms's works. Brahms used this device in the String Sextet in G Major (where it occurs at the very beginning in the viola) and in the
Third Violin Sonata, Op. 108.
Twentieth-century extensions
Although this has been an established violinistic technique since at least the early eighteenth century, in
contemporary music
Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial ...
it may be regarded as an
extended technique
In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.Burtner, Matthew (2005).Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Expe ...
when used simultaneously in different instruments, or in conjunction with complex rhythmic layering or microtonal tunings. Examples may be found in
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer.
Biography
Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...
's 1993 string quartet ''Notturno'' and the
cadenza
In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvisation, improvised or written-out ornament (music), ornamental passage (music), passage played or sung by a solo (music), sol ...
of
Giacinto Scelsi
Giacinto Francesco Maria Scelsi (; 8 January 1905 – 9 August 1988, sometimes cited as 8 August 1988) was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French.
He is best known for having composed music based around only one pitch, ...
's 1965 ''Anahit''.
In the twentieth century, composers have adapted the ''bariolage'' idea to other instruments, particularly the trombone, where a constant pitch may be repeated while rapidly changing between different slide positions—a technique some composers call
enharmonic
In modern musical notation and tuning, an enharmonic equivalent is a note, interval, or key signature that is equivalent to some other note, interval, or key signature but "spelled", or named differently. The enharmonic spelling of a written n ...
change or enharmonic tremolo. Notable trombone pieces using this device are
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...
's ''
Sequenza V
''Sequenza V'' is a composition for solo trombone by Luciano Berio, part of his series of pieces with this title. Written in 1966 for Stuart Dempster, it has since been performed and recorded by Vinko Globokar, Benny Sluchin, Christian Lindberg ...
'' for solo trombone, and
Vinko Globokar
Vinko Globokar (born 7 July 1934) is a French-Slovenian avant-garde composer and trombonist.
Globokar's music uses unconventional and extended techniques, places great emphasis on spontaneity and creativity, and often relies on improvisation. Hi ...
's ''Eppure si muove'' for a conducting solo trombonist and eleven musicians.
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra- ...
adapted the technique to the harp in a solo work actually titled ''Bariolage'' (1992), which blends the device with trills and a harp technique called ''bisbigliando'', "in a profusion of trilling passages and enharmonic unison colourings."
[Kirsty Whatley, “Rough Romance: ''Sequenza II'' for Harp as Study and Statement”, in ''Berio’s Sequenzas: Essays on Performance, Composition and Analysis'', edited by Janet K. Halfyard, 39–52 (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Limited; Burlington, VT: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2007): p. 49n13. .]
Notes
References
{{Commonscat, Bariolage
String performance techniques