Bariolage Handel

Bariolage is a musical technique used with bowed string instruments that involves rapidly playing alternated notes on adjacent strings, one of which is generally left open,Stowell, Robin (1990). ''Violin Technique and Performance Practice in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries'', p.172. Cambridge. . thereby exploiting the different timbres of each string.Patricia, Strange and Strange, Allen (2003). ''The Contemporary Violin: Extended Performance Techniques'', p.32. Scarecrow. .Winold, Allen (2007). ''Bach's Cello Suites, Volumes 1 and 2: Analyses and Explorations'', p.19. Indiana University. . "Involves rapid alternation between two adjacent strings, usually with an open string note on one string and fingered notes on the other string," the difference producing an "interesting timbre." Bariolage may involve quick alternation between a static note and changing notes that form a melody either above or below the static note. The static note is usually an open string note, which creates a highly resonant sound. In bluegrass fiddling the technique is known as "cross-fingering".

The term ''bariolage'' appears to have been coined in the nineteenth century to denote an eighteenth-century violin technique requiring flexibility in the wrist and forearm, the mechanics of which are not discussed by nineteenth-century writers. Etymologically, in French, the term was taken from the noun ''bariolage'' meaning a 'disorderly mix of bright colors', which in turn derives from the verb meaning 'to cover with a mix of bright colors'. The bowing technique most often used for bariolage is called ''ondulé'' in French or '' ondeggiando'' In Italian. Bariolage may also be executed with separate bow strokes.

The French violinist-composer Pierre Baillot writes in his pedagogical treatise of 1834, ''L'Art du violon'' (perhaps looking back on what he considered an earlier, less advanced era),

Joseph Haydn 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''.

In the following example, from a violin sonata by Handel, the second measure is to be played with bariolage:

In this passage, 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.

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).

Bariolage is much more rarely employed during the Romantic period in the nineteenth century, but some 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 bariolage has been an established violinistic technique since at least the early eighteenth century, in contemporary music it may be regarded as an extended technique when used simultaneously in different instruments, or in conjunction with complex rhythmic layering or microtonal tunings. Examples may be found in Mauricio Kagel's 1993 string quartet ''Notturno'' and the cadenza of Giacinto Scelsi'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 change or enharmonic tremolo. Notable trombone pieces using this device are Luciano Berio's ''Sequenza V'' for solo trombone, and Vinko Globokar's ''Eppure si muove'' for a conducting solo trombonist and eleven musicians.

Elliott Carter 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

See also

*Melodic fission
* Unfolding (music)

References

{{Commonscat, Bariolage

String performance techniques