- Key People:
- Francis Poulenc
- James P. Johnson
- Louis Horst
- James Reese Europe
- Related Topics:
- music
- basso continuo
- ground bass
- drone
- Alberti bass
accompaniment
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What is accompaniment in music?
In music, accompaniment refers to the auxiliary part or parts of a composition that support the principal part or highlight it. It can be instrumental or vocal, offering support or complementing a melody.
Accompaniments may feature unison or octave duplications of the melody, novel rhythmic elements, or drones. In the 16th century, simple lute accompaniments supported solo songs, while the 17th century saw the rise of the thorough bass, a harmonic accompaniment improvised on keyboard instruments. The term obbligato defines essential, written-out accompaniments, as opposed to optional, ornamental ones. The art of piano accompaniment particularly flourished in the 19th century.
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How does accompaniment support the main melody?
In music, accompaniment provides support and enhancement to the principal part, or melody, of a composition. It can support the melody through unison or octave duplications, novel rhythmic features, or drones. Harmony, created when two or more notes are played simultaneously, complements the melody by adding depth, context, texture, and emotional complexity. The rhythmic structure cannot be separated from the melody and harmony.
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What instruments are commonly used for accompaniment?
Accompaniment in music involves auxiliary parts supporting a principal part. Diverse instruments can fulfill this role across cultures and eras.
In medieval music, instruments like wind or stringed instruments often doubled the melody or provided rhythmic support. The lute was common in 16th-century European solo songs. The 17th and 18th centuries saw the rise of the harpsichord or organ for harmonic accompaniment using figured bass. In the 19th century, the piano became prominent, especially in German lieder, with composers like Schubert using it to enhance the text. Today, accompaniment is found across varied ensembles, from chamber groups to rock bands.
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How does accompaniment differ from the main tune or solo part?
In music, an accompaniment is an auxiliary part or parts designed to support the principal part or to throw it into relief. Accompaniments can consist of unison or octave duplications of the melody, novel rhythmic features, or a drone. The accompaniment supports either a soloist or an instrumental ensemble. It assumes a role as important as that of the soloist. The expressive resources of the piano allowed the accompaniments to illustrate pictorial or psychological aspects of the texts. Qualities of poetic and musical insight and also of ensemble playing distinguish the piano accompanist’s art, which resembles the art of performance in chamber music.
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What are some different styles of musical accompaniment?
Musical accompaniment styles vary widely across cultures and eras. Some examples include:
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Unison/octave doubling Instrumental accompaniments mirror the melody, sometimes with slight variations, creating heterophony.
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Drone Sustained notes on wind or string instruments.
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Basso continuo (thorough bass) Improvised harmonic accompaniment, often on harpsichord or organ, using figured chords.
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Obbligato Essential accompaniment with complex, written-out parts, as opposed to ad libitum accompaniment, which is optional ornamentation.
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A cappella Performance by unaccompanied voices, originally for sacred choral music but now also secular.
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How does accompaniment affect the mood and style of a piece of music?
Accompaniment in music serves to support the principal part, influencing the mood and style of a piece. In earlier music, instrumental accompaniments often mirrored the melody or provided rhythmic support. The rise of the thorough bass in the 17th century allowed for improvised harmonic accompaniment, adding complexity and importance to the accompaniment.
As the art evolved, particularly in the 19th century, expressive piano accompaniments in German lieder and French mélodies enriched the emotional and pictorial aspects of the music. Romantic composers further developed orchestral accompaniment in concertos and song cycles. The relationship between voice and accompaniment continued to evolve, with later composers exploring new techniques and expressions.
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accompaniment, in music, auxiliary part or parts of a composition designed to support the principal part or to throw it into relief. In secular medieval music and in much folk and non-European music, instrumental accompaniments for singers consist of unison or octave duplications of the melody (sometimes with slight differences, creating heterophony, the simultaneous performance of variant versions of the same melody), of novel rhythmic features, or of a drone (sustained note or notes) played on wind or stringed instruments. In 16th-century European music, solo songs were sung with simple lute accompaniments, both chordal and contrapuntal (using interwoven melodic lines); notable examples include the songs of the English composer John Dowland and the French airs de cour (courtly songs or airs).
The beginning of the 17th century saw the introduction of the thorough bass, or basso continuo, a type of harmonic accompaniment improvised at the harpsichord or organ and based on chords that the composer indicated by figures. By the 18th century, thorough bass accompaniments designed to support either a soloist, as in the sonatas and solo cantatas of J.S. Bach, or an instrumental ensemble, as in the operas of the Italian composer Alessandro Scarlatti, demanded from the performer a high degree of ornamental and contrapuntal invention. The accompaniment thus assumed a role as important as that of the soloist.
The term obbligato accompaniment came to be applied to accompaniments of this type, as opposed to ad libitum accompaniment, the unessential ornamentation or the optional reduplication of a part, performed on a secondary instrument. Obbligato accompaniments were sometimes written out, among them one originally improvised by Bach for a movement of his Sonata in B Minor for flute and harpsichord. In the second half of the 18th century the obbligato accompaniment assumed a primary role, gaining increased complexity and musical substance while the solo instrument was reduced to the role of an ad libitum accompaniment. Thus, Mozart followed the example of a contemporary composer, Johann Schobert, in writing four sonatas for harpsichord accompanied by the violin.
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The influence of the obbligato style of the late 18th century is suggested in Beethoven’s statement “I came into the world with obbligato accompaniment.” Obbligato style persisted into the 19th century in both solo and concerted works of the Romantic composers, in which accompaniments became even more elaborate and expressive. The expressive resources of the piano allowed the accompaniments of Schubert to illustrate pictorial or psychological aspects of the texts of his lieder (“songs”). His example was followed in the lieder of Schumann, Brahms, and Hugo Wolf. Piano accompaniments in works for string or wind instruments acquired the status of a concerted part. Orchestral accompaniment was greatly developed in the Romantic concerto and in songs and song cycles with orchestra by numerous composers from Hector Berlioz (1803–69) to Alban Berg (1885–1935) and Benjamin Britten (1913–76).
The art of piano accompaniment flourished chiefly in response to the demands in the 19th century of the German lied and the French mélodie. Qualities of poetic and musical insight and also of ensemble playing distinguish the piano accompanist’s art, which resembles the art of performance in chamber music. In the 20th century, accompanists such as the English pianist Gerald Moore and the Dutch pianist Coenraad Valentyn Bos developed the art by their sensitive attitude to the soloist and by their power to interpret the composer’s intention.