LESSON 2 (continued)
However!!!
Where are those blasted horns?
This is where the change in trombones comes in. We just freed up the upper part of that line for them! Notice that the trombones, unlike the trumpets, were not playing in octaves. This is a good sign that the line is more noticable since it is going to be richly harmonic. Let's just give that line to the horns.
Yes I know, there are four horns. We're going to cheat a bit. By adding a 3rd up from that Ab, we can create a parallel line that fits into the general character of the harmony (non-functional 9ths):
this image has the horns in concert ("in C")
N.B. This is NOT something that I would recommend doing in general when orchestrating the work of another composer, however, in this particular instance, it is consistant with the harmony of the entire piece.
Generally speaking, you can get away with passing notes of this nature if they create brief lines that start and end on notes consistant with the original harmony.
As to orchestrating your OWN music, this is a wonderful way of creating additional richness in unexpected ways.
Ah yes, horn 4. Well, I made a choice.
I allowed the 4th horn to mimic the 1st trumpet, doubling the 2nd trumpet part one octave down. However, the astute among you will also notice that I added a natural in the first two measures, which is NOT a "true" doubling.
The reason?
I could go with a pure doubling of that trumpet part and thus create a dissonance with the 2nd horn, OR I could do as I did and create a less noticeable dissonance between 4th horn and 2nd trumpet. It was a choice, and neither is essentially right or wrong. In the alto register, in an unexposed part, the extra chromaticism will go unnoticed.
The full orchestration for brass is here (in PDF format):
Debussy excerpt
A recording of the piano part:
...La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (excerpt, piano solo)
and one of the brass:
...La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune (excerpt, orchestral brass)