# Klangfarbenmelodie



## Guest

I'm proofreading an article for a colleague on the serial music of Luigi Dallapiccola.
The word _*klangfarbenmelodie*_ has cropped up a few times and I was wondering if there is an equivalent English expression. I know the term comes from Schoenberg so we could very well leave it like that but I'd be delighted to find out if there is an equivalent.
It's a bit like the German word *schadenfreude*, which is often left untranslated in anglophone texts as its meaning is widely understood. That said, in English it's easily translated as "gloating".


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## mikeh375

TalkingHead said:


> I'm proofreading an article for a colleague on the serial music of Luigi Dallapiccola.
> The word _*klangfarbenmelodie*_ has cropped up a few times and I was wondering if there is an equivalent English expression. I know the term comes from Schoenberg so we could very well leave it like that but I'd be delighted to find out if there is an equivalent.
> It's a bit like the German word *schadenfreude*, which is often left untranslated in anglophone texts as its meaning is widely understood. That said, in English it's easily translated as "gloating".


TalkingH, I've just replied in another thread I think....?


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## Guest

mikeh375 said:


> TalkingH, I've just replied in another thread I think....?


Where was that, Mike? You are a darling if you found an answer for me!


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## mikeh375

here you go, it was in the 'had a post removed' thread...


.....I've seen it translated as colour(ed) melody (or similar) and refers to orchestration techniques that use differing and changing colours (timbres) to score a theme or section of music.


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## Guest

TalkingHead said:


> It's a bit like the German word *schadenfreude*, which is often left untranslated in anglophone texts as its meaning is widely understood. That said, in English it's easily translated as "gloating".


Well, I just checked on the web and it seems the English translation of _schadenfreude_ is, in fact *epicaricacy.
*Its usage is rare (that's a relief as I'd find it hard to drop that into a conversation over a glass of _Pinot Blanc_), so I think I'll stick with "gloating".


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## Guest

mikeh375 said:


> here you go, it was in the 'had a post removed' thread...
> 
> .....I've seen it translated as colour(ed) melody (or similar) and refers to orchestration techniques that use differing and changing colours (timbres) to score a theme or section of music.


Mike, thank you very much, you are a darling! Who posted that, by the way?


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## mikeh375

TalkingHead said:


> Mike, thank you very much, you are a darling! Who posted that, by the way?


I did, although you do understand I am not being epicaricaratious in saying so.....


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## millionrainbows

I never understood the use of the term, even when explained by Schoenberg. An example of it supposedly exists in the "Five Pieces," but I never 'got' it: the 'melody' does change, and there is a harmonic progression. I think it's more a stylistic term than anything else, used to describe a relatively static harmonic progression with no pronounced melody.


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## EdwardBast

Klangfarbe is the German word for timbre, a compound noun combining Klang (sound) and Farbe (color). Schoenberg's term, which combines the adjectival form of this noun with the noun Melodie, is usually translated as "sound-color melody." IMO, timbre melody would be a better and less confusing translation. What it refers to is salient shifts in timbre that have a sense of continuity and logic analogous to a sequence of notes forming a melody.


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## Guest

Many thanks Mike, Million and Edward.
I quite like Edward's "timbre melody" so I'm going to suggest we add that to my colleague's text.


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## millionrainbows

TalkingHead said:


> Many thanks Mike, Million and Edward.
> I quite like Edward's "timbre melody" so I'm going to suggest we add that to my colleague's text.


You mean you're not going to use my "it's BS"?


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## Guest

millionrainbows said:


> You mean you're not going to use my "it's BS"?



Hah! Maybe we can put it in a footnote.


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