Split sound

In contrast to the mixed sound, the concept of the split sound denotes an extremely transparent and clear sound image of an instrumental movement, the largely fused sound of the classical-romantic orchestra is abandoned.

This technique is used in modern music, for example Igor Stravinsky's work The Soldier's Story . Here, high and low representatives of individual instrument genres, such as the violin in contrast to the double bass, form the ensemble, but instruments in the middle pitches are dispensed with.

This term also occurs in connection with multiphonics .

In organ building one speaks of split sound when the registers of an organ have very different timbres and are suitable for being played individually (in contrast to organs based on the fusion sound principle, which are calculated on the addition of registers to a fundamental tone). Organs from the Renaissance period in particular are often described with the attribute “split sound”. In addition, the term is often used synonymously by organists for a “gap registration”, for example a registration of 8 'and 2' without the 4 'register.

literature

• Hille Kopp and Richard Taubald: Music College 1st Music Epochs. Munich 1990. ISBN 3-7627-8137-0