Vocal crossing

As voice crossing in the musical is music theory , the over or under Climbing a voice called by another. In the music of the Middle Ages, voice crossings were common and were not viewed as a special case, since the organic and discanting voices were not yet tied to specific sound spaces. Only with the spatial definition of the individual parts and the systematic development of the polyphonic movement since the 15th / 16th. In the 19th century, crossbreeds became an exception (see also heterolepsis ). However, due to the nature of the thematic material (e.g. a fugue theme), the vocal crossing remained in use occasionally to circumvent incorrect voice guidance . For example, parallels between fifths and octaves (even in stages) are considered to be justified if the voices cross.

In the orchestral instrumentation of the late Romantic period and the present, the crossing of voices (or position reversal) is effective for certain sound effects. So z. B. when bass instruments are placed in high registers and high instruments in low registers.

literature

• Wieland Ziegenrücker: ABC music. General music theory. 6th edition. Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2009, ISBN 978-3-7651-0309-4 , p. 27 f.