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In classical music 'obbligato' usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensible in performance. Its opposite is the marking ''ad libitum''. It can also be used, more specifically, to indicate that a passage of music was to be played exactly as written, or only by the specified instrument, without changes or omissions. The word is borrowed from Italian (an adjective meaning ''fixed''; from Latin ''obligatus'' p.p. of ''obligare'', to oblige; in English the spelling ''obligato'' is also acceptable). The word can stand on its own, in English, as a noun, or appear as a modifier in a noun phrase (e.g. ''Organ obbligato'').
''Obbligato'' includes the idea of independence, as in C.P.E. Bach's 1780 Symphonies "''mit zwölf obligaten Stimmen''" ("with twelve obbligato parts") by which Bach was referring to the independent woodwind parts he was using for the first time. These parts were also obbligato in the sense of ''indispensible''.
In connection with a keyboard part in the baroque period, obbligato has a very specific meaning: it describes a functional change from a basso continuo part (in which the player decided how to fill in the harmonies unobtrusively) to a fully-written part of equal importance to the main melody part.
Curiously, a more recent use of the term has the contradictory meaning of ''optional'', indicating that a part was 'not' obligatory[1]: a difficult passage in a concerto might be furnished by the editor with an easier alternative called the obbligato.
The term has fallen out of use by modern-day practitioners, as composers, performers and audiences alike have come to see the musical text to be paramount in decisions of musical execution, and so everything has come to be seen as 'obbligato'. It is now used mainly to discuss music of the past.
★ J.S. Bach used ''Organ obbligato'' to show at a glance the importance of the organ part (in for example cantata BWV 71 "Gott ist mein König").
★ Beethoven's Duo for viola and cello, WoO 32, is subtitled "mit zwei obligaten Augenglasern" ("with two [pairs of] obbligato eyeglasses") which seems to refer to the necessity, at the first performance, of spectacles for both Beethoven and his cellist.
★ Heinrich Schutz's "Benedicam Dominum in omni tempore" in Symphoniae sacrae, i, 1629 for soprano, tenor, bass and continuo with obbligato `cornetto, o violino´.
★ John Philip Sousa's march ''Stars and Stripes Forever'' contains a ''piccolo obbligato'' in its Trio.
★ An especially ornate violin obbligato appears in the Benedictus of Ludwig van Beethoven's ''Missa solemnis''.
★ Prominent obbligato writing for flute in particular is not unusual in Romantic opera, for example in the cadenza of the traditional version of the Mad Scene in Lucia di Lammermoor (1835)
★ In W.A. Mozart's opera ''Mitridate'' (1770) there is a horn obbligato
★ In Mozart's ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' (1782) there are obbligati for flute, oboe, violin and cello.
★ In Mozart's ''La Clemenza di Tito'' (1791) there are arias with obbligato clarinet, and obbligato basset-horn.
★ ''Corno'' (horn) obbligato in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5
★ Trumpet obbligato in J.S. Bach's cantata ''Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!'' BWV 51
1. 'Obbligato' in Lectionary of Music, Nicolas Slonimsky. McGraw-Hill ISBN 0-07-058222-X
| Contents |
| Independence |
| Obbligato vs continuo |
| A contradictory usage |
| Modern-day usage |
| Examples |
| Instances of obbligato (explicit) |
| Instances of obbligato (implicit) |
| References |
Independence
''Obbligato'' includes the idea of independence, as in C.P.E. Bach's 1780 Symphonies "''mit zwölf obligaten Stimmen''" ("with twelve obbligato parts") by which Bach was referring to the independent woodwind parts he was using for the first time. These parts were also obbligato in the sense of ''indispensible''.
Obbligato vs continuo
In connection with a keyboard part in the baroque period, obbligato has a very specific meaning: it describes a functional change from a basso continuo part (in which the player decided how to fill in the harmonies unobtrusively) to a fully-written part of equal importance to the main melody part.
A contradictory usage
Curiously, a more recent use of the term has the contradictory meaning of ''optional'', indicating that a part was 'not' obligatory[1]: a difficult passage in a concerto might be furnished by the editor with an easier alternative called the obbligato.
Modern-day usage
The term has fallen out of use by modern-day practitioners, as composers, performers and audiences alike have come to see the musical text to be paramount in decisions of musical execution, and so everything has come to be seen as 'obbligato'. It is now used mainly to discuss music of the past.
Examples
Instances of obbligato (explicit)
★ J.S. Bach used ''Organ obbligato'' to show at a glance the importance of the organ part (in for example cantata BWV 71 "Gott ist mein König").
★ Beethoven's Duo for viola and cello, WoO 32, is subtitled "mit zwei obligaten Augenglasern" ("with two [pairs of] obbligato eyeglasses") which seems to refer to the necessity, at the first performance, of spectacles for both Beethoven and his cellist.
★ Heinrich Schutz's "Benedicam Dominum in omni tempore" in Symphoniae sacrae, i, 1629 for soprano, tenor, bass and continuo with obbligato `cornetto, o violino´.
★ John Philip Sousa's march ''Stars and Stripes Forever'' contains a ''piccolo obbligato'' in its Trio.
Instances of obbligato (implicit)
★ An especially ornate violin obbligato appears in the Benedictus of Ludwig van Beethoven's ''Missa solemnis''.
★ Prominent obbligato writing for flute in particular is not unusual in Romantic opera, for example in the cadenza of the traditional version of the Mad Scene in Lucia di Lammermoor (1835)
★ In W.A. Mozart's opera ''Mitridate'' (1770) there is a horn obbligato
★ In Mozart's ''Die Entführung aus dem Serail'' (1782) there are obbligati for flute, oboe, violin and cello.
★ In Mozart's ''La Clemenza di Tito'' (1791) there are arias with obbligato clarinet, and obbligato basset-horn.
★ ''Corno'' (horn) obbligato in Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5
★ Trumpet obbligato in J.S. Bach's cantata ''Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!'' BWV 51
References
1. 'Obbligato' in Lectionary of Music, Nicolas Slonimsky. McGraw-Hill ISBN 0-07-058222-X
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