“The Happy Couple”

A profound composition which, in its construction, explores the application to the guitar of a concept which Arnold Schoenberg termed klangfarbenmelodie (tone color melody). This transcription was developed from the audio recording Breakfast in the Field, Windham Hill Records, 1981, WD-1017.

Klangfarbenmelodie specifically focuses on the juxtaposition of different tone colors to achieve interest. As Schoenberg states in his Harmonielehre (1911):

“I think … that sound makes itself evident through timbre, of which pitch is one dimension. Timbre is therefore the complete whole, whereas pitch is only apart of this whole, or rather, pitch is only timbre measured in a single direction. Now if it is possible to use timbres which are distinguished one from another by pitch so as to create structures which we call melodies (successions of sounds which by their relationships with each other give the impression of a logical discourse), then it must also be possible, using the timbres of the other dimension, those we simply call ‘timbre,’ to create sound successions whose interrelationship has the effect of a kind of logic, completely equivalent to the kind of logic which satisfies us in melodies made through pitch.”

In this transcription, a special emphasis has been placed on describing the occurrence of klangfarbenmelodie. Contrasting notes of the same pitch are generally placed in the same staff in the standard notation and written in two separate voices in order to be able to convey more information about the duration of each note. However, as you will notice in measure 2, for example, there are frequently more than two tone colors being explored. In reality, like all written music, this transcription cannot express everything: it is really just a guide to point you in the direction discovering the deep beauty of the performance of this composition.