Ostinato ( Italian: ostinato , from the Latin: obstinatus - stubborn, stubborn) - method and technique of musical composition, repeated repetition of a melodic phrase (melodic ostinato), rhythmic figure ( rhythmic ostinato) or harmonic turnover ( harmonic ostinato).
Content
Brief
The term ostinato originated in the 18th century , but the ostinate technique as such has been known since the 12th – 13th centuries, for the first time in the form of modal rhythmic formulas . The combination of melodic and rhythmic ostinato of different lengths , known as isorhythm , was used in motets of the 14th-15th centuries (Philippe de Vitry, Guillaume de Masho, John Dunstable). A variation of melodic ostinato is considered to be the writing technique for cantus firmus in the polyphony of the Dutch school and other polyphonic composers of the 15th – 16th centuries. In connection with the rapid development of instrumental music in the 16th century, which accelerated the formation of the major-minor key , cliche forms based on various harmonic ostinatos appeared - Italy , passamezzo , romanesca , folia , Ruggiero , etc. The natural consequence of harmonic ostinato ( main tones in the chords of nascent tonal functions) new templates of the bass melodic ostinato ( basso ostinato ) were born. In the era of Viennese classics, ostinato are rare. In the XIX century they revived (especially among the romantics, but not only) with renewed vigor. In Russia, M.I. Glinka developed his own version of the ostinate technique, variations on soprano ostinato (the so-called "Glinka variations").
In 20th century music, the ostinate principle of composition was often implemented in the form of a melodic ostinato tied to tonal harmony (“Obsession” by S. S. Prokofiev, “Basso ostinato” by R. K. Shchedrin) or autonomous (A. Berg's passacalia from “Wozzeck”) . A kind of culmination of ostinatism as a principle of composition was the serialism of Western avant-garde artists of the mid-20th century (C. Guiwarts, O. Messian, P. Boulez and others). In the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, all varieties of ostinato were widely used by American (Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Adams) minimalists and their European followers.
The play, written using ostinato, combined with free development in other voices, plays an important formative role. Ostinato is easily identified by hearing due to repeated resumption. In composer practice, strict and non-strict ostinato are encountered, in the second case the repeated harmonic / melodic / rhythmic formula varies .
In Jazz
Ostinato plays an important role in jazz and pop music. Ostinato is also very characteristic of modal jazz .
Literature
- Homo, Bruce. Form and Music: Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture. - Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1999 .-- ISBN 0-631-21263-9 .