Voicing (music)

In music theory, voicing is "the manner in which one distributes, or spaces, notes and chords among the various instruments" or "simultaneous vertical placement of notes in relation to each other." It includes the instrumentation and vertical spacing and ordering of the musical notes in a chord: which notes are on the top or in the middle, which ones are doubled, which octave each is in, and which instruments or voices perform each note.

The following three chords are root-position C major triads voiced differently:

All the three voicings above are in root position, while the first is in close position, the most compact voicing, and the second and third are in open position, which includes wider spacing. In triad chords, close root position voicing is the most compact voicing, with the notes in major third intervals and the root in the bass note. Close and open harmony are harmony constructed from close- and open-position chords, respectively.

Many composers, as they developed and gained experience, became more enterprising and imaginative in their handling of chord voicing. For example, the theme from the andante movement of Beethoven’s early Piano Sonata No. 10 (1798), presents chords mostly in closed position:

Whereas in the theme of the Arietta movement that concludes his last Piano Sonata No. 32, Op. 111 (1822) , composed some twenty years later, Beethoven presents the chord voicing in a much more daring way, with wide gaps between notes, creating compelling sonorities that enhance the meditative character of the music:

Philip Barford (1971, p.147) describes The Arietta of Op. 111 as "simplicity itself … its widely-spaced harmonization creates a mood of almost mystical intensity. In this exquisite harmonization the notes do not make their own track – the way we play them depends upon the way we catch the inner vibration of the thought between the notes, and this will condition every nuance of shading." William Kinderman (1987, p.64) finds it "extraordinary that this sensitive control of sonority is most evident in the works of Beethoven's last decade, when he was completely deaf, and could hear only in his imagination."Ravel’s "Pavane de la Belle au Bois Dormant" (Pavane for the Sleeping Beauty) from his 1908 suite Ma Mère l'Oye (Mother Goose) exploits the delicate transparency of voicing afforded through the medium of the piano duet. Four hands can cope better that two when it comes to playing widely spaced chords. This is especially apparent in bars 5-8 of the following extract:

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