Dvorak, Symphony No. 9 – Adagio

Cor Anglais melody with string chords

• Bars 7-10 – note the rich chordal accompaniment in the first part of the passage. The cellos and violas are divided to create the rich sonority. Copy the spacing and voicing to get this effect.
• Bars 11-15 – note how the string texture is thinned out here with less divisi and the voicing less weighted towards the bottom. The Cor Anglais melody is doubled by the clarinet. Doubled woodwind solos are a n excellent way of changing the colour.

Digging deeper:

• Brass and lower woodwind chords at the beginning
• Changing accompanying textures later in the extract