Augmentation (music)

Augmentation is a compositional device where a melody, theme or motif is presented in longer note-values than were previously used.

6) of Beethoven, where the melodic figure first heard in the second violins at the start of the "Storm" movement ("Die Sturm"):[4] is heard again in an augmented and transposed version in the same movement’s closing ten bars:Examples of augmentation may be found in the development sections of sonata form movements, particularly in the symphonies of Brahms and Bruckner[2] and in the protean leitmotifs in Wagner’s operas, which undergo all kinds of transformation as the characters change and develop through the unfolding drama.

In “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum”, the first movement of his Children’s Corner Suite, Debussy exploits augmentation in a humorous vein.

It opens with a vigorous parody of a technical study by a pedagogical composer such as Clementi,[6] involving a seemingly perpetual stream of fast semiquavers: In bar 33, this energetic movement subsides, leading to a dreamy passage in the key of D flat, where the opening figures of the piece move at half speed:According to Frank Dawes, in this piece “An amusing picture of a child practising is conjured up, beginning with the best of intentions, growing weary and plainly yawning with boredom in the D flat section.” [6] Listen.

[7] A good example of this can be seen in the left hand part of Chopin's famous E minor prelude Op.

Bach, Vom Himmel Hoch canonic variations, BWV 769, Variation 5
Bach, Vom Himmel Hoch canonic variations, BWV 769, Variation 5
Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 3-8
Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 3–8
Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 146-155
Beethoven Symphony No 6, fourth movement, bars 146–155
Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 1-3
Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 1–3
Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 36-43
Debussy, "Dr Gradus" from Children's Corner, bars 36–43
Dotted notes and their equivalent durations. The curved lines, called ties , add the note values together.
Augmented octave on C. Play