Musicology Annotation << Back The voice in the orchestra (Stage composition «The Yellow Sound») Polina Y. Tsvetkova The subject of this article is focused on the interpretation of voice in Alfred Schnittke’s stage composition «The Yellow Sound». It highlights the idea of the synthesis of arts, which occupied the minds of artists, poets, musicians and stage directors at the turn of XX century. V. Kandinsky, being one of those who represented such ideas and, in order to bring his artistic vision to life, created the script for «The Yellow Sound» and called it a stage composition. Like a paint colour in the work of art, the voice timber played one of the most important parts within the above phenomenon, resulting in the emergence of various multi-vocal choirs with the voices being used as a kind of musical instrument to «colour» the performance. The article tells the story of creation of Kandinsky’s work from the idea to its stage production. It also narrates the events which infl uenced Schnittke to notice and pick up «The Yellow Sound» script. The author examines how Schnittke is interpreting musical directions of the Kandinsky’s script. The article is mainly focused on the role of the leading soprano in Schnittke’s score. It is alleged the composer uses this timbre as a unique multi-colour painting instrument but in a musical sense. The voice highlights the climax parts in the dramatic narration of the composition. The composer is using the whole scale of various vocal techniques common in the music of the 20th century, thus telling the story without words. Keywords: «The Yellow Sound», paint, timbre, composition, colour, synthesis. Contacts: E-mail: polinatsvetkova@mail.ru Pp. 12-21.