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- Abbreviation
- c.l.b.
How is col legno battuto played?
Tap, drop or bounce the stick onto the string for a dry percussive attack. Unqualified col legno often implies battuto in conventional writing, but a composer should specify battuto when confusion with the sustained tratto action is possible. Contact point changes the balance of impact noise and the two string segments set in motion; it does not guarantee one fixed pitch-to-click ratio. A thrown or ricocheting variant may be labelled col legno gettato, but that is a related compound technique rather than the definition of ordinary battuto. Repeated use can damage a valued bow, so practical consultation or a spare bow matters.
How does col legno battuto sound?
Short, dry, percussive — a brittle knock or rattle with an indistinct pitch that firms up only in the low register and near the bridge. Weaker than pizzicato. This is the skeleton-bone sound: Berlioz uses it across the Witches' Sabbath of the Symphonie fantastique, and Holst opens 'Mars' with col legno strings hammering the relentless 5/4 ostinato.
In context
Behind Bars, a Fennica Gehrman publisher score and primary score legends independently define c.l.b. as col legno battuto. The result is the familiar dry, clicking col-legno attack heard in repertory associated with Berlioz and Holst and developed further in sonoristic and avant-garde writing. It remains distinct from c.l.t., which draws the wood for a sustained sound.