Literary notes about Accompaniment (AI summary)
The term "accompaniment" in literature has been employed in both its literal musical sense and as a broader metaphor for an accompanying element that enhances or underscores a primary focus. In many instances, authors describe musical accompaniment to enrich performances—a husky contralto singing with the organ in a darkened hall [1], or a pianist’s skillful support in creating an atmosphere for a vocal melody [2, 3, 4]. Beyond music, the word appears as a symbol of secondary but essential elements, such as the mythic presence alongside Venus in ancient symbolism [5] or even the subtle background influences in everyday life—from the rhythmic pulse of nature [6] to the nuances in human behavior, like the gestures accompanying conversation [7]. Overall, “accompaniment” is portrayed as an element that, though secondary in appearance, is indispensable in enhancing the primary experience, whether it be in art, nature, or social dynamics.
- In spite of the chorus in the other room, she was singing some servants’ hall song in a rather husky contralto, to the accompaniment of the organ.
— from Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky - He will not sing without a pianoforte accompaniment.
— from The Letters of Jane Austen by Jane Austen - "Miss Oliver is a beautiful pianist and can play any accompaniment at sight," said Rilla desperately.
— from Rilla of Ingleside by L. M. Montgomery - At last my three pieces were performed before these two gentlemen in the green room of the Grand Opera, and I played the piano accompaniment.
— from My Life — Volume 1 by Richard Wagner - In ancient Rome a dove or pigeon was the emblem of the female procreative energy, and frequently a legendary spirit, the accompaniment of Venus.
— from The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors; Or, Christianity Before Christ by Kersey Graves - Then he remembered the reverberation from the banks of the gorge and the perpetual accompaniment of shifting, jostling pebbles.
— from The Country of the Blind, and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - My uncle played a regular accompaniment to my gestures and words.
— from A Journey to the Centre of the Earth by Jules Verne
