Texture (compositional workmanship)
The manner in which a piece is built in terms of compositional technique; the compositional structure of a work.
What it means
Faktur (German, from the Latin “factura,” “making”) denotes the manner in which a piece is worked in terms of compositional technique. It covers the layout of the voices, their relationship to each other, the density of the writing, and the treatment of the thematic material – in short, the compositional fabric of a work.
Musical use
One speaks of dense or transparent workmanship, of polyphonic or homophonic texture, of plain or artful craft. In analysis the concept shows how a composer handles his material: whether he separates melody and accompaniment, leads voices in imitation, or weaves a carpet of sound.
Faktur should be distinguished from style, which describes the features of an epoch or composer as a whole, and from form, the larger plan of a work. Faktur concerns the make-up in the small: how the voices are put together at any moment.
Performance practice
Listen in a piece for how many voices sound at once and how they relate. When you play yourself, shape the sound so that the leading voice stands out and the accompaniment steps back, or, in polyphonic writing, so that every voice stays audible on equal terms.