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bigorchestra.com - More than orchestra: Big Orchestra!
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Antiquity
The Middle Ages
Pre-Baroque
Baroque
Classical Period
The 19th Century
The 20th & 21th Century
Antiquity
The first appearance of an "orchestra" in the Western World was in approximately the 6th Century B.C. in Ancient Greece, but no musical instruments were involved. The word "orchestra" was used to name a large semicircular space for dancing in "Attic", or Greek, theater. The chorus in Greek theater was vital to both plot and dramatic action. They stood in the orchestra area, and both sang and danced.
In Roman times, the orchestra area became the location for stage effects, and was even flooded for theatrical sea battles.
There were many ensembles of musical instruments around the world, some of which pre-date the Greek theater. In China, for example, Emperor Hu is recorded to have had a 500-piece, all-girl orchestra in 200 A.D.
The Indonesian gamelan orchestra seems to have originated around the 2nd Century B.C. This all-percussion orchestra was also linked closely with theatrical performance.
There are many other examples of early instrumental musical groupings that might today qualify for the name "orchestra", but of course this was not the name they chose for themselves. The history of the orchestra as we know it today is largely bound up with the history of Western Greco-Roman civilization.
The Middle Ages
The Middle Ages were not a prosperous time for groups of instruments, since most music was sung and the instruments would be used mainly for accompaniment. The theatrical ideas of Greece and Rome also disappeared during these centuries, and it is only with the emergence of the Renaissance in around the 15th Century that instrumental music began to come into its own. Even then, it was a matter of two hundred years or so before what might be called an “orchestra” appeared.
Pre-Baroque
The courts of the Renaissance frequently housed small instrumental ensembles. Perhaps the most celebrated example in music is the one used for Monteverdi's Orfeo of 1607, which called for approximately 40 instruments. These include: harpsichord and organ, trumpets and drums for ceremonial passages, recorders, viola da gamba, lute, and guitar. The most significant inclusion, however, are doubled bowed string parts.
By 1637, many such instrumental groupings centred on a string section had sprung up around the courts of Europe. Marin Mersenne, a monk and mathematician, wrote a thesis in that year entitled Traité d'harmonie universelle in which he theorizes about acoustics and describes the properties of various instruments. This includes an extensive discussion of strings, during which he lists the instruments of the court ensemble of Louis XIII, known as "Les 24 Violons du Roy".
Baroque
Baroque orchestras generally used a four-part string section. The flute replaced the recorder because of the greater penetration of the flute sound. Oboes and bassoons were standard, and a pair of horns was also a normal presence.
Orchestras in that period were much depended upon the instruments and players that were available at the time, so they tended to have a variable line-up.
However, the consistent feature of all orchestras was the string section, enhanced now by double basses and a large violin section. This was the period of the great violin-makers, and the sound of the violin came to dominate music-making. Woodwind instruments varied greatly in both quality and usefulness. The oboe was gradually replaced by the English horn. Bass oboes were made, but fairly quickly abandoned. There were double-bassoons and, later in the 18th century, tenor clarinets or basset-horns.
The other consistent sound in the baroque orchestra was the “continuo”. This was usually played on a keyboard instrument - such as harpsichord or organ, or on a plucked string - such as lutes or, sometimes, harp.
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Classical Period
Although the term "classical" is commonly used to describe all orchestral music, in European musicology it has a quite specific meaning, referring to the period between about 1750 and 1820.
By the end of the 18th Century, the instrumental line-up of the orchestra had become standardised as follows: 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Timpani and the Strings.
The continuo favoured by Baroque orchestras was abandoned and keyboard instruments disappeared. String sections would vary in size but the minimum numbers were reckoned to be 6 first violins, 6 seconds, 4 violas, 4 cellos and 3 double basses, whereas the maximum could be as many as 28 violins in total, with a corresponding increase in the number of other strings.
The classical orchestra became one of the major vehicles for the increased interest in formal clarity and development during this period.
Developments in instrument technology and design coincided with the shift towards Romanticism in Europe, and the next phase of development brought the orchestra close to the configuration we know today.
The 19th Century
The expansion and development of artistic expression that characterizes the Romantic era is also reflected in the orchestra. However, it is important to bear in mind that technological advances were crucial to enabling this growth.
Often it was opera that drove the development, opera composers being those who included many of the new instruments in their compositions.
The overall effect of all these developments was to produce a bigger, richer sound, with greater timbral variety. Composers exploited these possibilities and in doing so yet further developed the orchestra.
The 20th & 21th Century
The 20th century orchestra has been enormously varied in line-up, constitution and purpose. Many large ensembles, representing all kinds of musical styles and aesthetics, have adopted the name "orchestra" as opposed to "band" or "ensemble".
The "classical" orchestra, with its large body of strings, remains probably the defining configuration, but even this has been altered and expanded in ways unimaginable in the 19th century. Such orchestras perform film and television music, as well as concert music, and their repertoire encompasses a great range of styles and historical periods.
Probably the most dramatic development has been in the percussion section. It is not uncommon to see huge amounts of percussion used in modern orchestras, including a range of tuned instruments, unusual or exotic untuned instruments, and many effects.
The focus upon timbres and successful blend is very characteristic of 20th Century orchestration. The orchestra as a body steadily became a “sounding object” or a large-scale timbral palette, and many composers explored different and individual facets of this in their work. All this means that it is very difficult to make any general statement about what may be regarded as standard orchestral practice, but the 19th century tendency to introduce new instruments into the orchestra continued unabated, to the point where pretty much any instrument is now acceptable.
Classical orchestras in the 21st Century find themselves at an evolutionary crossroads. Their traditional audience tends to demand familiar material from the 19th Century and before, but attracting a new and younger audience requires a sense of relevance. Orchestras have to find new ways of giving access to people if they are to survive.
The roots of the orchestra historically lie in the musical culture of the people around it, and this is something that contemporary orchestras often seek to rediscover.
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