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ORCHESTRA (Fr. Orchestre; Ger. Kapell...
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See also:ORCHESTRA (Fr. Orchestre; Ger. Kapelle, Orchester; Ital. Orchestra) , in its See also:modern acceptation (1) the See also:place in a See also:theatre. or See also:concert See also: During the See also:convulsions which the migrations of Goths, See also:Vandals and See also:Huns caused in See also:Europe after the fall of See also:Rome, instrumental music was preserved from See also:absolute extinction by wandering actors and musicians turned adrift after the closing of the theatres by command of the Church. Later, as demand arose, reinforcements of instruments, instrumentalists and See also:instrument makers filtered through the See also:Byzantine Empire and the See also:Christian See also:East generally on the one See also:side and from the See also:Moors on the See also:West. It is towards the See also:dawn of the ' 1th century that we find the first definite indications of the status of instrumental music in Western and Central Europe. Everywhere are the evidences, so conspicuously absent from the catacombs and from Romano-Christian monuments, of the growing favour in which instrumental music was held, to instance only such sculptures as those of the See also:Abbey of Boscherville in See also:Normandy, of the See also:portico of the See also:Cathedral of See also:Santiago da Compostella (12th century) with its orchestra of 24 musicians, and the full-See also:page illuminations of Psalters representing See also:David and his musicians and of the 24 elders in the Apocalypses. The earliest instrumental compositions extant are certain 15th-century dances and pieces in contrapuntal See also:style preserved in the See also:libraries of See also:Berlin and See also:Munich. The See also:late development of notation, which long remained exclusively in the hands of monks and troubadours, personally more concerned with vocal than with instrumental music, ensured the preservation of the former, while the latter was See also:left unrecorded. Instrumental music was for centuries dependent on outcasts and outlaws, tolerated by Church and See also:State but beyond the See also:pale. Little was known of the construction and technique of the instruments, and their possibilities were undreamed. Nevertheless, the innate love and yearning of the See also:people for See also:tone-See also:colour asserted itself with sufficient strength to overcome all obstacles. It is true that the development of the See also:early forms of See also:harmony, the organum, diaphony, the distant and the richer forms of "polyphony See also:grew up See also:round the See also:voice, but indications are not wanting of an See also:independent See also:energy and vitality which must surely have existed in unrecorded See also:medieval instrumental music, since they can be so clearly traced in the instruments themselves. It is, for example, significant of the attitude of loth-century instrumentalists towards musical progress that they at once assimilated See also:Hucbald's innovation of the organum, a parallel See also:succession of fourths and fifths, accompanied sometimes by the See also:octave, for two or three voices respectively, and they produced in the same century the See also:organistrum, named after Hucbald's organum, and specially constructed to reproduce it. Shortly after the introduction of polyphony, instruments such as flutes-a-bec, or flaiols, cornets, cromornes, shawms, See also:hunting horns, bagpipes, as well as lutes and bowed instruments began to be made in sizes approximately corresponding in See also:pitch with the voice parts. It is probably to the same yearning of instrumentalists after a polyphonic ensemble, possible until the 14th century only on See also:organs, hurdy-gurdies and bagpipes, that we owe the See also:clavichord and See also:clavicembalo, embodying the application of keys, respectively, to the See also:dulcimer and the See also:psaltery. There are two reasons which See also:account for the development of the brass wind proceeding more slowly. (r) These instruments, trumpets or busines, tubas and horns, were for many centuries mainly used in medieval Europe as military or hunting See also:signal instruments, and as such' the utmost required of them was a fanfare. Specimens of 14th-century tablature and 16th-century notation for the horn, for instance, show that for that instrument See also:rhythm alone was taken into account. (2) Whereas in most of the instruments named above the notes of the diatonic See also:scale were either fixed or easily obtained, the acoustic principles of tubes without lateral holes and blown by means of a See also:cup See also:mouthpiece do not allow of a diatonic scale, except for the See also:fourth octave from the fundamental, and that only in trumpets and horns, the notes of the See also:common chord with the addition of the flattened seventh being the utmost that can be produced without the help of valves, keys or slides- These instruments were, therefore, the last to be added to the orchestra, although they were extensively used for special military, See also:civil and religious functions and were the most highly favoured of all. The earliest improvement in the status of the roving instrumentalists came with the rise of minstrelsy. The courts of the See also:counts of See also:Toulouse, See also:Provence and See also:Barcelona were the first to See also:foster the See also:art of improvising or composing songs known as trobar (or trouver in the See also:north of See also:France), and See also:Count See also:Guillaume of See also:Poitiers (1087–1127) is said to have been the first See also:troubadour. The See also:noble troubadour seldom sang the songs he composed him-self, this See also:duty devolving upon his professional See also:minstrel skilled in singing and in playing upon See also:divers-instruments who interpreted and disseminated his See also:master's verses. In this respect the troubadour differed from his See also:German contemporary the Minnesinger, who frequently sang himself. The professional musicians were included under the See also:general See also:term of jongleurs or jugleors, gleemen or minstrels, whose See also:function was to entertain and amuse, but there were among them many subtle distinctions and ranks, such as chanteors and estrumanteors. Love was the prevailing theme in the See also:south, while in the north See also:war and heroic deeds inspired the bards. To the former was due the rapid development of bowed instruments, which by See also:reason of their singing quality were more suitable for accompanying passionate love songs, while instruments of which the strings were plucked accorded better with the declamatory and dramatic style of the north. The first assertive move towards See also:independence was made by the wandering musicians in the 13th century, when some of these, tired of a roving See also:life, settled down in cities, forming See also:gilds or brotherhoods for the See also:protection of their mutual interests and privileges. In See also:time they came to be recognized by the burgomasters and municipalities, by whom they were engaged to See also:pro-vide music at all civic and private festivities, wandering musicians being prohibited from playing within the precincts of the cities. The See also:oldest of these gilds was the Brotherhood of See also:Nicolai founded in See also:Vienna in 1288. In the next century these pioneers See also:chose as See also:patron of their brotherhood See also:Peter von Eberstorff, from 1354 to 1376 known as See also:Vogt der Musikanten, who obtained for the members an imperial See also:charter. This example was gradually followed in other parts of See also:Germany and elsewhere in Europe. In See also:England, See also: Under the See also:influence of Monteverde and his successors, See also:Cavalli and See also:Cesti, the orchestra won for itself a See also:separate existence with music and See also:laws of its own. As instruments were improved, new ones introduced, and old ones abandoned, See also:instrumentation became a new and favourite study in See also:Italy and in Germany. Musicians began to find out the capabilities of various families of instruments and their individual value.
The proper understanding of the See also:compass and capabilities of wind instruments, and more especially of the brass wind, was of later date (18th century). At first the scores contained but few indications for instruments other than strings; the others played as much as they could according to the compass of their instruments at the direction of the See also:leader. The possibility of using instruments for solos, by encouraging virtuosi to acquire See also:great skill,, raised the See also:standard of excellence of the whole orchestra.
At first the orchestra was an aristocratic luxury, performing privately at the courts of the princes and nobles of Italy; but in the 17th century performances were given in theatres, and Germany eagerly followed. See also:Dresden, Munich and See also:Hamburg successively built opera houses, while in England opera flourished under See also:Purcell, and in France under See also:Lully, who with the collaboration of See also:Moliere also greatly raised the status of the entertainments known as ballets, interspersed with instrumental and vocal music.
The revival of the drama seems to have exhausted the See also:enthusiasm of Italy for instrumental music, and the See also: A See also:sketch of the rise of the modern orchestra would not be complete without reference to the invention of the See also:piston or See also:valve by Stolzel and Blilmel, both Silesians, in 1815. A satisfactory bass for the wind, and more especially for the brass, had long been a desideratum. The effect of this invention was See also:felt at once: instrument-makers in all countries vied with each other in making use of the contrivance and in bringing it to perfection; and the orchestra was before long enriched by a new See also:family of valved instruments, variously known as tubas, or euphoniums and bombardons, having a See also:chromatic scale and a full sonorous tone of great beauty and immense See also:volume, forming a magnificent bass. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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