Evolution of the Orchestra Part 3 - Classical
August 2nd 2006 02:00
During the era from about 1740 to 1825, orchestration progressed dramatically. The classical period is home to Beethoven, Haydn, and Mozart, who all greatly progressed orchestral writing and influenced the creation of modern orchestral settings.
A particularly significant example of a classical orchestra can be found in the ‘Mannheim’ orchestra, in the court of Duke Karl Theodor. Founded by Johann Stamitz(1717 - 1757) in 1742, the orchestra was referred to as ‘an army of generals’, similar to the way in which major symphony orchestras today only take the highest standard of players. Because of the virtuosity that every member possessed, composers were able to write pieces taking advantage of this. Stamitz himself and following ensemble directors wrote fast difficult passages for all instruments, pieces with dynamic markings geared to create suspense and drama, and lyrical moments for woodwinds to display their quality of tone. Critics and public started to develop names for these effects, such as the ‘Mannheim Rocket’ describing fast passages which ‘bubbled up’, and the ‘Mannheim Steamroller’ describing buildings of dynamic and textural intensity(which imagining what the public was used to, would have been astonishing). Mannheim’s influence spread over Europe.
Mozart was critical of some of the ‘gimmicky’ writing that existed for the orchestra, but was quite impressed with the sound of the full woodwind section. It introduced mainstays of the classical orchestra: clarinets, bassoon, flutes and oboes. Mozart thought their combination was used to magical effect, and his woodwind writing after he heard the orchestra reflects a good understanding of woodwind effects.
Many of the changes to the classical orchestra were to do with wind instruments. It was still a while before brass instruments had a proper valve system, but the keywork and manufacturing changes in winds made them easier to play in tune and consistently. There was also an increasing taste among nobility for ‘harmonie’ music, music played by relatively small wind bands. This taste was carried over into classical symphonies. While during the first half the century winds were mainly given harmonic roles, by the 1780s Mozart was frequently writing passages where the strings were silent, and winds acted as a complete device unto themselves. See the first movement of his Piano Concerto in A, K. 488 for a good example. Beethoven took this usage even further, increasing the brass section of the orchestra and in general upping the size of the string sections to create walls of sound which were bewildering to the public of their time. The ‘Eroica’, Symphony No. 3, is a good example of extended string use, with greater dynamics and increasingly virtuosic writing.
Subscription concerts made public performances a possible revenue gaining opportunity for orchestras outside of just patronage, but high prices still made them distinctly upper class entertainment. Writing for orchestras was influenced increasingly by the fact that an audience would hear the work(as opposed to being played for the benefit of a patron and small crowd), and as such composers had to compete for attention. Haydn’s Symphony No. 102, written in London in 1795 shows imaginative structure and construction between movements, which created a number of interesting, crowd pleasing contrasts within the work.
By this point, Haydn’s maturity of symphonic writing was parallelling the maturity of orchestral development. Beethoven pushed the classical orchestra as far as it would go in instrumentation and programmatic effect, though as we’ll see tomorrow, the romantic composers took some of his ideas much further.
A particularly significant example of a classical orchestra can be found in the ‘Mannheim’ orchestra, in the court of Duke Karl Theodor. Founded by Johann Stamitz(1717 - 1757) in 1742, the orchestra was referred to as ‘an army of generals’, similar to the way in which major symphony orchestras today only take the highest standard of players. Because of the virtuosity that every member possessed, composers were able to write pieces taking advantage of this. Stamitz himself and following ensemble directors wrote fast difficult passages for all instruments, pieces with dynamic markings geared to create suspense and drama, and lyrical moments for woodwinds to display their quality of tone. Critics and public started to develop names for these effects, such as the ‘Mannheim Rocket’ describing fast passages which ‘bubbled up’, and the ‘Mannheim Steamroller’ describing buildings of dynamic and textural intensity(which imagining what the public was used to, would have been astonishing). Mannheim’s influence spread over Europe.
Mozart was critical of some of the ‘gimmicky’ writing that existed for the orchestra, but was quite impressed with the sound of the full woodwind section. It introduced mainstays of the classical orchestra: clarinets, bassoon, flutes and oboes. Mozart thought their combination was used to magical effect, and his woodwind writing after he heard the orchestra reflects a good understanding of woodwind effects.
Many of the changes to the classical orchestra were to do with wind instruments. It was still a while before brass instruments had a proper valve system, but the keywork and manufacturing changes in winds made them easier to play in tune and consistently. There was also an increasing taste among nobility for ‘harmonie’ music, music played by relatively small wind bands. This taste was carried over into classical symphonies. While during the first half the century winds were mainly given harmonic roles, by the 1780s Mozart was frequently writing passages where the strings were silent, and winds acted as a complete device unto themselves. See the first movement of his Piano Concerto in A, K. 488 for a good example. Beethoven took this usage even further, increasing the brass section of the orchestra and in general upping the size of the string sections to create walls of sound which were bewildering to the public of their time. The ‘Eroica’, Symphony No. 3, is a good example of extended string use, with greater dynamics and increasingly virtuosic writing.
An image of the Boston Classical Orchestra, taken from their website
By this point, Haydn’s maturity of symphonic writing was parallelling the maturity of orchestral development. Beethoven pushed the classical orchestra as far as it would go in instrumentation and programmatic effect, though as we’ll see tomorrow, the romantic composers took some of his ideas much further.
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