Evolution of the Orchestra Part 4 - Romantic
August 3rd 2006 02:00
From about the years 1830 to 1910, the orchestra more or less achieved it’s full size and was completely standardised. While string numbers might change, the set up of first and second violins, violas, cellos, double basses, clarinets, flutes, bassoons, oboes, horns, trumpets, timpani, trombones and (usually) tuba was generally a mainstay.
The romantic era is largely identified by the desire of composers to illustrate emotions or scenes in music. There are obviously other developments, but the desire to produce music that tells some kind of story is a mainstay. While there are some exceptions, most notably Brahms, many symphonic works now attempted to depict some kind of feeling or story. The development of the tone poem pushed this even further.
One composer who carried the torch from Beethoven in using symphonies to depict non musical ideas was Hector Berlioz(1803 - 1869). His most famous work, the ‘Symphonie Fantastique’, written in 1830, told the story of an opium addict who became obsessed with a woman, and dreamed that he killed her. It is a five movement work, with each movement depicting a particular scene, from fantasising about the woman, to being carried to the scaffolds for his own execution, to meeting a twisted ugly version of the woman in the afterlife. The work uses what is called an ‘idée fixe’, a recurring theme between movements which depicts the woman. The work is full of imaginative musical imagery, such as the grotesque depiction of a guillotine blade dropping, and the use of Eb clarinets in a very high register to portray the screeching nature of witches in the last movement.
Similar in some aspects of imagery to Berlioz, Richard Wagner(1813 - 1883) used similar depictive aspects often in his operas. Neville Cardus writes: ‘Wagner’s was a mind compact of music, yet needing changeful life and emotion to shape and enliven the forms of his music...’ which sums up his disability to separate drama from music. Like Berlioz, Wagner looked to extended instruments for particular effects. Berlioz made use of alto flutes and Eb clarinets, while Wagner went so far as to specify the invention of a bass trumpet and the Wagner tuba to be used in ‘The Ring’.
Music was increasingly being written for larger scale ensembles. Gustav Mahler(1860 - 1911) wrote ten symphonies, 4 of which have substantial vocal or choral parts, continuing the choral symphony as it was begun by Beethoven. Mahler’s 8th symphony, the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’, is called this because it features a chorus of 500, 350 children’s voices, 7 soloists, and an augmented orchestra, setting an unprecedented record for sheer size. Mahler’s symphonic works did not gain precedence until the middle of the 20th century, where a small group of conductors including Bernstein and Solti returned them to the repertoire.
Two other significant features of the era were the rise of conductors and the rise of the touring virtuoso. Conductors developed from composers who conducted their own works, but eventually the field became an area of academic study and the profession was separated from composition. Mahler and Berlioz both conducted their own works. Before the 19th century, it was far more common for a director of an ensemble to control an orchestra as well as simultaneously playing an instrument. Virtuosi such as Nicolo Paganini(1782 - 1840) on Violin, and pianist Franz Liszt(1811 - 1886) inspired the development of the ‘display concerto’ - a concerto designed to showcase the talents of an instrumentalist. Largely due to development of railroad, tours of orchestras into other regions than their home could now occur and were highly popular among provinces which had previously not been exposed to orchestral music.
While the romantic movement brought the orchestra to a very close semblance of modern day large ensembles, throughout the 20th century works continued to explore new ideas and possibilities, which I’ll look at tomorrow.
The forces needed for the American premiere of Mahler's 8th Symphony
One composer who carried the torch from Beethoven in using symphonies to depict non musical ideas was Hector Berlioz(1803 - 1869). His most famous work, the ‘Symphonie Fantastique’, written in 1830, told the story of an opium addict who became obsessed with a woman, and dreamed that he killed her. It is a five movement work, with each movement depicting a particular scene, from fantasising about the woman, to being carried to the scaffolds for his own execution, to meeting a twisted ugly version of the woman in the afterlife. The work uses what is called an ‘idée fixe’, a recurring theme between movements which depicts the woman. The work is full of imaginative musical imagery, such as the grotesque depiction of a guillotine blade dropping, and the use of Eb clarinets in a very high register to portray the screeching nature of witches in the last movement.
Similar in some aspects of imagery to Berlioz, Richard Wagner(1813 - 1883) used similar depictive aspects often in his operas. Neville Cardus writes: ‘Wagner’s was a mind compact of music, yet needing changeful life and emotion to shape and enliven the forms of his music...’ which sums up his disability to separate drama from music. Like Berlioz, Wagner looked to extended instruments for particular effects. Berlioz made use of alto flutes and Eb clarinets, while Wagner went so far as to specify the invention of a bass trumpet and the Wagner tuba to be used in ‘The Ring’.
Music was increasingly being written for larger scale ensembles. Gustav Mahler(1860 - 1911) wrote ten symphonies, 4 of which have substantial vocal or choral parts, continuing the choral symphony as it was begun by Beethoven. Mahler’s 8th symphony, the ‘Symphony of a Thousand’, is called this because it features a chorus of 500, 350 children’s voices, 7 soloists, and an augmented orchestra, setting an unprecedented record for sheer size. Mahler’s symphonic works did not gain precedence until the middle of the 20th century, where a small group of conductors including Bernstein and Solti returned them to the repertoire.
Two other significant features of the era were the rise of conductors and the rise of the touring virtuoso. Conductors developed from composers who conducted their own works, but eventually the field became an area of academic study and the profession was separated from composition. Mahler and Berlioz both conducted their own works. Before the 19th century, it was far more common for a director of an ensemble to control an orchestra as well as simultaneously playing an instrument. Virtuosi such as Nicolo Paganini(1782 - 1840) on Violin, and pianist Franz Liszt(1811 - 1886) inspired the development of the ‘display concerto’ - a concerto designed to showcase the talents of an instrumentalist. Largely due to development of railroad, tours of orchestras into other regions than their home could now occur and were highly popular among provinces which had previously not been exposed to orchestral music.
While the romantic movement brought the orchestra to a very close semblance of modern day large ensembles, throughout the 20th century works continued to explore new ideas and possibilities, which I’ll look at tomorrow.
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