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PREFACE
PREFACE
It is not the purpose of this work to write a treatise on instrumentation or to prepare a pedagogical analysis of orchestration only, but rather to trace the evolution of the orchestra and of orchestration in connection with the history of music proper. Special emphasis will be laid upon what may be termed the IMPELLING FORCES to which the development of orchestration is due. This necessitates a considerable repetition of familiar facts that do not lend themselves to further original treatment.
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PART I.—PRELIMINARIES. CHAPTER I. THE CRADLE OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. (Historical Review.)
PART I.—PRELIMINARIES. CHAPTER I. THE CRADLE OF INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. (Historical Review.)
Primitive men were no doubt impelled to give utterance to their feelings by a desire for awakening sympathetic response in their fellow beings. Vocal manifestation of feeling developed into incipient melody, hence rudimentary scales. Gestures of dancing suggested rhythm. A fusion of both melody and rhythm led to contrast, and contrast implies symmetry of design. To emphasize rhythm combined with euphony, musical instruments were needed. Relics of certain species of these instruments are analogou
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CHAPTER II. THE DAWN OF INDEPENDENT INSTRUMENTATION.
CHAPTER II. THE DAWN OF INDEPENDENT INSTRUMENTATION.
The awakening interest for instrumental music received its incentive from two distinctive sources—the organ, and accompaniment to solo singing. As a natural corollary to centuries of ecclesiastical supremacy in musical composition, the organ had taken first rank among instruments and was, comparatively speaking, the most advanced, both as to mechanical construction and correlative technique of its performers. Hence the organ was destined to become a spontaneous yet covert connecting link between
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CHAPTER III. EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
CHAPTER III. EVOLUTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.
The first serious attention bestowed upon the mechanism of instruments and the selection of those whose qualities should justify permanent retention occurred during the sixteenth century, and, as we have seen, the causes that led up to this were extraneous. In glancing over the names and descriptions of the many varieties of instruments already in existence before this development began, the mind becomes easily confused. Many species of stringed instruments such as lutes, viols, clavichords, har
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CHAPTER IV. BEGINNINGS OF ORCHESTRATION.
CHAPTER IV. BEGINNINGS OF ORCHESTRATION.
Claudio Monteverde [1] (1567-1643) is justly styled the founder of the modern orchestra; but although modern orchestral organization owes its substratum of solidity and balance of tone to him, only indirectly was he led to attain this end, for his paramount objective was artistic expression. Naturally, the employment of artistically grouped instruments appealed to him as the most flexible conveyance for expressive thought. Again, Monteverde was instinctively a dramatic writer, so that as a matte
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SUMMARY OF PART I
SUMMARY OF PART I
I. Two impelling forces: emotional expression of human feeling and pagan religious rites, account for musical development among primitive men. Authentic history traces higher development through Egypt and the Orient to the Hellenic races, when poetry and music became conjoined. II. Under the protectorate of the Roman Church, melody acquired plastic form, and systems of harmony, notation, and measure were established. III. The lyrics of the troubadours revived a cult for individual emotionalism—t
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PART II.—THE CLASSIC ERA. CHAPTER V. BACH, HÄNDEL, AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES.
PART II.—THE CLASSIC ERA. CHAPTER V. BACH, HÄNDEL, AND THEIR CONTEMPORARIES.
An attempt to portray in a felicitous manner the progress of orchestration during the classic era is apt to carry one between Scylla and Charybdis. On the one hand lies the temptation to enlarge upon the biography and extraneous achievements of the great masters, on the other, the danger of superficiality. Minuteness of detail as aimed at in the previous chapter when the beginnings of orchestration rested in the hands of a comparatively small number of men is here incompatible, in view of the de
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CHAPTER VI. GLUCK AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES.
CHAPTER VI. GLUCK AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES.
Gluck (1714-1787), the third of the great drama reformers, and predecessor of Wagner in the establishment of dramatic continuity, did not appear as the champion of revivified Hellenic ideals until advanced in years. Though he had long harbored an intense antagonism to the paltry conventionalities of the existing lyric drama, his tenets awoke no sympathetic chord in his native land. And thus it came about that the arena of Lulli's scintillating pageantry witnessed the rehabilitation of genuine, l
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CHAPTER VII. HAYDN, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN.
CHAPTER VII. HAYDN, MOZART, AND BEETHOVEN.
It is almost superfluous to say that Haydn [11] (1732-1809), the true father of the modern symphony and string quartet, was, after Monteverde and Scarlatti, the most potent factor in establishing a perfectly balanced orchestra as a whole. Indeed, one might modify the eulogy previously bestowed upon Monteverde, and say that whereas he may be looked upon as the father of modern instrumentation, Haydn was the father of modern orchestration. Like Monteverde, he was constantly experimenting, being, m
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CHAPTER VIII. THE CONTEMPORARIES OF BEETHOVEN.
CHAPTER VIII. THE CONTEMPORARIES OF BEETHOVEN.
The career of Beethoven, extending well into the nineteenth century, overlaps the rise and growth of the Romantic Movement,—a movement that embodied tendencies with which his later works show sympathetic accord. The authors of this new departure were instigated by poetic aspirations closely allied to those of Beethoven; and since his creative horizon was constantly expanding, the idealistic texture of his productions and theirs was harmoniously interwoven. But while the scope of German art was b
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SUMMARY OF PART II.
SUMMARY OF PART II.
Bach's orchestration was essentially polyphonic. He contrasted his differentiated groups of instruments en masse , and laid the foundation for effective orchestral solo writing. Händel represents solidity and sonority, and obtained the best results when employing the orchestra for massed effects in conjunction with the chorus. Bach's contemporaries in Italy were engaged in composing church music and in writing operas that should satisfy the existing demands for vocal virtuosity. With few excepti
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PART III.—ROMANTICISM. CHAPTER IX. THE ROMANTIC SCHOOL.
PART III.—ROMANTICISM. CHAPTER IX. THE ROMANTIC SCHOOL.
A convenient classification of the great German composers of the nineteenth century is to be found in "Famous Composers and their Works," a classification which will be followed in these chapters. It consists of three general groups: "The Romantic School," "The Classical Romanticists," and "The New Movement." As has been already stated, the basis of the Romantic School was simply a further development of Beethoven's descriptive writing, which created a powerful impression upon the so-called foun
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CHAPTER X. THE CLASSICAL ROMANTICISTS.
CHAPTER X. THE CLASSICAL ROMANTICISTS.
The representatives of classical romanticism are Raff, Rubinstein, Goldmark, Brahms, Bruch, Rheinberger. The influence that Raff and Brahms had upon orchestration requires especial consideration. Rubinstein will be referred to again in connection with Russian composers. And a brief analysis will be sufficient to discover the respective characteristics that distinguish Goldmark's highly colored orchestration, that of Bruch in accompaniment to noble choral works, and Rheinberger's conservative yet
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CHAPTER XI. THE NEW MOVEMENT.
CHAPTER XI. THE NEW MOVEMENT.
Three countries, France, Hungary and Germany, share the honors in having brought forth three of the greatest orchestral composers, Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner, who together founded the so-called "New Movement." Berlioz [51] (1803-1869). The contributions of Berlioz to the development of "program" music and to modern science of orchestration loom up in gigantic proportions. He was practically the first representative of the New Movement, but contrary to the natural course of evolution, he was not o
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CHAPTER XII. FRANCE AND ITALY.
CHAPTER XII. FRANCE AND ITALY.
France. It will be recalled that Chapter VIII treats of the flourishing conditions of musical art in France at the time when it was undergoing a series of metamorphoses that embodied nascent modern tendencies. The standard of sacred music was being elevated by Cherubini; French opera in serious vein as well as French instrumentation had acquired distinctly indigenous characteristics through the efforts of two native composers, Méhul and Lesueur; the development of the lighter lyric style as bequ
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CHAPTER XIII. HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA; SCANDINAVIA AND RUSSIA; ENGLAND AND AMERICA.
CHAPTER XIII. HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA; SCANDINAVIA AND RUSSIA; ENGLAND AND AMERICA.
Hungary. The music of Hungary with specific relation to orchestration calls for but brief comment beyond what has already been said in connection with Liszt on page 92 and with Goldmark on page 85 . It will be remembered, however, that Liszt's Hungarian origin revealed itself not so much in an indigenous style of composition as in the propagation of those musical characteristics peculiar to his race. This adaptation and development of native dance tunes received plastic form in his "Hungarian Rh
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SUMMARY OF PART III.
SUMMARY OF PART III.
The German composers of the nineteenth century are for convenience classified in three general groups: "The Romantic School," "The Classical Romanticists," "The New Movement." The so-called founders of the Romantic School, Spohr and Weber, were followed by such representative composers as Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann. The evolution of orchestration was conspicuously advanced by Weber. He stands at the head of modern instrumentation, for with him a new period began. Spohr was instrumental i
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CONCLUSION.
CONCLUSION.
We have now traced the history of our modern art of orchestration through five great stages of evolution. (1) Under the head of " The Cradle of Instrumental Music ," musical development among primitive men was attributed to two impelling forces: emotional expression and pagan religious rites. The nature of these early attempts at musical utterance can only be conjectured, but although we have no knowledge of its tonal aspect, extant relics and representations of primitive instruments among such
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MONTEVERDE. (Page 16)
MONTEVERDE. (Page 16)
No. 1. L’Orfeo: Atto I—Toccata , ( che si suona avanti il levar de la tela tre volte con tutti li stromenti .) music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 2. L’Orfeo: Atto II—Ritornello . ( Questo Ritornello fù sonato di dentra da un Clavicembano, duoi Chitaroni, e 2 Violini piccioli alla Francese. ) music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 3. L’Orfeo: Atto III . ( Orfeo canta al suono del Organo di legno solamente . ) Ei dorme, e la mia cetra, se pietà non impetra nel indurato core, [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 4. L’Orfeo: Att
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SCARLATTI. (Page 22)
SCARLATTI. (Page 22)
No. 6. La Rosaura: Prologo-Sinfonia . ( No instruments indicated. ) music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 7. La Rosaura: Atto I—Scena II . (Climene.) Langue, geme, geme, quest'anima, amante, langue, [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 8. La Rosaura: Atto II—Scena II . (Rosaura.) Se due petti ardon d'amore, se due petti ardon d'amore è il penar, [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 9. La Rosaura: Atto II.—Scena IV . (Climene sola.) ma non sia, chi di mia fede il candor tenti, tenti offuscar il candor tenti, tenti offuscar. [ Listen
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HAYDN. (Page 47)
HAYDN. (Page 47)
music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 11. Symphony in D: 2d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 12. Symphony in D: 2d Movement. music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 13. Symphony in D: 2d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] music [ Listen ] [ XML ] music [ Listen ] [ XML ] music [ Listen ] [ XML ] music [ Listen ] [ XML ]...
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MOZART. (Page 50)
MOZART. (Page 50)
No. 18. Jupiter Symphony: Menuetto. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 19. Jupiter Symphony: Finale. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 20. Jupiter Symphony: Finale. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 21. Symphony in G minor: 2d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 22. Symphony in E flat: 2d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 23. Symphony in E flat: Menuetto. music [ Listen ] [ XML ]...
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BEETHOVEN. (Page 53)
BEETHOVEN. (Page 53)
No. 24. Fifth Symphony: 2d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 25. Fifth Symphony: 2d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 26. Fifth Symphony: 2d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 27. Fifth Symphony: 3d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 28. Fifth Symphony: 3d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 29. Fifth Symphony: 3d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 30. Fifth Symphony: Finale. music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 31. Pastoral Symphony: 2d Movement. music [ Listen
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WEBER. (Page 71)
WEBER. (Page 71)
No. 36. Der Freischütz : Overture. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 37. Der Freischütz : Overture. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 38. Der Freischütz : Overture. music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 39. Der Freischütz : Overture. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 40. Der Freischütz : Overture. music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 41. Der Freischütz : Act I—Scene I. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 42. Der Freischütz : Act I—Scene II. Coro. O lass Hoffnung dich beleben, und vertraue, vertraue dem
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BERLIOZ. (Page 89)
BERLIOZ. (Page 89)
No. 48. Symphonie fantastique: Rêveries . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 49. Symphonie fantastique: Scène aux champs . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 50. Symphonie fantastique: Scène aux champs . music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 51. Symphonie fantastique: Scène aux champs . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 52. Symphonie fantastique: Marche au supplice . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 53. Symphonie fantastique: Marche au supplice . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 54. Symphonie fantastique: Marche
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MENDELSSOHN. (Page 75)
MENDELSSOHN. (Page 75)
No. 58. Midsummer Night’s Dream: Overture. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 59. Midsummer Night’s Dream: Scherzo. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 60. Midsummer Night’s Dream: Scherzo. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 61. Midsummer Night’s Dream: No. 5. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 62. Midsummer Night’s Dream: No. 6. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 63. Midsummer Night’s Dream: No. 6. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 64. Midsummer Night’s Dream: No. 6. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 65. Midsummer Night’s Dream: Nottu
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WAGNER. (Page 93)
WAGNER. (Page 93)
No. 67. Die Walküre : Act I—Scene I. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 68. Die Walküre : Act I—Scene I. music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 69. Die Walküre : Act I—Scene I. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 70. Die Walküre : Act I—Scene II. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 71. Die Walküre : Act I—Scene II. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 72. Die Walküre : Act I—Scene III. SIEGLINDE. Ein Greis in grauem Gewand; [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 73. Die Walküre : Act I—Scene III. music music continued music continue
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SAINT-SAËNS. (Page 131)
SAINT-SAËNS. (Page 131)
No. 76. Le Rouet d’Omphale . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 77. Le Rouet d’Omphale . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 78. Le Rouet d’Omphale . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 79. Phaéton . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 80. Danse Macabre . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 81. Danse Macabre . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 82. La Jeunesse d’Hercule . music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ]...
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TSCHAIKOWSKY. (Page 155)
TSCHAIKOWSKY. (Page 155)
No. 83. Symphonie pathétique : 1st Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 84. Symphonie pathétique : 1st Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 85. Symphonie pathétique : 1st Movement. music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 86. Symphonie pathétique : 1st Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 87. Symphonie pathétique : 2d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 88. Symphonie pathétique : 3d Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 89. Symphonie pathétique : Finale. music [ Listen ] [ XML ]...
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DVOŘÁK. (Page 147)
DVOŘÁK. (Page 147)
music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 91. Sym. in E minor: First Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 92. Sym. in E minor: 1st Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 93. Sym. in E minor: 2d Movement. music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 94. Sym. in E minor: 4th Movement. music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 95. Sym. in E minor: 4th Movement. music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 96. Sym. in E minor: 4th Movement. music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ]...
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RICHARD STRAUSS. (Page 106)
RICHARD STRAUSS. (Page 106)
No. 97. Zarathustra: („das Grablied.“) music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 98. Zarathustra: („von der Wissenschaft.“) music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 99. Zarathustra . music music continued [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 100. Zarathustra: („das Tanzlied.“) music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 101. Zarathustra . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 102. Till Eulenspiegel . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] No. 103. Till Eulenspiegel . music [ Listen ] [ XML ] Adam, 129 , ( 59 ). Adam de la Hale, 3 . (Aldric
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