Face the Music

Orchestras have been around for at least four centuries, maybe longer, although finding any exact dates is difficult. What is certain is that instrumentalists in groups accompanied theatrical performances (mainly opera) as early as 1600. This kind of orchestral playing continues to the current day--musicals use 'pit orchestras,' so called because the instrumentalists usually play in a pit underneath the stage. Only the conductor is visible to both the audience and the actors.

The orchestra first emerged from its background role supporting singers in the early 18th century. Works called sinfonia were written for instrumentalists alone, and these pieces, in turn, ultimately led to the great symphonic music of the late 18th and 19th centuries.

If you could travel back in time two hundred years and attend a symphony performance, what would you see and hear? First you would notice that the orchestra is smaller--a little less than half the size of the Boston Pops Orchestra. Also, where's the conductor? Early orchestras didn't generally have conductors; instead a violinist or keyboard player would start and stop the group. The instruments, particularly the stringed instruments, would be similar, but the variety, range and power of the woodwinds and brass would be more limited than with those of today.

As for the music, you'd probably hear a symphony, a work for the orchestra alone, or a concerto, a piece for orchestra and soloist. More than 12,000 such pieces were written in the 18th century, during what we might call Part I of the orchestra's history. In particular, you might have been lucky enough to encounter the first performance of an orchestral work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) or Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 -1809). Their compositions include the first masterpieces written for the orchestra and have remained popular from their own day to today.

Part II of the orchestra's history coincides with the Romantic era in music, in particular with the works of Ludwig van Beethoven, (1770-1827). The orchestra increased in size and power during this era--more musicians were included, and they performed on instruments which were capable of making louder sounds. Beethoven's nine symphonies, still the most famous and frequently performed works in the orchestral repertoire, expanded everything orchestras were about. They were longer pieces with more complex musical ideas. The technical demands on the instrumentalists and the conductor (by now nearly an absolute necessity) were much greater than ever before. And the musical worlds which Beethoven created with his symphonies were also new, full of strong contrasts and dissonance. Some of Beethoven's works shocked listeners on first hearing them, and, even today, many of his works remain fresh and surprising.

As the 19th century progressed, composers took advantage of the new expressive capacity that the orchestra gained thanks to Beethoven. A wide range of composers, including Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), Robert Schumann (1810-1856), Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), Franz Liszt (1811-1886), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Anton Bruckner (1824-1896), Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) and the opera composer Richard Wagner (1813-1883), continued to expand on what the orchestra was capable of presenting. It was during this century that the great civic orchestras we know today, including the Boston Symphony and Boston Pops, were founded.

The 'Pops' movement was an effort born in London--then, as now, one of the most active musical cities in the world. In 1858, a series of "Pops" or "Popular orchestral concerts" was offered to educate music lovers about symphonic works. The Pops trend caught on quickly. (For a history of the Boston Pops follow this link). Soon Pops concerts were part of many orchestras' seasons and most U.S. orchestras still have one or more popular concerts, often free of charge, during the year.

Part III of the symphony's history takes us from the turn of this century to today. Composers continued to write symphonic work building on the Romantic tradition and expanding on it in conservative or radical ways. Twentieth century symphonists of note include Russian composers Dimitry Shostakovich (1906-1975), Sergey Prokofiev (1891-1953), and Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971); French composers Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and Claude Debussy (1862-1918); and German composers Richard Strauss (1864-1949) and Gustav Mahler (1860-1911). Closer to home, the American Aaron Copland (1900-1990) contributed major symphonic works to the repertoire.

Today, at the dawn of the new millennium, are people still writing for symphony orchestras? The answer is a resounding yes! The Boston Symphony programs include many works by living composers from all over the globe, including frequent world premieres, and signs look good for a Part IV of the symphony's history.

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