A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
As was the case with concert orchestras so has the strength of an opera orchestra been subject to the changes of time since the development of the standard works of today’s repertoire. This suggests that a look at historical developments could be rewarding. In this context the numerical strength of the strings is most interesting since the winds are always only represented by one instrument and always follow the instrumentation of the individual pieces. Consequently, Table 9.1 represents the number of strings for four historic opera houses from the Mozart era, along with the demands given by R. Wagner for the ‘‘Ring’’ and Verdi around 1870 as ‘‘normal for opera performances’’ (Holl, 1947). In addition, this table contains two examples for currently standard smaller and larger orchestras which will be considered for further considerations. In the Prague Sta¨ndetheater the possibility of increasing the numbers given as normal certainly must have existed at that time, as can already be seen by the instrumentation demands for the ‘‘banquet music’’ in ‘‘Don Giovanni.’’ However, this table likely presents the limits of the framework within which Mozart heard or conducted most of his operas - at least north of the Alps. In Italy, however, far larger numbers of strings were not unusual; thus the premiere performance of ‘‘Mitridate’’ in Milano 1771 should be mentioned with 24 violins, six violas, two cellos, and six basses, where especially the relationship between the cellos and basses is noteworthy (Becker, 1962). Also notable is the unusually large number of basses in Verdi’s requirements which together with the celli form an extraordinarily large bass group, while Wagner adds only eight basses to the 12 celli and furthermore demands more violins than Verdi. As an extreme for instrumentation the orchestra for R. Strauss’ ‘‘Elektra’’ needs to be considered, which, for the premiere performance in 1909 included approximately 115 musicians, among them 3 _ 8 violins, 3 _ 6 violas, 2 _ 6 celli, and eight basses.
As was the case with concert orchestras so has the strength of an opera orchestra been subject to the changes of time since the development of the standard works of today’s repertoire. This suggests that a look at historical developments could be rewarding. In this context the numerical strength of the strings is most interesting since the winds are always only represented by one instrument and always follow the instrumentation of the individual pieces. Consequently, Table 9.1 represents the number of strings for four historic opera houses from the Mozart era, along with the demands given by R. Wagner for the ‘‘Ring’’ and Verdi around 1870 as ‘‘normal for opera performances’’ (Holl, 1947). In addition, this table contains two examples for currently standard smaller and larger orchestras which will be considered for further considerations. In the Prague Sta¨ndetheater the possibility of increasing the numbers given as normal certainly must have existed at that time, as can already be seen by the instrumentation demands for the ‘‘banquet music’’ in ‘‘Don Giovanni.’’ However, this table likely presents the limits of the framework within which Mozart heard or conducted most of his operas - at least north of the Alps. In Italy, however, far larger numbers of strings were not unusual; thus the premiere performance of ‘‘Mitridate’’ in Milano 1771 should be mentioned with 24 violins, six violas, two cellos, and six basses, where especially the relationship between the cellos and basses is noteworthy (Becker, 1962). Also notable is the unusually large number of basses in Verdi’s requirements which together with the celli form an extraordinarily large bass group, while Wagner adds only eight basses to the 12 celli and furthermore demands more violins than Verdi. As an extreme for instrumentation the orchestra for R. Strauss’ ‘‘Elektra’’ needs to be considered, which, for the premiere performance in 1909 included approximately 115 musicians, among them 3 _ 8 violins, 3 _ 6 violas, 2 _ 6 celli, and eight basses.
Acoustical Problems in the Opera House
Meyer, Jürgen (author)
2009-01-01
23 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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