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The development history of symphony
When it comes to musical instruments and collective performance, We will first think of several civilized countries in the ancient East-Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, China, and ancient Greece in Western Europe. About 4,000 years ago, many of the primitive musical instruments used in ancient Egypt included string instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments. These instruments were not only used for solos and accompaniments to singing, but were also used in large-scale musical instruments. in the ensemble. The musical instruments of the Hebrew nation, according to biblical records, were as far back as the time of King David and King Solomon, that is, about three thousand years ago, and there were already thirty-six kinds of musical instruments. When they worshiped gods, in addition to cymbals, harps and In addition to the lyre players, there were also one hundred and twenty priests playing trumpets. Ancient Greek mythology describes Apollo and Pan playing music, and also describes Orpheus using the power of music to tame demons and rescue his wife from the Kingdom of Hades. In these stories, ancient Greek harps, flutes and lyres are introduced. Wait for musical instruments. From some ancient tomb carvings, vase paintings, and myths and legends passed down, we can determine that the musical instruments and bands of ancient Eastern civilizations were mainly used in folk festivals, dances, marches, and religious ceremonies.
Medieval music art, whether religious (church chants) or secular (the art of wandering entertainers, troubadours and love poets), was dominated by vocal music, and musical instruments were only used as It is an accompaniment to singing, or used to replace missing parts. The instrument itself does not have an independent role - in addition to the organ commonly used in churches (because the structure is not yet complete, it cannot be used for solos), there is also a musical instrument called Vivore's violin. This was a favorite stringed instrument used by troubadours to accompany their own singing. After this type of singing stringed instrument was first used as the main musical instrument, the significance and role of stringed instruments were greatly enhanced, thus greatly promoting the development of music culture.
The germ of the symphony orchestra actually originated in the mid-16th century, that is, during the heyday of the Renaissance. Most of the instruments in the symphony orchestra were also formed during the Renaissance. The modern symphony orchestra began from this time until the end of the 19th century, or even until the beginning of the 20th century. It went through a complex development process for three centuries before it was finally finalized.
During the Renaissance, due to the emergence and development of capitalism within feudal society, the establishment and development of cities, and the corresponding formation of the progressive bourgeois worldview-humanism, therefore A realist approach to artistic creation was also proposed. Another achievement of Monteverdi is that he had a new understanding of the orchestra, believing that the orchestra was a combination of different timbres, so he began to confront and contrast different instruments, and let each group of instruments play in turn Etc., these practices were still unexpected discoveries at the time. Generally speaking, during this period, the adoption and coordination of musical instruments continued to change. Sometimes some weird things, such as giant violins, windmills and cannons, were even used in the band to create a certain kind of music. special effects.
The seventeenth century was a very important period for the development of the symphony orchestra. With the development of the keynote harmony style and the adoption of digital bass, the harpsichord occupies a solid position in the band because it is easy to play chords; secondly, due to the famous Italian violin makers such as Amati and Stella Due to the brilliant achievements made by Tivoli and others in the improvement and finalization of the violin, the number of violin instruments in the orchestra gradually increased, and eventually the lute and some other ancient instruments were excluded from the orchestra. But the band at this time cannot be regarded as a new type of band, because its foundation is still the harpsichord, and there are many ancient instruments in the band.
The representative of the Mannheim School, the famous Czech composer Stamitz who settled in Germany, had written nearly fifty similar works before Haydn's "First Symphony". Unfortunately, almost all of his achievements have been lost to later generations. Forget. In addition to one pair each of flute, oboe, clarinet, French horn and trumpet, Stamitz's band used four bassoons; Mozart completely established the double-tube relationship of wind instruments and reduced the bassoons to one pair. With the formation of this kind of band, various instruments began to play different roles in the band according to their different performances, instead of having all the instruments play the same melody, such as gorgeous phrases, like the previous bands. From this time on, brass instruments were rarely played; the combination of instruments was not limited to one combination per movement as in the past, but was changing at any time, so that the colors of the band could be changed at any time. It changes from place to place, not movement to movement. Haydn and Mozart composed many famous symphonic works for this classical orchestra and laid the foundation for a new era in symphonic music. To sum up, the first period of the development of the symphony orchestra started with the emergence of modern string instruments (in the seventeenth century, string orchestras were gradually formed later), and the second period started with the cancellation of digital bass and the establishment of classical orchestras. Therefore, there are It is believed that the formation process of modern bands began with the establishment of classical bands.
Since then, the development of the symphony orchestra has only changed in details. The orchestra at the beginning of the 19th century expanded the number of instruments, especially the number of brass instruments, which underwent relatively large changes. At first, the number of French horns was increased to four to form a quartet, and later three long horns were added. Number. In this way, a new type of orchestra was formed - the grand symphony orchestra, also known as the "romantic orchestra". This kind of orchestra was finally completed in the creation of Romantic composers Weber, Schubert and Mendelssohn. Although some of Beethoven's symphonies also used similar instrument combinations, he only occasionally used four French horns; the orchestra arrangement of his "Ninth Symphony" was particularly large at the time, but Among romantic bands, a band of this size had become normal. At this time, France also formed a kind of "grand opera band" in opera. This band added all the modified instruments to the woodwind section, including piccolo, English horn and bass clarinet, but the bassoon was still Rarely used. Except for the tuba, which still retains its original ancient serpentine shape, all the instrument combinations of the brass section are similar to those of today's orchestra; however, two piston cornets are added to strengthen the two trumpets. The percussion section included all the instruments of the time, even bells and tubular bells. In addition, bands with a large number of string instruments also use one or several harps. This grand opera orchestra was completed by Spontini and Meyerbeer. Later, this kind of grand opera orchestra was also used by Berlioz in his symphonies, and expanded it to a very incredible scale that even modern orchestras have not surpassed. In Berlioz's orchestra. Woodwind instruments play a very important and sometimes decisive role, and he also places special emphasis on brass instruments. For example, the orchestra of his famous "Requiem" has one hundred and eight string instruments, four flutes, two oboes and English horns, four clarinets, and twelve French horns. , eight bassoons. The entire band*** consists of one hundred and forty people. In addition to this main band, Berlioz also placed four additional small bands composed of brass instruments and percussion instruments in the four corners of the theater to symbolize the "Doomsday Judgment". Bands of this size are indeed very rare. Berlioz's overextended orchestra created practical difficulties in concert performance and was not easy to achieve the desired effect. Therefore, his large band did not get the approval of later composers. But enlarging the band, as Berlioz did, also had an impact on the band's development. Wagner was very interested in this type of orchestra, and he made important contributions to this type of orchestra in his early operas, especially in Rienzi. But later Wagner established an orchestra in which wind instruments (especially brass instruments) were dominant.
Wagner increased the number of each type of woodwind instrument to three, so that one type of instrument with the same timbre could play each note of the triad, that is, the entire chord. He also added English horn, bass clarinet and bassoon to complete the woodwind section. Before Wagner, the application of the above three deformed instruments had always been considered a luxury. It was only in Wagner's hands that the official status of these instruments in the orchestra was finally determined. For brass instruments, Wagner added a bass trumpet, bass trombone, four so-called Nibelungen tubas and a tuba. As for string instruments, after Wagner completed "The Ring of the Nibelung", he set the total number at sixty-four. Wagner's orchestra had to use so many string instruments to maintain balance with the wind instruments.
Composers after Wagner, such as Bruckner and Mahler, especially Richard Strauss, all inherited the Wagner tradition in using the orchestra. The orchestra used in Richard Strauss's most representative work, the symphonic poem "A Hero's Life", is also very large, with no less than sixty-two string instruments, and almost all kinds of woodwind instruments, including deformed instruments. There are four, brass instruments include eight French horns, five trumpets, three trombones, one alto tuba and one bass tuba, and percussion instruments include timpani, bass drum, snare drum, snare drum and cymbals.
The foundation of the modern symphony orchestra was mostly established in the first half of the 19th century. In the second half of the 19th century, great achievements were made in the improvement of woodwind and brass instruments, especially the rondo type. The invention of the piston and the widespread adoption of this new machinery. There are two tendencies in the development of orchestras in the 20th century. One is to continue to expand the orchestra's formation, and the other is the opposite, returning to the chamber music band model of the 18th century. Generally speaking, throughout the history of the development of symphony orchestras, the orchestras used by composers throughout the ages are very diverse. But we can summarize all these various orchestras into two basic types, that is, small symphony orchestra and large symphony orchestra; both of these orchestras include four groups of string instruments, woodwind instruments, brass instruments and percussion instruments. Now let’s talk about the Sinfonietta.
The small symphony orchestra was formed in the second half of the 18th century. This kind of orchestra was not considered a small orchestra in the eyes of the composers at that time. Until the early 19th century, most operas and Symphonic works all use this kind of orchestra. The instruments used in small symphony orchestras usually include:
String instruments: six to eight first violins, four to six second violins, two to four violas, two to four cellos, and two to four double basses Three.
Woodwind instruments: two each of flute, oboe, clarinet and bassoon.
Brass instruments: two French horns and two trumpets.
Percussion instruments: a pair of timpani.
The instruments used by small symphony orchestras are sometimes omitted, such as clarinet and trumpet. Mozart's later symphonies sometimes omitted trumpets or timpani, and sometimes omitted oboe. On the contrary, the small symphony orchestra is sometimes expanded and even approaches the large symphony orchestra. This extended form was often used in opera orchestras and oratorio orchestras at the time, but was much less common in symphonic works.
From the 1830s until now, most symphonies, operas and dance dramas have used large symphony orchestras. The instruments used by large symphony orchestras usually include:
String instruments: first violins from twelve to sixteen, second violins from ten to fourteen, violas from eight to twelve, cello from six to ten, double bass from six to ten.
Woodwind instruments: two to three each of flutes, oboes, clarinets and bassoons. In addition, deformations of these instruments are often added, such as piccolo (occasionally also alto flute), alto oboe ( Or English horn, occasionally lyric oboe), bass clarinet (occasionally also use small clarinet, alto or double bass clarinet) and bassoon, etc.
Brass instruments: four French horns, two to three trumpets, three trombones, and one or two tubas.
Percussion instruments: timpani, triangle, snare drum, cymbals, bass drum, etc.
In addition to the above four sets of musical instruments, harps are often added, and most of them use two. A large symphony orchestra consists of about sixty to ninety people, but there are also more than a hundred people. This kind of band sometimes reduces the number of some instruments, especially the number of string instruments, but sometimes it also expands the number of individual instruments in a certain group of instruments or the number of the entire group of instruments, and adds individual instruments that are rare in ordinary bands, such as Piano or organ, etc.
It can be seen from the types of instruments used in small symphony orchestras and large symphony orchestras that the trombone is a symbol that determines the type of band. A band that lacks trombones can only be considered a small symphony band, because a large symphony band must have three trombones and one or two tubas. If there is only one trombone, it can only be considered a small symphony orchestra.
Finally, let’s briefly talk about the names and meanings of “double-pipe band” and “three-pipe band”. The so-called "double pipe" or "triple pipe" refers to the number of each instrument in the woodwind instrument group. If two of each woodwind instrument (including deformed instruments) are used, such a band is called "double pipe". "Wind band", the small symphony orchestra mentioned earlier is a double-wind band. If three of each woodwind instrument are used, it is called a "three-wind band", and if four are used, it is called a "four-wind band." It can also be seen here that the greater the number of each type of woodwind instrument, the more deformed instruments are used. Large symphony orchestras generally use three pipes, but some also use four or even five pipes. For a band that uses five pipes, the number of brass instruments must also be expanded accordingly, but the number must maintain a certain proportion with that of woodwind instruments. Generally speaking, French horns can be expanded to a maximum of six to eight, trumpets can use a maximum of four to five, trombones can use a maximum of four, and tubas can only use a maximum of two. Because brass instruments are used too much, it is easy to Destroys the acoustic balance of various groups of instruments in the band.
In the above-mentioned various normal two-pipe to five-pipe bands, composers often like to omit or add some instruments. Such deformed bands are often renamed "hybrid bands". In addition, there are several common special combination methods, which are also discussed here. The grand symphony orchestra sometimes combines with another brass band to play at the same time in a certain part of a certain work. This situation is more common in dramatic music, because this approach often meets the needs of the development of the plot. This kind of temporary brass band is sometimes placed directly on the stage to appear as a character in the play, but it is usually placed behind the stage. In symphony works, there are also temporary combinations of brass bands or certain brass instruments playing at the same time. Of course, this situation is relatively rare. There is also a more rare situation, which is to combine the human voice (chorus) into the band, but in this case the chorus often just shuts up and hums, or just pronounces a certain sound instead of singing the lyrics. This kind of chorus just plays the role of instruments in the whole band. There are also combinations of mandolin, guitar, accordion, saxophone and various other ethnic instruments, but these combinations are extremely rare.