On 1/15/07, Andrew Stiller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I have always found this distinction simplistic at best. Orchestras began to break out of aristocratic boundaries almost immediately (Corelli gave public concerts), and in London there were multiple, competing orchestras aimed at various audiences throughout the 18th c.
Don't you think the examples you give are pretty unusual exceptions; and not the rule? Neal Zaslaw's book "The Birth of the Orchestra: History of an institution, 1650–1815" discusses the development of the orchestra. From what he states, while there are some exceptions, I get the sense orchestral concerts were the venue of the nobility in Europe. Public concerts ( paid by ticket sales from the public) were not the norm until the early 19th century. The London orchestral public concerts didn't really start until the J.C. Bach / Abel academies; and that was pretty late in the game. The only concert series I can think of in London that had "competition" were the ones in the early 1790s, almost another 40 years later. Germany's free cities had municipal musicians on their payroll, but Zaslaw points to very very meager personnel lists*, these were hardly "orchestras." The musicians were to perform in city churches, or do other duties, such as sound time signals from watchtowers. And surviving orchestral parts point to one or at most two instruments playing (and that's certainly the case for J.S. Bach's vocal parts in Leipzig. Bach constantly complained about a lack of funding for the necessary musicians for his Sunday services). Telemann's concerts in Leipzig and Hamburg could be considered public concerts I suppose, but again--they're exceptional. While some German noble patrons (such as Carl Theodore or the Electors of Saxony) would allow the public to attend some private concerts, but it was completely at the good wishes of the "king." So if the king was in a foul mood, no concert! The electress of Saxony halted a performance of Zelinka's Lamentations because she complained it was too long. Imagine Donald Trump doing that at the Met ;) Kim Patrick Clow ______________________________ *Even the size of the ensembles we would call "orchestras" during this period were pretty meager sized. Darmstadt's kapelle, which boasted some of the best musicians in Germany from 1700 - 1718 only had about 10 (or so) orchestral musicians on the official payroll. (And that's *after* Landgrave Ernst-Ludwig "purchased" some French instrumentalists from Louis XIV). Esterhazy didn't have many either, and that's quite a bit later. The costs of such orchestras had to have been a factor in the reason why public concerts were untypical. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
