On Jan 15, 2007, at 1:45 PM, Johannes Gebauer wrote:
On 15.01.2007 David W. Fenton wrote:
Certainly the orchestra before c1750 was very, very different from
the modern orchestra (in reality, I'd say it was a completely
different animal).
I completely agree. I have come to the conclusion that anything but
single or double string forces (meaning two to a part) was the
exception.
That seems a bit strong to me. Spitzer and Zaslaw in _The Birth of the
Orchestra_ list the actual rosters of dozens of orchestras from the
period (some as employment lists, others giving the forces actually
used on specific occasions). A great many of these lists show more than
4 violins. Table 8.1, "Handel's English orchestras, 1710-58," for
example, gives the forces used by him on 7 different occasions across
that time span, not one of which used less than 7 violins. On two
occasions the total number of violins + violas is given as 24. The
number of cellos is usually three, though on one occasion there were
seven.
Similar chronological lists of lists are given for quite a few other
places, composers, or specific orchestras, and while, yes, there are
quite a few with very sketchy string doubling, orchestras the size of
Handel's are certainly frequent enough to be characterized as more than
an exception.
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/
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