In his church music Bach combined the orchestra and the organ. As Dr. Spitta points out in his biography of Bach, the organ in these works occupied a position similar to that of the string quartet in the modern orchestra. “Just as the wind-instruments group themselves round this as a centre,” he says, “so all the instruments grouped themselves round the organ. The relations were different, however, in this way: that the organ remained always in the background, its effect being merely that of power, and that on this background the other instruments were seen not so much as solo instruments, but rather as choric groups. One of these groups was the quartet of strings, another the oboes and bassoon, a third the cornet and trombones, and a fourth the trumpets (or sometimes horns) and the drums.” Bach’s method of writing for the orchestra did not influence his immediate successors very greatly, for the reason that his retired life and modest position prevented his works from becoming generally known until long after his death. Sir John Hawkins’s “History of Music,” published in England in 1776, contains only half a page about Bach, communicated to the author by one of Bach’s sons, a resident of London.
Handel, on the other hand, enjoyed a world-wide fame during his life, and his works were studied by musicians far and near. Handel employed, though very rarely all at once, all the instruments used in the modern orchestra except the clarinet. He approached more nearly than Bach to the modern methods of orchestral contrast in massive effects of instrumental color, yet he did not reach the fundamental principles on which the distribution of the instruments in the orchestra of to-day rest. Perhaps the most important difference is to be found in the large number of wind-instruments employed by Handel, who used them frequently in masses simply to reinforce the strings. The number of oboes and bassoons, for instance, was much larger in Handel’s orchestra than in a modern band. This was due partly to the inferior power of the instruments of his time, but equally to the different method of his scoring. The brass instruments were used by both Bach and Handel differently from the manner in which modern composers employ them. The reader will recall that they wrote trumpet parts of such high compass that players of to-day cannot perform them. In conclusion, as to Bach and Handel it should be noted that their orchestration is rarely heard. Most of their great works, such as the “St. Matthew Passion” and “The Messiah,” are performed now with modern orchestral arrangements, not according to the original scores.
XV
From Haydn to Wagner
The constitution of the orchestra in the early part of the eighteenth century, then, had reached the basis on which it now rests, except for the fact that the harpsichord was still used. There was, however, a complete and well-organized body of strings, similar to that which we have to-day. The violoncello alone had not attained its true position. It was not always included, and generally when it was, it played in unison with the double-basses. To the body of strings were added such wind-instruments as the composer desired—two oboes, two bassoons, and two horns being, perhaps, the most familiar assortment. Two trumpets and a pair of kettle-drums were introduced when brilliant militant passages were to be written. Trombones were not heard in symphonic compositions, and the harp seemed to have fallen into oblivion. The clarinet had not yet entered the orchestra. Flutes were used often. The systematic use of wood-wind instruments in pairs was just beginning. The delay in this vital matter was due to the hold which the polyphonic style of composition still had. It was only when the musical world gave up writing fugues and canons and turned its attention to the harmonic style, in which a song-like melody is supported by an accompaniment built on chords, that the value of the wind choir in the formation of these chords was appreciated. That fact once known, composers speedily established the balance of power between wind and strings, and arranged a suitable list of wind-instruments.
The orchestral symphony came into existence about the middle of the eighteenth century, and with its advent we find the orchestra of Bach and Handel slightly modified and differently employed. Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) is credited with being the father of the symphony, and he established the real basis of the modern orchestra. Yet something was due to the labors of two or three other men. Of these, I have already mentioned one of the most important, Johann Karl Stamitz, a Bohemian, who in 1745 became leading violin and director of the orchestra of the Elector of Mannheim. He spared no efforts to teach his strings to play with precision and refinement, to phrase beautifully, and to make all the shades of piano and forte. His orchestra became the best in Europe, and his methods survived him. Mozart heard at Mannheim for the first time in his life artistic orchestral performance, and he was deeply influenced by it.
Another, who has been mentioned and who exercised much influence on the orchestra through his study of its capacities, was François Joseph Gossec (1733-1829). He was a student of the orchestra in early life, and his first symphony was performed five years before Haydn’s. How much insight into orchestral effect Gossec possessed may be judged from the fact that in his “Messe des Morts” (1760) he wrote the “Tuba Mirum” for two groups of instruments, one of wind-instruments concealed outside the church, and the other of strings inside, the latter accompanying the former with a tremolo in the high register.
Haydn’s first symphony was written in 1759 for first and second violins, violas, basses, two oboes and two horns. His last symphony was composed in 1795, and by that time he had at his command the whole symphonic orchestra as it stood when Beethoven took up the work of orchestral development. Between the dates of Haydn’s first and last symphony, Mozart had lived the whole of his wonderful life, and Haydn, who at first had been his master, had in the end become his pupil.
It was from Mozart that Haydn learned the use of the clarinet, and we find it employed in his last symphonies. The clarinet proper, which was the successor of the schalmei or shawm, is said to have been invented by Johann Denner, of Nuremberg, in 1690. The claim is doubtful, yet the modern instrument probably originated about that time. Many improvements have been made in it, the most notable being the application to it by Klosé, in 1843, of the Boehm system of fingering.
Haydn’s familiar symphony in D, written in London in 1795, is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, kettle-drums, violins, violas, ’cellos, and bassos. It is a fact that Haydn first employed 2 clarinets and a bassoon as the wood-wind choir in his first mass, written in 1751 or 1752, but it was Mozart who revealed the real capacity of the clarinet and established its position in the orchestra. Haydn, however, must be credited with immense advances in the development of the orchestra, because in developing the symphonic form, he was constantly experimenting and discovering the values of the various instruments and their relations to one another. Some of the symphonies composed after he had been a symphonic writer for years, show great reticence in their scoring. For example, the symphony known as the “Queen of France,” written for Paris in 1786, is scored for 2 horns, 2 oboes, 1 flute, 2 bassoons, and string quartet. The introduction to the “Creation,” one of the master’s latest works, is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, a contra-bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tympani, and the usual strings. But when he was writing this oratorio Haydn needed a large orchestra for his newly invented effects of instrumental description. In the “Creation” and “The Seasons” he made the orchestra paint chaos, winter storms, and spring peace. He naturally sought for more instrumental voices, and employed the complete orchestra of his time.
Much of Haydn’s success in developing the orchestra and the art of writing for it was due to his long occupancy of the post of director of music under Prince Esterhazy. Haydn was appointed to this post at Eisenstadt in 1761, and retained it till 1790. He had at his disposal a small company of singers, capable of performing opera or oratorio, and a small orchestra. In 1766 this orchestra numbered 17 instruments: 6 violins and violas, 1 violoncello, 1 double-bass, 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, and 4 horns. It was subsequently enlarged to 22 and 24, including trumpets and kettle-drums when needed. From 1776 to 1778 there were also clarinets. That this arrangement did not prevail all over Europe even at that time is shown by the distribution of instruments and seating-plan of the orchestra at Dresden under Hasse, near the close of the last century. This plan is reproduced from Jahn’s “Life of Mozart.”