From a photograph by Reutlinger.
BERLIOZ.
Naturally, some of Berlioz’s ideas were borrowed from the operatic composers, who frequently employed unusual combinations for dramatic effects. In the “Quorum hodie” of his “Requiem,” for instance, Berlioz calls for 3 flutes, 8 tenor trombones, and strings to accompany a chorus. The “Dies Iræ” of the same mass calls for 4 small brass bands to be placed at the corners of the main instrumental body, and for 14 kettle-drums tuned to different notes. But at present we are more concerned with the direct development of the orchestra than with special combinations. The bass clarinet was seldom used till Adolph Sax, the famous instrument-maker, perfected its construction. Meyerbeer, who was a great friend of Sax, introduced the instrument in his opera scores. He gives to it a fine declamatory passage in “Les Huguenots” (Act V.), and gives it a melodic part in the coronation march in “Le Prophète.” It was Wagner, however, who fully illustrated the capacity of this noble instrument, and by his employment of it, both as a solo singer and a fundamental bass of the wood-wind, led contemporaneous symphonic writers to employ it freely.
The brass choir has been enlarged since Beethoven’s day by the addition of the bass tuba, an instrument which came into use only after Sax had perfected its mechanism. Before that the ophicleide, a bass instrument of the keyed bugle family, was occasionally employed. Mendelssohn calls for it in the score of his “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and Berlioz has four in the score of his “Requiem.” These parts are now played on tubas. Additional trumpets are often used to strengthen the brass, and Wagner even caused tenor tubas to be made to give certain tone-tints, together with sonority, to the funeral march of “Götterdämmerung.” All kinds of instruments of percussion are introduced when their peculiarities are desired, and, as already said, bells, gongs, triangles, and even the vulgar xylophone, find something to do in the modern orchestra.
In the first opera, Peri’s “Eurydice,” as we have seen, the orchestra consisted of a harpsichord, a large guitar, a viol, a large lute, and three flutes. Two centuries and a half later, in 1850, the overture to Wagner’s “Lohengrin” called for 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 bass tuba, kettle-drums, cymbals, and strings. In the third act of “Die Walküre” the same composer calls for 2 piccolos, 2 flutes, 3 oboes, 1 English horn, 3 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 8 horns, 4 trumpets, 1 bass trumpet, 4 trombones, 1 contra-bass tuba, 4 kettle-drums, cymbals and bass drum, harp and strings. How this enormous growth has been accomplished the author has endeavored to outline. The reader will perceive, however, that the fundamental arrangement of the orchestra, as left to us by Haydn and Mozart, has not been altered, but simply extended. As I have already noted, the aims of the romantic composers in the direction of tone-coloring have led to this extension. Yet by means of modern methods of instrumentation, glowing results can be obtained from the symphonic orchestra employed by Beethoven. An excellent instance of this is the “Symphonic Pathétique” of Tschaikowsky, which adds only the bass tuba to Beethoven’s orchestra. Gounod, in his “Redemption,” a richly orchestrated work, employs 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, tympani, bass drum and cymbals, strings and organ in one of the most effective passages. On the other hand, Jean Louis Nicode, in the “Phosphorescent Lights” movement of his symphonic ode “The Sea”—a movement of purely descriptive and imitative music—calls for a concealed brass band consisting of 3 trumpets, 7 trombones, and a bass tuba, together with 1 piccolo, 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 tenor tubas, 1 bass tuba, 2 pairs of kettle-drums, 1 pair of cymbals, 1 triangle, 1 bass drum, 1 gong, 1 set of bells, 2 harps, and the usual strings.
The proportion of power and the balance of tone in the orchestra are preserved by having more stringed than wind instruments. It requires many violins and basses to balance the wood and brass in a forte passage, and, furthermore, the strings themselves lack solidity if there are only a few. As an example of a well-balanced orchestra, we may take the Boston Symphony, which is organized as follows: 16 first violins, 14 second, 10 violas, 10 violoncellos, 8 double-basses, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 English horn, 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 4 trumpets, 4 horns, 3 trombones, 2 tenor tubas, 2 bass tubas, 1 contra-bass tuba, 2 pairs of tympani, 1 bass-drum, 1 pair of cymbals, 1 harp. The additional wind-instruments are, of course, used only in compositions which call for them. An excellent example of a great festival orchestra was that conducted by Theodore Thomas at the New York Music Festival of 1882. It consisted of 50 first violins, 50 second violins, 36 violas, 36 violoncellos, 40 double-basses, 6 harps, 6 flutes, 2 piccolos, 7 oboes, 2 English horns, 6 clarinets, 2 bass clarinets, 6 bassoons, 2 contra-bassoons, 9 horns, 2 Sax horns, 11 cornets, 3 trumpets, 1 bass trumpet, 9 trombones, 3 tubas, 4 pairs of kettle-drums, 2 bass drums, 2 pairs of cymbals, 3 small drums, and 2 triangles.
PART V
How Orchestral Music Grew