An electronic musical instrument or electrophone is a musical instrument that produces sound using electronic circuitry . Such an instrument sounds by outputting an electrical, electronic or digital audio signal that ultimately is plugged into a power amplifier which drives a loudspeaker , creating the sound heard by the performer and listener.
131-878: The Dresdner Philharmonie ( Dresden Philharmonic ) is a German symphony orchestra based in Dresden . Its principal concert venue is the Kulturpalast . The orchestra also performs at the Kreuzkirche , the Hochschule für Musik Dresden , and the Schloss Albrechtsberg . It receives financial support from the city of Dresden. The choral ensembles affiliated with the orchestra are the Dresden Philharmonic Choir and Dresden Philharmonic Chamber Choir. The current Intendantin of
262-410: A Romantic music repertoire such as the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms . The typical orchestra grew in size throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching a peak with the large orchestras of as many as 120 players called for in the works of Richard Wagner and later Gustav Mahler . Orchestras are usually led by a conductor who directs the performance with movements of
393-571: A light pen . The Synclavier from New England Digital was a similar system. Jon Appleton (with Jones and Alonso) invented the Dartmouth Digital Synthesizer, later to become the New England Digital Corp's Synclavier. The Kurzweil K250 , first produced in 1983, was also a successful polyphonic digital music synthesizer, noted for its ability to reproduce several instruments synchronously and having
524-519: A musical score , which contains all the instrument parts. The conductor uses the score to study the symphony before rehearsals and decide on their interpretation (e.g., tempos, articulation, phrasing, etc.), and to follow the music during rehearsals and concerts, while leading the ensemble. Orchestral musicians play from parts containing just the notated music for their instrument. A small number of symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven 's Ninth Symphony ). Orchestras also perform overtures ,
655-470: A paper tape sequencer punched with holes to control pitch sources and filters, similar to a mechanical player piano but capable of generating a wide variety of sounds. The vacuum tube system had to be patched to create timbres. In the 1960s synthesizers were still usually confined to studios due to their size. They were usually modular in design, their stand-alone signal sources and processors connected with patch cords or by other means and controlled by
786-890: A pipe organ for church music, musicians soon discovered that the Hammond was an excellent instrument for blues and jazz ; indeed, an entire genre of music developed built around this instrument, known as the organ trio (typically Hammond organ, drums, and a third instrument, either saxophone or guitar). The first commercially manufactured synthesizer was the Novachord , built by the Hammond Organ Company from 1938 to 1942, which offered 72-note polyphony using 12 oscillators driving monostable -based divide-down circuits, basic envelope control and resonant low-pass filters . The instrument featured 163 vacuum tubes and weighed 500 pounds. The instrument's use of envelope control
917-476: A user interface for controlling its sound, often by adjusting the pitch , frequency , or duration of each note . A common user interface is the musical keyboard , which functions similarly to the keyboard on an acoustic piano where the keys are each linked mechanically to swinging string hammers - whereas with an electronic keyboard, the keyboard interface is linked to a synth module , computer or other electronic or digital sound generator, which then creates
1048-573: A common controlling device. Harald Bode , Don Buchla , Hugh Le Caine , Raymond Scott and Paul Ketoff were among the first to build such instruments, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Buchla later produced a commercial modular synthesizer, the Buchla Music Easel . Robert Moog , who had been a student of Peter Mauzey and one of the RCA Mark II engineers, created a synthesizer that could reasonably be used by musicians, designing
1179-413: A conductor, although early orchestras did not have one, giving this role to the concertmaster or the harpsichordist playing the continuo . Some modern orchestras also do without conductors , particularly smaller orchestras and those specializing in historically accurate (so-called "period") performances of baroque and earlier music. The most frequently performed repertoire for a symphony orchestra
1310-522: A consensus that faking may be acceptable when a part is not written well for the instrument, but faking "just because you haven't practised" the music is not acceptable. With the advent of the early music movement, smaller orchestras where players worked on execution of works in styles derived from the study of older treatises on playing became common. These include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment ,
1441-527: A given performance may vary from seventy to over one hundred, depending on the work being played and the venue size. A chamber orchestra (sometimes a concert orchestra ) is a smaller ensemble of not more than about fifty musicians. Orchestras that specialize in the Baroque music of, for example, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel , or Classical repertoire, such as that of Haydn and Mozart , tend to be smaller than orchestras performing
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#17327808454991572-565: A group in his own classification system, which is closer to Mahillon than Sachs-Hornbostel. For example, in Galpin's 1937 book A Textbook of European Musical Instruments , he lists electrophones with three second-level divisions for sound generation ("by oscillation", "electro-magnetic", and "electro-static"), as well as third-level and fourth-level categories based on the control method. Present-day ethnomusicologists , such as Margaret Kartomi and Terry Ellingson, suggest that, in keeping with
1703-536: A group of musicians and music merchants met to standardize an interface by which new instruments could communicate control instructions with other instruments and the prevalent microcomputer. This standard was dubbed MIDI ( Musical Instrument Digital Interface ). A paper was authored by Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits and proposed to the Audio Engineering Society in 1981. Then, in August 1983,
1834-571: A hundred, but the actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played and the size of the venue. A chamber orchestra is usually a smaller ensemble; a major chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians, but some are much smaller. Concert orchestra is an alternative term, as in the BBC Concert Orchestra and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra . Apart from
1965-459: A keyboard instrument of over 700 strings, electrified temporarily to enhance sonic qualities. The clavecin électrique was a keyboard instrument with plectra (picks) activated electrically. However, neither instrument used electricity as a sound source. The first electric synthesizer was invented in 1876 by Elisha Gray . The "Musical Telegraph" was a chance by-product of his telephone technology when Gray discovered that he could control sound from
2096-415: A live performance, could be heard by critics. As recording technologies improved over the 20th and 21st centuries, eventually small errors in a recording could be "fixed" by audio editing or overdubbing . Some older conductors and composers could remember a time when simply "getting through" the music as well as possible was the standard. Combined with the wider audience made possible by recording, this led to
2227-510: A microprocessor as a controller, was the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 introduced in late 1977. For the first time, musicians had a practical polyphonic synthesizer that could save all knob settings in computer memory and recall them at the touch of a button. The Prophet-5's design paradigm became a new standard, slowly pushing out more complex and recondite modular designs. In 1935, another significant development
2358-451: A minimum initial period of two seasons. In popular culture, the Dresden Philharmonic was the featured orchestra in the film Tár (2022). Symphony orchestra An orchestra ( / ˈ ɔːr k ɪ s t r ə / ; OR -ki-strə ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: Other instruments such as
2489-879: A modified member of the horn family, appears in Richard Wagner 's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and several other works by Strauss, Igor Stravinsky (as featured in The Rite of Spring ), Béla Bartók , and others; it also has a notably prominent role in Anton Bruckner 's Symphony No. 7 in E ;Major . Cornets appear in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky 's ballet Swan Lake , Claude Debussy 's La Mer , and several orchestral works by Hector Berlioz . Unless these instruments are played by members "doubling" on another instrument (for example,
2620-466: A mouthpiece. The sound processing is done on a separate computer. The AlphaSphere is a spherical instrument that consists of 48 tactile pads that respond to pressure as well as touch. Custom software allows the pads to be indefinitely programmed individually or by groups in terms of function, note, and pressure parameter among many other settings. The primary concept of the AlphaSphere is to increase
2751-453: A new concert hall. These had not come to fruition by the time of the principal conductorship of Marek Janowski , who cited this lack of development of a new hall for the orchestra as the reason for his resignation from the post in 2003. Michael Sanderling became principal conductor in 2011, with an initial contract of three years. In October 2013, the orchestra announced the extension of Sanderling's contract as principal conductor through
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#17327808454992882-590: A non-standard scale, Bertrand's Dynaphone could produce octaves and perfect fifths, while the Emicon was an American, keyboard-controlled instrument constructed in 1930 and the German Hellertion combined four instruments to produce chords. Three Russian instruments also appeared, Oubouhof's Croix Sonore (1934), Ivor Darreg 's microtonal 'Electronic Keyboard Oboe' (1937) and the ANS synthesizer , constructed by
3013-524: A novel experience in playing relative to operating a mechanically linked piano keyboard. All electronic musical instruments can be viewed as a subset of audio signal processing applications. Simple electronic musical instruments are sometimes called sound effects ; the border between sound effects and actual musical instruments is often unclear. In the 21st century, electronic musical instruments are now widely used in most styles of music. In popular music styles such as electronic dance music , almost all of
3144-531: A particular city or region. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ὀρχήστρα ( orchestra ), the name for the area in front of a stage in ancient Greek theatre reserved for the Greek chorus . In the Baroque era, the size and composition of an orchestra were not standardised. There were large differences in size, instrumentation and playing styles—and therefore in orchestral soundscapes and palettes — between
3275-624: A permanent member who is sick. A professional musician who is hired to perform for a single concert is sometimes called a "sub". Some contract musicians may be hired to replace permanent members for the period that the permanent member is on parental leave or disability leave. Historically, major professional orchestras have been mostly or entirely composed of men. The first women members hired in professional orchestras have been harpists . The Vienna Philharmonic , for example, did not accept women to permanent membership until 1997, far later than comparable orchestras (the other orchestras ranked among
3406-405: A range of different employment arrangements. The most sought-after positions are permanent, tenured positions in the orchestra. Orchestras also hire musicians on contracts, ranging in length from a single concert to a full season or more. Contract performers may be hired for individual concerts when the orchestra is doing an exceptionally large late-Romantic era orchestral work, or to substitute for
3537-412: A renewed focus on particular star conductors and on a high standard of orchestral execution. The typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of related musical instruments called the woodwinds , brass , percussion , and strings . Other instruments such as the piano, accordion , and celesta may sometimes be grouped into a fifth section such as a keyboard section or may stand alone, as may
3668-403: A repeating loop of adjustable length, set to any tempo, and new loops of sound can be layered on top of existing ones. This lends itself to electronic dance-music but is more limited for controlled sequences of notes, as the pad on a regular Kaossilator is featureless. The Eigenharp is a large instrument resembling a bassoon , which can be interacted with through big buttons, a drum sequencer and
3799-423: A self-vibrating electromagnetic circuit and so invented a basic oscillator . The Musical Telegraph used steel reeds oscillated by electromagnets and transmitted over a telephone line. Gray also built a simple loudspeaker device into later models, which consisted of a diaphragm vibrating in a magnetic field. A significant invention, which later had a profound effect on electronic music, was the audion in 1906. This
3930-543: A separate triggering signal. This standardization allowed synthesizers from different manufacturers to operate simultaneously. Pitch control was usually performed either with an organ-style keyboard or a music sequencer producing a timed series of control voltages. During the late 1960s hundreds of popular recordings used Moog synthesizers. Other early commercial synthesizer manufacturers included ARP , who also started with modular synthesizers before producing all-in-one instruments, and British firm EMS . In 1970, Moog designed
4061-443: A set of parameters. Xenakis used graph paper and a ruler to aid in calculating the velocity trajectories of glissando for his orchestral composition Metastasis (1953–54), but later turned to the use of computers to compose pieces like ST/4 for string quartet and ST/48 for orchestra (both 1962). The impact of computers continued in 1956. Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Issacson composed Illiac Suite for string quartet ,
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4192-620: A showcase for artists who perform or create music with new electronic music instruments, controllers, and synthesizers. In musicology, electronic musical instruments are known as electrophones. Electrophones are the fifth category of musical instrument under the Hornbostel-Sachs system. Musicologists typically only classify music as electrophones if the sound is initially produced by electricity, excluding electronically controlled acoustic instruments such as pipe organs and amplified instruments such as electric guitars . The category
4323-412: A sound. However, it is increasingly common to separate user interface and sound-generating functions into a music controller ( input device ) and a music synthesizer , respectively, with the two devices communicating through a musical performance description language such as MIDI or Open Sound Control . The solid state nature of electronic keyboards also offers differing "feel" and "response", offering
4454-437: A term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera. During the early Romantic era, composers such as Beethoven and Mendelssohn began to use the term to refer to independent, self-existing instrumental, programmatic works that presaged genres such as the symphonic poem , a form devised by Franz Liszt in several works that began as dramatic overtures. These were "at first undoubtedly intended to be played at
4585-549: A time. Popular monophonic synthesizers include the Moog Minimoog . A few, such as the Moog Sonic Six, ARP Odyssey and EML 101, could produce two different pitches at a time when two keys were pressed. Polyphony (multiple simultaneous tones, which enables chords ) was only obtainable with electronic organ designs at first. Popular electronic keyboards combining organ circuits with synthesizer processing included
4716-458: A trend toward donors finding other social causes more compelling. While government funding is less central to American than European orchestras, cuts in such funding are still significant for American ensembles. Finally, the drastic drop in revenues from recording, related to changes in the recording industry itself, began a period of change that has yet to reach its conclusion. U.S. orchestras that have gone into Chapter 11 bankruptcy include
4847-461: A trombone player changing to euphonium or a bassoon player switching to contrabassoon for a certain passage), orchestras typically hire freelance musicians to augment their regular ensemble. The 20th century orchestra was far more flexible than its predecessors. In Beethoven's and Felix Mendelssohn 's time, the orchestra was composed of a fairly standard core of instruments, which was very rarely modified by composers. As time progressed, and as
4978-495: A variety of amateur orchestras: Orchestras play a wide range of repertoire ranging from 17th-century dance suites , 18th century divertimentos to 20th-century film scores and 21st-century symphonies. Orchestras have become synonymous with the symphony , an extended musical composition in Western classical music that typically contains multiple movements which provide contrasting keys and tempos. Symphonies are notated in
5109-574: A variety of automated electronic-music controllers during the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1959 Daphne Oram produced a novel method of synthesis, her " Oramics " technique, driven by drawings on a 35 mm film strip; it was used for a number of years at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop . This workshop was also responsible for the theme to the TV series Doctor Who a piece, largely created by Delia Derbyshire , that more than any other ensured
5240-405: A velocity-sensitive keyboard. An important new development was the advent of computers for the purpose of composing music, as opposed to manipulating or creating sounds. Iannis Xenakis began what is called musique stochastique, or stochastic music , which is a method of composing that employs mathematical probability systems. Different probability algorithms were used to create a piece under
5371-436: A wide range of repertoire, including symphonies, opera and ballet overtures , concertos for solo instruments, and pit ensembles for operas, ballets, and some types of musical theatre (e.g., Gilbert and Sullivan operettas ). Amateur orchestras include youth orchestras made up of students from an elementary school, a high school, or a university, and community orchestras; typically they are made up of amateur musicians from
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5502-483: Is Kahchun Wong , as of the 2023-2024 season. Wong is scheduled to conclude in the post at the close of the 2024-2025 season. In November 2023, Tabita Berglund first guest-conducted the orchestra. In May 2024, on the basis of this appearance, the Dresden Philharmonic announced the appointment of Berglund as its next principal guest conductor, the first female conductor to be named to the post, for
5633-400: Is Western classical music or opera. However, orchestras are used sometimes in popular music (e.g., to accompany a rock or pop band in a concert), extensively in film music , and increasingly often in video game music . Orchestras are also used in the symphonic metal genre. The term "orchestra" can also be applied to a jazz ensemble, for example in the performance of big-band music. In
5764-406: Is an electromechanical instrument, as it used both mechanical elements and electronic parts. A Hammond organ used spinning metal tonewheels to produce different sounds. A magnetic pickup similar in design to the pickups in an electric guitar is used to transmit the pitches in the tonewheels to an amplifier and speaker enclosure. While the Hammond organ was designed to be a lower-cost alternative to
5895-417: Is called for in a string section, the section leader invariably plays that part. The section leader (or principal) of a string section is also responsible for determining the bowings, often based on the bowings set out by the concertmaster. In some cases, the principal of a string section may use a slightly different bowing than the concertmaster, to accommodate the requirements of playing their instrument (e.g.,
6026-467: Is significant, since this is perhaps the most significant distinction between the modern synthesizer and other electronic instruments. The most commonly used electronic instruments are synthesizers , so-called because they artificially generate sound using a variety of techniques. All early circuit-based synthesis involved the use of analogue circuitry, particularly voltage controlled amplifiers, oscillators and filters. An important technological development
6157-604: The "Eroica" Symphony arrives to provide not only some harmonic flexibility but also the effect of "choral" brass in the Trio movement. Piccolo , contrabassoon , and trombones add to the triumphal finale of his Symphony No. 5 . A piccolo and a pair of trombones help deliver the effect of storm and sunshine in the Sixth , also known as the Pastoral Symphony . The Ninth asks for a second pair of horns, for reasons similar to
6288-619: The GS-1 and GS-2 , which were costly and heavy. There followed a pair of smaller, preset versions, the CE20 and CE25 Combo Ensembles, targeted primarily at the home organ market and featuring four-octave keyboards. Yamaha's third generation of digital synthesizers was a commercial success; it consisted of the DX7 and DX9 (1983). Both models were compact, reasonably priced, and dependent on custom digital integrated circuits to produce FM tonalities. The DX7
6419-645: The London Classical Players under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington and the Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood , among others. In the United States, the late 20th century saw a crisis of funding and support for orchestras. The size and cost of a symphony orchestra, compared to the size of the base of supporters, became an issue that struck at the core of the institution. Few orchestras could fill auditoriums, and
6550-901: The Minimoog , a non-modular synthesizer with a built-in keyboard. The analogue circuits were interconnected with switches in a simplified arrangement called "normalization." Though less flexible than a modular design, normalization made the instrument more portable and easier to use. The Minimoog sold 12,000 units. Further standardized the design of subsequent synthesizers with its integrated keyboard, pitch and modulation wheels and VCO->VCF->VCA signal flow. It has become celebrated for its "fat" sound—and its tuning problems. Miniaturized solid-state components allowed synthesizers to become self-contained, portable instruments that soon appeared in live performance and quickly became widely used in popular music and electronic art music. Many early analog synthesizers were monophonic, producing only one tone at
6681-1113: The Philadelphia Orchestra (April 2011), and the Louisville Orchestra (December 2010); orchestras that have gone into Chapter 7 bankruptcy and have ceased operations include the Northwest Chamber Orchestra in 2006, the Honolulu Orchestra in March ;2011, the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra in April 2011, and the Syracuse Symphony in June ;2011. The Festival of Orchestras in Orlando, Florida, ceased operations at
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#17327808454996812-536: The Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood . The Trautonium was invented in 1928. It was based on the subharmonic scale, and the resulting sounds were often used to emulate bell or gong sounds, as in the 1950s Bayreuth productions of Parsifal . In 1942, Richard Strauss used it for the bell- and gong-part in the Dresden première of his Japanese Festival Music . This new class of instruments, microtonal by nature,
6943-477: The bassline ), played an important role; the second is a typical classical period orchestra (e.g., early Beethoven along with Mozart and Haydn ), which used a smaller group of performers than a Romantic music orchestra and a fairly standardized instrumentation; the third is typical of an early/mid-Romantic era (e.g., Schubert , Berlioz , Schumann , Brahms ); the fourth is a late-Romantic/early 20th-century orchestra (e.g., Wagner , Mahler , Stravinsky ), to
7074-440: The concert harp and electric and electronic instruments. The orchestra, depending on the size, contains almost all of the standard instruments in each group. In the history of the orchestra, its instrumentation has been expanded over time, often agreed to have been standardized by the classical period and Ludwig van Beethoven 's influence on the classical model. In the 20th and 21st century, new repertory demands expanded
7205-569: The electric guitar remain in the chordophones category, and so on. In the 18th-century, musicians and composers adapted a number of acoustic instruments to exploit the novelty of electricity. Thus, in the broadest sense, the first electrified musical instrument was the Denis d'or keyboard, dating from 1753, followed shortly by the clavecin électrique by the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste de Laborde in 1761. The Denis d'or consisted of
7336-464: The piano , harpsichord , pipe organ , and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone as soloist instruments, as may the concert harp and, for performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments , and guitars . A full-size Western orchestra may sometimes be called a symphony orchestra or philharmonic orchestra (from Greek phil- , "loving", and "harmony"). The number of musicians employed in
7467-426: The "Eroica" (four horns has since become standard); Beethoven's use of piccolo, contrabassoon, trombones, and untuned percussion—plus chorus and vocal soloists—in his finale, are his earliest suggestion that the timbral boundaries of the symphony might be expanded. For several decades after his death, symphonic instrumentation was faithful to Beethoven's well-established model, with few exceptions. The invention of
7598-469: The "great unmentionable [topics] of orchestral playing" is " faking ", the process by which an orchestral musician gives the false "... impression of playing every note as written", typically for a very challenging passage that is very high or very fast, while not actually playing the notes that are in the printed music part. An article in The Strad states that all orchestral musicians, even those in
7729-406: The 1950s in the context of computer music , including computer- played music (software sequencer), computer- composed music ( music synthesis ), and computer sound generation ( sound synthesis ). The first digital synthesizers were academic experiments in sound synthesis using digital computers. FM synthesis was developed for this purpose; as a way of generating complex sounds digitally with
7860-592: The 1950s. The Mark II Music Synthesizer , housed at the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in New York City . Designed by Herbert Belar and Harry Olson at RCA, with contributions from Vladimir Ussachevsky and Peter Mauzey , it was installed at Columbia University in 1957. Consisting of a room-sized array of interconnected sound synthesis components, it was only capable of producing music by programming, using
7991-617: The 19th century is generally attributed to the forces called for by Beethoven after Haydn and Mozart. Beethoven's instrumentation almost always included paired flutes , oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and trumpets. The exceptions are his Symphony No. 4 , Violin Concerto , and Piano Concerto No. 4 , which each specify a single flute. Beethoven carefully calculated the expansion of this particular timbral "palette" in Symphonies 3, 5, 6, and 9 for an innovative effect. The third horn in
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#17327808454998122-406: The 2000s, all tenured members of a professional orchestra normally audition for positions in the ensemble. Performers typically play one or more solo pieces of the auditionee's choice, such as a movement of a concerto, a solo Bach movement, and a variety of excerpts from the orchestral literature that are advertised in the audition poster (so the auditionees can prepare). The excerpts are typically
8253-430: The 2018–2019 season. In November 2016, Sanderling announced, via a letter to the mayor of Dresden, his intention to stand down as chief conductor of the orchestra in 2019, in protest at learning of proposed culture budget reductions via media reports instead of being informed directly from the civic authorities. In September 2018, the orchestra announced the re-appointment of Janowski as its chief conductor, effective with
8384-401: The 2019–2020 season, with an initial contract of three seasons. In November 2020, the orchestra announced the extension of Janowski's contract as chief conductor by one season, through the summer of 2023, when Janowski concluded his second tenure with the orchestra. In December 2022, Sir Donald Runnicles first guest-conducted the orchestra. In December 2023, the Dresden Philharmonic announced
8515-682: The ARP Omni and Moog's Polymoog and Opus 3. By 1976 affordable polyphonic synthesizers began to appear, such as the Yamaha CS-50, CS-60 and CS-80 , the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and the Oberheim Four-Voice. These remained complex, heavy and relatively costly. The recording of settings in digital memory allowed storage and recall of sounds. The first practical polyphonic synth, and the first to use
8646-687: The Classical era, as composers increasingly sought out financial support from the general public, orchestra concerts were increasingly held in public concert halls , where music lovers could buy tickets to hear the orchestra. Aristocratic patronage of orchestras continued during the Classical era, but this went on alongside public concerts. In the 20th and 21st century, orchestras found a new patron: governments. Many orchestras in North America and Europe receive part of their funding from national, regional level governments (e.g., state governments in
8777-715: The MIDI Specification 1.0 was finalized. The advent of MIDI technology allows a single keystroke, control wheel motion, pedal movement, or command from a microcomputer to activate every device in the studio remotely and in synchrony, with each device responding according to conditions predetermined by the composer. MIDI instruments and software made powerful control of sophisticated instruments easily affordable by many studios and individuals. Acoustic sounds became reintegrated into studios via sampling and sampled-ROM-based instruments. The increasing power and decreasing cost of sound-generating electronics (and especially of
8908-522: The Romantic period saw changes in accepted modification with composers such as Berlioz and Mahler; some composers used multiple harps and sound effect such as the wind machine . During the 20th century, the modern orchestra was generally standardized with the modern instrumentation listed below. Nevertheless, by the mid- to late 20th century, with the development of contemporary classical music , instrumentation could practically be hand-picked by
9039-579: The Russian scientist Evgeny Murzin from 1937 to 1958. Only two models of this latter were built and the only surviving example is currently stored at the Lomonosov University in Moscow . It has been used in many Russian movies—like Solaris —to produce unusual, "cosmic" sounds. Hugh Le Caine , John Hanert, Raymond Scott , composer Percy Grainger (with Burnett Cross), and others built
9170-472: The U.S.) or city governments. These government subsidies make up part of orchestra revenue, along with ticket sales, charitable donations (if the orchestra is registered as a charity) and other fundraising activities. With the invention of successive technologies, including sound recording , radio broadcasting , television broadcasting and Internet-based streaming and downloading of concert videos, orchestras have been able to find new revenue sources. One of
9301-808: The VPO now uses completely screened blind auditions . In 2013, an article in Mother Jones stated that while "[m]any prestigious orchestras have significant female membership — women outnumber men in the New York Philharmonic 's violin section — and several renowned ensembles, including the National Symphony Orchestra , the Detroit Symphony , and the Minnesota Symphony, are led by women violinists",
9432-443: The appointment of Runnicles as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2025-2026 season. He is scheduled to serve as chief conductor-designate for the 2024-2025 season. Past principal guest conductors of the orchestra have included Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (later chief conductor of the orchestra from 2004 to 2011), Yuri Temirkanov , Bertrand de Billy , and Markus Poschner . The orchestra's current principal guest conductor
9563-410: The case of the first violins, an assistant concertmaster, who often plays a tutti part in addition to replacing the principal in their absence. A section string player plays in unison with the rest of the section, except in the case of divided ( divisi ) parts, where upper and lower parts in the music are often assigned to "outside" (nearer the audience) and "inside" seated players. Where a solo part
9694-417: The circuits while he was at Columbia-Princeton. The Moog synthesizer was first displayed at the Audio Engineering Society convention in 1964. It required experience to set up sounds but was smaller and more intuitive than what had come before, less like a machine and more like a musical instrument. Moog established standards for control interfacing, using a logarithmic 1-volt-per-octave for pitch control and
9825-416: The classical era, the orchestra became more standardized with a small to medium-sized string section and a core wind section consisting of pairs of oboes, flutes, bassoons and horns, sometimes supplemented by percussion and pairs of clarinets and trumpets. The so-called "standard complement" of doubled winds and brass in the orchestra pioneered in the late 18th century and consolidated during the first half of
9956-498: The common complement of a 2010-era modern orchestra (e.g., Adams , Barber , Aaron Copland , Glass , Penderecki ). Among the instrument groups and within each group of instruments, there is a generally accepted hierarchy. Every instrumental group (or section) has a principal who is generally responsible for leading the group and playing orchestral solos. The violins are divided into two groups, first violin and second violin, with
10087-406: The composer (e.g., to add electric instruments such as electric guitar, electronic instruments such as synthesizers, ondes martenot , or trautonium , as well as other non-Western instruments, or other instruments not traditionally used in orchestras including the: bandoneon , free bass accordion , harmonica , jews harp , mandola and water percussion. With this history in mind,
10218-413: The conductor and the panel to compare the best candidates. Performers may be asked to sight read orchestral music. The final stage of the audition process in some orchestras is a test week , in which the performer plays with the orchestra for a week or two, which allows the conductor and principal players to see if the individual can function well in an actual rehearsal and performance setting. There are
10349-662: The conductor of the theatre orchestra, as he elaborated in his influential work On Conducting . This brought about a revolution in orchestral composition and set the style for orchestral performance for the next eighty years. Wagner's theories re-examined the importance of tempo , dynamics , bowing of string instruments and the role of principals in the orchestra. At the beginning of the 20th century, symphony orchestras were larger, better funded, and better trained than previously; consequently, composers could compose larger and more ambitious works. The works of Gustav Mahler were particularly innovative; in his later symphonies, such as
10480-443: The core orchestral complement, various other instruments are called for occasionally. These include the flugelhorn and cornet . Saxophones and classical guitars, for example, appear in some 19th- through 21st-century scores. While appearing only as featured solo instruments in some works, for example Maurice Ravel 's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky 's Pictures at an Exhibition and Sergei Rachmaninoff 's Symphonic Dances ,
10611-528: The cubes, a variety of music and sound software can be operated. AudioCubes have applications in sound design, music production, DJing and live performance. The Kaossilator and Kaossilator Pro are compact instruments where the position of a finger on the touch pad controls two note-characteristics; usually the pitch is changed with a left-right motion and the tonal property, filter or other parameter changes with an up-down motion. The touch pad can be set to different musical scales and keys. The instrument can record
10742-436: The double bass, brass, and percussion sections of major orchestras "... are still predominantly male." A 2014 BBC article stated that the "... introduction of 'blind' auditions, where a prospective instrumentalist performs behind a screen so that the judging panel can exercise no gender or racial prejudice, has seen the gender balance of traditionally male-dominated symphony orchestras gradually shift." There are also
10873-400: The double-bass section). Principals of a string section will also lead entrances for their section, typically by lifting the bow before the entrance, to ensure the section plays together. Tutti wind and brass players generally play a unique but non-solo part. Section percussionists play parts assigned to them by the principal percussionist. In modern times, the musicians are usually directed by
11004-445: The early 1960s. During the 1940s–1960s, Raymond Scott , an American composer of electronic music, invented various kind of music sequencers for his electric compositions. Step sequencers played rigid patterns of notes using a grid of (usually) 16 buttons, or steps, each step being 1/16 of a measure . These patterns of notes were then chained together to form longer compositions. Software sequencers were continuously utilized since
11135-428: The end of March 2011. One source of financial difficulties that received notice and criticism was high salaries for music directors of US orchestras, which led several high-profile conductors to take pay cuts in recent years. Music administrators such as Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen argued that new music, new means of presenting it, and a renewed relationship with the community could revitalize
11266-414: The expressiveness of the cello . The French composer Olivier Messiaen used the ondes Martenot in pieces such as his 1949 symphony Turangalîla-Symphonie , and his sister-in-law Jeanne Loriod was a celebrated player. It appears in numerous film and television soundtracks, particularly science fiction and horror films . Contemporary users of the ondes Martenot include Tom Waits , Daft Punk and
11397-781: The first complete work of computer-assisted composition using algorithmic composition. In 1957, Max Mathews at Bell Lab wrote MUSIC-N series, a first computer program family for generating digital audio waveforms through direct synthesis. Then Barry Vercoe wrote MUSIC 11 based on MUSIC IV-BF , a next-generation music synthesis program (later evolving into csound , which is still widely used). In mid 80s, Miller Puckette at IRCAM developed graphic signal-processing software for 4X called Max (after Max Mathews), and later ported it to Macintosh (with Dave Zicarelli extending it for Opcode ) for real-time MIDI control, bringing algorithmic composition availability to most composers with modest computer programming background. In 1980,
11528-492: The first compositions for electronic instruments, as opposed to noisemakers and re-purposed machines. The Theremin was notable for being the first musical instrument played without touching it. In 1929, Joseph Schillinger composed First Airphonic Suite for Theremin and Orchestra , premièred with the Cleveland Orchestra with Leon Theremin as soloist. The next year Henry Cowell commissioned Theremin to create
11659-584: The first electronic rhythm machine, called the Rhythmicon . Cowell wrote some compositions for it, which he and Schillinger premiered in 1932. The ondes Martenot is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin . It was invented in 1928 by the French cellist Maurice Martenot , who was inspired by the accidental overlaps of tones between military radio oscillators, and wanted to create an instrument with
11790-528: The first polyphonic digital sampler , was the harbinger of sample-based synthesizers. Designed in 1978 by Peter Vogel and Kim Ryrie and based on a dual microprocessor computer designed by Tony Furse in Sydney, Australia, the Fairlight CMI gave musicians the ability to modify volume, attack, decay, and use special effects like vibrato. Sample waveforms could be displayed on-screen and modified using
11921-434: The first systematic treatise on using instrumental sound as an expressive element of music. The next major expansion of symphonic practice came from Richard Wagner 's Bayreuth orchestra, founded to accompany his musical dramas. Wagner's works for the stage were scored with unprecedented scope and complexity: indeed, his score to Das Rheingold calls for six harps . Thus, Wagner envisioned an ever-more-demanding role for
12052-414: The first violin section – commonly called the concertmaster – also plays an important role in leading the musicians. In the Baroque music era (1600–1750), orchestras were often led by the concertmaster, or by a chord-playing musician performing the basso continuo parts on a harpsichord or pipe organ , a tradition that some 20th-century and 21st-century early music ensembles continue. Orchestras play
12183-479: The first weighing seven tons, the last in excess of 200 tons. Portability was managed only by rail and with the use of thirty boxcars. By 1912, public interest had waned, and Cahill's enterprise was bankrupt. Another development, which aroused the interest of many composers, occurred in 1919–1920. In Leningrad, Leon Theremin built and demonstrated his Etherophone, which was later renamed the Theremin . This led to
12314-600: The full range of orchestral sounds and timbres during the performance of orthodox Western classical music. The terms symphony orchestra and philharmonic orchestra may be used to distinguish different ensembles from the same locality, such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra . A symphony or philharmonic orchestra will usually have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over
12445-710: The guitar-like SynthAxe , the BodySynth, the Buchla Thunder , the Continuum Fingerboard , the Roland Octapad , various isomorphic keyboards including the Thummer, and Kaossilator Pro , and kits like I-CubeX . The Reactable is a round translucent table with a backlit interactive display. By placing and manipulating blocks called tangibles on the table surface, while interacting with
12576-439: The hands and arms, often made easier for the musicians to see by using a short wooden rod known as a conductor's baton . The conductor unifies the orchestra, sets the tempo , and shapes the sound of the ensemble. The conductor also prepares the orchestra by leading rehearsals before the public concert, in which the conductor provides instructions to the musicians on their interpretation of the music being performed. The leader of
12707-543: The head of a programme". In the 1850s the concert overture began to be supplanted by the symphonic poem. Orchestras also play with instrumental soloists in concertos. During concertos, the orchestra plays an accompaniment role to the soloist (e.g., a solo violinist or pianist) and, at times, introduces musical themes or interludes while the soloist is not playing. Orchestras also play during operas, ballets, some musical theatre works and some choral works (both sacred works such as Masses and secular works). In operas and ballets,
12838-523: The instrument sounds used in recordings are electronic instruments (e.g., bass synth , synthesizer , drum machine ). Development of new electronic musical instruments, controllers, and synthesizers continues to be a highly active and interdisciplinary field of research. Specialized conferences, such as the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression , have organized to report cutting-edge work, as well as to provide
12969-558: The instrumentation of the orchestra, resulting in a flexible use of the classical-model instruments and newly developed electric and electronic instruments in various combinations. In the mid 20th century, several attempts were made in Germany and the United States to confine the instrumentation of the symphonic orchestra exclusively to groups of one instrument. In this configuration, the symphonic orchestra consisted entirely of free-reed chromatic accordions which were modified to recreate
13100-681: The late 1970s and early 1980s, do-it-yourself designs were published in hobby electronics magazines (such the Formant modular synth, a DIY clone of the Moog system, published by Elektor ) and kits were supplied by companies such as Paia in the US, and Maplin Electronics in the UK. In 1966, Reed Ghazala discovered and began to teach math " circuit bending "—the application of the creative short circuit,
13231-487: The level of expression available to electronic musicians, by allowing for the playing style of a musical instrument. Chiptune , chipmusic, or chip music is music written in sound formats where many of the sound textures are synthesized or sequenced in real time by a computer or video game console sound chip , sometimes including sample-based synthesis and low bit sample playback. Many chip music devices featured synthesizers in tandem with low rate sample playback. During
13362-526: The mammoth Symphony No. 8 , Mahler pushes the furthest boundaries of orchestral size, employing large forces. By the late Romantic era, orchestras could support the most enormous forms of symphonic expression, with huge string and brass sections and an expanded range of percussion instruments. With the recording era beginning, the standards of performance were pushed to a new level, because a recorded symphony could be listened to closely and even minor errors in intonation or ensemble, which might not be noticeable in
13493-445: The most technically challenging parts and solos from the orchestral literature. Orchestral auditions are typically held in front of a panel that includes the conductor, the concertmaster , the principal player of the section for which the auditionee is applying, and possibly other principal players. The most promising candidates from the first round of auditions are invited to return for a second or third round of auditions, which allows
13624-436: The orchestra accompanies the singers and dancers, respectively, and plays overtures and interludes where the melodies played by the orchestra take centre stage. In the Baroque era, orchestras performed in a range of venues, including at the fine houses of aristocrats, in opera halls and in churches. Some wealthy aristocrats had an orchestra in residence at their estate, to entertain them and their guests with performances. During
13755-514: The orchestra can be analysed in five eras: the Baroque era , the Classical era , early/mid- Romantic music era, late-Romantic era and combined Modern/Postmodern eras . The first is a Baroque orchestra (i.e., J.S. Bach , Handel , Vivaldi ), which generally had a smaller number of performers, and in which one or more chord-playing instruments, the basso continuo group (e.g., harpsichord or pipe organ and assorted bass instruments to perform
13886-464: The orchestra gathered [on 28 February 1997] in an extraordinary meeting on the eve of their departure and agreed to admit a woman, Anna Lelkes, as harpist." As of 2013, the orchestra has six female members; one of them, violinist Albena Danailova, became one of the orchestra's concertmasters in 2008, the first woman to hold that position in that orchestra. In 2012, women made up 6% of the orchestra's membership. VPO president Clemens Hellsberg said
14017-645: The orchestra is Frauke Roth, in the post since 2015, and currently under contract to the orchestra through 2026. The orchestra was founded in 1870 and gave its first concert in the Gewerbehaussaal on 29 November 1870, under the name Gewerbehausorchester . The orchestra acquired its current name in 1915. During the existence of the DDR , the orchestra took up its primary residence in the Kulturpalast . After German reunification , plans had been proposed for
14148-676: The orchestra's press secretary wrote that "compensating for the expected leaves of absence" of maternity leave would be a problem. In 1997, the Vienna Philharmonic was "facing protests during a [US] tour" by the National Organization for Women and the International Alliance for Women in Music . Finally, "after being held up to increasing ridicule even in socially conservative Austria, members of
14279-453: The personal computer), combined with the standardization of the MIDI and Open Sound Control musical performance description languages, has facilitated the separation of musical instruments into music controllers and music synthesizers. By far the most common musical controller is the musical keyboard . Other controllers include the radiodrum , Akai's EWI and Yamaha's WX wind controllers,
14410-446: The piston and rotary valve by Heinrich Stölzel and Friedrich Blühmel , both Silesians , in 1815, was the first in a series of innovations which impacted the orchestra, including the development of modern keywork for the flute by Theobald Boehm and the innovations of Adolphe Sax in the woodwinds, notably the invention of the saxophone. These advances would lead Hector Berlioz to write a landmark book on instrumentation , which were
14541-683: The popularity of electronic music in the UK. In 1897 Thaddeus Cahill patented an instrument called the Telharmonium (or Teleharmonium, also known as the Dynamaphone). Using tonewheels to generate musical sounds as electrical signals by additive synthesis , it was capable of producing any combination of notes and overtones, at any dynamic level. This technology was later used to design the Hammond organ . Between 1901 and 1910 Cahill had three progressively larger and more complex versions made,
14672-419: The pre-concert tuning and handles musical aspects of orchestra management, such as determining the bowings for the violins or the entire string section. The concertmaster usually sits to the conductor's left, closest to the audience. There is also a principal second violin, a principal viola, a principal cello, and a principal bass. The principal trombone is considered the leader of the low brass section, while
14803-528: The principal trumpet is generally considered the leader of the entire brass section. While the oboe often provides the tuning note for the orchestra (due to a 300-year-old convention), there is generally no designated principal of the woodwind section (though in woodwind ensembles, the flute is often the presumptive leader). Instead, each principal confers with the others as equals in the case of musical differences of opinion. Most sections also have an assistant principal (or co-principal or associate principal), or in
14934-593: The saxophone is included in other works, such as Ravel's Boléro , Sergei Prokofiev 's Romeo and Juliet Suites 1 and 2 , Vaughan Williams ' Symphonies No. 6 and No. 9 , and William Walton 's Belshazzar's Feast , and many other works as a member of the orchestral ensemble. The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th century works , usually playing parts marked "tenor tuba", including Gustav Holst 's The Planets , and Richard Strauss 's Ein Heldenleben . The Wagner tuba ,
15065-413: The second violins playing in lower registers than the first violins, playing an accompaniment part, or harmonizing the melody played by the first violins. The principal first violin is called the concertmaster (or orchestra "leader" in the U.K.) and is not only considered the leader of the string section, but the second-in-command of the entire orchestra, behind only the conductor. The concertmaster leads
15196-473: The smallest number of computational operations per sound sample. In 1983 Yamaha introduced the first stand-alone digital synthesizer, the DX-7 . It used frequency modulation synthesis (FM synthesis), first developed by John Chowning at Stanford University during the late sixties. Chowning exclusively licensed his FM synthesis patent to Yamaha in 1975. Yamaha subsequently released their first FM synthesizers,
15327-417: The spirit of the original Hornbostel Sachs classification scheme, if one categorizes instruments by what first produces the initial sound in the instrument, that only subcategory 53 should remain in the electrophones category. Thus, it has been more recently proposed, for example, that the pipe organ (even if it uses electric key action to control solenoid valves ) remain in the aerophones category, and that
15458-439: The success of FM synthesis Yamaha signed a contract with Stanford University in 1989 to develop digital waveguide synthesis , leading to the first commercial physical modeling synthesizer , Yamaha's VL-1, in 1994. The DX-7 was affordable enough for amateurs and young bands to buy, unlike the costly synthesizers of previous generations, which were mainly used by top professionals. The Fairlight CMI (Computer Musical Instrument),
15589-421: The symphony orchestra. The American critic Greg Sandow has argued in detail that orchestras must revise their approach to music, performance, the concert experience, marketing, public relations, community involvement, and presentation to bring them in line with the expectations of 21st century audiences immersed in popular culture. Electronic musical instrument An electronic instrument might include
15720-612: The tape recorder as an essential element: "electronically produced sounds recorded on tape and arranged by the composer to form a musical composition". It was also indispensable to Musique concrète . Tape also gave rise to the first, analogue, sample-playback keyboards, the Chamberlin and its more famous successor the Mellotron , an electro-mechanical, polyphonic keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in
15851-411: The time-honored season-subscription system became increasingly anachronistic, as more and more listeners would buy tickets on an ad-hoc basis for individual events. Orchestral endowments and — more centrally to the daily operation of American orchestras — orchestral donors have seen investment portfolios shrink, or produce lower yields, reducing the ability of donors to contribute; further, there has been
15982-406: The top orchestras, occasionally fake certain passages. One reason that musicians fake is because there are not enough rehearsals. Another factor is the extreme challenges in 20th century and 21st century contemporary pieces; some professionals said "faking" was "necessary in anything from ten to almost ninety per cent of some modern works". Professional players who were interviewed were of
16113-635: The various European regions. The Baroque orchestra ranged from smaller orchestras (or ensembles) with one player per part, to larger-scale orchestras with many players per part. Examples of the smaller variety were Bach's orchestras, for example in Koethen, where he had access to an ensemble of up to 18 players. Examples of large-scale Baroque orchestras would include Corelli's orchestra in Rome which ranged between 35 and 80 players for day-to-day performances, being enlarged to 150 players for special occasions. In
16244-432: The visual display via finger gestures, a virtual modular synthesizer is operated, creating music or sound effects. AudioCubes are autonomous wireless cubes powered by an internal computer system and rechargeable battery. They have internal RGB lighting, and are capable of detecting each other's location, orientation and distance. The cubes can also detect distances to the user's hands and fingers. Through interaction with
16375-479: The world's top five by Gramophone in 2008). The last major orchestra to appoint a woman to a permanent position was the Berlin Philharmonic . In February 1996, the Vienna Philharmonic's principal flute, Dieter Flury , told Westdeutscher Rundfunk that accepting women would be "gambling with the emotional unity ( emotionelle Geschlossenheit ) that this organism currently has". In April 1996,
16506-432: Was added to the Hornbostel-Sachs musical instrument classification system by Sachs in 1940, in his 1940 book The History of Musical Instruments ; the original 1914 version of the system did not include it. Sachs divided electrophones into three subcategories: The last category included instruments such as theremins or synthesizers , which he called radioelectric instruments. Francis William Galpin provided such
16637-462: Was made in Germany. Allgemeine Elektricitäts Gesellschaft (AEG) demonstrated the first commercially produced magnetic tape recorder , called the Magnetophon . Audio tape , which had the advantage of being fairly light as well as having good audio fidelity, ultimately replaced the bulkier wire recorders. The term " electronic music " (which first came into use during the 1930s) came to include
16768-499: Was only adopted slowly by composers at first, but by the early 1930s there was a burst of new works incorporating these and other electronic instruments. In 1929 Laurens Hammond established his company for the manufacture of electronic instruments. He went on to produce the Hammond organ , which was based on the principles of the Telharmonium , along with other developments including early reverberation units. The Hammond organ
16899-400: Was the first mass market all-digital synthesizer. It became indispensable to many music artists of the 1980s, and demand soon exceeded supply. The DX7 sold over 200,000 units within three years. The DX series was not easy to program but offered a detailed, percussive sound that led to the demise of the electro-mechanical Rhodes piano , which was heavier and larger than a DX synth. Following
17030-490: Was the first thermionic valve, or vacuum tube and which led to the generation and amplification of electrical signals, radio broadcasting, and electronic computation, among other things. Other early synthesizers included the Telharmonium (1897), the Theremin (1919), Jörg Mager's Spharophon (1924) and Partiturophone, Taubmann's similar Electronde (1933), Maurice Martenot 's ondes Martenot ("Martenot waves", 1928), Trautwein's Trautonium (1930). The Mellertion (1933) used
17161-598: Was the invention of the Clavivox synthesizer in 1956 by Raymond Scott with subassembly by Robert Moog . French composer and engineer Edgard Varèse created a variety of compositions using electronic horns , whistles, and tape. Most notably, he wrote Poème électronique for the Philips pavilion at the Brussels World Fair in 1958. RCA produced experimental devices to synthesize voice and music in
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