This guide to the orchestra and orchestral life is unique in its breadth of coverage. It combinesorchestral history and repertory with a practical bias offering critical thought about the past, present and future of the orchestra. Including topics such as the art of orchestration, scorereading, conducting, international orchestras, recording, as well as consideration of what it means to be an orchestral musician, an educator, or an informed listener, it will be of interest to a wideranging readership of music historians and professional or amateur performers.

This well-known study by an eminent musicologist constitutes one of the best mid-level explorations of the nature and function of the orchestra. Tracing the beginnings of modern music from the seventeenth through early twentieth centuries, the survey presents forty-four musical excerpts and thirteen sketches of instruments, plus appendices and quotations related to conducting methods. Featured composers include Purcell, Scarlatti, Bach, Handel, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Berlioz, Wagner, Debussy, Elgar, and many others. Author Adam Carse examines the evolution of individual musical instruments along with varying performance techniques and concepts of instrumental color. He further explores the recognition of major instrumental groups and their musical distinctions, decisions regarding volume and balance of tone, the influence of musical subject matter upon orchestration, and many similar topics. This volume represents a splendid resource for music students, enthusiasts of musical history and classical music, and music lovers of all ages.

This is the story of the orchestra, from 16th-century string bands to the "classical" orchestra of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Spitzer and Zaslaw document orchestral organization, instrumentation, social roles, repertories, and performance practices in Europe and the American colonies, concluding around 1800 with the widespread awareness of the orchestra as a central institution in European life.

Presenting detailed bibliographic information on all aspects of orchestration, instrumentation, and musical arranging with the broadest possible historical and stylistic palette, this work includes over 1,200 citations. The sources range from treatises, dissertations, and textbooks to journal articles and are cross-referenced and indexed. This is the only comprehensive bibliographic reference guide of its kind on the subject of orchestration. It will be of value to the music theory teacher, undergraduate and graduate students of orchestration, and the researcher. The book contains chapters devoted to book-length treatises; a general bibliography of journal articles and books partially related to orchestration; a chronological list of orchestration treatises; a list of jazz-arranging treatises; a list of band-related treatises; a list of treatises dealing with specific instruments or instrumental families; and an index. This is the first in a series of music theory reference books the author is developing.

This book traces the emergence of the orchestra from 16th-century string bands to the 'classical' orchestra of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their contemporaries. Ensembles of bowed stringed instruments, several players per part plus continuo and wind instruments, were organized in France in the mid-17th century and then in Rome at the end of the century. The prestige of these ensembles and of the music and performing styles of their leaders, Jean-Baptiste Lully and ArcangeloCorelli, caused them to be imitated elsewhere, until by the late 18th century, the orchestra had become a pan-European phenomenon.Spitzer and Zaslaw review previous accounts of these developments, then proceed to a thoroughgoing documentation and discussion of orchestral organization, instrumentation, and social roles in France, Italy, Germany, England, and the American colonies. They also examine the emergence of orchestra musicians, idiomatic music for orchestras, orchestral performance practices, and the awareness of the orchestra as a central institution in European life.

With writings by Berlioz, Wagner, Gounod, Mahler, Schoenberg, Reich, and others, this collection of writings traces the history of orchestration and its development, as well as presents a wide variety of theories that have been embraced by the leading practitioners in the field.

"The Evolution of Modern Orchestration" by Louis Adolphe Coerne is a book that traces the evolution of the orchestra and of orchestration in connection with the history of music proper. Special emphasis is laid upon what may be termed the "IMPELLING FORCES" to which the development of orchestration is due. In addition to extended studies of orchestral scores themselves, the standard works of Berlioz, Gevaërt, Riemann, Parry, and others have, as a matter of course, been referred to. Throughout the book, the achievements of the more prominent composers are set forth in such a manner as to indicate not only the distinctive features of their orchestration but their general creative ability as well.

This is a book both by and about Berlioz, providing not only a translation but also an extensive commentary on his text, dealing with the instruments of Berlioz's time and comparing his instruction with his practice.

The symphonic orchestra is intriguingly considered in essays by 23 leading music authors and thinkers. Topics include historical beginnings, the role of the conductor, the orchestral audience, the nature of the repertoire, and how recordings have affected the modern orchestra. With a new editor's introduction for this 2006 edition and a glossary of terms.