On Feb 17, 2006, at 2:17 PM, David W. Fenton wrote:
On 16 Feb 2006 at 23:50, Andrew Stiller wrote:
(17th-c. orchestras had no 16' voice)
Is this really true as an unqualified statement? Orchestral practice
was very, very different in different places, and, of course, the
whole idea of an "orchestra" did not really quite yet exist in the
way we use it.
If by "orchestra" you mean a permanent (i.e., not ad-hoc) instrumental
ensemble dominated by members of the violin family playing in massed
sections, then yes, it apparently is unqualifiedly true. The
Vingt-quatre violons du roy had no 16' voice. Lully's opera orchestra
had no 16' voice. Corelli's orchestra had no 16' voice. Contrabasses
(one or two) began to creep into a few orchestras (not the most
important) in the 1690s, but that is the only qualification I can think
of. The details (and *massive* documentation) are in _The Birth of the
Orchestra_, wh. I have recommended here before.
There were certainly 16' instruments used in various
repertories of vocal music with instruments (especially in Germany)
and in instrumental music alone (in England, and in Italy, too; I
don't know so much about French music of the period).
The main "home" of the contrabass in the 17th c. was as reinforcement
for choral bass lines in church (apparently all over the world [not
just Europe, NB]), and it was from there that it migrated into the
orchestra ca. 1700.
Andrew Stiller
Kallisti Music Press
http://home.netcom.com/~kallisti/
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