Classical Instrument Shop

About the Symphony

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:12:28 +0000

The word “symphony” derives from Greek, meaning “agreement or concord of sound”, “concert of vocal or instrumental music”, from, “harmonious” (Oxford English Dictionary). Isidore of Seville was the first to use the Latin word symphonia, as the name of a two-headed drum, and from ca. 1155 to 1377 the French form symphonie was the name of the organistrum or hurdy-gurdy. In late medieval England, symphony was used in both of these senses, whereas by the sixteenth century it was equated with the dulcimer. In German, Symphonie was a generic term for spinets and virginals from the late 16th century to the 18th century (Marcuse 1975, 501). In the sense of “sounding together” the word begins to appear in the titles of some works by 16th- and 17th-century composers including Giovanni Gabrieli (Sacrae symphoniae, 1597, and Symphoniae sacrae, liber secundus, 1615), Adriano Banchieri (Eclesiastiche sinfonie, 1607), Lodovico Grossi da Viadana (Sinfonie musicali, 1610), and Heinrich Schütz (Symphoniae sacrae, 1629).

In the 17th century, for most of the Baroque period, the terms symphony and sinfonia were used for a range of different compositions, including instrumental pieces used in operas, sonatas and concertos—usually part of a larger work. The opera sinfonia, or Italian overture had, by the 18th century, a standard structure of three contrasting movements: fast; slow; fast and dance-like. It is this form that is often considered as the direct forerunner of the orchestral symphony. The terms “overture”, “symphony” and “sinfonia” were widely regarded as interchangeable for much of the 18th century.

Another important progenitor of the symphony was the ripieno concerto—a relatively little-explored form resembling a concerto for strings and continuo, but with no solo instruments. The earliest known ripieno concerti are by Giuseppe Torelli (his set of six, opus five, 1698). Antonio Vivaldi also wrote works of this type.[citation needed] Perhaps the best known ripieno concerto is Johann Sebastian Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 3

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About the Symphony

The Orchestra

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:09:45 +0000

An orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus. The orchestra grew by accretion throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but changed very little in composition during the course of the twentieth century.

A smaller orchestra (of about fifty players or fewer) is called a chamber orchestra.

A full size orchestra (about 100 players) may sometimes be called a “symphony orchestra” or “philharmonic orchestra”; these prefixes do not necessarily indicate any strict difference in either the instrumental constitution or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different ensembles based in the same city (for instance, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra). A symphony orchestra will usually have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over 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 leading chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians; some are much smaller than that.

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Josef Puchner Original Bassoon High D 1960s Vintage WOW
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The Orchestra

Brief History of Classical Music

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 20:04:58 +0000

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common practice period.

European classical music is largely distinguished from many other non-European and popular musical forms by its system of staff notation, in use since about the 16th century.[2] Western staff notation is used by composers to prescribe to the performer the pitch, speed, meter, individual rhythms and exact execution of a piece of music. This leaves less room for practices, such as improvisation and ad libitum ornamentation, that are frequently heard in non-European art music (compare Indian classical music and Japanese traditional music), and popular music.

The public taste for and appreciation of formal music of this type waned in the late 1900s in the United States and United Kingdom in particular.[6] Certainly this period has seen classical music falling well behind the immense commercial success of popular music, in the opinion of some, although the number of CDs sold is not indicative of the popularity of classical music.

The term “classical music” did not appear until the early 19th century, in an attempt to “canonize” the period from Johann Sebastian Bach to Beethoven as a golden age.[8] The earliest reference to “classical music” recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836

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ORIGINAL ABSTRACT ART GUITAR OIL PAINTINGS Music VIOLIN
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Kevin Burke & Michael O'Domhnaill in Concert (VHS)
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Brief History of Classical Music

History of the Violin

admin — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 16:25:44 +0000

The earliest stringed instruments were mostly plucked (e.g. the Greek lyre). Bowed instruments may have originated in the equestrian cultures of Central Asia, an example being the Mongolian instrument Morin huur.

It is believed that these instruments eventually spread to China, India, and the Middle East, where they developed into instruments such as the erhu (China) and rebab (Middle East), and esraj (India). The violin in its present form emerged in early 16th century in Northern Italy, where the port towns of Venice and Genoa maintained extensive ties to central Asia through the trade routes of the silk road.

The modern European violin evolved from various bowed stringed instruments which were brought from the Middle East. Most likely the first makers of violins borrowed from three types of current instruments: the rebec, in use since the 10th century (itself derived from the Arabic rebab), the Renaissance fiddle, and the lira da braccio. One of the earliest explicit descriptions of the instrument, including its tuning, was in the Epitome musical by Jambe de Fer, published in Lyon in 1556. By this time, the violin had already begun to spread throughout Europe.

The oldest documented violin to have four strings, like the modern violin, is supposed to has been constructed in 1555 by Andrea Amati, but the date is doubtuful. (Other violins, documented significantly earlier, only had three strings.) The violin immediately became very popular, both among street musicians and the nobility, illustrated by the fact that the French king Charles IX ordered Amati to construct 24 violins for him in 1560. The oldest surviving violin, dated inside, is from this set, and is known as the “Charles IX,” made in Cremona c. 1560. “The Messiah” or “Le Messie” (also known as the “Salabue”) made by Antonio Stradivari in 1716 remains pristine, never having been used. It is now located in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford.

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Orig Impressionist Oil Painting Signed Antique Framed
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FINE OLD ANTIQUE VINTAGE GERMAN MARKNEUKIRCHEN VIOLIN
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History of the Violin