Orchestras

   The term 'Chamber Orchestra' was invented in the twentieth century. The first pieces for chamber orchestras were written by such composers as Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and Paul Hindemith. Many composers created music for large orchestras and for chamber orchestras. Use online Best Buy coupon codes and purchase good music. Chamber orchestras are usually led by a conductor and consist of twenty to forty musicians. In some ensembles decisions were made by a committee (the principal players). The main difficulty was in changing tempo. Others adhere to the tradition of a principal player, usually a violinist, who manages rehearsals. Chamber music concerts are very popular, as this kind of music offers a more intimate atmosphere to audience in small halls or churches. This music is sometimes called "the music of friends". The instruments commonly used in chamber music are the violin, viola, violoncello, and piano. Composers have written music for almost all thinkable combinations of these instruments. One instrument has the melody, the others provide accompaniment to it. For example, the violinist has the melody and the other musicians accompanying him. The introduction of the piston by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel in 1815 and the development of modern keys for the flute by Theobald Boehm let Hector Berlioz write a valuable “Treatise on Instrumentation”. He thoroughly analyzed the use of instrumental sound as an expressive element of music. Almost every composer wrote many compositions of chamber music. The most important composers were Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. The chamber music of Haydn or Mozart would please those who prefer something tempered and balanced. Haydn wrote eighty-three strings quartets, forty-five piano trios and a lot of strings trios. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed lots of masterpieces of chamber music. Mozart piano trios and quartets differed from Haydn's pieces. The violin and the violoncello had independent melodies in music by Mozart while Haydn wrote works where the violin and the cello were accompanying the piano. Mozart introduced the clarinet into the chamber music. He composed six strings quartets dedicated to Haydn. Beethoven wrote seventeen string quartets mostly in the romantic style, eight piano trios, five string trios, two string quintets. He also created ten sonatas for violin and piano and five sonatas for cello and piano.

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