String section: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:49, 28 June 2020

Revision as of 19:57, 31 July 2020

Line 3:

[[File:Chicago Symphony Orchestra 2005.jpg|thumb|right|240px|The [[Chicago Symphony Orchestra]] performing with a jazz group. The string sections are at the front of the orchestra, arrayed in a semicircle around the [[conducting|conductor's]] podium.]]

The '''string section''' is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the [[violin family]]. It normally consists of first and second [[violin]]s, [[viola]]s, [[cello]]s, and [[double basses]]. It is the most numerous group in the typical [[Classical music|Classical]] [[orchestra]]. In discussions of the [[Orchestration|instrumentation]] of a musical work, the phrase "the strings" or "and strings" is used to indicate a string section as just defined. An orchestra consisting solely of a string section is called a [[string orchestra]]. Smaller string sections are sometimes used in jazz, pop and rock music and in the [[pit orchestra]]s of [[musical theatre]].

==Seating arrangement==

[[File:Orchestra sections sv labels.png|thumb|right|240px|One possible seating arrangement for an orchestra. First violins are labelled "Vln I"; second violins are "Vln II",; violas are "Vla",; and double basses (in German "''"Kontrabässe"''") are "Kb" ).]]

The most common seating arrangement in the 2000s is with first violins, second violins, violas and cello sections arrayed clockwise around the [[Conductor (music)|conductor]], with basses behind the cellos on the right.<ref>''Stanley Sadie's Music Guide'', p. 56 (Prentice-Hall 1986). [[Nicolas Slonimsky]] described the cellos-on-the-right arrangement as part of a 20th-century "sea change" (''Lectionary of Music'', p. 342 (McGraw-Hill 1989).</ref> The first violins are led by the [[concertmaster]] (leader in the UK); each of the other string sections also has a principal player (principal second violin, principal viola, principal cello and principal bass) who play the orchestral solos for the section, lead entrances and, in some cases, determine the bowings for the section (the concertmaster/leader may set the bowings for all strings, or just for the upper strings). The principal string players sit at the front of their section, closest to the conductor and on the row of performers which is closest to the audience.

Line 19:

==Numbers and proportions==

The size of a string section may be expressed with a formula of the type (for example) 10-10-8-10-6, designating the number of first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, and basses. The numbers can vary widely: Wagner in ''[[Die Walküre]]'' specifies 16-16-12-12-8;<ref>{{Cite book|last=Millington|first=Barry|title=The New Grove Guide to Wagner and his Operas|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2006|isbn=|___location=Oxford|pages=290}}</ref> the band orchestra in [[Darius Milhaud]]'s ''[[La création du monde]]'' is 1-1-0-1-1.<ref name="SPC">"Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra" (program notes), Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, 1999, TheSPCO.org webpage: [http://www.thespco.org/events/program_notes.cfm?id_program_notes=98 SPCO-98] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.is/20061001012158/http://www.thespco.org/events/program_notes.cfm?id_program_notes=98|date=2006-10-01}}</ref> In general, music from the [[Baroque music]] era (ca. 1600-1750) and the [[Classical music period]] (ca. 1720-1800) used (and is often played in the modern era with) smaller string sections. During the [[Romantic music]] era (ca. 1800-1910), string sections were significantly enlarged to produce a louder, fuller string sound that could match the loudness of the large [[brass instrument]] sections used in orchestral music from this period. During the [[contemporary music]] era, some composers requested smaller string sections. In some regional orchestras, amateur orchestras and [[youth orchestra]]s, the string sections may be relatively small, due to the challenges of finding enough string players.

The music for a string section is not necessarily written in five parts; besides the variants discussed below, in classical orchestras the 'quintet' is often called a 'quartet', with basses and cellos playing together.

===Double-bass section===

Line 29:

===String section without violins===

In [[Joseph Haydn|Haydn]]'s oratorio ''[[The Creation (Haydn)|The Creation]]'', the music to which God tells the newly created beasts to be fruitful and multiply achieves a rich, dark tone by its setting for divided viola and cello sections with violins omitted. Famous works without violins include the 6th of the [[Brandenburg Concertos|Brandenburg Concerti]] by [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach]], [[Serenades (Brahms)|Second Serenade]] of [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]], the opening movement of [[Johannes Brahms|Brahms]]'s [[Ein Deutsches Requiem]], [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]]'s ''[[Requiem (Lloyd Webber)|Requiem]]'', and [[Philip Glass]]'s opera ''[[Akhnaten (opera)|Akhnaten]]''. [[Gabriel Fauré|Fauré]]'s original versions of his ''[[Requiem (Fauré)|Requiem]]'' and ''[[Cantique de Jean Racine]]'' were without violin parts, there being parts for 1st and 2nd viola, and for 1st and 2nd cello; though optional violin parts were added later by publishers. Some orchestral works by [[Giacinto Scelsi]] omit violins, using only the lower strings.

===String section without violas===