Orchestration

For the use of the term "orchestration" in computer science, see orchestration (computers)

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Orchestration is the study and practice of adapting music for an orchestra or musical ensemble. According to the Harvard Dictionary of Music orchestration is "the adaptation of a composition for a medium different from that for which it was originally written, so made that the musical substance remains essentially unchanged" (Corozine 2002, p.3). In practical terms it consists of deciding which instruments should play which notes in a piece of music.

However, in practice orchestration is often used interchangeably with arrangement, rewriting a piece of pre-existing music for a specific set of instruments or voices, often in harmony or with additional original material, and both terms often describe the scoring of material which is not pre-existing.

"Good orchestration is founded upon clear musical thought, pure part writing, effective dynamics, balance of form, lucid disposal of the harmonic means" (Rogers (1970), p.93 quoted in ibid, p.4).

Orchestration, arrangement and instrumentation

It is a matter of opinion whether there is a difference between orchestration, arranging and instrumentation and the terms are often used as synonyms. However, if the terms are judged different their difference are generally thought to be the following: Instrumentation deals with the techniques of writing music for a specific instrument, including the limitations of the instrument, playing techniques and idiomatic handling of the instrument. Orchestration includes, in addition to instrumentation, the handling of groups of instruments and their balance and interaction. As such, instrumentation and orchestration can be seen as more handicraft skills than addition of musical content. However, in the hands of a skilled orchestrator, matters such as whether an oboe or a clarinet plays a particular melody can be turned into key elements of a piece.

Arranging, in contrast, is the setting of music or melody for other instruments than it was originally written. In this process, arranging can include addition of musical content such as, creation of secondary melody lines or new musical contexts giving the melody new depth.

One method of arranging occasionally used is called "Elastic Scoring", first used and defined by the Australian composer, Percy Grainger. This technique involves making extra and/or interchangeable musical parts which provides substitutions for more or less musicians depending on what is required for an individual performance. This also allows an arrangement to be played in smaller communities where the required instrumention may not always be available.

Dedicated orchestrators

Although most composers do their own orchestration, they sometimes use an orchestrator to do this job for them.

An orchestrator will usually be presented with a piece in short score (that is, written on around three or four musical staves) or else the piece will be written as if it were to be played on a piano. They will then have to decide which musical instruments are to play which notes. Percussion effects may be marked in the short score, or may be left to the discretion of the orchestrator. The exact amount of work an orchestrator has to do can vary, but in almost all cases he is called upon only when all the other work on a piece has been done.

The job of a dedicated orchestrator is mostly seen as skilled work, as opposed to the "inspired creativity" of a composer--though many composers who are known for work in their own right have worked as orchestrators to earn extra money. The influential classical composer Anton Webern for example, worked orchestrating operettas. Quite well known composers of musicals and film music often do not do their own orchestration, although the person who does do this work is often overlooked.

A well known example of a piece that orchestrators worked on is the musical West Side Story (later turned into a film). Although the music was written by Leonard Bernstein who usually receives the sole composer credit, much of the orchestration was carried out by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal.

Posthumous Orchestration

Another common role for dedicated orchestrators is in the attempt to complete a piece after the original composer has died. The works of Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky provide an excellent example of this practice; Mussorgsky died young and left many pieces in piano score (at least some of which were clearly indicated for eventual orchestral treatment) or other stages of partial completion. For whatever reason, certainly not least his great capacity for melodic invention, Mussorgsky has been a favorite subject for well known orchestrations and reorchestrations both by his contemporaries (e.g. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov), and by later luminaries (e.g. Maurice Ravel). Other prominent subjects of posthumous orchestration include Béla Bartók (the Piano Concerto No. 3 and Viola Concerto) and Alban Berg (the opera Lulu).

The degree of reworking in a posthumous orchestration varies by case. Usually the piece in question has at least reached the stage of a piano score in the hands of the original composer, otherwise the process is truly more a posthumous collaboration rather than merely an orchestration. Dr. Barry Cooper (1949) reconstructed the possible first movement of Beethoven's Tenth Symphony. This reconstruction is available in CD; recorded by the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Wyn Morris (IMP classics, PCD 911).

Masters

J.S. Bach
Franz Joseph Haydn
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ludwig van Beethoven
Franz Liszt
Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov
Richard Wagner
Hector Berlioz
Richard Strauss
Gustav Mahler
Paul Hindemith
Serge Prokofiev
Ottorino Respighi
Igor Stravinsky
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Aaron Copland
Maurice Ravel
Claude Debussy
Bela Bartok
Arnold Schoenberg

(Corozine 2002, p.5)

Roy Harris
Arthur Honneger
Walter Piston
Albert Roussel
William Schuman
Ralph Vaughan Williams

Bibliography

Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov (1964): Principles of orchestration -- the classic book of orchestration. ISBN 0486212661.
Walter Piston (1955): Orchestration -- judged by many to be the book of orchestration. ISBN 0393097404.
Samuel Adler (2002): The study of orchestration -- an easier approach to orchestration. ISBN 0393102831.
Cecil Forsyth (1982): Orchestration -- A comprehensive book on orchestration giving detailed and practical information. ISBN 0486243834.

Source

Corozine, Vince (2002). Arranging Music for the Real World: Classical and Commercial Aspects. ISBN 0786649615.
- Rogers, Bernard (1951/1970). Art of Orchestration. Greenwood Press.

External links

The Orchestra: A User's Manual by Andrew Hugill with The Philharmonia Orchestra. In depth information on orchestration including examples and video interviews with instrumentalists of each instrument.
Artistic Orchestation by Alan Belkin

Musical composition | Musical terminology

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