ORCHESTRAS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 11 May 1939, Page 4

ORCHESTRAS

THE “SCRAP” AND “BLOWER” FAMILY 'To Ihe (Milan Sir, —Orchestras! I wonder how many readers realise how long it is since instruments of a kind have been able to collect together even if they have produced only raucous music.

In Daniel 111 we find these words: “That at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltry, dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the golden image that Nebruchadnezzar the king hath set up.” A band of this type to-day would be more likely having us worship the golden calf. However, it would not be that bad—it probably consisted of the shofar (cow’s horn trumpet), the pan-pipes, together with a sort of guitar, a harp, a psaltry (a fingered dulcimer) and the bagpipe. Trust that instrument to get in somewhere! In the very first book of the Bible (Genesis 1V.21), these words are written “he was the father of all such as handle the harp and the organ.”

And just look at Henry VIII’s heterogeneous collection of instruments. Peculiar tastes that man had —he seemed to love a variety of all things. Fourteen trumpets, ten trombones, four drums, two viols, three flutes, a bagpipe (again ?) and four tambourines. Let us hope they weren’t all played at once. As W. R. Anderson says, “bands ‘just growed’ and Topsy-growth sometimes produces topsy-turvey proportions.”

Let us first trace the “strings” for, after all, they are generally the mainstay of an orchestra. Even their predecessors such as the lyre, lute, harp, fiddle and guitar have fought their way through the centuries—even from three or four thousand years ago. Not in the same form, of course.

With such a vast collection of string instruments of all shapes and sizes (previous to the Renaissance) a considerable amount of sorting out had to be done. Music itself had made great strides—a greater range of pitch was used and the four parts, soprano, alto, tenor and bass were being brought together vigorously. The viols were the new instrument that came into being, replacing the rebic and its variants, and as Mr Gerald Hayes says in his inductions on the history of the violin, “the viola had won their way to aristocracy The rebics —once, like the lyras, the attributes of angels—were already descending to become the voice of the less, dignified occasions of pleasure. Then there appeared a new instrument, for the parentage of which both lyra and rebic may have been in some measure responsible.”

The viols, however, lasted in popularity from the 15th to the 17th century only. Their six strings made tuning difficult and on the whole they were unwieldly instruments. The players, too. were by no means expert. Their place was taken by the instruments in use to-daj’. i.e., violin, viola, violoncello and double-bass. Men like Stradivarius (about the year 1683) brought about this change. Four strings instead of six, improvement in shape and style sent the violin on to the goal of success.

Surely the Creator’s hand must have been at work when the violins were brought to such perfection—just at the exact time for those outstanding composers. Bach and Handel to use this wonderful new instrument as a medium for their masterpieces. The

“strings” in their new form had. at last, come to stay.

Now for the Wood-wind Section, and what fun I had during an Appreciation Lesson on the “Instruments of the Orchestra to try to make our children forget that such men as Sax had ever been born. I wonder how many people realise, that it is only since 1690 that the clarinet came into being. The flute, well, no one knows. One must remember the old Greek flutes played vertically. The oboe. too. was known of old. What a series of names this latter instrument went through! In the 16th century the shawm (old English name for oboe) changed its name from haux-bois (French) to hautbois and was then anglicised to hautboy, hoboy. howeboie. hoeboy, howboy and in German, hoboe.

Like the strings the wood-wind instruments—early in their race to the fore —received a set-back. This time it was from the Church—during ihe Middle Ages. According to the priests these instruments were “born of the world, the flesh, and the devil.” I wonder what those old priests would say if they walked into some of our modern cabarets! “Satan, at last the King!” surely. It is a pity they didn’t let the devil loose instead of cramping man’s initiative and inventive mind. And so the strings and wind instruments still struggled ahead, but apart. Egypt, Greece and Rome all plaj’ed j their part in developing the flutes—- | at first played vertically. Recorders of

the 12th centudy had a compass of two octaves, there being eight varieties and sometimes as many as ewenty-one were played together. They were much more pleasant to listen to D~an their contemporary wood-wind instruments which were so coarsely constructed. The latter had reeds which “were thick and unskilled in workmanship, as different fnm those in use to-day as a piece of cardboard from a wafer.” Next came the flute which was played crosswise, first heard of in France during the 14th century. The flute of to-day is similar.

The oboe has already been mentioned—it belonged to the old “shawm and pommer” family. Other branches such as the oboe d'amoure and oboe di caccia were both used by Bach in his orchestrations. They are the predecessors of the oboe, cor anglais, bassoon etc.

The bassoon, what a mighty instrument! It has nine feet of tubing which has to be doubled within itself. Did you know that?

To get a perfect combination between the ipes and oboes was the main difficulty up to the 17th century. The former were too weak, the latter too strong. Consolidation came about 1690 when Christopher Denner invented the Clarinet. This instrument does not belong to the same family at the oboe and its relations. The main point of difference is the use of the single reed—remember that the oboe has a double reed. The clarinet is the cylindrical. not conical like the oboe. However. it was about 60 years later that the clarinet was first used orchestrally and still another 20 years before it became a popular instrument.—l am etc. R. K. MACKENZIE. Wakefield