The Birth of the Orchestra: History of an Institution, 1650-1815

This book traces the emergence of the orchestra from 16th-century string bands to the "classical" orchestra of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their contemporaries. Ensembles of bowed stringed instruments, several players per part plus continuo and wind instruments, were organized in France in the mid-17th century and then in Rome at the end of the century. The prestige of these ensembles and of the music and performing styles of their leaders, Jean-Baptiste Lully and Arcangelo Corelli, cause...