 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: ALOMARvelous12
Date: 2003-04-23 01:26
Why are the violins placed to the left of the conductor and the cellos placed to the right of the conductor? Wouldn't it make more sense for the higher line to come from the right side and the lower bass line to come from the left side? On a piano or any other keyboard, the lowest notes are on the left and the higher notes are on the other side. In headphone speakers, the lower sounds come from the left channel and the high sounds come from the right channel. Why aren't the orchestra sections set up like this?
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Author: Liquorice
Date: 2003-04-23 06:01
If you put the violins on the right, then the instruments would be facing away from the audience. That's the rationale behind the modern orchestral seating arrangement. Of course, it wasn't always like this. Mark's post gives you an idea- although things weren't always that clear cut, and different orchestras had different seating arrangements at different times in history. In the classical period it was quite common to have the 1st violins on the left and the 2nd violins on the right.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-04-23 14:28
Up through the early part of the 20th century, the second violins were almost always seated on the conductor's right. Toscanini always used that seating with the NBC Symphony, through the 1950s, saying that the first and second violins were the "shoulders" of the orchestra.
Haydn's symphonies, and many of Mozart's, have antiphonal effects, with lines tossed back and forth between the violin sections. The finale of the Tchaikovsky 6th alternates note-by-note. This is lost when the second violins are seated behind the firsts, and most period instrument orchestras use the split seating.
ALOMARvelous - If your headphones put the violins on the right and the cellos on the left, the connections are reversed. It's always the other way, reproducing the usual orchestra setup.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: William
Date: 2003-04-23 14:39
It would make most sense, in most orchestral seating arrangements, to group the instrumenal voices--sop, alto, tenor and bass--rather than by instrumenal classification--clarinets, flutes, violas, etc. I don't want to elaborate extensively on seating theory here, but why not place the oboe, sop clarinets and flute sections in the front row to be more "in sync" with the violin section? The soprano woodwinds would find it easier to "project" in the front in contrast to always being "covered" when seated in the middle-back. IMH (experianced) O, if musicains can listen, follow a conductor and play in tune, there is no need for the principal clarinet, bassoon, flute and oboe to be religiously placed so close together at the expense of a more logical "voiced" sectional arrangement. The bass clarinet should be near the other bass instruments, not necessarily always seated by the second clarinet, just to "group" the clarinets together. Basses, tuba, cellos, bassoons, bass clarinet and trombones should be grouped near the horns and violas and the trumpet and percussion sections should always be in the back rows because they have "no problem" with projection issues.
Blind adherance to "tradition" is what really guides most orchestral seating arrangements. It would be interesting, at the very least, to try a more logical "voiced" seating arrangement, with the soprano woodwinds in front with the violins. One "benni" is that we would not have the brass section blasting in our ears and covering our beautiful musical lines.
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Author: diz
Date: 2003-04-24 04:34
Um - let me beging by saying that the Bayreuth Orchestra (Germany's Festspielhaus) has the First Violins on the Right of the conductor and the Second Violins on the Left. The Double Basses are split four on either side as are the six harps (when they're doing the Ring).
The setup of an orchestra is often the whim of the conductor. The Sydney Symphony has "antiphonal" seating (firsts left seconds right) and for polyphonic music (especially Mozart) the effect is wonderful. I also adore CDs of Bayreuth productions for the very reason.
The Met Orchestra has the violins divided - often and it produces a wonderful sound. IMHO
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Author: clarinetmama
Date: 2003-04-24 13:53
As a bass clarinetist in a symphony I always feel all by myself at the end of my row next to the timpanist. All I hear is the timp....I am often playing with the string basses who are as far away as possible. I wish I was seated at the other end of the clarinets next to the bassoons (who I often share a part with).
Jean
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Author: Micaela
Date: 2003-04-24 15:54
If you listen to Carlos Kleiber's recording of Beethoven's Symphony No. 7, you can hear a split left-right violin section.
That animation on the link is cute but not all that accurate in terms of seating arrangement. The violas are cellos are often reversed (such as in the NY Phil and my youth orchestra) and the oboes are in front of the bassoons, not behind. Violins were split into two sections much earlier than this site says. And clarinets were sometimes included in Classical period orchestras.
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