A stupid question, maybe, but:
I'm watching Amadeus, and I'm wondering if anyone knows how the sound of today's orchestras compare with those, say, in the 18th century. I'm assuming that the craftsmanship involved in making violins, cellos, etc, have improved since then, resulting in instruments that sound better, and stay in tune longer. If this is true, then of two orchestras of equal talent playing the same composition, the modern orchestra with modern instruments should sound better than the older one, right?
Or, maybe the quality of the instruments was roughly the same back then?
It's just interesting to think about what Mozart would think about his symphonies as they sound today. Maybe it would be the equivalent of hearing your favorite album on REALLY nice headphones.
― Zachary Scott (Zach S), Saturday, 23 September 2006 23:04 (nineteen years ago)
Difficult to know - there are varying accounts of craftsmanship and how that's differed since then, different ways of directing orchestras, of positioning members of the orchestra, techniques of playing, even down to the people in the orchestra - and it all boils down to one statement:
you'll never be able to recreate the sound as it was then because we just do not and cannot know exactly what it sounded like.
Forever an enigma. On the other hand, if there were a definitive version of every classical music performance - why would you go on performing them? So maybe it's a good thing that we reinterpret things, or attempt to recreate and are forced to think about it.
― Andrew Munro (andyboyo), Saturday, 23 September 2006 23:08 (nineteen years ago)
I'm assuming that the craftsmanship involved in making violins, cellos, etc, have improved since then-extremely unlikely I would have said.
I'm not an expert but wasn't the Mozartian orchestra considerably lighter in terms of the fullness of the sound? Less members, etc. Less evolved instruments, I think the modern orchestra finally appeared round about the time of Wagner no? Check out the Orchestra of the 18th Century's recordings (amongst others) for a good stab at what the sound might have been like.
― lexurian (lexurian), Sunday, 24 September 2006 00:59 (nineteen years ago)
Modern instruments are different from those of earlier centuries. You can read about the differences online. Modern instruments tend to be louder, for one. Modern tuning is also higher. Vibrato used to be used a lot more sparingly. There are orchestras who specialize in playing period instruments with period performance practice. So things have changed. It's not really a question of what's better or worse.
― Steve Go1dberg (Steve Schneeberg), Sunday, 24 September 2006 02:02 (nineteen years ago)