The Art of Orchestration

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What is orchestration? Being a great orchestrator is not always synonymous with being a great composer. In fact: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin (he didn't care for the orchestra...), Schumann and Brahms are rarely if ever mentioned in discussions of orchestration today, and yet, there have been none greater in the art of composition than they were!... Beethoven did make some strides in the field of orchestration, but he's not typically thought of as having being an exceptional orchestrator.... Furthermore, there is nothing innovative or insightful occurring when the entire orchestra is playing loud (known as a tutti), because, if everyone is playing loud, you can't distinguish the different musical instruments very well - the only instruments that will typically stand out on a full blown orchestral tutti are the brass and percussion sections because they're the most powerful and loudest of all....

Although Berlioz is typically considered to have been music's first truly great orchestrator, many say that Beethoven's contemporary, C.M.v. Weber was the first. Influenced by Gluck and Mehul, Weber was one of the first composers to have used the so called "Concertante Style" - solo instruments being pitted against the full orchestra (what typically takes place in a concerto, hence the name sake) - a style that would culminate with Mahler, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Luciano Berio amongst others. Berlioz thought very highly of Weber, and felt indebted to him, even if Weber did not do anything out of the ordinary in the field of orchestration.

As discussed in the previous paragraph, the first truly great man of orchestration was Hector Berlioz. Berlioz was a composer, as well as a gifted writer of sorts - a philosopher so to speak. He wanted to know why musical instruments sounded the way they did when they played together/at the same time. In order to help people understand this, Berlioz decided to write a book about orchestration which he entitled: "Treatise on Instrumentation" - English translation of the French title given to the book. In this book, Berlioz examines different musical instruments - range, timbre, sound, etc. He exploits musical instrument's extremes of ranges and sounds like no one else did before him, and arguably since. In his magnum opus: "Symphonie Fantastique" (which was composed before he wrote the book), the work's main theme is taken to different musical extremes: from passionate, romantic and melodious, to silly, ridiculous, scary and even absurd - all this takes place in the story - Berlioz was the father of program music (music with a story/narrative connected to it - although the story of "Symphonie Fantastique" was half fact and half fiction....). Rarely before Berlioz, did any other composer ever think to exploit a simple melody and take it to extremes like he does the main theme (known as fixed idea) of "Symphonie Fantastique." Berlioz's book would later be revised by none other than Richard Strauss, another great man in the field of orchestration.

Although Mendelssohn was a capable orchestrator, Liszt and Wagner took the art form a bit further than he ever did. Liszt even went as far as using triangles in one of his piano concertos, something silly, though innovative at the same time. Wagner, well, what can one say? Wagner has been considered one of music's greatest all time geniuses - in his compositions, he took harmony and orchestration to a breaking point through the constant use of discords and dissonances.


And now comes Rimsky Korsakov into the picture. A man some have gone as far as to call the greatest and most brilliant orchestrator that has ever lived..., well, that's pushing it a bit. Nonetheless, in comparison to Tchaikovsky's meat and potatoes method of orchestration, Korsakov was quite startling and innovative to say the very least...and; "Scheherazade" is considered to be one of the most brilliant orchestral scores of the 19th Century....

After Korsakov, came two individuals whom excelled in the field of both composition and orchestration: Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler - both took orchestration to new territories never visited before. They are considered two of the greatest orchestrators that have ever lived....

Stravinsky started out emulating Korsakov, his personal icon, as well as father in law to be - nevertheless, culminated by creating one of the greatest marvels of orchestration ever composed: "Le Sacre du Printemps."

Maurice Ravel was another great orchestrator....

Prokofiev and Shostakovich were both exceptional orchestrators - two of the greatest ever.

John Williams, arguably, some may say shouldn't be mentioned amongst these giants of music, nevertheless, he is an above par orchestrator, as demonstrated in his exceptional film scores....