The nineteenth century was the golden age of orchestra and a lot of great orchestras that still exist now were established at that time (Morey, 1988). It was very common to play a wide range of pieces in a concert. However, the concerts in around 1830 can be called a “miscellaneous concert”. Here is an extreme example: In 1844, Jules Benedict, one of the most significant musicians at that time organized a concert with thirty-three works and it lasted for about four hours. The thirty-three works consisted of different kinds of genre including chamber works, solo works, overtures, arias and you name it. The reason of following the principle of miscellany is that musicians wanted to satisfy various tastes of the audiences. The “miscellaneous concert”
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Sometimes they will invite foreign conductors and soloist in order to acquire the “authentic” interpretation of the pieces from their home country. For instance, the orchestra may invite a German violinist to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. When the orchestras go on a tour to other country, they may programme some works from or relate to the country. A series of music from a specific country can also be one of the options. For example, it was a convention for the BBC Proms to feature a “Viennese Nights” concert once a …show more content…
We can hardly listen a work by modern composer in a concert. It is because programming choices highly affect the attendance of a concert. From the point of view of the management and performers, programming a piece from the standard repertoire is easier to control in terms of time. Sometimes, the management plans the concert season up to three years ahead. A traditional work allows them to accurately predict the time that they need for preparation (Gilmore, 1993). A study conducted by Mueller shows that fifteen composers – Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvoark, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Schumann, R. Strauss, Berlioz, and Wagner account for a large percentage of the programming of a symphony orchestra. Moreover, only six composers from the twentieth century, including Ravel, Stravinsky, Respighi, Bartok, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, are categorized as contemporary work in the repertory (Gilmore, 1993). However, they are not real contemporary work, they are just “calendar contemporary” (Zolberg, 1980). They are not counted as contemporary composer because none of them were alive after 1990. Contemporary serious music is typically performed in some music festivals, which provide opportunities for modern composers to showcase their works, but they are rarely played in the concert. This trend is idiosyncratic of the classical music industry. On the
Sometimes they will invite foreign conductors and soloist in order to acquire the “authentic” interpretation of the pieces from their home country. For instance, the orchestra may invite a German violinist to perform Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. When the orchestras go on a tour to other country, they may programme some works from or relate to the country. A series of music from a specific country can also be one of the options. For example, it was a convention for the BBC Proms to feature a “Viennese Nights” concert once a …show more content…
We can hardly listen a work by modern composer in a concert. It is because programming choices highly affect the attendance of a concert. From the point of view of the management and performers, programming a piece from the standard repertoire is easier to control in terms of time. Sometimes, the management plans the concert season up to three years ahead. A traditional work allows them to accurately predict the time that they need for preparation (Gilmore, 1993). A study conducted by Mueller shows that fifteen composers – Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven, Brahms, Dvoark, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Liszt, Schumann, R. Strauss, Berlioz, and Wagner account for a large percentage of the programming of a symphony orchestra. Moreover, only six composers from the twentieth century, including Ravel, Stravinsky, Respighi, Bartok, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, are categorized as contemporary work in the repertory (Gilmore, 1993). However, they are not real contemporary work, they are just “calendar contemporary” (Zolberg, 1980). They are not counted as contemporary composer because none of them were alive after 1990. Contemporary serious music is typically performed in some music festivals, which provide opportunities for modern composers to showcase their works, but they are rarely played in the concert. This trend is idiosyncratic of the classical music industry. On the