So how many 1st violins, 2nd violins, violas, cellos, and basses are there?
And also, how does the violin seating work? Obviously, the best violinist is concertmaster(1st chair of the 1st violins), but would the 2nd best violinist sit assistant concertmaster(2nd chair of the 1st violins) or principal 2nd(1st chair of the 2nd violins)? How would the rest of the violinists be seated?
Also, how many title players are there in each sections?
Thanks!
The make-up of “an orchestra” in Western art music has varied fantastically over the centuries, and, within any one time period, the number and type of instruments will vary depending on the “acceptable” complement for a particular genre performed in whichever style is wanted (e.g., a Mozart symphony played by a modern symphonic orchestra at full staff, or by implementations of Mozart’s “original” intent–acceptable to him, depending on his mood and financial state, at some time, in some city, or acceptable to, I don’t know, Mendellsohn and an orchestra of his audience expectations) or any other decision by the performers.
And acceptable to the financial resources of said orchestra. Wiki String Section.
Given that, from that Wiki entry: on your run-of-the-mill big-city orchestra, we may find:
The size of a string section may be expressed with a formula of the type (for example) 10-10-8-10-6, designating the number of first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, and basses. The numbers can vary widely: Wagner in Die Walküre specifies 16-16-12-12-8; the band orchestra in Darius Milhaud’s La création du monde is 1-1-0-1-1. In general, music from the Baroque music era (ca. 1600-1750) and the Classical music period (ca. 1720-1800) used (and is often played in the modern era with) smaller string sections. During the Romantic music era (ca. 1800-1910), string sections were significantly enlarged to produce a louder, fuller string sound that could match the loudness of the large brass instrument sections used in orchestral music from this period. During the contemporary music era, some composers requested smaller string sections. In some regional orchestras, amateur orchestras and youth orchestras, the string sections may be relatively small, due to the challenges of finding enough string players.
The music for a string section is not necessarily written in five parts; besides the variants discussed below, in classical orchestras the ‘quintet’ is often called a ‘quartet’, with basses and cellos playing together.
Double-bass section[edit]
The role of the double-bass section evolved considerably during the 19th century. In orchestral works from the baroque and classical era, the bass and cello typically play from the same part, labelled “Bassi”.[5] Since the double bass is a transposing instrument, if a double bassist and a cellist read the same part, the double bass player will be doubling the cello part an octave lower. While passages for cellos alone (marked “senza bassi”) are common in Mozart and Haydn, independent parts for both instruments become frequent in Beethoven and Rossini and common in later works of Verdi and Wagner.
It is a fun game to find the most colossal orchestrations and budget-busters possible…
Not sure what you mean by “titled players.”
Seating arrangements is a whole other thread.
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Welcome to the SDMB, solutioncircle.
Questions about art and music and other creative works belong in our Cafe Society forum. I will move this for you.
Moving thread from General Questions to Cafe Society.
Don’t forget the octobass, see: Montreal Symphony Orchestra welcomes rare octobass | CBC News, which I had the pleasure of hearing a couple weeks ago. It is the only playable one in the world. It is just under 12’ tall and weighs nearly 300 lb. You don’t so much hear it as feel it rumble.
As Leo Bloom said above, the answers to many of your questions have varied over time and still vary, from orchestra to orchestra, and indeed from piece to piece.
(In a youth orchestra, we played a piece once that had a solo designated for the last chair of the second violin section - a seat that’s usually kind of the goat of the orchestra if seating is merit-based, which in youth orchestras it usually mostly is. Sadly, the conductor rejiggered the seating for that concert to get a competent player in that spot, which IMHO kind of ruined the spirit of the thing.)
This will vary by orchestra, again, but for chairs that have titles (concertmaster, principal second violin, assistant concertmaster if that’s an actual position), I think you generally audition for the seat when it’s open. If a hot-shot new violinist who’s better than the concertmaster gets hired into the orchestra next week, they don’t get to boot the old player out of the first chair.
(That’s assuming we can differentiate between the top 3 or 4 violinists in an orchestra with a high level of precision, which is probably kind of egotistical - but it’s not like orchestra directors are never egomaniacs or anything, so let’s assume we think we can!)
These positions often have duties besides sitting at the front looking awesome and playing the occasional solo, so you do want someone who’s capable of leading sectional rehearsals.
For other string players, you might either audition for and win your seat (sixth chair first violin for life!), you might be part of an ensemble that rotates through the non-titled seats concert by concert, or … I think I’ve heard of seniority being used for seating? Professional orchestra playing is often a union gig - rules can be renegotiated and rewritten.
(And in amateur orchestras, the rules could be whatever. Pairing weak and strong players as stand partners might be smart!)
The big seating difference among modern orchestras is that sometimes the second violins are on the opposite side of the stage as the first violins, as opposed to tucked behind them. From the audience’s point of view, I prefer this. It helps to balance the sound, rather than having all the high strings on one side of the stage. But from the musicians’ point of view, it creates problems with coordination between the two sections. And of course this affects the violas.
I was the concertmaster of my high school orchestra (we actually had three orchestras), and it was a lot of work. In addition to managing sectional rehearsals, I also was responsible for figuring out things like intricate fingering (like ensuring that everyone’s playing in the same “position”) and maintaining consistent bowing. When you watch an orchestra and all the players in a given section have their bows going up and down simultaneously, that’s no accident. It’s often marked in the score, but often not. The concertmaster also has the job of tuning the orchestra prior to a rehearsal or concert. There’s also a certain amount of communication with other section heads.