Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Orchestra |
OrchestraNoun1. Instrumentalists including string players. 2. Seating on the main floor in a theater. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "orchestra" was first used: 1606. (references) |
Etymology: Orchestra \Or"ches*tra\, noun. [Latin expression orchestra, Greek, originally, the place for the chorus of dancers, from to dance: compare to the French expression orchestre.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | Belonging to an orchestra and playing, foretells pleasant entertainments, and your sweetheart will be faithful and cultivated. To hear the music of an orchestra, denotes that the knowledge of humanity will at all times prove you to be a much-liked person, and favors will fall unstintedly upon you. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Fine Arts | Now refers to the entire lower floor of the auditorium. Source: European Union. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
An orchestra is a musical ensemble used most often in classical music. A small orchestra is called a chamber orchestra.Full size orchestras may sometimes be called "symphony orchestras" or "philharmonic orchestras"; these prefixes do not indicate any difference either to the instrumental content or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different orchestras based in the same city (for instance, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra).
The typical symphony orchestra consists of four groups of musical instruments:
Contemporaneously, the musicians are usually directed by a conductor, although early orchestras did not have one, using instead the principal violinist or the harpsichordist playing the continuo for this role. Some modern orchestras also do without conductors, particularly smaller orchestras and those specialising in historically accurate performances of baroque music and earlier.
- the strings (violins, violas, cellos, double basses),
- the woodwinds (flutes, clarinets, oboes, bassoons),
- the brass (trumpets, trombones, tuba, french horns), and
- the percussion (timpani, snare drum, bass drum, celesta, etc.).
The most frequently performed repertoire for a symphony orchestra is Western classical music or opera. They are also used in popular music, however.
History of the orchestra
At first the orchestra was an aristocratic luxury, performing privately at the courts of the princes and nobles of Italy; but in the 17th century performances were given in theatres, and Germany eagerly followed. Dresden, Munich and Hamburg successively built opera houses, while in England opera flourished under Henry Purcell, and in France under Lully, who with the collaboration of Moliere also greatly raised the status of the entertainments known as ballets, interspersed with instrumental and vocal music.
The revival of the drama seems to have exhausted the enthusiasm of Italy for instrumental music, and the field of action was shifted to Germany, where the perfecting of the orchestra was continued. Most German princes had at the beginning of the 18th century good private orchestras or Kapelle, and they always endeavoured to secure the services of the best available instrumentalists. Kaiser, Telemann, Graun, Mattheson and George Friderich Handel contributed greatly to the development of German opera and of the orchestra in Hamburg during the first quarter of the century. Johann Sebastian Bach, Gluck and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the reformers of opera; Joseph Haydn, the father of the modern orchestra and the first to treat it independently as a power opposed to the solo and chorus, by scoring for the instruments in well-defined groups; Ludwig van Beethoven, who individualized the instruments, writing solo passages for them; Carl Maria von Weber, who brought the horn and clarinet into prominence; Franz Schubert, who inaugurated the conversations between members of the woodwind--all left their mark on the orchestra, leading the way up to Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss.
A sketch of the rise of the modern orchestra would not be complete without reference to the invention of the piston or valve by Stolzel and Blilmel, both Silesians, in 1815. A satisfactory bass for the wind, and more especially for the brass, had long been a desideratum. The effect of this invention was felt at once: instrument-makers in all countries helped with each other in making use of the contrivance and in bringing it to perfection; and the orchestra was before long enriched by a new family of valved instruments, variously known as tubas, or euphoniums and bombardons, having a chromatic scale and a full sonorous tone of great beauty and immense volume, forming a magnificent bass.
List of orchestras
This list contains orchestras with entries in the Wikipedia plus other particularly noted orchestras.
Canada
- Montreal Symphony Orchestra
- National Arts Centre Orchestra
- Ottawa Symphony Orchestra
- Toronto Symphony Orchestra
- Winnepeg Symphony Orchestra
Germany
- Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
- Dresden Staatskapelle
- Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
- Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra
The Netherlands
- Concertgebouworkest
- Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra
United Kingdom
- City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
- Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
- BBC Symphony Orchestra
- English Chamber Orchestra
- Hallé Orchestra
- London Symphony Orchestra
- London Philharmonic Orchestra
- Philharmonia
- Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
- Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
United States
- Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
- Boston Symphony Orchestra
- Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra
- Cleveland Orchestra
- Columbia Symphony Orchestra
- Dallas Symphony Orchestra
- Detroit Symphony Orchestra
- Houston Symphony Orchestra
- Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra
- Minnesota Orchestra formerly Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra
- NBC Symphony Orchestra
- New York Philharmonic
- Philadelphia Orchestra
- Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
- Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra (Saint Paul, Minnesota)
- San Francisco Symphony Orchestra
- Seattle Symphony Orchestra
Other
For a list of conductors, see list of famous conductors.
- Czech Philharmonic Orchestra - Czech Republic
- Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra - Sweden
- L'Orchestre de la Conservatoire de Paris - France
- St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra - Russia
- Suisse Romande Orchestra - Switzerland
- Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - Austria
- Vienna Symphony Orchestra - Austria
- Orchestra of La Scala (ital. Filarmonica della Scala) - Milan, Italy
- Sydney Symphony Orchestra - Australia
Many important theatres have their own orchestra; in relatively recent times (but mainly starting from the 1930s), many important TV broadcast companies too, have created their own orchestras. Orchestras are also frequently assembled for use in film scores, as well as using already established orchestras for musical performances.
In ancient Greece the orchestra was the space between the auditorium and the proscenium (or stage), in which were stationed the chorus and the instrumentalistss. This is how the modern orchestra got its name.
In some theaters, the orchestra is the area of seats directly in front of the stage (called "primafila" or "platea"); the term more properly applies to the place in a theatre, or concert hall set apart for the musicians.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Orchestra."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
ORCHESTRA | English | Organizational Change,Evolution,Structures and Awareness | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
The Drama | Stage, scene, scenery, the boards; trap, mezzanine floor; flies; floats, footlights; offstage; orchestra. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Stop that music orchestra! orchestra stop that infernal din. Please, no, I look at me, I must get back to Yeovil (School for Scoundrels; writing credit: Hal E. Chester; Patricia Moyes) If I could stand in the focus of powerful footlights and deceive attentive and undisturbed onlookers, seperated from me only by the width of the orchestra pit. Then I could most certainly devise means of deceiving German observers a mile away or more (The War Illusionist; writing credit: Mokona Apapa; Satsuki Igarashi) I'm feeling the orchestra. (Captain Corelli's Mandolin; writing credit: Shawn Slovo) Guys, I was making out with Pam Macy in the orchestra pit. And the worst thing that could happen to a guy happened (That '70s Show; writing credit: Stacia Raymond) There was nothing I hated more than to see a filthy old drunkie, a-howling away at the filthy songs of his fathers and going blurp blurp in between as if it were a filthy old orchestra in his stinking rotten guts (A Clockwork Orange; writing credit: Stanley Kubrick) | |
Lyrics | Just my tears and the orchestra playing (The Last Waltz; performing artist: ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK) The orchestra begin (THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING; performing artist: King Crimson) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Best of Both Worlds: Concerto for Group and Orchestra (1970) Young People's Concerts: Anatomy of a Symphony Orchestra (1970) Mantovani and His Concert Orchestra (1968) | |
Song Titles | Park Avenue Beat (Theme From Perry Mason) (performing artist: Ray and his orchestra Conniff) Syncopated Clock, The (performing artist: Percy and his orchestra Faith) American Patrol (performing artist: The Glenn Miller Orchestra) Bugle Call Rag (performing artist: The Glenn Miller Orchestra) In The Mood (performing artist: The Glenn Miller Orchestra) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Diagonal view of orchestra, proscenium and stage, curtains open. Copy of 1928 photo of completed theater interior, by Canfield and Shook, photographers, courtesy of Drew Eberson, Stamford, Connecticut. (Reproduction Number: HABS, KY,56-LOUVI,17-47) Going to the movies became quite an event in the 1920s. Large, urban motion picture "palaces" originally incorporated all the amenities found in live theaters, even out-doing them in scale and opulence and adding concert hall features such as great electric pipe organs and elaborately decorated lobbies. The Loew's Theatre chain hired nationally-known theater architect John Eberson, who designed this 1928 theater in a Spanish influenced style called Churrigueresque. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | U.S. Medical Field Service School, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. : R.O.T.C., hospital battalion orchestra in Red Cross House. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |
 | [Group of soldiers, orchestra, Quanchense]. Credit: National Library of Medicine. |  | Her majesty led this strange orchestra. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Three black men in orchestra. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Oh, listen to the orchestra!. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Madison Square Garden New York The largest amusement building in the world ; Strauss' Famous Imperial Court Orchestra from Vienna, Austria. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Interior of Radio City Music Hall in New York City, showing audience, the Rockettes on stage, and the Music Hall Symphony Orchestra in the pit] / p. Credit: Library of Congress; photo by Cosmo-Sileo, N.Y.. |
 | Corozal, Puerto Rico (vicinity). Orchestra furnishing the music for the dancing at the tenant purchase celebration. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Migratory laborer, pianist of the camp orchestra. Agua Fria migratory labor camp, Arizona. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Orchestra 5" by Ralph Spegel Commentary: "Orquestra Sinfônica do Paraná - Brazil ." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Play | Caption | Play | Caption |
 | Gamelan orchestra from Bali. | | Synthesized orchestra playing in a modern contrappuntal style. |
| Gamelan orchestra playing a repetitive melodic pattern. | | Music notes played by a strings orchestra. |
| A full synthesized orchestra chord. | | Sliding chord played as the last note by a symphonic orchestra. |
| Orchestra chord. | | Orchestra chord. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | Orchestra played O, Willie, we have missed you. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Economic History | Israel | The Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra performs throughout the country and frequently tours abroad. (references) |
Denmark | Hans Abrahamsen's works have been performed by the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, DC. (references) | |
Israel | Almost every municipality has a chamber orchestra or ensemble, many boasting the talents of gifted performers from the countries of the former Soviet Union. (references) | |
Minorities | Argentina | In April Alberto Merenson, a retired musician and former director of the Symphonic Orchestra of San Juan Province, was the victim of a letter bomb. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Barry Manilow | Very catchy song. What I had fun doing was building it, starting it really little and building it and changing the key and adding the orchestra and giving it a big ending. I like that. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Orchestra" is generally used as a noun (common) -- approximately 99.35% of the time. "Orchestra" is used about 1,536 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (common) | 99.35% | 1,526 | 5,356 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.65% | 10 | 111,207 |
| Total | 100.00% | 1,536 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "orchestra": chamber orchestra ♦ conducting orchestra ♦ dance orchestra ♦ lead on orchestra ♦ member of an orchestra ♦ orchestra circle ♦ orchestra pit ♦ orchestra stall ♦ pit of orchestra ♦ royal orchestra ♦ string orchestra ♦ symphony orchestra ♦ wind orchestra. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "orchestra": orchestra-first, orchestra-pit. | |
Ending with "orchestra": full-orchestra, symphony-orchestra. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "orchestra"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | orkes. (various references) | |
Albanian | orkestër (band). (various references) | |
Arabic | فن الأوركسترا, فرقة موسيقية, الاوركسترا, أوركسترا (orchestics). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | оркестър. (various references) | |
Chamorro | músiku. (various references) | |
Chinese | 管弦樂團 , 乐队. (various references) | |
Czech | orchestr. (various references) | |
Danish | orkester. (various references) | |
Dutch | orkest (band), muziekkorps, band (band, binding, bond, border, braid, brim, brink, cover, edge, edging, fillet, fringe, ligament, ray, ribbon, rim, string, strip, stripe, tape, tie, tire, tyre, volume). (various references) | |
Esperanto | orkestro. (various references) | |
Farsi | جایگاه ارکست (Banstand), ارکست , دسته نوازندگان . (various references) | |
Finnish | orkesteri (band), soittokunta (band). (various references) | |
French | orchestre. (various references) | |
German | Orchester. (various references) | |
Greek | ορχήστρα (band). (various references) | |
Hebrew | תזמורת (band). (various references) | |
Hungarian | zsöllye (stalls), zenekar (band, consort, menagerie). (various references) | |
Indonesian | orkes (band). (various references) | |
Italian | orchestra (band). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 管弦楽団 , 楽隊 (band), 楽団 (band), 平土間 (parquet, pit), オクタン価 (enthusiast, fantasy object for masturbation, geek, honor, love affair with colleague, masturbation, nerd, Occam, ocean space explorer, Oceania, octane value, octet, odometer, of course, off, off the record, offence, offense, offer, office, office automation, office computer, office girl, office lady, office wife, officer, official, official handicap, official record, off-season, offshore, offshore center, offshore fund, off-side, Ohio, Oklahoma, okra, OL, onanism, onion, onomatopoeia, onyx, opal, opinion, opinion leader, Oscar, oscillograph, oscilloscope, Oslo, osmium, OSPER, ostracism, ostrich, ostrich policy, Othello, Ottawa, Oxford, oxtail, ozone, ozone hole, respectable person), エンボス加工 (auction, audience, audience survey, audio, audiometer, audio-visual, audition, auditorium, Austin, Australia, Australopithecus, Austria, authentic, authority, authorization, authorize, auto, auto door, auto focus, auto parlor, auto player, auto show, autobacks, autobiography, autocamping, auto-changer, autocracy, autocross, automatic, automatic clutch, automatic control, automatic stop, automatic transmission, automatic tuning deck, auto-nurse, autopilot, auxin, custom-made, eau de Cologne, embossment, enlargement, enrich, haute couture, made-to-order, motorcycle race, motorcycle), OA, oak, oaks, oats, ocean, ocean race, oceanaut, Odin, office automation, office lady, ogre, OK, OL, old girl, orc, orchard, orchestra box, order, order entry system, order made, ordinary, organdy, organization, organize, organizer, orgasm, orgy, orgy party, orthodox, ostrich). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | がくたい (band), がくだん (band, musical world), ひらどま (parquet, pit), かんげんがくだん, オーケストラ , オケ . (various references) | |
Korean | 오케스트라. (various references) | |
Manx | kiaullane (bell, bell small, blatancy, clamourer, clarion, handbell, noise in the ear, racket, squeaker, toll, toll of bell, tolling). (various references) | |
Papiamen | orkesta. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | orchestraay.(various references) | |
Polish | orkiesta. (various references) | |
Portuguese | orquestra. (various references) | |
Romanian | orchestrå, orchestrã (band), loc pentru orchestrã, loc pentru cor. (various references) | |
Romany | orkèstoorus. (various references) | |
Russian | оркестр (band). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | orkestar (band), parter (ground floor, parterre). (various references) | |
Spanish | orquesta. (various references) | |
Swedish | orkester (band), kapell (band, chantry, chapel, oratory). (various references) | |
Tagalog | orkésta. (various references) | |
Turkish | orkestra yeri (pit), orkestra (band, orchestral), en ön sıralar. (various references) | |
Turkmen | orkestr (r). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | оркестр, місце для хору, місце для оркестру, партер (parterre). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | ban nhạc. (various references) | |
Welsh | cerddorfa. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | orchestra. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "orchestra": orchestral, orchestrally, orchestras, orchestrate, orchestrated, orchestrater, orchestraters, orchestrates, orchestrating, orchestration, orchestrational, orchestrations, orchestrator, orchestrators. (additional references) | |
Words containing "orchestra": overorchestrate, overorchestrated, overorchestrates, overorchestrating, reorchestrate, reorchestrated, reorchestrates, reorchestrating, reorchestration, reorchestrations. (additional references) | |
| |
"Orchestra" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: archestra, Arkestra, Erchester, orcestra, orchastra, orchestrion, orchistra, orhestra, orkestra, orkheisthai. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "orchestra" (pronounced ô"rkustru) |
| 4 | -s t r u | extra. |
| 3 | -t r u | contra, mantra, spectra, Tetra, ultra. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-c-e-h-o-r-r-s-t" | |
-1 letter: charters, creators, horsecar, reactors, recharts, thoraces, trochars. | |
-2 letters: archers, carrots, carters, charros, charter, chaster, choreas, coarser, coaster, coaters, crasher, craters, creator, earshot, hectors, hoarser, oraches, rachets, ratches, reactor, rechart, rectors, rhetors, roaches, roaster, rochets, rotches, shorter, tochers, torches, tracers, trocars, trochar, troches. | |
-3 letters: actors, ahorse, archer, arches, arrest, ashore, carers, carets, carrot, carter. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-c-e-h-o-r-r-s-t" | |
+1 letter: orchestral, orchestras, trochlears. | |
+2 letters: arthroscope, charioteers, choirmaster, crapshooter, hovercrafts, orchestrate, prothoraces, tetrachords, treacherous, trochanters. | |
+3 letters: archenterons, arthroscopes, chiropterans, choirmasters, cornstarches, crapshooters, orchestrally, orchestrated, orchestrater, orchestrates, orchestrator, perchlorates, rhetoricians, shortchanger, spectrograph, torchbearers, urochordates. | |
+4 letters: arthroscopies, brachypterous, carbohydrates, cartographers, cartographies, copartnership, creaturehoods, cryotherapies, galactorrheas, hydrothoraces, hyperreactors, noncharacters, orchestraters, orchestrating, orchestration, orchestrators, oystercatcher, prehistorical, procathedrals, reorchestrate, saccharometer, shortchangers, spectrographs, spectrography, stereographic, stratospheric, terpsichorean, treacherously, trichopterans, trisoctahedra, turbochargers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Fiction 10. Quotations: Non-fiction 11. Quotations: Spoken 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Abbreviations 18. Acronyms 19. Derivations 20. Rhymes | 21. Anagrams 22. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
