Symphony Orchestra Concert Report

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There is something magical in hearing the buzz of the string instruments tune at the beginning of a symphony orchestra concert. It is a sound that captures the attention of the audience in mere seconds. The range of the instruments fills the auditorium instantly. How is it that a group of musicians is capable of producing a sound that rich and captivating with just wooden instruments and a bow? Beginning with their origins, and moving through technical changes, the orchestral string instruments have developed into the instruments we have today; changes have been made in their structure and materials, which greatly affects the sound the instrument is able to produce. The orchestral string instruments that will be discussed in this report …show more content…
The fingerboard of the violin was made longer, and it was also set at more of an angle to support the tension of the strings being increased. The increased tension of the strings, coupled with the change in the fingerboard, resulted in the violin having an increased range and sound projection” (The History). The gut strings were replaced with steel strings. Two followers of the Amati family and Cremona school, Antonio Stradivari and Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, have brought the violin to the highest level of perfection. Because of their work, the violin was not only just a musical instrument, but it became a true work of art (Sherman). These instruments get their glorious sound from the type of wood used and the methods of how the instruments were made. "The essential difference is the three-phase varnishing technique Stradivarius used. Apparently, he mixed silica and potash and applied the resulting glassy liquid to the assembled violin. The liquid entered the pores of the wood and wrapped around the fibers giving the violin a robust constitution, the main reason such a large number of Stradivarius instruments have survived” (Gani). “These old violins tend to be sought after over mass produced factory violins by intermediate and advance players because of their superior craftsmanship, resonance, and because the tone and timbre of the violin is thought to mature over the lifetime of the instrument” (The History of the Violin). According to Martin Gani, “a 1742 gem by Giuseppe Guarneri, had been auctioned for $2.83 million in 1999.” Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, violin making spread outside of Europe to the rest of the world