Scan 309
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
6 lines. Read by computer on 8 September 2026. Printed page 269. See the scan on archive.org.
1and genius and made our modern orchestra into an instrument whose range of expression is almost infinite. Its voices are so many and so varied that there are no shades of tone color it cannot touch, and its compass reaches from the lowest tone on a piano, given by the bass tuba, to the highest found in the voice of the piccolo flute. The lowest note is about as deep as any in which the ear can detect pitch and the highest as acute as it can recognize.
3The viols are only solo instruments, except the harp, which can play harmony as well as melody; their range is the most extensive and are capable of more manipulation by the performers than any other instruments and answer more quickly and eloquently to the feelings of the player. The wind instruments are of course dependent upon the breath of the players and so are somewhat limited in their ability to sustain tones, and in this respect the viols have a great advantage over the other choirs. For these reasons the stringed choir is depended upon to sustain the life of orchestral music.
5Usually the violin part of an orchestral score is two voiced, first and second violin, but there may be many smaller subdivisions which produce entrancing effects. Between the first and second violin the only difference lies in the music written for them; it is a division made in order that the middle parts of the harmony may be properly filled out. The first violins are frequently called the sopranos of an orchestra; the second violins are the altos; the violas are the tenors; the violoncellos are the barytones; and the double-basses are the basses. This is not exactly a true division, for the viola and cello are capable of a soprano register, but when all are playing together the order is correct, and as the viola then would lie too far below the violin part if all violins were played together, we have the second violin. The viola is an important instrument owing to its beautiful quality of tone; in its lower tones it is rather gloomy and somber, while in its upper tones it becomes tender and pathetic.
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