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The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

3. A Short History of Orchestral Music

The History of Orchestral Music

2. The 4 Families of Orchestral Instruments

2.1. The Great String Family

2.1.1 The Bowed Strings

2.1.2 The Plucked Strings

2.1.3 The Struck Strings

2.2 The Woodwinds

2.3 The Brass Instruments

2.4 The Percussion Instruments

Intro What is an Orchestra ?

1. The OSM

1.3 The Maison symphonique

1.4 The OSM Around the World

1.5 The Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique

1.6 The OSM Chorus

1.7 The Musicians of the OSM

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

The Instruments of the Orchestra

Table of Contents

ORCHESTRA

Noun. (latin orchestra, from the Greek orkhêstra) The word orchestra comes from the Greek orkhêstra, which designates a space within a theatre between the stage and the audience, where you would have found the chorus in an ancient Greek tragedy. Eventually the musical group that occupied that space took on the same name. In time, all large instrumental groups would come to be known as orchestras.

These orchestras are created to perform musical works (like symphonies, concertos, overtures, etc.) written by composers like Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Hector Berlioz, Johannes Brahms or Claude Debussy. But also works by contemporary female composers from all over the world.

Most major cities in the world have their own orchestra!

What is an Orchestra ?

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal at one of its very first concerts in 1934! Can you spot one of your great grandparents?

Over the course of many years, the OSM became an important part of cultural life in the city. Today it has 90 to 100 musicians (the number varies according to the music being played), selected from amongst the very best players from Quebec, Canada and North America. The OSM is led by conductors who come from all around the world. Together, they perform concerts all year long. Certain concerts are recorded for broadcast on television, on social media or even the radio. The OSM has also recorded a great many records and discs.

Montreal has had its own orchestra since 1934! That means that the OSM has been giving concerts and playing the most beautiful works from the classical repertoire for over 80 years.

Discover the great family of OSM musicians here!

The OSM

The interior of the hall is finished in wood, but not just any wood: beech wood! The type of wood was specially chosen by experts for its superior acoustic qualities. The hall is also equipped with curtains (on the sides) and acoustic panels (on the ceiling) that can be adjusted according to the desired acoustic for each concert. Even though it is built in the middle of downtown Montreal and overtop a metro station, no outside noises or vibrations disturb the inside of the hall… the 2100 audience members hear only the sound of music!

You can visit the Maison symphonique virtually here!

Taking its inspiration from the very best concert halls around the world, its rectangular shape is reminiscent of a shoebox (in fact its design is known as the shoebox style).

The OSM performs most of its concerts at the Maison symphonique de Montreal. Inaugurated in 2011, this concert hall was built especially for concert music.

The Maison symphonique

When the OSM is not performing at the Maison symphonique, it is probably either in a park during the summer season, or on tour in another city in Quebec, in Canada or around the world!

An OSM summer performance in a park

Discover images from the OSM’s latest tours!

The OSM Around the World

Did you know ? Organ

The Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique

In 2014 a new instrument made its appearance at the OSM in the Maison symphonique: The Grand Orgue Pierre-Béique This organ has no less than 6489 pipes and weighs some 35 tonnes. It was generously offered as a gift to the OSM by Jacqueline Desmarais. It bears the name of the OSM’s founder and first Director General: Mr. Pierre Béique This impressive instrument was made here, in Quebec, by the organ maker: Casavant Frères.

In some works, a choir with as many as 120 singers can be added to the orchestra. When there are fewer singers, the choir is sometimes placed on the stage with the orchestra. But when bigger choirs are needed, the choristers take their place in the seats situated behind the orchestra (this section is called “the choir”), near the organ. The OSM Chorus was founded in the 1980s at the request of the Music Director at the time, Charles Dutoit. Made up of 50 professional singers, and from 80 to 100 volunteer singers, the Chorus joins the OSM regularly to perform the great masterpieces of the repertoire.

The OSM Chorus

The Musicians of the OSM

Click with you finger or hover your mouse over the faces of the musicians to discover their instruments!

Brass instruments

Woodwinds

It is made up of four different instrument families, which we often call “sections.”

An orchestra is a family story!

Strings

percussions

The 4 Instruments Families

The bowed strings

The struck strings

The plucked strings

In the great string family, the instruments are classified according to several sub-families based on the way they are played:

The Great String Family

Did you know? Stradivarius

In this excerpt, discover the agility and the power of the string section of the OSM

In this video, Sylvie Lambert, cellist with the OSM, tells us all about string instruments:

Did you know? The Bow

The bowed string instruments come in various sizes. They are all made of wood, they have a neck and a fingerboard, a bridge to which is attached 4 strings, and a resonating body.

Musicians hold the instrument either between their chin and their shoulder (violinists and violists), in front of them and between their legs (cellists) or standing in front of them (double bassists)! In order to create a sound, they rub their bows across the strings.

The Bowed Strings

Andrew Wan, Concertmaster of the OSM, performs Ein Heldenleben by Richard Strauss with the Orchestra.

If you’ve ever been to a concert, you must surely have been impressed by the synchronised bows!

Such synchronicity is not a fluke, but the hard work of the concertmaster. In fact, before beginning rehearsals for a musical work, the concertmaster indicates the bowings in the score with special symbols. All the violinists must then follow those indications so that their bows move in the same way. It is also the concertmaster who plays any solo passages that are indicated in the score. That’s why in French, the concertmaster is call the violon solo. Solo is the Italian word for alone.

In the 16th century, the concertmaster was at once a musician in the orchestra and the conductor. But today, the concertmaster acts more as the “right hand” of the conductor.

The Concertmaster

The Quebec harpist Valérie Milot (winner of the 2010 OSM Competition) plays a piece from the orchestral repertoire, adapted for the harp as a solo instrument:

The harp is the orchestra’s primary plucked string instrument. Even though it is a very ancient instrument, it did not appear in orchestras until the 19th century. To play it, the musician leans the instrument on their right shoulder and plucks the strings with their fingers, but not the thumb.

Did you know? Pizzicato

The Plucked Strings : The Harp

Like in this video of the pianist Charles Richard-Hamelin with the OSM!

You may sometimes see a piano at the very front of the stage, when it is being accompanied by the orchestra.

How does a piano works?

At once a percussion and a string instrument, the piano produces its sound thanks to little felt hammers that strike metal strings. With its 88 black and white keys, the piano is the orchestral instrument with the broadest range.

The piano is not always found on stage because not all pieces necessarily include a part for the piano.

The Strucked Strings : The Piano

Did you know? Saxophone

In this video, Mathieu Harel, bassoonist for the OSM, introduces the woodwind section

The openings on the oboe, the bassoon and the clarinet are fitted with small pieces of wood called “reeds” that the players vibrate with their lips. There are single reeds and double reeds, depending on the instrument. As for the flute, it does not have a reed, but a little hole (embouchure) over which the flutist blows air to produce a sound.

Traditionally made out of wood, these instruments are easy to recognize by their elongated shape. To produce a sound, you blow into a small opening on one end.

Here they are playing all together in this movement from Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky!

The Woodwinds

Discover the brass instruments of the OSM in quintet formation!

Did you know? Harmonics

In this video, OSM trombonist, Pierre Beaudry, introduces us to the brass section.

We can see them from far off because they are shiny, we can hear them clearly because their sound is powerful: these are the instruments of the brass family!

To produce a sound, we blow into the mouthpiece while vibrating the lips.

The Brass Instruments

Adam Johnson, Conductor in Residence of the OSM between 2015 and 2019, explains traditional percussion instruments.

Unpitched percussions

Pitched percussions

At the beginning of the 20th century, increased globalization allowed unpitched percussion instruments like the tam-tam from Asia and pitched percussion instruments like the xylophone, the glockenspiel and marimba, inspired by African instruments, to take their place in the orchestra.

In order to differentiate between all the different percussion instruments, they are divided into two large families :

In this video, OSM percussionist, Hugues Tremblay introduces the percussion section

The Percussion Instruments

The percussion family groups together many instruments that are quite different from one another. To play them, percussionists strike them, shake them, or even scratch them. Some percussion instruments are made of metal, wood, or even skin (membrane) stretched over a wooden frame.

To learn more, consult our thematic guide on orchestral forms

From the Royal Court to the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal

In Europe, up to the end of the 15th century, the purpose of music was for entertainment and dancing at royal courts. Musicians either came from noble families, or worked in their service.Since the 17th century, developments in instrument manufacturing, music theory, the evolution of musical genres and social transformations led to the emergence of many new forms of orchestral music. From Baroque opera to contemporary creations and everything in between, the structure of orchestral instrumentation has never stopped evolving in order to serve the needs of composers, musicians and the public.

A Short History of Orchestral Music