Editing Orchestration (section)

===Wagner===

After Berlioz, [[Richard Wagner]] was the major pioneer in the development of orchestration during the 19th century. [[Pierre Boulez]] speaks of the "sheer richness of Wagner's orchestration and his irrepressible instinct for innovation."<ref>Boulez, P. (1986, p. 273) Orientations.  London, Faber.</ref> Peter Latham says that Wagner had a "unique appreciation of the possibilities for colour inherent in the instruments at his disposal, and it was this that guided him both in his selection of new recruits for the orchestral family and in his treatment of its established members. The well-known division of that family into strings, woodwind, and brass, with percussion as required, he inherited from the great classical symphonists such changes as he made were in the direction of splitting up these groups still further." Latham gives as an example, the sonority of the opening of the opera ''[[Lohengrin (opera)|Lohengrin]]'', where "the ethereal quality of the music" is due to the violins being "divided up into four, five, or even eight parts instead of the customary two."<ref>Latham, P. (1926) "Wagner: Aesthetics and Orchestration". Gramophone, June 1926.</ref> [[File:Prelude to Lohengrin condensed score.png|thumb|center|500px|Wagner, Prelude to Lohengrin<ref>{{Cite web |last=((Fledermaus1990)) |date=Jan 22, 2012 |title=Richard Wagner - Lohengrin - Prelude |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqk4bcnBqls |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191230223622/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqk4bcnBqls |archive-date=Dec 30, 2019 |website=YouTube}}</ref>]] "The A major chord with which the ''Lohengrin'' Prelude begins, in the high register, using [[harmonics]] and held for a long time, lets us take in all its detail. It is undoubtedly an A major chord, but it is also high strings, harmonics, long notes – which gives it all its expressivity, but an expressivity in which the acoustic features play a central role, as we have still heard neither melody nor harmonic progression."<ref>Boulez, P. (2005, p. 361) ''Music Lessons'', trans. Dunsby, Goldman and Whittal, 2018. London, Faber.</ref> As he matured as a composer, particularly through his experience of composing [[Der Ring des Nibelungen|''The Ring'']] Wagner made "increasing use of the contrast between pure and mixed [[Timbre|colours]], bringing to a fine point the art of transition from one field of sonority to another."<ref>Boulez, P. (1986, p. 273) Orientations.  London, Faber.</ref>  For example, in the evocative "Fire Music" that concludes {{lang|de|[[Die Walküre]]}}, "the multiple [[arpeggio|arpeggiations]] of the wind chords and the [[contrapuntal motion|contrary motion]] in the strings create an oscillation of tone-colours almost literally matching the visual flickering of the flames."<ref>Boulez, P. (2018, p. 524) ''Music Lessons'', trans. Dunsby, Goldman and Whittal, 2018. London, Faber.</ref>[[File:Wagner Fire Music from Die Walkure 01.wav|thumb|Wagner Fire Music from {{lang|de|Die Walküre}}]][[File:Wagner Fire Music from Die Walkure 02.png|thumb|center|500px|Wagner Fire Music from {{lang|de|Die Walküre}}]][[Robert Craft]] found Wagner's final opera ''[[Parsifal]]'' to be a work where "Wagner's powers are at their pinnacle… The orchestral blends and separations are without precedent."<ref>Craft, R. (1977, p. 82)  Current Convictions. London, Secker & Warburg.</ref>   Craft cites the intricate orchestration of the single line of melody that opens the opera:[[File:Parsifal Prelude Opening 01.wav|thumb|Parsifal Prelude Opening]][[File:Parsifal Prelude Opening.png|thumb|center|500px|Parsifal Prelude Opening]]

"''Parsifal'' makes entirely new uses of orchestral colour… Without the help of the score, even a very sensitive ear cannot distinguish the instruments playing the unison beginning of the Prelude.  The violins are halved, then doubled by the cellos, a clarinet, and a bassoon, as well as, for the peak of the phrase, an alto oboe [cor anglais]. The full novelty of this colour change with the oboe, both as intensity and as timbre, can be appreciated only after the theme is repeated in harmony and in one of the most gorgeous orchestrations of even Wagner's Technicolor imagination."<ref>{{Cite web |last=((DjangoMan1963)) |date=May 13, 2011 |title=Wagner - 'Parsifal' - Act I Prelude (Georg Solti) |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQOfIENN2tk |website=YouTube}}</ref><ref>Craft, R. (1977, p. 91)  ''Current Convictions''. London, Secker & Warburg.</ref>
Later, during the opening scene of the first act of ''[[Parsifal]]'', Wagner offsets the bold brass with gentler strings, showing that the same musical material feels very different when passed between contrasting families of instruments:[[File:Parsifal contrasting groups for audio.wav|thumb|Contrasting orchestral groups from the Prelude to the first Act of Parsifal]][[File:Parsifal contrasting groups.png|thumb|center|500px|Contrasting orchestral groups from the Prelude to first Act of Parsifal]]

On the other hand, the prelude to the opera ''[[Tristan und Isolde|Tristan and Isolde]]'' exemplifies the variety that Wagner could extract through combining instruments from different [[Orchestra|orchestral families]] with his precise markings of [[Dynamics (music)|dynamics]] and [[Articulation (music)|articulation]].  In the opening phrase, the cellos are supported by wind instruments: [[File:Tristan prelude bars 1-7 version for audio.wav|thumb|Wagner, Tristan Prelude, opening]][[File:Tristan prelude bars 1-7.png|thumb|center|500px|Wagner, Tristan prelude, opening.]]

When this idea returns towards the end of the prelude, the [[Timbre|instrumental colors]] are varied subtly, with sounds that were new to the 19th century orchestra, such as the [[cor anglais]] and the [[bass clarinet]].  These, together with the ominous rumbling of the timpani effectively convey the brooding atmosphere: [[File:Tristan prelude closing bars version for audio.wav|thumb|Wagner, Tristan Prelude, closing bars]][[File:Wagner, Tristan prelude closing bars.png|thumb|center|500px|Wagner, Tristan Prelude, closing bars.]]

"It's impressive to see how Wagner… produces balance in his works.  He is true genius in this respect, undeniably so, even down to the working out of the exact number of instruments."  Boulez is "fascinated by the precision with which Wagner gauges orchestral balance, [which] … contains a multiplicity of details that he achieved with astonishing precision."<ref>Boulez, P. (2003, p. 52) Boulez on Conducting.  London, Faber.</ref> According to [[Roger Scruton]], "Seldom since Bach's inspired use of [[obbligato]] parts in his cantatas have the instruments of the orchestra been so meticulously and lovingly adapted to their expressive role by Wagner in his later operas."<ref>Scruton, R. (2016, p. 147) ''The Ring of Truth: The Wisdom of Wagner's'' Ring of the Nibelung.  Penguin Random House.</ref>