From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The keyboard section of an
orchestra or
concert band includes
keyboard instruments . Keyboard instruments are not usually a standard members of a 2010-era orchestra or concert band, but they are included occasionally. In orchestras from the 1600s to the mid-1750s, a keyboard instrument such as the
pipe organ or
harpsichord was normally played with an orchestra, with the performer improvising chords from a
figured bass part. This practice, called
basso continuo , was phased out after 1750 (although some Masses for choir and orchestra would occasionally still have a keyboard part in the late 1700s).
Members
Common members of this section are:
Piano : although infrequent in standard symphonic repertoire, many larger-scale works call for this instrument, and often has very important roles to play. These include
Ottorino Respighi 's
Pines of Rome ,
Igor Stravinsky 's
Petrushka (almost scored as a
piano concerto ),
Leonard Bernstein 's
West Side Story , most of
Bohuslav Martinů 's orchestral compositions, and many of
Sergei Prokofiev and
Dmitri Shostakovich 's symphonies. It is more frequently found in 20th- and 21st-century pieces, such as
Aaron Copland 's "
Hoedown " and Stravinsky's
Symphony in Three Movements .
Pipe organ or
harpsichord (in 17th- and early 18th-century works with
basso continuo accompaniment; occasionally pipe organ is used in later music, such as
Richard Strauss 's
Also sprach Zarathustra ,
Gustav Mahler 's
Eighth Symphony ,
Camille Saint-Saëns 's
Organ Symphony (Symphony No. 3) ,
Edward Elgar 's
Enigma Variations (final variation), and
Gustav Holst 's suite,
The Planets .
Celesta (from the late-19th century onward, in works like Tchaikovsky's
Nutcracker Suite )
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Keyboard glockenspiel (from the early 18th century onward, first by Handel in 1739 in his oratorio
Saul )
Ondes Martenot , an early
electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 that creates eerie wavering notes. It is not a keyboard instrument but it is still usually placed in the keyboard section. Notable examples of its orchestral use include
Olivier Messiaen 's
Turangalîla-Symphonie and
Trois Petites Liturgies de la Présence Divine , as well as his opera
Saint-François d'Assise , which requires three of the instruments.
Synthesizer (called for in some 20th- and 21st-century works, like
John Adams 's
Short Ride in a Fast Machine and the
Requiem Mass by
Andrew Lloyd Webber )
Less common members
Although technically not a keyboard instrument, the
cimbalom , a concert
hammered dulcimer , is usually placed in the keyboard section, as in
Franz Liszt 's
Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6 and
Béla Bartók 's
First Rhapsody for violin and orchestra . In some cases, one or more
concert harps may be placed in the keyboard section, such as in
Joseph Marx 's Eine Herbstsymphonie.
See also
References
Ensembles Leaders Orchestra
Concert band