Complete Symphonies
Instruments to a Classical Symphony setup and their purposes?
so i had a program that brought up sheet music for the instruments used in a classical symphony setup. the program expired, so now im not sure what instruments were in it anymore, but i do remember things like violin I / II (doy :b) and flute / piccolo, but if someone could give me a complete list that’d be great
also, what are the specific purposes of each instrument in a classical symphony setup, or any symphony for that matter?
This article will give you a summary overview of the (symphony) orchestra’s history and provide you with 4 charts for comparison of the changing/developing, usual instrumentation for four principal periods of the orchestra’s development from around 1780 to the present day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchestra
Once you have absorbed that, you should be able to formulate more precisely what further detail you might need on this or that instrument’s role or application within the orchestra’s overall palette.
All the best,
