Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-04-30
THE CRITIC TALKS
TO MUSIC LOVERS

'TNHE new seating arrangement of the
Il Philadelphia Orchestra which Mr..
Stokowski put into effect at tho special
concert Of the Orchestra on Monday
evening and which was continued nt the
concert yesterday afternoon. will be
watched with much interest by those
who are interested in orchestra detail.
As was mentioned in tho EvENTSG
PUBLIC LEDGER Of Tuesday last. the
arrangement, while not adopted by any
Of the leading orchcstraS Of this coun-
try. is not absolutely new, as il is
used by Sir Henry Wood in the
Queens Hall Orchestra Of London. and
was probably first seen in this city at
the concert by that orchestra given ut
the Metropolitan Opera House some
years ago.
For those who have not seen and
heard the Orchestra under the new ar
rangemont. IL may be Snd that the
changes relate wholly to the strings The
| first violins are naturally unchanged. as
| they occupy the only position roncPva e
BILE for the leading instruments Of the
orchestra. The second volins. under the
new arrangement. are moved next TO
the hrSts. in the position which tho
cclos formerly occupied, the violns
taking the outside on tho right hand
side. where the seconds formerly wcrc,
and the cclloS are moved across the
| stage to the position where tho violns
where. The contrabasses arc unchanged.
as are also the brass, woodwind and
horns.
| A S WAS remarked after tho Monday
\ evening concert. the new arrange
ment was most effective for Wng-
merriam program and the same effect was
| obtained yesterday at the concert. In
fact. the now arrangement is bound tC
he better than the old ono for every
program whore there is n preponderance
Of modern music. for very apparent rca =
sons.
Since the variations. of orchestra
color introduced by Bcrlioz and Wagner
have become generally adopted. tho
whole scheme Of OrChe=tratiOn whicl
was originated by Haydn and Mozart
and brought to perfection by beethoven
has been changed. In those days th'
orchestra was simply body Of stringcc
Instruments. with the woodwind. horn
| and what brass there was Cfor neither
Haydn nor Mozart used trombones. dos
pite the fact that that valuable OrChes
tral instrument is very old ono an'
we'll known to both these composers
used ns color instruments and for tona
power. Bcrloz and Wagner perceived
H. tho wOOdwindS great solo inStru
mcnts. going much further in this re
sppct than Beethoven. who was by n
means nScnsiblc to the solo value %
these instruments. Also the mClodi
horn came into general use about thi
time and the tuba was introduced
! giving n quartet uf the deeper brass in
Strumcnts and they we're both used n
,olo instruments uhc trombone par
tcuIarlyD. and in brass ensembles. Of
icctS totally unknown to Haydn. Mo
2art and almost unknown to Beethoven
TUE use Of the strings had ais
l. changed materially during this time
The violn. which was used almost OK
CluSivcly by Haydn as an orch"Strf
"tller," has been brought 10 n pOsitiO
oi greater prominence by Mozart in hi
ouartpts and elevated by Beethoven t
position equal in importance to tn
first violin in his Quartets. but not :
prominently used in his OrChcStrntiOn.
The later orchestral composers. cs
pecially those great iCouoClasts. RorIiO
and Wagner. were quick to TAX" thcI
lesson nS to tho possibilities of the viOl
! rom tho Beethoven QuartctS, and tn
,iolas soon began 10 have orchcstri
parts of the greatest difficulty nm
prominence written for them, as di
also tho Ccllos. Much that was formcrl
given to tho violnS found it's way int
tho viola and cello parts. the violin
having tho iiorid fgurntion now so ia
niliar to modern composers.
With tho added tonal volume OF IN