{"id":19961,"date":"2014-08-04T13:47:40","date_gmt":"2014-08-04T17:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/?p=19961"},"modified":"2020-02-23T13:25:10","modified_gmt":"2020-02-23T18:25:10","slug":"classical-101-the-difference-between-chamber-philharmonic-and-symphony-orchestra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2014\/08\/04\/classical-101-the-difference-between-chamber-philharmonic-and-symphony-orchestra\/","title":{"rendered":"Classical 101 | The Difference Between Chamber, Philharmonic, And Symphony Orchestra"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Philharmonic
Ever wonder what the difference between a philharmonic and a symphony orchestra is? How about a chamber orchestra? Your questions answered.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I recently had a discussion with a friend who asked about the difference between the term chamber, philharmonic, and symphony orchestra. \u201cWhat makes one a philharmonic and another a symphony orchestra, he asked? \u00a0\u201cAlso, what is a chamber orchestra exactly?\u201d<\/p>\n

These are very good questions, and if you\u2019re not sure, don\u2019t feel bad, as even some of us\u00a0the classical music world find it a bit confusing.<\/p>\n

So, let\u2019s clarify.<\/p>\n

In essence, the differences between chamber, philharmonic and symphony orchestra are based on an understanding of the origins of the terms.<\/p>\n

Firstly, the term orchestra<\/em> simply means a group of instrumental musicians. That\u2019s it! It can be used in any music genre. This is why we have groups known as the Brian Setzer Orchestra (big band) and the London Symphony Orchestra. Think of it as another word for group.<\/p>\n

In classical music, the term \u201corchestra\u201d, refers specifically to a group of musicians involving strings, woodwinds, brass, percussion and (sometimes) choir. But again, it is important to understand that \u201corchestra\u201d, \u00a0as a term, has no bearing on specific ensemble size or genre.<\/p>\n

So does this mean a string quartet, string trio, or piano trio, are orchestras too? I\u2019ll explain the term \u201cchamber\u201d in more detail in a moment, but these are examples of specialised ensembles that specify the blending of instrumental families. For example, a piano trio is an ensemble consisting of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello. So while you certainly could<\/em> call them “orchestras”, they live more broadly under the category of \u201cchamber music\u201d or \u201cchamber ensembles\u201d.<\/p>\n

Just to make things more complicated, \u201corchestra\u201d also refers to a particular spot\u00a0in the theatre where musicians perform on stage. This meaning comes from the Greek word \u1f40\u03c1\u03c7\u03ae\u03c3\u03c4\u03c1\u03b1, which denotes the front part of a stage in ancient Greek theatres where Greek chorus’ would sing and dance. This is the meaning that concerts halls allude to when denoting main floor seating as \u201corchestra level seating\u201d.<\/p>\n

As for the terms \u201cphilharmonic\u201d and \u201csymphony\u201d, both basically mean \u201charmonious music\u201d and are used as namesakes to differentiate between different orchestras. For example, the \u201cGreater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra\u201d, \u201cToronto Philharmonia Orchestra\u201d and the \u201cToronto Symphony Orchestra\u201d are all \u201corchestras,\u201d but to avoid being confused with each other, they came up with swanky names. In and of themselves they are meaningless.<\/p>\n

Where things get confusing is that a \u201csymphony\u201d also refers to a special kind of orchestral composition that is formally structured in four movements, and includes a movement\u00a0using the\u00a0sonata form<\/a>. The classical symphony is a complicated topic and deserves its own post, so I\u2019ll save that for another day.<\/p>\n

The term \u201cchamber\u201d, like orchestra, is basically an adjective that denotes the space in which the music was to be performed.\u00a0 It comes from the French term chambre<\/em>, meaning room.<\/p>\n

In context, a chamber orchestra refers to an orchestra (a group of musicians) who play in rooms rather than full-sized concert halls. The acoustic limitations mean that chamber orchestras are smaller (up to 50 musicians) as opposed to a full orchestra (around 100). Of course, chamber orchestras can play in a concert hall, but a full orchestra would not be able to fit in a small room. The music between a chamber and full orchestra sounds very different due to the smaller number of instruments, orchestration, and acoustics of the performance space.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s it in a nutshell! I hope that clears it up for those of you who always wondered\u2026<\/p>\n

MORE CLASSICAL 101 HERE<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n

LUDWIG VAN TORONTO<\/i>
\n<\/b><\/h3>\n

Want more updates on classical music and opera news and reviews? Follow us on\u00a0<\/i>Facebook,<\/span><\/i><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0Instagram<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0<\/span>or\u00a0<\/i>Twitter<\/i><\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>for all the latest.<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ever wonder what the difference between a philharmonic and a symphony orchestra is? How about a chamber orchestra? Your questions answered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":66707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[117,12,60],"tags":[4808,4809,4810],"yst_prominent_words":[6739,7512,28277,28274,28268,28267,6715,28272,28273,6616,28276,6986,28270,28269,13447,6637,6826,13301,28271,28275],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/08\/Philharmonic-And-Symphony-Orchestra.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-5bX","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19961"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66708,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19961\/revisions\/66708"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19961"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=19961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}