ABSTRACT
The study of orchestration as an element of musical composition is, historically, a relatively recent event. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, the assignment of instruments to parts was dictated largely by availability of resources; orchestration in the sense of a planned, structural use of instruments and instrument combinations was not employed. The Baroque era witnessed the increasing specificity of instrumental combinations. For example, Monteverdi suggests certain instrumental combinations for his opera Orfeo (1607). By the end of the Baroque, concert works might include parts for flutes, oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets, timpani, and continuo, plus strings. The
conception of the orchestra as consisting of contrasting families of timbres can be seen, for example, in Handel’s Music for the Royal Fireworks (1749). In the classical period, Mozart was innovative in his application of winds to solo melodic lines; his wind concerti, in fact, are beautifully crafted explorations of wind virtuosity.
