# Vier Letzte Lieder - orchestra size?



## Darkhawk (Jun 7, 2011)

I realise it premiered at Royal Albert Hall, which is a monstrosity of a space, but I was wondering if anyone knows original intentions for orchestration. 

I just saw performance at Royal Festival Hall with Eva-Maria Westbroek, and she was overwhelmed by the 8 basses, 14 celli, 700 or so (slight exaggeration there) violins, etc.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

"The songs are scored for piccolo, 3 flutes (3rd doubling 2nd piccolo), 2 oboes, English horn, 2 clarinets in B-flat and A, bass clarinet, 2 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns in F (also E-flat and D), 3 trumpets in C, E-flat and F, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, harp, celesta, and strings."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Last_Songs#Instrumentation

Rest assured, since the time of its premiere shortly after Strauss' death -- 1950 -- the standard symphonic number of strings was pretty much what we usually see today,
Strings, approximate
VnI 16; Vn II 14 
Va. 12 
Vcl 10 
Vbasso 8 = 60;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_orchestra
That is at the extreme end, numbers past that are 'exceptional.' I wouldn't be surprised to see but four or maybe six basses, not eight.

Albert hall is an acoustic disaster and was built as an exhibition hall never intended or thought of as a concert venue. It is so cavernous than when a piece 'allows' by period (though 1950, Strauss was a late retro-romantic) that using the maximum, or more, is somewhat of a tradition there, 'refinement' not being much of the agenda of any concert in Albert Hall.

Too, the right band and the right players, those eight bassists can play not so loudly and sound like 'one man' or at least not so overwhelm the acoustic space. Much of what you heard, and did not, I fear is due to the hall, tweaked with a million Pound's worth of acoustic dishes to adjust the sound or not, _it remains an infamous acoustic hot mess._


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