# Compositional trends moving away from large groups toward smaller groups?



## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

It SEEMS to me that more and more new compositions are written for:

Chamber Orchestra as opposed to symphony orchestra
Chamber opera as opposed to full scale opera.

I'm wondering if any of you also see this as a trend? If so, what is driving this trend? Is it financial or artistic? What are your thoughts on this trend?

I didn't even know chamber opera was a thing until recently when I "discovered" *Dog Days *by *David T. Little *and* Luci mie traditrici *by* Salvatore Sciarrino. *


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

I do feel that contemporary opera is alive and well - at least in Europe. But I guess you need a good sized audience, an enthusiastic patron with an orchestra to hand or a generous subsidy to write for a full orchestra these days.


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

Current composers whom I have talked to tell me they would love to write for full orchestra but don't want to waste all the needed effort to compose something that will most likely only be performed once, no matter how well the piece is received. Personally, I love hearing new works, but in general, most orchestras rely on ticket sales for the majority of their budget and will program what the general audience wants to hear (which is usually standard repertoire by dead white men). Nothing against the standard repertoire (it's standard for a reason), but it does explain why composers tend to get more commissions from chamber groups where the venues are smaller and cater to an audience more willing to listening to new works.

That's a big generalization, but you get the idea. Personally, I've only received one commission from a full orchestra, a few for string orchestra, several for wind band, but I've composed close to a hundred chamber works. Interestingly, though, many times you have to self-publish chamber works while works for larger ensembles will usually only sell if they are on a publisher's label.

I've only been on this side of the publishing business for the past nine years though, so I'm still learning.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

The market for "kinda-good" large scale orchestral music is saturated to the brink. The longer it goes, the more it will be about being a buster or going bust.

Music that is as good as past composers _not at their best_ has no social raison d'etre.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Fabulin said:


> Music that is as good as past composers _not at their best_ has no social raison d'etre.


I agree and would probably go further. But I feel sure we would not agree on what current music is actually as good as the music of the past masters.


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## Allegro Con Brio (Jan 3, 2020)

My experience is that many contemporary compositions are for huge orchestras (with especially massive percussion sections), but perhaps composers have started to realize that this is impractical for many orchestras to put on, and have started to scale things down.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

I have a friend who is a composer and he thinks that writing music for large ensemble is a sort of arrogant megalomania. He would say that you have to have a pretty inflated view of what you have to say to demand those sorts of resources.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

Mandryka said:


> I have a friend who is a composer and he thinks that writing music for large ensemble is a sort of arrogant *megalomania*.


You mean Mahleromania?


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## Olias (Nov 18, 2010)

hammeredklavier said:


> You mean Mahleromania?


Same thing, isn't it?  :lol:


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