A
mandolin orchestra is an orchestra consisting primarily of instruments from the mandolin family of instruments, such as the
mandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family...
,
mandolaThe mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted stringed musical instrument. It stands in the same relationship to the mandolin as the viola to the violin, the pairs of strings being tuned in fifths to the pitches of the viola , a fifth lower than a mandolin...
,
mandocelloThe mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. The mandocello is played with a plectrum and is fretted. Mandocello construction is similar to that of the mandolin...
and
mando-bassThe mandobass is the musical instrument of the mandolin family with the lowest range. It is tuned EADG .-Description:The mando-bass has 4 single strings, rather than double courses as are common with other mandolins....
. Some mandolin orchestras use guitars and double-basses instead of, or as well as the lower mandolin-family instruments.
A mandolin orchestra typically resembles the string section of a symphony orchestra (that is, there are first and second sections, resembling the first and second violins; a mandola section (analogous to the viola section); mandocelli (analogous to the violincelli), guitars and occasionally mando-basses to round out the baritone and bass voices.
Mandolin orchestras were all the rage in the US and elsewhere from just before the turn of the 20th century until about the end of World War I.
A
mandolin orchestra is an orchestra consisting primarily of instruments from the mandolin family of instruments, such as the
mandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family...
,
mandolaThe mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted stringed musical instrument. It stands in the same relationship to the mandolin as the viola to the violin, the pairs of strings being tuned in fifths to the pitches of the viola , a fifth lower than a mandolin...
,
mandocelloThe mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. The mandocello is played with a plectrum and is fretted. Mandocello construction is similar to that of the mandolin...
and
mando-bassThe mandobass is the musical instrument of the mandolin family with the lowest range. It is tuned EADG .-Description:The mando-bass has 4 single strings, rather than double courses as are common with other mandolins....
. Some mandolin orchestras use guitars and double-basses instead of, or as well as the lower mandolin-family instruments.
Orchestra composition
A mandolin orchestra typically resembles the string section of a symphony orchestra (that is, there are first and second sections, resembling the first and second violins; a mandola section (analogous to the viola section); mandocelli (analogous to the violincelli), guitars and occasionally mando-basses to round out the baritone and bass voices.
History
Mandolin orchestras were all the rage in the US and elsewhere from just before the turn of the 20th century until about the end of World War I. For a while, every city and town and many high schools had one. The principal instruments were the
mandolinA mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It is descended from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family...
,
mandolaThe mandola or tenor mandola is a fretted stringed musical instrument. It stands in the same relationship to the mandolin as the viola to the violin, the pairs of strings being tuned in fifths to the pitches of the viola , a fifth lower than a mandolin...
,
mandocelloThe mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. The mandocello is played with a plectrum and is fretted. Mandocello construction is similar to that of the mandolin...
and
mando-bassThe mandobass is the musical instrument of the mandolin family with the lowest range. It is tuned EADG .-Description:The mando-bass has 4 single strings, rather than double courses as are common with other mandolins....
.
Because the instruments were relatively easy to play and inexpensive they became very popular and many orchestra players did not have a great deal of musical skill or training. Accordingly, a considerable body of music was created, much of which was simple or popular marches and foxtrots that were easy and fun to play. However, some "serious" music was also created and which requires every bit as much skill to play as anything in the more well-known violin repertoire. Principal among the important composers of such music were
Raffaele CalaceRaffaele Calace was an Italian mandolin player and composer.He was born in Naples, Italy as the son of Antonio Calace, a successful instrument maker. Raffaele was initially trained to become a musician. At the same time, he discovered the possibilities of the mandolin and soon he became an...
, Arrigo Cappelletti, Giuseppe Manente and
Carlo MunierCarlo Munier was an Italian mandolinist who advocated for the mandolin's acknowledgement among as an instrument of classical music...
, who both wrote beautiful and virtuosic music for various mandolin chamber music ensembles (mandolin and guitar, two mandolins and mandola, etc. as well as full orchestras).
After WW I, the mandolin orchestras went into a period of decline until interest in the mandolin was renewed as a part of the resurgent interest in folk music in the late 1950s and 1960's. As this music began to be re-discovered, orchestras began to form anew in large cities in the US.
While there was a decline in interest the US, orchestras continued to exist in Japan, Germany where they are known as Zupforchester, and also in Italy.
On Madeira Island, a province of Portugal, The Madeira Mandolin Orchestra plays every week at The English Church in Funchal.
They tour Europe once a year.
Their players are world class and generally quite young.
As many as 40 performers, from a considerable stable of mature players, entertain packed audiences.
Many of the arrangements they play have been especially produced by Enrico Martins, their Conductor.
Nowadays, many cities in the US host mandolin orchestras of many years experience, many proudly boasting libraries of hundreds of compositions. Significant new music continues to be written all over the world for by composers as Victor Kioulaphides,
John CratonJohn Douglas Craton is an American classical composer. His works, which have at times been compared favorably to those of Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, have been performed throughout the United States and Europe...
, Annette Kruisbrink,
Clarice AssadClarice Assad is a classical and jazz composer, arranger, pianist, and vocalist.As a composer, her works have been published in France , Germany , and in the United States , and have been performed in Europe, South America, the United States and Japan...
, Francine Trester and Jeff Hijlkema.
To learn more is to go to the
Classical Mandolin Society of AmericaThe Classical Mandolin Society of America, or CMSA was founded in 1986 to promote knowledge and interest in the mandolin, its family and guitar. The Society actively sponsors mandolin education and instruction for children and adults in the United States and currently has a membership of over...
pages.
Works for mandolin orchestra
| Composer |
Title |
Publisher |
| Bernard van Beurden (b.1933) |
Le silence du moment (2003) |
|
| John Craton John Douglas Craton is an American classical composer. His works, which have at times been compared favorably to those of Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, have been performed throughout the United States and Europe...
(b.1953) |
The Legend of Princess Noccalula |
|
| Jeff Hijlkema (b.1971) |
Perpetua Melomania |
|
| Victor Kioulaphides (b. 1961) |
Concerto per orchestra a pizzico |
|
| Sinfonia a pizzico |
|
| Broadway `79 2 mandolines en mandolineorkest |
|
| Annette Kruisbrink (b 1958) |
Dreamtime (1997) |
Vogt & Fritz |
| Gone with the Wind (1999) |
Vogt & Fritz |
| Chiel Meijering Chiel Meijering is a Dutch composer. He studied composition with Ton de Leeuw, percussion with Jan Labordus and Jan Pustjens, and piano at the Amsterdam Conservatory of Music....
(b.1971) |
Spötterdämmerung (1954) |
Donemus |
| Francine Trester |
Three Movements for Mandolin Orchestra (2006) |
|
External links