Richard,

Antiphonal violins were the normal setting until 20th C. In fact, the NY Philharmonic has reorganized its seating this way.

S

Hi, Richard.  I just did this for a concert that included Mozart (with 3 soloists), Pergolesi (with small women's choir plus soloists), and Rameau (orchestra alone).

 

It is absolutely appropriate performance practice.  As I recall, most of the pictures of 18th century orchestra setups (and 19th century as well) show the violins separated in this way.

 

Re. young players, intonation, and pitfalls, yes, you have to be aware of the potential problems.  My violins (3 on one side, 4 on the other) had trouble hearing each other.  This automatically creates coordination and possibly intonation problems.  I would suggest giving them as much practice in this formation as you can.

 

Re. tuning (as in tuning up, separate from intonation), there should be no problems. 

 

And yes, it should help your altos and your cuing, at least minimally.

 

But if there is a lot of doubling (i.e. all the violins in unison, often with the violas doubling the bass line in an upper octave), you might want to reconsider.  Handel does this extensively, and the Pergolesi "Stabat Mater" is full of it.  Even Bach does it at times, although not nearly as often as Handel.

 

All the best,

 

John

 

 

From my experience, no real pitfalls, but lots of advantages. The New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and several others all moved to this type of arrangement for most repertoire, putting the lower strings in the middle and behind. Everyone wants the F-hole of their instrument facing the audience, but it really isn't that big an issue. It just make take a bit of careful listening to get the balance right from the audience perspective. This arrangement makes all kinds of sense from the musical perspective.

 

Charles Q. Sullivan

cqsmusic(a)hotmail.com

I began using the current vogue setup of antiphonal violins about three years ago, eager to hear for myself what all the fuss is about, despite strong and coherent arguments from my teachers in favor of the late-20th-century norm.  I was prepared to switch back if I didn't hear advantages.

 

The common argument that antiphonal seating favors the violins' imitative writing is a false one, since only about 5 percent or so of violin parts in the repertory ochestras play are imitative of each other.  But this seating seems in particular to help intonation, since the cellos are in the middle of the strings rather than the outside.  (This probably also depends on placing the basses behind the cellos and 1sts rather than centered behind the entire orchestra as was the pre-Stokowski norm.)

 

The other principal difference between the results of the two manners of seating is that the previous common practice leads to a more blended, homogeneous sound, while antiphonal seating favors greater distinction among the different instruments.

 

So there's no need to use a historical argument to decide string seating -- there are plenty of practical ones.  But whichever way you choose to sit the strings, you shouldn't neglect wind seating.  For example, in Classical-period music and earlier trumpets and timpani were in effect a single part; they should therefore be seated in proximity to each other.  Horns and bassoons similarly (hence the usual German-orchestra practice of seating the horns next to the woodwinds rather than behind).  And so on...

 

Jerome Hoberman

 

Music Director/Conductor, The Hong Kong Bach Choir & Orchestra

Principal Conductor, Baguio Cathedral International Music Festival (Philippines)

RE: The role of the viola may be explified by its nickname, little bass. As John indicated, the continuo bassline is doubled at the octave. Further, and because of this, viola parts may not exist tho intended to be read from the bass part.

S

John, my point regarding the F-hole WAS that string players are aware of the real acoustic advantages of having their instrument "aimed" at the audience, just as singers are. But, as you suggest, careful listening (taking into account the relative skill of the players, the characteristics of their instruments, the specific hall, the music being performed, and all of the other considerations I didn't go into in a short paragraph), can successfully "tune" the situation so that it works just fine. And, of course the orchestra will need ample playing time in that configuration to adjust their tuning and balance -- that is why the major orchestras who have re-adopted this split violin seating are subject to critical comment from reviewers in that regard -- because it also takes the audience a while to adjust to hearing (and seeing) this change. A significant part of the effect of such a change is psychological, for players and audience alike.

 

In some situations, Milwaukee for instance, the change was made in an attempt to improve the sound for the ORCHESTRA, because they could not hear themselves as well in the more usual formation. The goal there was to put the bass instruments in a better position to project within the orchestra and to the audience, which put the 2nd violins opposite the firsts. Everybody has to be someplace.

 

Charles Q. Sullivan

cqsmusic(a)hotmail.com