Technology and TimbreFeatures of the Changing Instrumental Soundscape of the Long Nineteenth Century (1789–1914)

Abstract

Abstract Over the past four hundred years, instrument makers and performers have pursued extended range, the ability to play louder, the capacity to play more chromatic notes, and the desire for a more homogeneous tone. The technological innovations and redefinition of playing technique needed to realize these goals nearly always resulted in changes to an instrument’s timbre. Newly emerging technologies such as advanced key systems and valves accelerated this process during the Second Industrial Revolution and the timbral identity of wind instruments, brass in particular, was recast. Although often superficially understood as a linear progression, the narrative of technological developments and their adoption is a confluence of many factors in which timbre is a primary element. The use of new technologies was governed by factors including performer and listener expectations, prevailing aesthetics, national preferences, class distinctions associated with particular repertoires and groups of performers, and the socio-timbral connotations of instruments. Performers and listeners became attuned to the multifaceted timbral palette created by the simultaneous use of old and new instrumental technologies during the nineteenth century and composers used both to create highly nuanced soundscapes. The eventual replacement of these instruments by their modern successors reflected more than technological progress and served to diminish composers’ timbral intentions. Although initially the preserve of the historically informed performance movement, increased appreciation for the distinctive timbral characteristics of many superseded instruments is leading to a reappraisal of their use in the modern orchestra and as a medium for contemporary composers.