The Rise of the Conductor
From the 1820s a baton turned the orchestra from a time-keeping group into an interpreted body.
Related
Time and place
London, 1820: Louis Spohr raised a thin wooden stick at a Philharmonic Society concert. In 1835 Mendelssohn rehearsed the same way at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, and the conductor's podium settled in front of the orchestra.
What happened
Before this, ensembles were led by a harpsichordist or a concertmaster, with tempo passed by gesture, bow or foot. With many players and busy parts, coordination was difficult. The baton made the beat a visible line and let one person demand dynamics, phrasing and balance in rehearsal. Berlioz discussed conducting in his writings of the 1840s, and Wagner hid the orchestra in the pit at Bayreuth in 1876, leaving the audience to watch the stage.
What changed
The conductor changed from a time-beater into an interpreter. One ear took charge of the evening, shaping tempo, layers and colour into a single will. The full score became a text to study, and rehearsal systems, guest conductors and conducting stars followed. Orchestras kept growing, and a large orchestra without a conductor became increasingly hard to sustain.
Listen to the turn
Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture turns the sea into the rise and fall of a theme, held together by small adjustments of tempo and scoring. Berlioz's Requiem fills space with huge choirs and brass, and needs one person to lock several groups together. The long suspensions of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde depend even more on a conductor who can sustain the harmony's breath.
Related
This turn belongs to Romantic; see Score, Tempo and Rehearsal Mark.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- Hector Berlioz, Le Chef d'orchestre (1855)，用于核对指挥理论与排练观念
- Grove Music Online 的 Conducting 条目，用于核对指挥棒及施波尔、门德尔松的实践
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.