Download or read book The Birth of the Orchestra : History of an Institution, 1650-1815 written by Music History and Literature San Francisco Conservatory of Music John Spitzer Chair and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2005-08-05 with total page 670 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of the orchestra, from 16th-century string bands to the "classical" orchestra of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Spitzer and Zaslaw document orchestral organization, instrumentation, social roles, repertories, and performance practices in Europe and the American colonies, concluding around 1800 with the widespread awareness of the orchestra as a central institution in European life.