Orchestra
large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music or jazz, which combines instruments from different families
An orchestra ( ; OR-ki-strə) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music or jazz, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments:
The string section, including the violin, viola, cello, and double bass
The woodwind section, including the flute, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon, and sometimes piccolo, cor anglais, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, and saxophone
The brass section, including the French horn (commonly known as the "horn"), trumpet, trombone, and tuba, and sometimes cornet and euphonium
The percussion section, including the timpani, snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, triangle, tambourine, tam-tam and mallet percussion instruments
The harp is fairly regularly included in modern orchestras, especially for romantic period music. Keyboard instruments such as the piano, harpsichord, pipe organ, free-bass accordion and celesta may sometimes appear in a fifth keyboard section or may stand alone as soloist instruments. For performances of some modern compositions, electronic instruments and guitars may also be included.
A full-size Western orchestra may sometimes be called a symphony orchestra or philharmonic orchestra (from Greek phil-, "loving", and "harmony"). The number of musicians employed in a given performance may vary from seventy to over one hundred, depending on the work being played and the venue size. A chamber orchestra (sometimes a concert orchestra) is a smaller ensemble of not more than around fifty musicians. Orchestras that specialize in the Baroque music of, for example, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, or Classical repertoire, such as that of Haydn and Mozart, tend to be smaller than orchestras performing a Romantic music repertoire such as the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven and Johannes Brahms. The typical orchestra grew in size throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, reaching a peak with the large orchestras of as many as 120 players called for in the works of Richard Wagner and later Gustav Mahler.
Orchestras are usually led by a conductor who directs the performance with movements of the hands and arms, often made easier for the musicians to see by using a short wooden rod known as a conductor's baton.
“Orchestra” enters the record as large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music or jazz, which combines instruments from different families. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Orchestra, large and instrumental can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q42998. The Library of Congress control number is sh85095325. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank.
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This entry incorporates text from “Orchestra” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.