As far back as 950 B.C., orchestras were formed to celebrate public events, using instruments such as trumpets, harps, horns, pipes and percussion instruments. The form has come a long way over the past centuries, as these highlights demonstrate.

1030: Guido d’Arezzo creates musical staff for notation.

1473: The first complete piece of music is printed.

1600s: Instrumental music develops and composers create many new orchestral forms, including the concerto grosso, the concerto for solo instruments and orchestra and the sinfonia. Italian composer Jean-Baptiste Lully leads a large orchestra at the court of French King Louis XIV.

1607: Claudio Monteverdi writes a full orchestration for his opera Orfeo.

1709: Bartolomeo Cristofori invents the pianoforte. Many concertos will be devoted to the instrument from that point on.

1800: Beethoven includes trombones in the orchestra. Two years later, he enlarges symphonic form with his “Eroica” Symphony.

1815: Valves are invented for brass instruments, allowing them to play chromatically.

1824: First performance of Beethoven’s Ninth.

1839: New York Philharmonic Orchestra is formed.

1842: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is formed.

1877: The phonograph is invented and, the following year, the microphone.

1899: First tape recordings are made.

1909: First orchestral recording is released for sale.

1934: The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is formed.

1939: “A440″ is adopted as the standard pitch for tuning. (Several baroque ensembles use a lower pitch to tune.)

Listen to the OSM in Beethoven’s Egmont and Fifth Symphony here…

Anton Kuerti gave recitals and masterclasses last week in Austin and was most convincing in both roles. “Beethoven,” said Kuerti, “shows that by persevering you can achieve great things. If we look at his manuscripts we see that he often crossed things out and he often revised what he had done before. Composing for Beethoven was torture. But as with so many things in life, hard work and commitment pay off. Don’t give up.”

Paul E. Robinson talks about it here…

“A kiss is a lovely trick designed by nature to stop speech when words become superfluous.” (Ingrid Bergman)… as is music, one might add.

As exquisite background for your intimate dinner with your loved one, nothing better than the album Of Love and Music. I admit a soft spot for Thaïs’ Meditation still and I’ve got a crush on you, a lovely medley of Gerhswin tunes…

Harpsichord maker Yves Beaupré, winner of the 2002-2003 Prix Opus “Appreciation to an instrument maker” has built a new pedal-harpsichord last summer. A pedal-harpsichord, that is, a harpsichord with an organ-type pedal-board, would have been found in the home of most German organists during the baroque period. No ancient instrument having survived, Yves Beaupré has recreated the instrument based on texts from the era. Musically, it grants the performer a new vision of Bach’s music and also offers new possibilities to harpischord repertoire.

Luc Beauséjour will use the instrument tonight to perform some of the most gorgeous pieces of the harpsichord and organ German repertoire, written by Bach (including excerpts from his Art of the Fugue), Buxtehude, Pachelbel and others.

The concert is held at the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Bon-Secours in Old-Montreal.

To listen to Luc Beauséjour and Shannon Mercer in Bach…