Mannheim orchestra (may 1, 1720 – mar 1, 1778)

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The first amazing orchestra, led by Bohemian violinist and composer Johann Stamitz. Under Stamitz and his successor, Christian Cannabich, the Mannheim orhcestra won fame for its quasi-military discipline. Ïts forte is a thunderclap,"commented one admirer, ïts crescendo a cataract, its diminuendo a crystal stream babbling away into the distance, its piano a breath of spring."The ensemble inspired virtuoso orchestrators who exploited all kinds of special effects that acquired nicknames: "rockets"(quick rising passages, often arpeggiated); "steamrollers"(crescendos over ostinatos); and the explosive beginning, known as the premier coup dárchet (first stroke of the bow).

Mannheim emerged as a major spawning ground for concert symphonies. During his short career, Stamitz produced about seventy of them, of which ten were written in three-part score and are sometimes called örchestral trios."The title page of his Op. 1, a collection of six pieces published in Paris in 1755, reads "Six sonatas in three solo parts that are made to be performed either as a trio or with the whole orchestra."In their scoring alternatives, these pieces occupied a middle position between chamber music (

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