Re: Types of numerals

Yahya Abdal-Aziz wrote:
> Hmmm.  How do you like these names of musical groups
> of increasing size?:
>
>  . solo
>  . duet
>  . trio
>  . quartet
>  . quintet
>  . sextet
>  . septet
>  . octet
> ...
>  . orchestra!
>
Also _nonet_, but no specific terms for 10 and up. Curious. _Ensemble_ might
work, but also can refer to some of the smaller groups, but I'm not sure
where the semantic cut-off comes. Certainly a "solo" is not an ensemble,
probably not a duet either. Personally I'd call any group of 5 or more an
ensemble.

Then there's the little-used "symphonette" (I can think of only one
offhand), which apparently has all the sections of the normal symphony
orchestra, but in reduced numbers.

> This is a sequence of increasing cardinality, where,
> FAPP, "orchestra" = "too big to bother counting" ...
> (or even "infinite" :-) ).
I wonder, did Mozart ever actually specify the size of the orchestras needed
for his symphonies, or was it more a matter of "as many as we can get
together in each section". From there on, it was a matter of more and more,
until the symphony orch. reached its maximum under Wagner, R.Strauss and
Mahler.

>
> Regards,
> Yahya
>
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