Theiling Online    Sitemap    Conlang Mailing List HQ   

Re: Types of numerals

From:Roger Mills <rfmilly@...>
Date:Wednesday, January 18, 2006, 17:21
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 > > -- > No virus found in this outgoing message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.18/230 - Release Date: 14/1/06 >

Replies

Chris Peters <beta_leonis@...>
Peter Bleackley <peter.bleackley@...>