Originally created by Frederick Fennell at the Eastman School of Music
in Rochester, New York, in 1952 the modern wind ensemble was developed
to feature the full range of woodwind instruments in a concert band
setting. Since then, additional wind ensembles have been established at
colleges, universities, and music conservatories worldwide. Based in
the construction of the wind sections in Wagner orchestras, the wind
ensemble exists to showcase the unique sounds and timbres of the
woodwind instrument by excluding brass and strings from the group. In a
modern wind ensemble, it is often not necessary to double or triple the
parts of any one player and rather provides a single instrument and
part with a resonance difficult to achieve in a large orchestra. This
method works particularly well in a chamber ensemble.
In any given wind ensemble, one can find a combination of single or
multiple flutes, piccolos, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, saxophones,
English horns, and other woodwind instruments. Woodwind instruments
gain their unique sound through the use of reeds or when the player
blows air against a sharp edge surrounding a hole. Historically, the
most common woodwind instruments were variations of the flute with the
earliest examples dating to more than 30,000 years ago. Made from bone
or wood in its earliest inceptions, numerous incarnations of the flute
have been found in almost every corner of human civilization.
The clarinet first appeared in orchestral lineups in the 1700s and
featured in compositions by Mozart, Handel, and others. Of Belgian
origin, saxophones later joined the modern orchestra in the nineteenth
century and rose to prominence by the 1900s. Rounding out the modern
wind ensemble are oboes, bassoons, and English horns.