In Western music, a symphony is an extended musical composition, scored almost always for orchestra. "Symphony" does not necessarily imply a specific form though most are composed according to the sonata principle. Many symphonies are tonal works in four movements with the first in sonata form and this is often described by music theorists as the structure of a "classical" symphony, although many symphonies by the acknowledged classical masters o...
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In Western music, a symphony is an extended musical composition, scored almost always for orchestra. "Symphony" does not necessarily imply a specific form though most are composed according to the sonata principle. Many symphonies are tonal works in four movements with the first in sonata form and this is often described by music theorists as the structure of a "classical" symphony, although many symphonies by the acknowledged classical masters of the form, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, do not conform to this model.
The word "symphony" derives from Greek συμφωνία, meaning "agreement or concord of sound", "concert of vocal or instrumental music", from σύμφωνος, "harmonious" (Oxford English Dictionary). This Greek word was used to describe an instrument mentioned in the Book of Daniel once identified by scholars as a bagpipe (this is identified as the root of the name of the Sardinian zampogna) (Stainer and Galpin 1914,). However, more recent scholarly...
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