To achieve good acoustic transmission, the strings are arranged at the front of the orchestra. Their core function and role as melodic interpreters justifies their being close to the conductor in order to have better contact. The most important reason for their placement, however, is their low projection capability. You will easily hear two trumpets (or any woodwind or brass instrument, for that matter) playing amid the whole violin section, because the winds have a much greater power of projection. The harp is usually placed between the violins and the brass, and is used to interpose harmonic chords. This format is a relatively recent development. Monterverdi, for example, divided his orchestra in two and conducted his instrumentalists separately, placing them on two sides of the hall to underline the contrast between certain parts of his works.
Berlioz and Wagner, who had a megalomania for orchestral effects, wrote titanic symphonies, although even these weren’t enough to satisfy the composers. The biggest orchestra to date got together in Boston in 1872 for the Gilmore Peace Jubilee, celebrating the end of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War. Over 4,000 instrumentalists were present, including over 300 violins, 100 cellos, 100 double basses, 24 clarinets, bassoons, and French horns. It’s hard to imagine such a spectacle!
Many consider Jean-Baptiste Lully’s violons du roy (his twenty-four “king’s violins” inaugurated in 1626) as the first orchestra resembling those we know today. Since the time of Louis XIII, however, there have been many changes in the orchestra’s makeup. Patrons continued to encourage music in the imperial courts of Europe up to the twentieth century. Orchestras were then governed by the financial resources available to them and their patrons, depending on how ambitious these courts were in matters of entertainment and cultural outreach. The demise of a number of orchestral societies along with nineteenth-century monarchies affected even opera companies, the best employers. The flame was passed on, however, thanks to the intervention of the state, musical societies, and individual music-lovers, all of whom wanted posterity to share this great tradition.