String section

The string section of an orchestra is composed of bowed instruments belonging to the violin family.

If space or numbers are limited, cellos and basses can be put in the middle, violins and violas on the left (thus facing the audience) and winds to the right; this is the usual arrangement in orchestra pits.

In some orchestras, some or all of the string sections may be placed on wooden risers, which are platforms that elevate the performers.

The numbers can vary widely: Wagner in Die Walküre specifies 16–16–12–12–8;[5] the band orchestra in Darius Milhaud's La création du monde is 1–1–0–1–1.

The music for a string section is not necessarily written in five parts; besides the variants discussed below, in classical orchestras the 'quintet' is often called a 'quartet', with basses and cellos playing together.

In orchestral works from the classical era, the bass and cello would typically play from the same part, labelled "Bassi".

In Haydn's oratorio The Creation, the music to which God tells the newly created beasts to be fruitful and multiply achieves a rich, dark tone by its setting for divided viola and cello sections with violins omitted.

Famous works without violins include the 6th of the Brandenburg Concerti by Bach, Second Serenade of Brahms, the opening movement of Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem, and Philip Glass's opera Akhnaten.

[9] In this context the size and composition of the string section is less standardised, and usually smaller, than a classical complement.