Woodwind section

The change can be illustrated by comparing two works by Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (1911–1913) with a large woodwinds section similar to the above and his Histoire du soldat (1918), which only utilizes one clarinet and one bassoon.

[1] The woodwind section of the orchestra today, at a minimum consists of: For early classical music, the clarinets may be omitted.

The father of English literature Geoffrey Chaucer wrote in his poem House of Fame: "Then I saw standing behind them, far away and all by themselves, many scores of thousands, who made loud minstrelsy with bagpipes and shawms and many other kinds of pipes, and skilfully played both them of clear and them of reedy sound, such as be played at feasts with the roast-meat, and many a flute and lilting-horn and pipes make of green stalks, such as these little shepherd-lads have who watch over beasts in the broom."

Anton Reicha and Franz Danzi were two pioneering composers of the wind quintet but by the end of the nineteenth century, interest in this ensemble began to fade.

[citation needed] It was around this time that the concert band became an important vehicle for composers to advertise their operas and orchestral works.

Holst, Vaughan Williams and Grainger began writing original works for the concert band at the turn of the twentieth century.

[citation needed] Twisted Skyscape, a recording of a woodwind choir, was made with the Czech Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, conducted by Shea Lolin in 2014.