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STAGE AND SCREEN

Is the leader of an orchestra always a violinist, and if so, why?

  • THESE DAYS the leader usually will be the principal first violin, except in those rare pieces in the standard repertoire which have no violins, such as the Brahms A major Serenade. In this piece the leader would be the principal viola. The practice arises from a time when the idea of a conductor directing from the rostrum was yet to be established. A body of players would be directed by either the keyboard player providing the continuo or, when this practice declined in the 18th century, from the first violin.

    Geoffrey Thomason, Handforth, Cheshire.

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