Baton (conducting)
A baton is a stick, with which the conductor of a music-making ensemble displays the clock, are inserts and accents and musical movements made clear.
Shape and material
The length of the baton is about 20-45 cm, the diameter of 2-4 mm. For the cusped rod wide variety of materials such as wood, ivory, or the lightweight and extremely stable fiberglass are used; the handle is usually made of cork and can take various forms ( roll, pear, cone, ...). In some cases, you can also find Batons without additional thickening the handle, here the wood of the baton was only left a little thicker at the edge.
For special applications (eg very dark orchestra pit ) of the baton can with a luminescent material, similar to pointers and marks a wristwatch be provided. Also, there are batons with a light source (usually an LED ) at the top and the power supply under control. In addition to the classic white color also signal colors used (red or green) on batons.
The "ideal" length of the baton ( without handle) receives a conductor for yourself from the distance between the elbow and the fingers approach the middle finger of Dirigierhand / palm; However, it also play personal preference and the size and proportions of the conductor a role. In general, smaller batons are preferred.
As the baton of the conductor has a similar meaning as the instrument for the musician, it is considered a very personal device that is made often by the wishes of the owner and carries a sign of the owner.
Historical antecedents
The earliest evidence in the literature for the use of a baton seems to be a report of the Bolognese patrician Ercole Bottrigari. He describes a concert in Ferrara late 16th century, in which the nun and maestra di concerto Vittoria Raffaella Aleotti with a polished rod conducts her ensemble.
For the Baroque period rolled manuscript paper was used for conducting in Germany, was arrested on pictures of the time. In France, at the court of the absolutist King Louis XIV, however, heavy, ornate rods were used, with which the clock is stamped on the bottom. Jean -Baptiste Lully, court musician of the " Sun King ", 1687 injured so severely that he died several months later of gangrene in the performance of a motet with his baton the foot.
Since the 19th century
In its present form the baton came in the 19th century in the Romantic period, when the duties of a conductor have been enhanced by increasing orchestras and choirs. In Vienna, for example, the baton was used in 1812 by the conductor Ignaz Franz von Mosel first time. Often the distances between some musician and conductor were so large that a utensil was required, the " enlarged " the movements of the conductor and " clear ". With the help of a conductor 's baton so able in particular to make small movements over a greater distance visible. Also, its use is almost always necessary when the conductor in the opera because of the poor lighting conditions in the orchestra pit, as the almost completely dressed in black conductor is hard to see and the bright baton for the musicians is a good landmark. Long the baton has become a symbol of the conductor about its function addition.
A rod between 90 and 130 cm, the so-called coast, also used the drum major for directing.
From 1924 to 1930, the journal desk and baton published by Universal Edition, Vienna.