This seating arrangement supported the conversational music of composers like Mozart and Mahler. In the 18th and 19th-century, the second violins were seated opposite the first violins.
What we consider today the ‘traditional’ arrangement of an orchestra - with the violins to the left of the conductor, the violas at the center, and the cellos and double basses to the right - wasn’t always how orchestras were laid out. Why are the flutes hidden behind the violins? How come the tubas can’t sit next to the conductor? Who said the drums need to be way in the back?
