Introducing the Baroque Theorbo

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Yes, that's what I was told - opera and larger instrumental ensembles.

And in the nineteenth century (long after the lute and theorbo had become obsolete), as orchestras became larger opera singers' vocal techniques developed and changed so they could be heard over the instrumentalists. Until the invention of microphones and electrified instruments there's been a steady war of decibels - to compete with loud instruments other instruments got louder, and so forth.