Is there any clear line between a symphony and symphonic?
For long, I thought that a symphony was simply a "song" played by a symphonic orchestra. Then I realized that more often than not, the ensemble is actually also called symphony orchestra.
As a lot of this terminology is used on pages from all around the world (often translated by non-native speakers), I'd like to get some final clarification from an educated native speaker. Will you?
And to make the question complete, speaking of an ensemble, is there any difference in meaning in the following (and are they all equally correct): symphonic, symphonic orchestra, symphony, symphony orchestra, philharmonic, philharmonic orchestra (I know that most orchestras will have their "standardized" English names but speaking of a general classical orchestra, are all the terms identical?)
Best Answer
"Symphonic" is an adjective, "symphony" a noun, "symphony orchestra" a noun phrase. Whether an orchestra is called a "symphony orchestra," a "philharmonic orchestra," or something else is purely a matter of the creator's preference. There are top-ranked orchestras with both names (Vienna Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, etc.), and there's no systematic difference in composition or repertoire.