1. Terminological history
The Greek orchḗstra was the place where the chorus danced (orchḗsis, “dance”, and -tra, “place”), and more generally, the stage. Tacitus also attests to the term in the later Roman theater. The term was unknown in the Middle Ages. In the 17th century, most European languages transposed it to contemporary conditions, and it came to denote the space reserved for instrumentalists in the theater, concert hall, and more rarely …