The Boston Pops Orchestra was founded in 1885 as a subsection of the Boston Symphony Orchestra (BSO), founded four years earlier. Careful examination of the rosters of “pops" or “Festival" orchestras, which are associated with a co-resident symphony orchestra in the same community, shows that the principal players of a “pops" ensemble usually hold the post of assistant or associate principal of the “parent" ensemble. In general parlance, the Boston Pops is described as: “The Boston Symphony minus the first-chair players." This “elite core” of BSO musicians constitute a separate subsection of the BSO, and perform alongside the Pops as the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, a 12-member ensemble founded in 1964. These arrangements, and a similar one with the Tanglewood Festival, provide year-round employment for the musicians.
Other cities have founded their own "pops" orchestras, but the Boston Pops remains the most well-known.
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