Heard but not seen!
Life is grand in the pits
Mark Wigglesworth 4:52pm GMT 9th November 2010
Playing in an opera pit is a tough challenge for any orchestra. It's usually cramped; it's always dark; and you rarely have a sense of how what you are playing is heard by an audience. Add to that the fact that almost every opera is significantly longer than almost every symphony, and that you're performing most nights of the week, and one wonders how anyone survives. And yet some of the most fulfilled musicians I know are the ones who play opera. Ask them what it's like to perform Wagner's Ring, and invariably a slightly glazed look of privilege and pride comes over them. I've not yet met a musician who is bored by one of the Mozart Da Ponte operas.
It's true that the orchestra is only part of an operatic experience but that might be one of the reasons why many players love it. It's most people's human nature to want to be part of something and an opera company gives all involved a sense that they are working towards a goal they could never achieve alone. On a good night, the sense of 'company' that runs through a performance is profound and gives the musical experience a social context and a human connection that cannot be matched by any symphony. Most orchestral musicians are not the most egocentric of people. By playing in an orchestra they are demonstrating their essential desire to belong, and by belonging to an opera company, that belonging is intensified ten fold.
Despite its obvious drawbacks, there can actually be something wonderful about not being seen by the audience. Knowing that it is only what you sound like that matters can liberate you from any sensitivities about how you might look. The best opera orchestras certainly don't take that as an invitation to be sloppy. Far from it, they do in fact look unanimous. It's just that it's as a result of seeking a musical unity rather than a visual one. Free from a relatively meaningless desire to look good when they work in a pit, they can focus purely on the aural element of their work.
The grimness of most opera pits is a stark contrast to the glamour of the theatre itself. But despite this, there is not a single opera in which the orchestra do not have the main role. They are playing all the time, expressing every character's thoughts and feelings, giving depth to the sets, and colouring the lighting. It may be that most of this works on the audience's subconscious and if players need the active and immediate appreciation of their listeners, I can see that they might be frustrated by playing opera. But if they know, as most do, that they are communicating the essence of a powerful drama, that they are allowing singers to express more than just their voices, and that they are part of something that is impossible without teamwork, their invisible subterranean existence can be a wonderful one.
Comments
Well it is rather like concert halls/platforms/stages - which are the best ones you have worked in?
Robert.
Hi Robert
Your question is particularly interesting because I think there are so many different aspects to what makes a great concert hall.
If one is only talking about acoustics, then I would put the hall in Lahti, Finland, at the top of my favourites. Its size however, limits you to chamber orchestra repertoire. For the more normal symphonic sound, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw is amazing if you're in the audience, but it is actually not that straightforward for the musicians on stage. In fact, down the road in Utrecht, the acoustic for the performers was perfect before they started to knock it down!
I have to be honest and say that it is hard not to also be affected by the history, tradition, and aesthetics of a building. There is something special about performing in the beautiful concert halls of Vienna or Boston and whilst they do both sound excellent, I wonder how much one is also hearing the echoes of the great musicians that have been there before. Although I know this is completely irrelevant, I do enjoy some back-stages more than others. I definitely got a kick out of seeing Carlos Kleiber's name on a cupboard in my dressing room at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and it is certainly hard to feel overly nervous when you look out the window of the conductor's dressing room at the Sydney Opera House and watch the sail boats gliding under the Harbour Bridge over the gently lapping, sun-kissed waves.
Above all though, I would probably factor in the audience as the most essential part of the sound experience. There's not much point having a fabulous acoustic if it means you can also hear the coughs, alarms, and rustling sweet wrappers even more clearly. For me, this puts Tokyo at the top. Combining the warm sound of the Suntory Hall with the rapt attention of a Japanese public allows the music a perfect focus in both its delivery and reception. Then all you have to do is make sure you give a good concert!
Mark
Thank you for your answer - I had expected some of those halls to be featured.
Have you noticed the humm from the mechanical plant in the roof/ceiling stage right in the R.F.H? - there before the "refurbishment" and still there!
The Concertgebouw is amazing I have sat in various positions but to hear Richard Strauss played in there with his name on the balcony front knowing that he did indeed conduct there is quite amazing.
Carlos Kleiber gave the most stunning performances - I was able to hear a Boheme and an Elektra (both at the R.O.H.). Robert.
The interesting thing is that you should hear the best sound and balance it from your position. The same work heard from the audience can of course vary. If one is in the chorus it is different again. Now, if it has been recorded and you listen to the playback I expect it should be very simliar to you especially as it is you who has to finally approve it. If I've been singing in the chorus and then listen to the recording - boy is it different! The main thing is the audience - so long as they enjoy it and if even only one person has been "moved" by the performance then it has all been worthwhile.
Robert.
If this is of any comfort, some audience members like me actually enjoying watching the orchestra during opera performances. I regularly go Upper Tier of the Royal Opera House which is at the absolute roof of the auditorium.
The seating is fantastic - one has a view of the entire auditorium and one can see the orchestra pit very well (though, admittedly, quite far away). One is able to see both the size of the orchestra and how it varies depending on what opera is being performed as well as what instruments are playing at any point in time.
I've always been fascinated by the power of the conductor to coordinate the orchestra with the singers on stage and provide the effortlessness and fluidness to the performance, especially to the operas that do not have the aria-recitative division.
So Mark, getting back to the original subject which are the best "pits" to work in?
Robert.
Robert,
Your question would be easier to answer if it asked which are the least bad pits! If you have a great opera, fabulous orchestra, wonderful singers, and a musically aware production, you can cope with anything. With that in mind, I'm looking forward enormously to Parsifal at the London Coliseum in a few months time.
Mark
I've played on some of the world's most famous concert platforms - Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, Vienna's Musikverein, Symphony Hall (Boston and Birmingham, UK) and in a number of British theatres where opera is performed. Some of the most memorable of these for me were in Scotland, where I played in Scottish Opera productions before they had their own orchestra. These performances include The Ring (David Ward, Helga Dernesch, Joseph Ward et al) Tristan, Cosi (Janet Baker and Elizabeth Harwood), Rosenkavalier (JB, EH and Helga Dernesch). We tolerated loads of discomfort in many opera pits, cramped playing positions, draughts, poor light (of course), but these for me were often mitigated by the performances themselves.
As for the best? Who can say? Each one has its drawbacks as well as its good bits. The players being able to see the stage is obviously a double edged sword since if you get too drawn into the action it is relatively easy to miss a crucial entry.
The subject of audiences watching the orchestra during opera performances reminds me of the time an audience member asked me afterwards what the magazines were that were (very obviously) being enjoyed by some rather under-utilised members of the brass section!! You never knew who could see what one thought was being done 'in secret'.
Whatever, I had a really enjoyable career in music, with so many memories of great singers, instrumentalists, and even some great conductors.
(Sorry Mark, no offence intended)
I fully endorse Mark's analysis of the orchestra player's role in an opera, when compared to purely orchestral playing. One really did get the sense of synergy in an opera, and the satisfaction after an exhausting but energising performance was the equal of (almost) anything else one experienced in life.