Thursday, May 26, 2005

Wagnerian pigtails

Several of us felt the urge to put our hair in pigtails for tonight's gig. (Sadly the audience never got to see this, because we were offstage throughout. But I feel it must've added to the vibe :p ) However, someone asked why pigtails are associated with Wagner women, and I found that I didn't know! Rachel has since emailed me this interesting link about the Valkyries, but I feel more investigation is still needed. And while we're on the subject, I'm sure I've read somewhere that Brunnhilde is the origin of the saying "the opera ain't over till the fat lady sings", as in one of the Ring Cycle operas she doesn't appear at all until the very end. However, last time I tried to find some evidence for this, I didn't get very far. Anyone know more than me?

The gig went fine (review here - thanks Graham), although there was a lot of discontent at the start of the rehearsal because we'd been called for 6.30 (which was a real struggle for a lot of people) yet the warm-up didn't actually start till 6.45. I went to mention this to Jamie (in my role as alto rep) and discovered that he'd thought we'd been called for 6.45, which is why he hadn't apologised. He was mortified! Unfortunately he didn't really have a chance to address everyone after that, but I'm sure he'll say something at the next rehearsal.

(Oh, and I hope, for Jamie's sake, that the phonecam video filmed by Dicky of him doing his facial exercises at the start of the warm-up doesn't make it online :p )

No rehearsal next week, so we won't meet again till 8th June (and I'm delighted that it's at the RNCM; I really, really, REALLY hate going to WHGS, so much so that whenever we're there - which is most of the time - it generally takes me at least half an hour before the enjoyment of the rehearsal wipes out my grumpiness at having to go there). I've been meaning to do a series of posts on "most memorable choir gigs EVER", though, so maybe I'll get round to that in the next week.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

"You, ladies, as you would expect, are the voices of sexual allure...."

So, we were at the Bridgewater Hall tonight. Split rehearsal - the ladies were there for 6.15 for the orchestral rehearsal for Tannhäuser with Jamie (conducting the offstage performers, including us) and Mark (conducting overall); the men arrived later and did some work with Maggie until we all got together for the last hour. Usually when we sing offstage there are at most a couple of orchestral players there too, but for this there are 12 players, I think. I was standing right behind the 1st and 2nd horns (Julian and Dicky) and was most amused by their Lou and Andy impression (Little Britain, for those who don't know what I'm talking about). It went something like this...

Jamie: Horns, do you play for the first time at 29?
Julian/Dicky: Yes.
Dicky (as Lou): Now, last time you played before 29, didn't you?
Julian (as Andy): Yeah, I know.
etc. *giggle*

I asked Julian about something that's been bugging me all week, namely the title of the fanfare that the Hallé team played before taking part in the Manchester Run on Sunday. I'd seen it on TV and recognised it, but couldn't remember what it was. Turns out it was "Fanfare for an Occasion" by Bliss. Now all I need to do is work out why it's so familiar to me...

Mark appeared a few times during the rehearsal, to tell us what our role was (see title) and what we sounded like from the stage (quite good, apparently). Other Mark quotes:

"It's about the tussle between religion and, I'm afraid, sex."

"What goes on in her grotto doesn't bear thinking about!"

"Could it have more........ sex?"

After we'd sung the thing through several times, Julian figured we must be done and foolishly put his horn away. Sylvia and I were pretty sure this cursed everyone's chances of an early finish, and so it proved - Mark decided to run it one more time, and everyone around Julian was most amused when he had to get his horn out again :p

We did finish slightly early, though, which meant half an hour's relaxation before the whole choir got together. We spent the last hour doing the two new Verdi opera choruses. We'd done a bit of work on the Scottish refugees chorus a few weeks ago, so this was mainly polishing. In the middle of this Jamie had an idea that it might be fun for choirs of the future to somehow have totally interactive rehearsals, in which the chorus master could get instant feedback from every individual choir member on his every thought. I suspect this may be some way in the future...

And we finished with the Fire Chorus, which is much harder (and more fun) and which we haven't tried before. Not easy! We didn't do much in-depth work on it, as there wasn't time - just sight-read through it several times and did a bit extra on a few bits. It has a very cheesy end :p

Anyway, it's the Tannhäuser gig tomorrow, so we'll be back at the hall - more then!

Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Jamie to the 2nd altos: "I'm sure you'll quiver underneath us!"

(That was in Tannhäuser. I'll leave you to work out what he meant :p )

I must first apologise for taking 2 days to post this. Wednesday was a horrible, horrible day - major hassles at work caused me to be late for the rehearsal, which I hate - and I ran out of energy when I got home. Feeling a bit guilty now I've noticed how many people looked at this blog since then (35!) - sorry guys!

A few more Jamieisms to list:
"Sing 'him' with the 'hum' tummy."
"Definitely on the southern side of the note. It's not flat, but..." (that was to the basses)
"It's not a big kind of calamity in the mouth." (re: the consonant cluster in the middle of 'virgins pray')

And two favourite moments of the evening:
1. Jamie and David thumping out "I was glad" as a piano duet during the break. Embarrassingly, those of us who were sitting in the hall at the time didn't recognise it without the words. We knew we knew it, but we just couldn't remember what it was!
2. The basses singing "Amen" on page 37 (after the Noe/Job/Moses/David bit). It sounded wonderful and sent shivers down my spine.

All in all it was a good rehearsal, despite the fact it included Wagner (which always gives me a sore throat for some reason). I started in a totally black mood and was quite cheerful by the end. Yay for choir :-) We did the first half of Gerontius in some detail, and then the men went home and we learned our 23 bars of Tannhauser pretty thoroughly. Turns out we will definitely be offstage for the gig and therefore don't have to wear our frocks or stay after we've sung. Not that we don't enjoy listening to the orchestra play, but I (for one) have been totally exhausted lately and will welcome the extra free time!

Oh, and before I forget, thanks to Graham (again!) for pointing out that the Hallé have won an award.

Now, to make up for my delay in posting, I think I will treat you to my list of "interesting things I've got scribbled in my Gerontius score". (Yes, I know you've been awaiting this with bated breath!) If you don't want to hear it, stop reading now...

... still here? OK, here we go:

(many of you will already know lots of this stuff, but I'm writing it down for those who might not)

page 0: A.M.D.G. stands for "Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam"... "To the greater glory of God". Elgar used this dedication on several of his other sacred works too, as did J. S. Bach.

PART 1

page 1: bars 1-4 is the Judgement theme (see also e.g. page 64, figure 20; page 66, 2 bars before figure 26, where it appears in the middle of the accompaniment; page 93, figure 58; also on page 158 at figure 118 just before the "blinding flash"); at figure 2 is the Fear theme (see also e.g. page 65 at figure 24)

page 2: figure 4 is the Prayer theme (see also e.g. page 10, figure 28; page 30, 3rd line last bar; page 34, figure 61)

page 3: (don't worry, there isn't a note for every page!) 3rd bar of figure 10 there is a good bit featuring string arpeggios

page 6: figure 19 is the Sleep theme (see also e.g. page 39, top line, just as Gerontius dies)

page 7: figure 21 is the Pain theme (see also e.g. page 8, figure 24; page 14, last 2 bars; page 31, figure 58)

page 9: bar 2 has a lovely effect in which all the strings (muted) are divisi in 3 parts and the harps have repeated triplets. AND bar 3 has all this with a Neapolitan 6th! (that's my favourite chord, btw, and there are loads in Gerontius). Bar 6 sees the strings dividing even further (into 4 parts) and bar 10 has them playing unison but sul ponticello (a weird sound caused by playing nearer the bridge than usual)

page 15: bar 2 has the first sound of the Demons; bar 6 has the "Sanctus Fortis" tune that comes properly on page 23)

page 27: the 3rd line has a good bit involving the trombones; figure 49 is just a good note :-)

page 29: figure 53 has another sul ponticello bit

page 30: figure 56 has fff brass triplets - wow!

page 31: figure 57 is what I think of as the "West Side Story" bit (if you know the WSS music you'll know what I mean); 4 bars later has another pppp divisi string bit with a Neapolitan

page 32: figure 59 has another hint of the Demons to come; 2 bars later the timps are hit with the wrong end of the sticks (weird effect!)

page 34: figure 61 has sextuplet semiquavers on the timp on the first beat

page 36: figure 64 has the organ playing; the semi-chorus is listing those to whose aid God has come in the past

page 38: Gerontius is on his last legs here, and he dies at the end of the top line of page 39

page 39: after top line, mood changes completely as Gerontius has died and the priest sings for the first time

page 40: the music here is referenced on page 149 when Gerontius hears it from wherever he is

page 46: I have written here, from a previous performance, "Stay under Willard!" which is a nice thought :p I also have written "levitation section", which is either a Mark or a Jamie idea and refers to the feeling rather than anything in the text or music, as far as I recall. Oh, and there is a dominant pedal here (i.e. the long held A in the bass of the orchestra); a dominant pedal is a kind of aural clue that we're reaching the end of the movement (once you know what they sound like you'll be amazed how many pieces have one)

page 54: I love the 2nd bass note here!

PART 2

page 56: at the risk of stating the obvious, Gerontius is referred to as the "soul" now, because he is dead

page 57: bottom line has a violin solo followed by a cello solo

page 59: 3rd line has the Alleluia theme, a hint of the Angel's music from the next page

page 60: the Angel appears here for the first time (Elgar directs that she not appear on the platform until part 2); 3rd line (2nd bar) has the aforementioned Alleluia theme, followed by a horn motif that I really like

page 62: bar 2 has the Alleluia theme for the 3rd and best time

page 68: last bar has a total change of mood as we get to the demons; there are bassoons, contrabassoon, double basses, timps with sticks

page 69: 2nd line has the strings playing col legno (i.e. with the wood of the bow rather than the hair - a weird effect); this page also has previews of some of the demon chorus themes

page 74: I don't know about anyone else, but if I'm listening to football commentary (which I frequently do) and they use the word "dispossessed", I have this tune on the brain for hours!

page 76: figure 37 has a great bit with a gong crash on beat 2

page 79: bar 2 has the timps with sticks thing again

page 83: when I first did Gerontius I found this page really difficult. But it's easy when you've got the sound of it in your head after singing it loads of times. Be reassured, newbies :-)

page 85: figure 47 has an ff muted horn chord which sounds GREAT

page 87: figure 49 has a big descending woodwind scale; ditto ascending 3 bars later

page 89: bassoon scale up and down on top line

page 90: bar 6 has the famous bass "quack quack"; last but one bar has the basses singing in unison in theory, yet I have NEVER heard this bar anywhere NEAR unison. (Yes, basses, that's a challenge!) The last bar, and the first bar of the next page, has the bassoons doing a final "ha! ha!" at a third of the speed.

page 91: contrabassoon joins in for last 4 bars

page 92: first 3 bars are reminiscent of start of part 2 (page 55)

page 93: top line has a good bit with 3 separate violin and cello soli; on the bottom line the mortal she refers to is St Francis

page 95: the Angelicals are the souls of those who have already been redeemed

page 100: in the first bar of the bottom line I have written "Let the blood run free!" I know this refers to a long-forgotten weird Australian black comedy set in a hospital, but I have no idea what I thought its connection with this bar was!

page 102: 2 bars before 68 is the "grumbling bit" and has a timp roll with horn/bass clarinet chords

page 105: first chord of bar 4 was Keith Orrell's favourite chord in the whole piece

page 111: bar 2 has bassoon/clarinet arpeggios; figure 74 (when they cross the threshold into (I assume) Heaven itself) is one of those bars which I find practically impossible to sing because I'm so overcome by the build-up to it and the fantastic noise that surrounds me on the chord itself. I'm invariably all choked up and can only join in properly a few bars later. If anyone has a suggestion that will enable me to sing the whole line, I'd love to hear it!

page 113: I have "keep up!!" written in the last bar, because the sops ALWAYS sound as if they're half an hour behind the rest of us here. This may of course just be caused by the distance they are from me, but it bugs me EVERY time!

page 116: similarly, I have "eugh!" written by the first bar of the bottom line, because the sops, in the past, have always made a pig's ear of the first note. However, I'm delighted to report that this year it's sounded great every time. We're improving :-)

page 129: I have "MARIA!!" written by the 2nd alto entry on this page. This is because for years I kept being unable to pitch the G#. Then I realised it was "Maria" and have been able to do it ever since :-)

page 133: figure 93 starts a chain of hemiolas which I hadn't noticed the first dozen or so times I sang this. (A hemiola is a rhythmic device used in triple time (e.g. 3/4 like here) in which 2 bars of 3 beats are effectively replaced by 3 lots of 2 beats (i.e. the accents are placed differently). It's used more in Baroque music than later, particularly dance movements such as minuets, and has the effect of making the music seem to hurry along a bit quicker.)

page 135: dominant pedal starts here (i.e. long bass G) (see note for page 46)

page 144: 1st basses have an incredibly high note :p

page 147: I have written "as loud as possible, then louder!" I also have "ooh, echo!!" This is from the St Paul's performance in 2002 - the echo was inconvenient in many places, but at this point it was FABULOUS.

page 148: top line is very similar to the Fear theme (see note for page 1); last 2 bars have low flute triplets

page 149: figure 103 has the "Earth chords" (see page 39 figure 68, and subsequently); in this section the soul of Gerontius is referring to the music on page 40. (The 'Subvenite' is a Latin prayer (Subvenite Sancti Dei) which could very loosely be translated using the words on pages 41-54.)

page 150: the very last crotchet of the page is a Tristan chord

page 151: the Angel of the Agony (usually sung by the same soloist as the Priest) appears, and a long chain of unprepared Neapolitan 6th chords starts here - see e.g. bar 2 and bar 6

page 155: on the top line the orchestra gradually drops out, leaving only the organ on the word 'Judge'

page 156: (one of the very best pages in the whole thing) in bar 2 the harps play the 2 tenor parts as harmonics

page 157: the Alleluia theme returns on the bottom line

page 158: Alleluia again (a really good one) on the 2nd line; however, this one is different in that the timps and organ pedal join in, and the horn motif is absent, replaced by a unison crescendo into the Judgement theme (see notes for page 1)

page 159: note pause over barline at end of top line. This is where the soul of Gerontius gets his "momentary vision of God". The full score says "N.B. At 120 'for one moment' must every instrument exert its fullest force. If any extra Timpani players are available, they must play the 3 bars at 120." The dynamic is great, isn't it? fffzp :-)

page 163: the 2nd line is the last one that Gerontius sings in the piece; the bottom line always reminds me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer... ("In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer.") (What?!? I know I'm sad :p ) There is a dominant pedal in the last 4 bars (i.e. the long A in the bass; see notes on pages 46 and 135)

page 170: I love the fact that the 2nd basses only join in after the words "bring us not, Lord, very low" :p

page 175: 1st bar always feels like a 2nd alto solo, even though it isn't (the soloist is singing too); another dominant pedal starts here; last bar of page is one where the semi-chorus sops used to invariably sing the wrong rhythm, but it's been right for a few years now :-)

page 177: the harps are the only things playing on the barlines during the last chord

---

Here endeth my Gerontius analysis. If you read this far, hope you found some of it of interest!

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

"The altos seem more... concerned..."

(... than the tenors, when it came to singing "Be merciful")

Fanny took tonight's rehearsal (no idea where Jamie was again, but Fanny had been scheduled for ages so it was obviously a long-standing commitment). It was nice to see her - it's been a while! In fact, it occurred to me the last time she took a rehearsal was (I think) the one back in January that inspired me to start this blog (here is the historic first post, in case you missed it) so I suggested to her, on my way out, that she might like to take a look :p

Geoffrey Owen (Hallé Head of Artistic Planning) came to speak to us at the start of the rehearsal to forewarn us about what we'll be doing next season. Lots of exciting stuff, but since I don't think it's been officially announced to the public yet, I'd better not mention it here until it has.

We rehearsed several large chunks of Gerontius (mainly the "Praise to the Holiest" section) and finished with a blast through Brindisi by way of contrast.

I'm afraid I'm falling asleep so any more entertaining remarks will have to wait till tomorrow! Sorry!

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

"Ever a bell tolls... for DEATH!"

Firstly, two links I've been meaning to post: another Cav review (found by Graham) and the Badger Badger website. The latter is the one featured on the T shirt I wore a week or two ago, which several people asked me about. (WARNING: If you are supposed to be working, you may want to mute your sound before clicking on the badger link...)

Not much to say tonight because I am snowed under with work. [EDIT: I seem to have rabbitted on for ages regardless! Oh well.] Jamie was back, and he started with the Chorus of the Scottish Refugees. Not the most exciting chorus ever - Jamie's translation of one of our repeated lines was more entertaining that any of the actual lines! (That's the line in the title, btw.) We altos did rather hope we might get to go home early since we apparently didn't have a part to sing - we pretended we hadn't seen the "3rd soprano" part that went down to bottom A :p

We also sight read the Venusberg thingy while the men had an early tea break. We were delighted to learn that we will be offstage, so it should be a short night. I'd be worried if I were Jamie and Naomi though, because there were quite a few people I heard say that they certainly weren't going to waste an evening to sing 23 bars. I hope we actually have a choir!

Talking of people muttering, there was a lot of that at the break, when one of the sopranos - don't know her name, I think she's fairly new - sat down at the piano and proceeded to accompany herself in some aria or other. I guess there's no reason why she shouldn't, strictly, but the fact remains that people generally don't do that, so there was lots of muttering, along the lines of "Well, it's just not really appropriate, is it?" and "Who does she think she is?" (It wasn't that she was singing badly - it was just very unexpected!)

Anyway. Jamie told us that he'd spoken to Mark today, who'd been listening to our Elgar recording and was delighted to report that it's all perfectly in tune. "It's much better if choirs sing in tune!" is his advice. This was kind of a theme of the night - Jamie later said, after we'd sung a bit of the Gerontius demons' chorus, "to get the effect, it should kind of be in tune, shouldn't it?" (Oh, and could someone please explain to me why it irritates me quite so intensely when I hear people calling it Jerontius? As was pointed out to me once, it doesn't actually matter, because the word is never actually sung anywhere in the piece... but every time I hear someone pronounce it with a soft G, I have to restrain myself from yelling "Gerontius!" at them!)

Not many Jamieisms tonight, but I think my favourite was "if you're in any doubt over how far to go, it's a semitone higher" (re: the sopranos' first high "ha! ha!" on page 85, which apparently no choir ever gets right. But our sops did, tonight!) Most amusing moment of the night, though, was the looks on the guys' faces when they were trying to pronounce the "th" of "earth" (on page 70) to Jamie's satisfaction. Some of the 2nd tenors looked as if they were blowing raspberries. And knowing them, they probably were :-)

But wait - I nearly forgot! That wasn't the funniest thing. The funniest thing was when the rhythm in the Scottish chorus wasn't accurate enough. Jamie said that the long notes were fine, it was the occasional semiquavers that were all over the place. So he made us sing it several times, singing nothing BUT the semiquavers. You probably had to be there to appreciate how funny this was!