The Pit of Despair

How is playing opera different than symphonic music?

This coming week, the Charleston Symphony is christening our new partnership with Charleston Opera Theatre by putting on a production of Puccini’s La Bohéme. Playing opera, while technically very similar to the music we make in a normal symphony concert, feels wholly different to us musicians. Firstly, the repertoire has very little crossover: you’ll rarely hear opera music beyond the occasional overture (the opening song with no singers) from the concert stage and similarly you’ll never hear something like a Beethoven Symphony in an opera. The second difference is that we are working in service of the singers. This is not a challenge for our pride so much as it is difficult to line up with an unfamiliar musician that we can’t even see (more on that in a second.)

The most significant difference, that really eclipse’s the others, is that the entire orchestra is banished to the dark underworld of the concert hall—a medium-sized cave below the front lip of the stage called the orchestra pit.

Seating Arrangment

Moving to the pit is not as simple as doing a copy and paste of our normal stage setup. The pit is significantly narrower and the concrete wall at the back makes it too loud for brass instruments to sit in their normal spot in the rear. The stage manager is a magician for figuring out this difficult game of Tetris. The last time I was in the pit, the bass section was sitting right next to the wind instruments, and for the first time in my life the conductor and I were facing each other head on. It was awesome!

One consideration with the tight quarters is that I have to make sure to show up early. There’s not a whole lot of room to walk around, so if I show up right before rehearsal starts, I will have to lift my bass above everyone’s heads and make the treacherous journey to my seat.

Lighting

It’s quite dark down there. They don’t illuminate the pit because the audience’s attention should be on the stage and what’s happening up there, but we still have to see our music. Every musician gets a clip-on light that attaches to our stand. It’s always a good idea to test it out before the first performance because sometimes the batteries haven’t been changed in a while…

Sight Lines

It’s hard to see the audience or the stage from down in the pit—we can maybe see the upper balconies—so when the conductor walks out at the top of show, they raise the tops of the hands high above their heads so the audience can catch a glimpse of their finger tips and know what they’re actually clapping for. It’s a bit comical.

Because it’s hard to see the stage, in order to play in sync with the singers, everyone just agrees to watch the conductor. The conductor gets their own special spotlight the entire show so that singers and instrumentalists alike can see them at all times.

Some of the musicians in the front rows can look up and see about half of the stage, but be warned, it’s bad karma and inevitably leads to a missed entrance.

Come See the Opera

Playing the opera is a fun change for us—and not just because I get to wear all black instead of a tuxedo. Something about getting to play different music and being all huddled together down there makes it seem more fun. Also not having the eyes of the audience on us the whole time makes it feel a little less stressful.

If you’re not sure you like opera, La Bohème is the perfect one to start with!

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EXTRAS

Opera Movie: This is a clip from an amazing cinematic version of La Bohème (imagine a movie but with famous opera singers as the actors!) It was this movie that made me realize I might actually like opera! You can also watch the whole thing here.

Speaking of Opera: I love this video from opera singer Jonas Kaufmann singing “Nessun Dorma.” Such a rich voice and fun to see the musicians in everyday clothes!

Another classic: This is another one of my favorites of the inimitable Jesse Norman singing a number from Carmen.

Sibling Duet: These two bothers have some seriously telepathic musical abilities. I can’t stop thinking that one of the looks like a Scandinavian Hugh Grant.