As I packed my viola, bow, electronic tuner, rosin and music into my case for the first rehearsal, I paused to consider if the monumental task of performing the Verdi Requiem with the Wayzata Symphony Orchestra, Edina Chorale, and Two Rivers Chorale will be worth the hours of intense practice and rehearsals.
Will this concert come together? Am I up to the task?
Any first rehearsal is nerve-racking: there is a sense of wanting to be more prepared (no matter how much one has already practiced) combined with a strong desire to play perfectly. I think many of us come to the first rehearsal with a combined sense of joy-filled anticipation and worriment — mixed together to make a very odd, but savory, dish.
Back out? Never!
We do not succumb to that temptation since our passionate conviction to share classical music is unshakable. Our first concert is less than one month away at the highly acclaimed Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis. This will be our Orchestra Hall debut! I am so thrilled that words fail me. We'll repeat the program on March 1 at the Wayzata Community Church, our beloved "home." (Details are available at our website.)
The first rehearsal brought together 70 instrumentalists including timpani, bass drum, brass, woodwinds, and strings. We wouldn't meet up with the chorus or vocal soloists for another two weeks.
Clearly something was different about our conductor, Maestra Marlene Pauley, however: she conducted from the podium as always, but this time sitting in a sturdy conductor's chair with one leg skillfully propped up in front of her for the entire nearly three-hour rehearsal. It mattered not, apparently, and all was well. She explained that she broke her leg on the Minnesota ice. Clearly, there is no stopping this orchestra, not even for a broken leg. For our conductor: a new (and temporary) throne. That's what you get with the WSO.
The musicians in the group, all of us devoted, well-trained, and excited to be together, rarely get a "good" from the conductor at the first rehearsal. In fact, when less-than-satisfying sounds hit the ears of our conductor, we have come to expect something that we affectionately call the "stink-eye."
At our first rehearsal for the Verdi, we received ten "good's" and not one stink-eye. That's 10 and 0. Congrats, WSO! Sort of warms the spirit, doesn't it?
One of the most rewarding "good"s that we got today was for the entire orchestra playing at the ppp level, which is to say "really, really, really" quietly. This is harder to do than most people are aware of. Playing so quietly that individual players cannot even hear themselves play is the stuff great orchestras are made of, though. When the choir and vocal soloists join us, surely they will be able to sing in a whisper and still be heard over the orchestra. Our sound must still contain the usual full-featured beauty, with texture, sonority, harmony and vibrational energy, but only if our audience leans forward a little bit and truly desires to hear us. Now that will be blissfully quiet!
I am happily surprised to report that the composer of the Requiem we are preparing, Guisepe Verdi, understood what the violists do and are. Violists are like the rich creamy center of a sandwich cookie. We play in between the melodic high voices and thundering low voices. We like to be heard, and we like to play on our G and C strings (our lower range) with sweet vibrato and sweet melodies. It may be infrequent, but Verdi has given the violists just that. He has given the violists a few long-awaited opportunities to pull at our heartstrings and those of our audience.
So for rehearsal number one: way to go, Maestra Pauley! Way to go orchestra, for playing quietly! And way to go Verdi for understanding the violas!
Dawn Anderson, MD, is a pediatrician, photographer-videographer, board member, and violist with the Wayzata Symphony Orchestra. She's sharing her story on Classical MPR's website as the orchestra prepares to perform Verdi's Requiem. Watch for more stories from Dawn in coming weeks.
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