Double Bass Bluebeard's Castle

[AGCurry]

I went to a rehearsal of an orchestra I'm considering joining. This ensemble is a civic orchestra, mostly amateur, but I was told that the principals are paid something, and ringers are hired as needed.

The entire two-hour rehearsal was spent on Bela Bartok's "Duke Blue Beard's Castle" in preparation for a concert a little over two weeks from now. I won't play this concert, but I told the principal I'd come back after. I just followed along and played what I thought I could play.

Wow. I have to wonder if there is a more difficult orchestral piece than this one, just in the realm of sightreading. Written in the nominal key of C, with innumerable accidentals and constant changes to time signature as well as tempo; and there's a long section with accelerating measure-long 8th-note slurs, none of which repeats.

This orchestra does call itself "The World's Most Adventurous Community Orchestra." That moniker just might be accurate.

Has anyone here played this piece? I think I'd need months of immersion in it to feel comfortable.

 

[Notaluthier]

Oof, very doable with practice but sight readable at tempo and in tune. Quite difficult.

 

[slappahdabass]

Haven't played that piece but Bartok is like that in general. The chromaticism is usually explainable by having a melody/line in a diatonic key but then changing the mode/key at regular intervals. Hard to describe in words but imagine playing Happy Birthday but the first bar is major, the second shifts the key signature to lydian, the next is whole tone, and the next minor, etc.
That's a huge oversimplification but that's part of his sound and I love it.
Also the whole plot of Bluebeard's Castle is insane.

 

[AGCurry]

View attachment 4979351 Oof, very doable with practice but sight readable at tempo and in tune. Quite difficult.

"possibile" but not probabile!

 

[SAlcott]

Far as I'm concerned, there's no harder bass gig than opera.

 

[David Potts]

At the hardest end of the spectrum Bruckner, Nielsen and Richard Strauss (especially Elektra) come to mind. So does Shostakovich. The passages can be so long and difficult that you cannot memorise them and rely on reading ability as well as technical strength, physical agility and endurance. The last movement of Beethoven 9 still terrifies me !

 

[Leif Dering]

Far as I'm concerned, there's no harder bass gig than opera.

Last summer I was called last minute to sight read La Traviata. Never played in a pit for Opera before. Everytime there was a grand pause for a singer, I came in late... other than that I like to think that I played fine!

 

[SAlcott]

My first opera (one bass) was "La Boheme". It was a thrill to get 16 bars in the same tempo, and the long A at the end while waiting for Mimi to die was nerve-wracking.

 

[Mark_T]

I recall trying to learn Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin and thinking that it'd be a miracle if I could play even a small part of it well. I was playing with a high-end amateur orchestra and we made it through but I still pity the audience.

 

[neilG]

I performed the reduced Jonathan Dove version of "Die Walküre" last month. 20 players, 2 basses. If you ever see this coming, get the part well in advance. No safety in numbers.

 

[Paps]

Some of these pieces are only difficult if you try to play every note!
I also think that to play all the notes in some passage is counter productive.
The storm in Beethoven's Pastoral: To play all these notes on the lower strings at speed, with only 2 basses is not going to scare anyone! Let's just say we concentrated on volume and the first note of each grouping!
Interesting AG that you are joining another Orchestra. Did you leave the last one?

 

[CaseyVancouver]

Haha!
I am only a visiting tourist in the opera bass world.
I do have an opera concert coming up.

Nothing heavy like Wagner Die Walküre though.
Have you seen the violin part for that thing? omg

It’s nice when they put cues in the part.
The obvious: know the bass part, watch the conductor like a hawk, listen to the singer and cues.
Easy to say tricky to do


Here is a cool opera bass part

 

[Paps]

Lovely, I love that Baroque, counterpoint, basso continuo stuff.
We are playing Bach's double violin concerto on Saturday night.
A joy to play along.

 

[Notaluthier]

Lovely, I love that Baroque, counterpoint, basso continuo stuff.
We are playing Bach's double violin concerto on Saturday night.
A joy to play along.

Playing Baroque music is the most fun thing ever.

 

[David Potts]

The baroque bass parts are "real life" studies that to me are more important for me (and hopefully my students) than much in the old bass tutors and study books. They give confidence in rythm, speed, articulation, playing in unison with cellos and continuous reading of extended passages. The only missing bits are a wide variety of keys and slurred passages. The six Brandenburg Concerto bass parts are more fun than nut-cracking your way through the Bach Cello Suites at pitch IMHO. Simandl Gradus ad Parnassum and Findheisen Studies are for self flagellators (?spelling). For slur practice I prefer Lee 12 Studies (IMC) or the orchestra parts on my stand.

 

[AGCurry]

Lovely, I love that Baroque, counterpoint, basso continuo stuff.
We are playing Bach's double violin concerto on Saturday night.
A joy to play along.

My community-college orchestra played its Spring concert this month. Out of the pieces we played, Carl Stamitz's Viola Concerto No. 1 in D major was my big favorite. I love the clocklike-but-relaxed gestalt (and the lack of trombones, tubas, and tympani). Especially with my gut strings, playing such music feels almost physically effortless. I'd love to join a chamber orchestra!

 

[Calvin Marks]

Benjamin Britten - The Rape of Lucretia. It's a chamber opera (one person per string instrument). You are very exposed and the parts are very challenging. One of the most challenging in the repertoire and is rarely performed. I was lucky enough to do it when I was 21.

 

[CaseyVancouver]

I’m finding that the current strings I have on are glorious for any pizz in opera.
In quiet moments the bass pizz really delivers through the whole orchestra.
Could not imagine a better sound. Plus they are very decent for arco.

E Spiro Stark
A Original Flexocor
D & G Flexocor Deluxe

 

[Carl Hillman]

I remember a friend saying that Wozzeck was one of the hardest operas he had ever played because "you can't tell when you hit a wrong note".

 

[Bruce Calin]

I occasionally mention to students that in my experience the most challenging types of music for a bass player in terms of fatigue and difficulty are opera and the circus. You are pretty much constantly playing and must pay attention to tempo alterations and cues at all times, often under less than ideal conditions of seeing and hearing. They both can also have tricky parts from a technical standpoint. There can also be elements of unintended comedy or tragedy when things go wrong, which they often do.