Chorus learns Beethoven by heart as enhancement to performance
Earlier this year, as the Columbus Symphony Chorus was preparing to rehearse for a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, conductor Ronald J. Jenkins issued a challenge.
“I gave them an assignment,” Jenkins said. “I simply said in January, ‘We are going to do this from memory.’”
Among rehearsals for other programs, the chorus spent the following months memorizing the symphony’s euphoric fourth movement. Singing “off-book” — without referencing folders with written music — is a rarity for the chorus, but Jenkins says it makes a difference.
“It really is a good thing to get your eyes out of music and straight onto the conductor to see any little nuance the conductor is doing,” Jenkins said. “They always sing better because they’re out of the book.”
On Friday, during a Picnic With the Pops concert at John F. Wolfe Columbus Commons, the orchestra and chorus will combine to perform Beethoven’s 1824 masterwork. Four guest soloists — soprano Helen Hassinger, mezzo-soprano Megan Quick, tenor Jonas Hacker and bass-baritone David Crawford — will also be featured. Music Director Rossen Milanov will conduct.
“Undivided attention always helps, particularly while performing a complex work such as Beethoven’s Ninth, when you have more than 200 musicians, singers, soloists on the stage,” Milanov said by email. “The chorus is traditionally placed on the back of the stage, and sometimes distances could affect the sync of the performance. Singing off-book will help with that.”
The chorus last sang Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in October 2012; according No. 9
Columbus Symphony and Chorus
John F. Wolfe Columbus Commons, E. Rich and S. High streets 614-469-0939; 1-800-7453000, www.ticketmaster.com 8 p.m. Friday general admission — $25, or $10 for ages 3 to 12, free for age 2 and younger; table seating — $40 to $85
to Jenkins, about half of the current membership of the chorus did not participate in that performance (which was also memorized).
This time, the chorus learned the fourth movement — the final movement of the symphony that makes use of Friedrich Schiller’s Germanlanguage text “Ode to Joy” — section by section, working with written music before testing their memories.
“What we have done over the past few months is gradually take chunk by chunk of it and try to sing that from memory,” said baritone Denis NewmanGriffis, 25. “It’s been a gradual buildup over time to the point where, for the past several rehearsals, we have been able to leave our folders on our seats, sing through the whole movement and then go back with the folders ... and address points where we made mistakes.”
There are pitfalls in committing the movement to memory.
“The most difficult thing for the singers is, because of extreme range, ... to remember to make the good vocal sound at all times: Good placement of the vowels and certainly consonants,” Jenkins said. “When so much of your memory is going toward just getting the notes right, you might slip up on that.”
The musical entrances can be tricky.
“Once you get started with the line, it tends to be fairly easy, after long enough singing it, to remember where it goes next — you get into muscle memory,” Newman-Griffis said. “But remembering where exactly and when to come in, and with what line, can be very, very challenging.”
Once the music is mastered, however, the chorus can focus its attention on Jenkins during rehearsals (and on Milanov during the performance).
“I think the best part for us is now Ron can use us like clay,” said alto Kari Clevidence, 38. “He can mold us to the dynamics and play with us because everyone’s eyes are watching him.”
The concert marks the chorus’ return to Picnic With the Pops; the ensemble has not performed in the series since the mid-1990s (before its relocation from Chemical Abstracts to Columbus Commons).
“Our choral season is usually completed by this time,” said tenor Dameon Jones, 36. “I think it’s a great idea, and it’s a great venue.”
With the music memorized, the chorus plans to be fully engaged with those in attendance.
Said Newman-Griffis: “We no longer have the intermediary of the page between us and the audience.”