Behind the scenes: Beethoven’s Ninth at Saffron Hall and the BBC Proms
With our memorised performances of Beethoven’s ninth symphony only a few weeks away, we caught up with Aurora’s Creative Director and Principal Flute Jane Mitchell to find out more about Aurora’s latest Orchestral Theatre project.
As Aurora’s Principal Flute, you’ve memorised a huge range of symphonies over the years. How is the memorising going for Beethoven’s Ninth?
I started memorising this piece about two months ago and I think it’s going to be one of our toughest yet. The biggest challenge is the sheer length. It’s a long piece! Wind players usually get quite a few bars off at some point, but in this work the flute part never stops. I can’t actually think of another flute part where we’re asked to play continuously for so long (I’m beginning to understand how the violins feel!). The first movement is proving particularly difficult to learn because Beethoven builds the whole thing out of tiny chunks of material rather than long lines. These tiny chunks then get repeated but in endless different combinations so you’re learning very similar things but not the same things over and over. I’m hoping it might become easier!
Despite it proving so difficult to learn, we are all very excited about doing Beethoven’s ninth symphony. We’ve never done a memorised work with singers before and I think it’s going to feel epic when we all come together with the piece in our heads. Aurora has performed Beethoven’s third, fifth, sixth and seventh symphonies from memory so it feels like the right moment to tackle the ninth. I think the drama of that last movement will lend itself particularly well to a memorised performance and (without wanting to give too much away!) so would a memorised encore in the audience.
For those who haven’t seen an Aurora memorised project before, can you describe what’s in store?
In the second half of the concert we will perform the entire symphony from memory. We will all be standing and the soloists and chorus will join us for the last movement. In the first half we will explore the music, looking at how Beethoven wrote it and re-creating some of the events leading up to the premiere of the piece in 1824. We are working with two actors, Thomas Simper and Rhiannon May to portray the roles of Beethoven and those in his life at the time. The orchestra will weave in and amongst our conductor Nicholas Collon and the actors, showing how the music is built and structured.
As well as performing in these concerts, you have also researched and written the script for this theatrical presentation. What have you discovered about Beethoven during your research?
Beethoven wrote his ninth symphony in 1823 and 1824, just four years before he died. At this point in his life he had profound hearing loss and so had begun always carrying around a notebook with him. In these notebooks he would ask friends and acquaintances to write down what they wanted to say to him when he couldn’t hear them. He would then speak his response to them and they would then write their next question or answer, so we are left with these one-sided conversations where we are left to imagine Beethoven’s response.
The notebooks provide an incredibly detailed and honest window into Beethoven’s daily life and it has been extraordinary getting to know him through this research. It’s wonderful to learn about all the ordinary things in his life – shopping lists, food requests and conversations about the weather alongside amazing insights into his composing. The notebooks also reveal so much about his relationships with those closest to him and there is a devastating thread running through of how he had such a close relationship with his nephew Karl (who had just come into Beethoven’s custody) but endlessly found quarrels and faults with him.
How will you be bringing these notebooks alive in the prom?
Our two actors will play various roles, including Beethoven and those closest to him, to create a ‘living programme note’ that provides illuminating social, historical and artistic context for the piece. The actors will read from Beethoven’s notebooks and use British Sign Language as part of the presentation to explore the symphony, composed in the midst of his hearing loss. Around this, Nicholas Collon and the musicians will weave in musical excerpts throughout the presentation. Actor Rhiannon May is deaf herself and so brings a lived experience of hearing loss and it has been fascinating working with her and hearing how she uses her phone as a contemporary version of these notebooks in so many contexts.
What are you most looking forward to with this project?
The moment where the chorus comes in in the last movement. There’s really nothing like it – I find it so extraordinary that Beethoven wrote the perfect ode to joy amongst so much suffering near the end of his life. I think it will feel truly joyful for everyone when we get to that moment.
Advance tickets for our performances at Saffron Hall and the BBC Proms are now sold out. Day Promming tickets will be available from 10.30am on the morning of our Prom (Wednesday 21 August).