An offstage instrument or choir part in classical music is a sound effect used in
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
l and
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
which is created by having one or more instrumentalists (
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...
players, also called an "offstage trumpet call",
horn
Horn most often refers to:
*Horn (acoustic), a conical or bell shaped aperture used to guide sound
** Horn (instrument), collective name for tube-shaped wind musical instruments
*Horn (anatomy), a pointed, bony projection on the head of various ...
players,
woodwind
Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and reed ...
players,
percussionist
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
s, other instrumentalists) from a symphony orchestra or opera orchestra play a note, melody, or rhythm from behind the stage, or having a
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
of singers sing a melody from behind the stage.
This creates a distant,
mute
Muteness is a speech disorder in which a person lacks the ability to speak.
Mute or the Mute may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''Mute'' (2005 film), a short film by Melissa Joan Hart
* ''Mute'' (2018 film), a scien ...
d effect which composers use to suggest "celestial voices", melancholy, or nostalgia, or to create a haunting or mysterious effect. Some composers use larger offstage groups, (such as the 14 offstage brass instruments in
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
' ''
Alpine Symphony
''An Alpine Symphony'' (''Eine Alpensinfonie''), Op. 64, is a tone poem for large orchestra written by German composer Richard Strauss in 1915. It is one of Strauss's largest non-operatic works; the score calls for about 125 players and a t ...
'') that they can create antiphonal effects, in which the main orchestra and the offstage instruments alternate their parts. In some works, the offstage instruments are arrayed in the balconies or amidst the audience, which is a more forceful sound, since the volume is not muted by walls or doors. In some pieces, the offstage performers change how far they are away from the main orchestra in their first and second performance in a piece; if a performer moves from far backstage to close to the wings, it will give the audience the impression that the band is moving closer.
The
conductor decides where to position the offstage instruments or singers, whether this is backstage, in the wings, balcony, or elsewhere. When there are large offstage ensembles, they may be conducted by a second assistant conductor. In the 19th century and the early 20th century, prior to the invention of
closed circuit television
Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...
, offstage music was challenging to coordinate with the onstage ensemble, because to achieve the muted, distant effect that is often sought out, the players or singers would have to move fairly far backstage; however, getting far away from the main orchestra made it hard to stay in time and in tune with the main orchestra. Since the 1970s and 1980s, the widespread availability of technologies such as affordable closed circuit TV cameras and TV monitors,
monitor speakers, and in the 1980s, inexpensive
electronic tuner
In music, an electronic tuner is a device that detects and displays the pitch of musical notes played on a musical instrument. "Pitch" is the perceived fundamental frequency of a musical note, which is typically measured in Hertz. Simple tune ...
s made it easier to coordinate offstage and onstage musicians and/or singers with the onstage ones.
An offstage part may be requested by the use of the German instruction "auf dem Theater" or the Italian instructions "tromba interna" or "banda". While offstage instrumental parts are usually for brass or percussion instruments, in
Berlioz' ''
Symphonie Fantastique
' (''Fantastical Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections'') Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is an important piece of the early Romantic period. The first performan ...
'', an offstage oboe is used in the third movement and in
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...
's
Symphony No. 7 "Seven Gates of Jerusalem", the brass and percussion are joined by clarinets, bassoons, and a contrabassoon.
History
In Act III of
Berlioz's opera ''
Les Troyens
''Les Troyens'' (; in English: ''The Trojans'') is a French grand opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself from Virgil's epic poem the ''Aeneid''; the score was composed between 1856 and 1858. ''Les Tro ...
'', a group of offstage trumpets plays a distorted-sounding fanfare along with cornets to create an unusual dramatic effect. In
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's overture for ''
Leonore Overture'' and in ''
Fidelio
''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Op. 72, is Ludwig van Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly, with ...
'' he used an offstage trumpet call. In
Respighi's ''
The Pines of Rome
''Pines of Rome'' ( it, Pini di Roma, link=no), P 141, is a tone poem in four movements for orchestra completed in 1924 by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. It is the second of his three tone poems about Rome, following ''Fontane di Roma'' ...
'', he uses an offstage trumpet for "Pines Near a Catacomb"; after the low strings play solemn chords, and the trombones play a simple, ancient-sounding
Gregorian chant
Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...
-style melody, an offstage trumpet introduces the piece's second theme.
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
used offstage trumpets during a battle scene in ''
Ein Heldenleben
''Ein Heldenleben'' (''A Hero's Life''), Op. 40, is a tone poem by Richard Strauss. The work was completed in 1898. It was his eighth work in the genre, and exceeded any of its predecessors in its orchestral demands. Generally agreed to be aut ...
'' ("A Hero's Life").
Aaron Copland
Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later a conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as "the Dean of American Com ...
's ''
Quiet City'' uses an offstage trumpet.
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
's
Symphony No. 2 uses an offstage brass ensemble of trumpets, French horns, and percussion. While the offstage trumpet's distant sound can create an emotional effect, critic Maurice Brown warned in 1971 that it can become an overused
cliché
A cliché ( or ) is an element of an artistic work, saying, or idea that has become overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, even to the point of being weird or irritating, especially when at some earlier time it was consi ...
.
Offstage town bands which play fanfares and other music in Verdi and Donizetti operas are often not scored. The conductor has to acquire or arrange music for the offstage band to play. These offstage bands are called "banda" in Italian.
Performance challenges
Offstage music performed in the theater as an effect in a play is often less problematic than performing offstage music with an orchestra. In a theater context, the offstage sound effects are less likely to have to be synchronized exactly with other rhythms or pitches. For example, in some Shakespeare plays, the script calls for an offstage bugle call to indicate that enemy soldiers are in the distance. This cue does not have to be aligned with any other pitches or rhythms; it only needs to occur within the correct part of a scene, so a leeway of several seconds is acceptable.
Performing offstage music that has to be in synchronization with a larger ensemble on the stage involves potential problems with rhythm and pitch, because a difference of even a part of a second or a fraction of a semitone of pitch will be noticeable to the audience. If the conductor wants a truly muted and distant sound, the offstage players need to be behind the stage or in an adjoining hall, not merely standing in the wings of the stage. If the offstage players are in an adjoining hallway or room behind the stage area, they may not be able to see the conductor or hear the orchestra. Even if they can hear the orchestra, their perception of the pitch and timing may be affected by the distance and refraction of the sound. If trumpet or French horn players attempt to tune their notes by ear to the orchestra pitch that they hear, their pitch may sound flat to the audience and conductor even if it is "correct" to the trumpeter or French hornists' ear, because a brass instrument's pitch varies over a long distance, and thus may sound flat in comparison to the orchestra. One trumpet book suggests that offstage trumpeters play sharper than true pitch, to compensate for these effects.
To overcome these problems, conductors sometimes have an assistant conductor who cues the offstage player, but this can result in miscues or time lags. These problems have led to humorous anecdotes in the 19th and early 20th century, such as the case cited by
Sir Malcolm Arnold
Sir Malcolm Henry Arnold (21 October 1921 – 23 September 2006) was an English composer. His works feature music in many genres, including a cycle of nine symphonies, numerous concertos, concert works, chamber music, choral music and music ...
, in which he jokes about a performance of Beethoven's ''Leonore Overture'' in which the offstage trumpet part was "conspicuous by its absence", because the backstage performer misunderstood the cue, and failed to play.
[''The Life and Music of Sir Malcolm Arnold: The Brilliant and the Dark''. By Paul R. W. Jackson. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2003 , . Page 117] Since the 1980s, both of these challenges have been surmounted with technology. To ensure that the offstage performer is in rhythm with the orchestra, a closed-circuit TV can be set up backstage to transmit video feed of the conductor's moving baton and hands. To ensure that the offstage performer is in pitch with the rest of the orchestra, the offstage performer can play while watching an
electronic tuner
In music, an electronic tuner is a device that detects and displays the pitch of musical notes played on a musical instrument. "Pitch" is the perceived fundamental frequency of a musical note, which is typically measured in Hertz. Simple tune ...
which indicates whether he or she is sharp or flat.
Instruments
*
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
**
''Leonore Overture No. 2 and 3'' – 1 trumpet
*
Hector Berlioz
In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...
** ''
Symphonie Fantastique
' (''Fantastical Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections'') Op. 14, is a program symphony written by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830. It is an important piece of the early Romantic period. The first performan ...
'' – 1 oboe in the third movement.
**
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
– 4 brass bands, placed north, south, east and west of the audience
*
Havergal Brian
Havergal Brian (born William Brian; 29 January 187628 November 1972) was an English composer. He is best known for having composed 32 symphonies (an unusually high total for a 20th-century composer), most of them late in his life. His best-know ...
**
Symphony No. 1 (''The Gothic'') – Four groups, each containing 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 2 trombones, 2 tubas and 1 set of timpani
*
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
** ''
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings
The ''Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings'', Op. 31, is a song cycle written in 1943 by Benjamin Britten for tenor, solo horn and a string orchestra. Composed during the Second World War at the request of the horn player Dennis Brain, it is a s ...
'' – the solo horn in the Epilogue
*
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...
**
Symphony No. 4 – violins, viola, and harp
*
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...
**
Symphony No. 1 – 3 trumpets
**
Symphony No. 2 – 4 trumpets, 4–6 horns, bass drum with cymbals attached, triangle and timpani
**
Symphony No. 3 – Snare drums and posthorn
**
Symphony No. 6 – Cowbells and deep tubular bells
**
Symphony No. 7 – Cowbells
**
Symphony No. 8 – 4 trumpets and 3 trombones
*
Krzysztof Penderecki
Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include ''Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', ''Polish Requiem'', ''A ...
**
Symphony No. 7 "Seven Gates of Jerusalem" – 3 clarinets, 3 bassoons, contrabassoon, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, 1 tuba
*
Sergei Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...
**
''Lieutenant Kijé'' Suite – 1 cornet
*
Ottorino Respighi
Ottorino Respighi ( , , ; 9 July 187918 April 1936) was an Italian composer, violinist, teacher, and musicologist and one of the leading Italian composers of the early 20th century. List of compositions by Ottorino Respighi, His compositions r ...
**
''Roman Festival'' – 3
Buccine (3 soprano)
** ''
Pines of Rome
''Pines of Rome'' ( it, Pini di Roma, link=no), P 141, is a tone poem in four movements for orchestra completed in 1924 by the Italian composer Ottorino Respighi. It is the second of his three tone poems about Rome, following ''Fontane di Roma'' ...
'' – 6
Buccine (2 soprano, 2 tenor, 2 bass) and 1 trumpet
** ''Church Windows'' – trumpet
*
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...
**
Festive Overture – 4 horns, 3 trumpets and 3 trombones
** ''
Song of the Forests
The ''Song of the Forests'' (''Песнь о лесах''), Op. 81, is an oratorio by Dmitri Shostakovich composed in the summer of 1949. It was written to celebrate the forestation of the Russian steppes (Great Plan for the Transformation of Nat ...
'' – 6 trumpets and 6 trombones
*
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss (; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and violinist. Considered a leading composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras, he has been described as a successor of Richard Wag ...
**
''Eine Alpensinfonie'' – 12 horns, 2 trumpets and 2 trombones
**
''Ein Heldenleben'' – 3 trumpets
*
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
** ''
1812 Overture
''The Year 1812, Solemn Overture'', Op. 49, popularly known as the ''1812 Overture'', is a concert overture in E major written in 1880 by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to commemorate the successful Russian defense against Napoleon ...
'' – "Open" instrumentation consisting of "any extra brass instruments" available.
*
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (; 9 or 10 October 1813 – 27 January 1901) was an Italian composer best known for his operas. He was born near Busseto to a provincial family of moderate means, receiving a musical education with the h ...
**
''Falstaff'' – an offstage guitar player performs a part which Alice, holding a lute onstage, pretends to play
**
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
– 4 trumpets
**''
Luisa Miller
''Luisa Miller'' is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play ''Kabale und Liebe'' (''Intrigue and Love'') by the German dramatist Friedrich von Schiller.
Verdi's initial idea for ...
'' – 4 horns
*
William Walton
Sir William Turner Walton (29 March 19028 March 1983) was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera. His best-known works include ''Façade'', the cantat ...
**
''Belshazzar's Feast'' – 2 bands, each including 3 trumpets, 3 trombones and tuba
Choirs
*In
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...
's
''The Planets'', the last movement,
Neptune
Neptune is the eighth planet from the Sun and the farthest known planet in the Solar System. It is the fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 times ...
, uses two offstage women's choirs to create a mysterious effect. The choirs gradually fade away in volume, ending the piece.
See also
*
Offstage musicians and singers in popular music
Offstage musicians and singers are performers who play instruments and/or sing backstage, out of sight of the audience, during a live popular music concert at which the main band is visible playing and singing onstage. The sound from the offstage ...
(used to fill out a band's sound)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Offstage instrument or choir part in classical music
Music performance
Musical terminology
Opera terminology
Orchestral music
Special effects