Opus Notes on the Production

THE ORIGINS OF OPUS

As soon as violist-turned-playwright Michael Hollinger picked up his long-neglected instrument, he felt compelled to write a play on a theme he already knew from the inside out: string quartets and the people who play them. “In some ways, this is my most personal play,” he allowed in 2007. “The characters are closer to me, demographically … Chamber music has been very good to me, and I finally felt like ‘Maybe I can actually write a chamber play about chamber musicians’ ... In some of my plays … it’s a very stylized language - heightened - it’s not designed to sound like life. Opus is the very opposite of that.”¹ The very concept of a play that is “designed” to sound like real life reminds us that writing authentic naturalism is not as easy as it looks. The richness and specificity of the contemporary world Hollinger creates is just one of the many things that make Opus such a compelling play. Perhaps more than any other contemporary playwright, Michael Hollinger remains interested in artistic process, perennially curious about why and how artists do the work that they do.

ONE GOOD VIOLINIST, ONE BAD VIOLINIST, ONE FORMER VIOLINIST, AND SOMEONE WHO DOESN’T EVEN LIKE THE VIOLIN
A string quartet is a small group of two violins, a viola, and a cello that operates without a conductor. The modern string quartet has its origins in 18th century Germany where it was originally referred to as haus musik (house music). Composers and musicians played in string quartets primarily for their own enjoyment and enrichment; devotees came to private homes and salons to listen to quartets for recreation. Fittingly, the Lazara practices in its members private homes, handles its money and business calendar without a manager, and makes decisions as democratically as possible. For the Lazara, music is not merely a weekly paycheck. This quartet takes everything — from stylistic interpretation to the selection of rehearsal snacks — to be deeply personal. Furthermore, Hollinger very deliberately matches each character in his fictional Lazara Quartet with an instrument:

Elliot (1st Violin): The first violin is the highest pitched and, therefore, most exposed instrument in the string family. Not surprisingly, the phrase “high-strung” has its origins in virtuoso violin playing. The first violin usually carries the melody and may give cues with his body. This person may sometimes act as the group’s public representative, and outsiders may automatically view this player as “the leader.”

Alan (2nd Violin): Contrary to its name, the second violinist’s musicianship must rival that of the first violinist, but in a subtler way. Precise rhythm and intonation (playing in tune) are their most important responsibilities.

Dorian (Viola): The lower-pitched viola contributes a great deal to the quartet’s tone, color, and mood. In a four-part arrangement, the viola’s note will often be the one to turn a simple chord into a complex, colorful sound. Although the viola has a distinctly lovely tonal quality, it rarely carries the melody and is often considered the least “glamorous” quartet instrument. Interestingly, Dorian’s name comes from the Dorian scale in music, a minor, eerie-sounding scale in which the sixth scale degree is raised an additional half step, changing the sound of the natural minor scale.

Carl (Cello): The only quartet instrument written for bass clef, the cello provides a steady rhythmic grounding that propels the quartet forward and acts as the quartet’s firm foundation. It rarely has virtuoso passages, but when it does, they are extremely moving.

EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE?

Many artistic ensembles persist in functioning well without defined leaders, examples include post-modern dance ensembles (The Judson Dance Theater), ensemble and process-based theatres (Chicago’s Goat Island), and jazz bands managed on the commonwealth system. There are some key differences, however, between these ensembles and a professional, world-renowned string quartet like the Lazara.

Ensemble dance and theater groups generally form because their members want to push the boundaries of the form, create a new artistic vocabulary, or emphasize process over final product. They rarely form with fame or success as a goal. Jazz bands often operate on the commonwealth system to avoid greedy agents or bandleaders, or in order to focus on group improvisational techniques which expand the definition of their art form.

String quartets, however, are more like tiny, meticulous orchestras than freewheeling, creative ensembles. Most quartets concern themselves neither with process nor experimentation, nor with expanding the boundaries of their form. Quartet musicians spend most of their time attempting to play intensely difficult music that was written hundreds of years ago exactly as it appears on the page. Good quartets must accurately represent the composer’s written intentions while simultaneously putting a fresh, interpretive spin on music that has been played by others many times before. As if four headstrong musicians of the highest caliber striving for the same objective standard of perfection wasn’t enough, in a quartet they must do it symbiotically and in very close quarters. While it behooves them to bring the best of their individual talents to the rehearsal room, they also spend a great deal of time suppressing them for the sake of consistent blend and cooperation within the group. Essentially, string quartets are an art form of absolutes without any absolute authority.

In Opus, the Lazara Quartet faces enormous pressure not only to perform difficult music accurately and beautifully, but also to make all the right decisions as a group, even as the line between the personal and the professional gets continuously blurred. Where does the “buck” stop? Does it have to? What is whose business? Who is right, who is wrong, and who is acting in whose best interests?

WHY 131?

Opus 131 is one of Beethoven’s “late quartets,” written after Beethoven had not only lost his hearing, but was also grappling with illness, family strife, and the fear of his impending death. 131 is a monster of a string quartet. It is forty minutes long and written in seven distinct movements using seven equally distinct key signatures. Still, there are a number of string quartets in the repertoire whose grandeur lies somewhere between the Canon in D and Beethoven’s most formidable masterpiece. Given this, whywould the Lazara Quartet decide to tackle 131 days before their televised performance at the White House? Perhaps for some of the same reasons Beethoven had when he wrote it.

GLOSSARY²
Dorian: In music, a minor scale whose sixth scale degree is raised an additional half-step, changing the sound of the minor scale.

Vibrato: The extremely slight fluctuation in the pitch of a note that results in the pulsating, emotional sound used most consistently in orchestral and quartet music.

Concertgebouw: A concert hall with famously excellent acoustics in Amsterdam.

Sinfonia concertante: A genre of composition for violin, viola, and orchestra.

Molto espressivo: A diacritical (instructive) marking in music meaning “very expressive” in Italian.

Sforzando: Meaning “forced” in Italian, it instructs a musician to play a particular note with sudden emphasis. It is written over the note, above the staff.

Hairpins: The common term for a crescendo immediately followed by a decrescendo, indicating a change in dynamics over a short period of time. They are written below the staff.

Sharp/Flat: The raising or lowering of a note by a half-step. It can also refer to a musician’s inability to correctly play a note on its exact pitch.

Double stop: Two notes played simultaneously on a stringed instrument using two separate strings.

Adagio ma non troppo: A diacritical (instructive) marking in music meaning “At ease, but not too much” in Italian.

Poco crescendo: A diacritical (instructive) marking in music which calls for a small dynamic increase.

Poco ritard: A diacritical (instructive) marking in music which calls for a small decrease the speed of a piece.

In tempo: In time, or, at the intended speed of a piece, as opposed to a slower rehearsal tempo.

References:

1 Haun, Harry. “Mr. Hollinger’s Opus.” Playbill, Aug. 7, 2007. article/110146-Mr._Hollinger%27s_Opus>.

2 Cole, Richard. “Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary.” Virginia Tech, 1996. vt.edu/musicdictionary/>.

Further Reading:

Crow, Bill. Jazz Anecdotes: Second Time Around. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Eisler, Edith. 21st Century String Quartets. St. Anselmo, CA: String Letter Publishers, 2000.

Giellette, Jonathan and Marion McCollom, Eds. Groups in Context: A New Perspective on Group Dynamics.

Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Welsey Publishing Company, 1990.

Lewis, Ferdinand, Ed. Ensemble Works: An Anthology. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 2005.

McCormick, Malcolm and Nancy Reynolds. No Fixed Points: Dance in the Twentieth Century. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2003.

Steinhardt, Arnold. Indivisible by Four. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1998.

Stowell, Robin, Ed. The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Notes on the Production written by Adrienne Boris