CHAMBER MUSIC AND CHAMBER THEATRE

I have been playing chamber music for most of my adult life. Chamber Music is music written tor 2 to 9 voices. Generally string instruments: violin, viola, cello, double base; but also woodwind, brass, piano, etc. Mostly we play music for 3 to 5 parts. Maybe this is part of why I favor plays with a cast of no more than 6.

Rehearsing a piece of chamber music for performance is eerily similar to rehearsing a play for performance. Both actors and players have to study their parts, and deliver their lines with authority. They have to prepare diligently to maintain proper ensemble, pace, volume, etc. They have to come in on time, and make their character their own. Most chamber musicians don’t have to memorize their parts, but there was one professional string quartet that did memorize their music, the Flonzaley Quartet, who retired about 1920. I never heard them play, but my second father-in-law did, and he always spoke of them scornfully.

Nonetheless, I think my chamber music background prepared me for writing plays. Often imagine the actors to be musical instruments in a chamber work. I often call my works chamber theater.