Seeing Cinderella at the ballet tomorrow
I’m so excited - I’m going to see the Boston Ballet do Prokofiev’s Cinderella tomorrow afternoon! It’s only the third time I’ll have been to see a live ballet. My first time was in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1993 (I was a high school junior at the time). We saw Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty. The second time was just last year - Meghan and I saw the Boston Ballet do the Nutcracker. I think it’ll be great to see one of Prokofiev’s ballets performed. I’d also love to see some Stravinsky sometime, too. After all, it was more the choreography of the Rite of Spring that caused the riot than it was the music, so I guess you’re not getting the full effect just listening to the music!
October 27th, 2005 at 7:56 am
Is it true that a symphony tunes to the oboe, and if so, what happens if the oboe is not in tune?
October 27th, 2005 at 8:45 am
What a great webpage:) I’ll add this to my regular visits now!
I’m excited to see what you think about Cinderella. I am dying to see Romeo and Juliet performed live as I think that Prokofiev’s version of one of my favorite stories is incredible. Draws from some of the deepest of emotions on all levels but that’s Prokofiev’s music in general!
Nice to meet you Jennifer and I look forward to future readings!
October 27th, 2005 at 10:17 am
Hi Mike - yes, the orchestra tunes to the oboe. Typically, the oboist will have an electronic tuner they set on the stand in front of them, so they can make sure to get the “A” exactly on pitch. However, if they were out-of-tune, it wouldn’t be a big deal, so long as the whole orchestra is in tune with each other (in fact, some orchestras tune slightly higher and some slightly lower to acheive slightly different colors). Though it could pose a problem if there are any instruments participating that take a long time to tune (such as piano, harp, or organ), because they would have tuned ahead of time to a particular pitch.
Hi Adam - thanks for visiting! I’ll try to post about my impressions of Cinderella soon - I’ve just been too busy so far to find time. I also just saw a BSO concert of Sibelius and Shostakovich and I want to write about that, too.