Valerie & others, we were hired by the Nuremberg Philharmonic to enforce the orchestra there for Mahler no.2. My 2nd horn from Munich had to leave from the stage for this famous back stage music. On his way back, he slide on the stage when starting to pass the trombone players, fell, but over the "bones", which became converted to "bowed & stuck slides".
Another time we played "Rhinegold", the tuben quartet, which has a lot of breaks there. We had our chairs below the protruding stage. It was unbearable hot there. So we used any opportunity to leave the pit, very carefully avoiding making any noise. The tuben got a special metal stand where they hung in piece. But entering the pit, - I entered first - the other followed me & the same "Mahler-Maleur-guy" touched one of the tuben-stands (was 4rth) with his right foot and all tuben stands collapsed in a row. These things use to happen during very piano passages ONLY. Rhinegold in Venice February 1968. (NHR). The actor for Fafner had to stretch his hand between two curtains in the side to receive the "ring of power" from a stage assistant (so the production), after he had slain his brother Fasolt (so the story). The actor did as planned, but when stretching his hand out to the hidden props man, it was not the props man waiting, but another stage helper, who thought the singer would like to shake hands with him. So he said to the singer: "Buona sera, maestro !". We all could hear that in the pitch. Our former 3rd horn, once an excellent principal, my compatriot, used to entertain himself together with other section members in a nearby Wienerwald beer house after these Wagner operas. We all returned to our opera parking after 01:00 AM (drunk driving rules were not enforced some 35 years ago). We had to empty ...... peeing in the corner of the parking. We said good-bye each other, but our 3rd had forgotten, that he had placed his horn just behind his care, when he went off for the pee .... He begun driving with back gear .. you can imagine the rest of the story, which has not arrived at the end. The horn belonged to the opera, but was over 12 years old & he entitled to ask for a new instrument. It arrived few weeks later, but we celebrated the new instrument after the next Wagner Ring opera. What happen after the celebration ? Exactly the same story as after the other Wagner. Dont imitate that story ....... Today, nobody of the horn section goes for a drink after the performance. The drunk driving rules are very strict now, and it could cost you your job, if you have an accident due to drunk driving, as governmental employed have to be "samples of good behavior" - please forget all the scandal stories, bribes & corruption & other delicacies. Am 08.03.2010 um 20:03 schrieb valerie wells: > Well okay ;o) . . . maybe it wasn't a miracle, but it certainly was > surprizing. > > I never told the follow up of that "terrible incident" where my > section mate fell on her horn after tripping over an acoustic shell > support support bar back stage following the Christmas concert. > > Turns out, the damage was minor; only cost $100 to repair. Except for > a cute little patch on the bell throat, you can't tell anything ever > happened to that horn. That was amazing to all of us who saw the > instrument right after the accident because the bell looked like a > tortilla folded over twice. Her horn now plays exactly as it used to. > > :o) Don't you love a short story with a happy ending? :o) > > Valerie Wells > http://www.beforhorn.blogspot.com/ > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/hpizka%40me.com _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
