I must confess that I am little hoarse this morning, and can only attribute that to some over-zealous singing at last night’s rehearsal.  It’s all down to Carlos.

As I reflected last week, we are now beginning to be more familiar with the words and notes of these Opera Choruses.  Carlos has realised this, and is encouraging us to take on the parts of the people we are playing in the scenes represented by each chorus.  So, although last night started in a very restrained manner as we sang Dido’s Lament, things hotted up more than a little when we sang through the Porgy and Bess Suite, with a need to get quite passionate towards the end.

But then the forces of Grand Opera were released in full.  Tchaikovsky’s Waltz Scene from Eugene Onegin has us dancing and prancing – oh yes, and also scheming.  We have to portray all this without the assistance of costumes and scenery, so it’s important that we really throw ourselves into the parts.  And of course, it’s glorious music to sing with lots of good tunes and luscious harmonies over a great accompaniment.

Not content with having us sing ourselves out over that, Carlos then embarked on the Anvil Chorus.  You cannot sing that half-heartedly.  It’s high and loud (although there are one or two quieter bits as Carlos reminded us), and if we were on stage we would have to contend with the crack of metal on metal as the blacksmiths pound their work into shape.  So if we had not sung ourselves out previously, here was the opportunity – and the need – to do so.

And of course there are a few more – the drinking song from La Traviata and the Habanera from Carmen will be pretty full on, and the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves from Nabucco is harder work than it seems.  Rehearsing these next week will challenge our stamina once more.  But there might be some respite in the Humming Chorus from Madame Butterfly and the Bell Chorus from Pagliacci.

Rehearsing these works has become huge fun.  Carlos works us hard, but it is well worthwhile.  The result are astonishing.  Let’s keep up the momentum by going over all the music between rehearsals, even if we only go through the words so that we do net get tongue-tied and we are can get into the right character.  If we carry on like this, it will be a great concert.