Life in the Pit

As an oboist, I sit far away from the edge of the stage, so I’m not in the line of fire of falling objects. I also have plenty of room to play. Depending on the size of the orchestra, I know that string players often have to shift around to give themselves enough room to see the conductor and/or their section leader and still have room to bow. We do have sound deflectors in the pit to preserve hearing, for anyone who requests one. (The loudest noises from the pit that I can recall have come from the percussion section: the anvils in Das Rheingold can be excruciating, but the midnight chimes of the clock in Cinderella were by far the most painful sounds I’ve had to endure!)

The contract with Pittsburgh Opera states that the musicians must not be required to be in the pit for more than 90 minutes without a break, but some operas run over that time limit. A few seasons ago, Pittsburgh Opera staged The Flying Dutchman without intermission, ostensibly as Wagner envisioned it. That was the longest we have been required to be in the pit without break. Since it was a contract issue, the orchestra had to give PO permission to do so. We agreed, but made sure that anyone who had a health issue that required they leave the pit before the end of the opera (such as diabetics who needed to adjust blood sugar, pregnant women who became unbearably comfortable, anyone else with health concerns) was able to do so without penalty. As it turned out, nobody had to leave the pit early. But it can become a problem, and management should not presume that musicians can do anything they ask to “serve the artistic vision of the performance.”