''Everest'' is a one-act

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

Joby Talbot Joby Talbot (born 25 August 1971) is a British composer. He has written for a wide variety of purposes, with a broad range of styles, including instrumental and vocal concert music, film and television scores, pop arrangements and works for dan ...

to an English-language

libretto A libretto (From the Italian word , ) is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to th ...

Gene Scheer Gene Scheer (born April 28, 1958) is an American songwriter, librettist and lyricist. He is the brother of Samuel Scheer, who is an English teacher at Windsor High School and a part-time musician. Education and early career Scheer was born in New ...

. It was composed in 2014 and premiered on January 30, 2015, at the

Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House The Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House is an opera house (one of four venues in the AT&T Performing Arts Center) located in the Arts District, Dallas, Arts District of Downtown Dallas, downtown Dallas, Texas (United States, USA). Designed as a ...

Dallas Opera The Dallas Opera is an American opera company located in Dallas, Texas. The company performs at the Margot and Bill Winspear Opera House, one venue of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. History The company was founded in 1957 as the Dallas Civic ...

. The content deals with a real event, the

1996 Mount Everest disaster The 1996 Mount Everest disaster occurred on 10–11 May 1996 when eight climbers caught in a blizzard died on Mount Everest while attempting to descend from the summit. Over the entire season, 12 people died trying to reach the summit, making i ...

, in which several mountaineers died after a severe storm hit during their summit bids. It is based on interviews with survivors and shows in two strands the deaths of

Rob Hall Robert Edwin Hall (14 January 1961 – 11 May 1996) was a New Zealand mountaineer. He was the head guide of a 1996 Mount Everest expedition during which he, a fellow guide, and two clients died. A best-selling account of the expedition was ...

and Doug Hansen and the emotional world of

Beck Weathers Seaborn Beck Weathers (born December 16, 1946) is an American pathologist from Texas who survived the 1996 Mount Everest disaster. His story was covered in Jon Krakauer's book ''Into Thin Air'' (1997), its film adaptation '' Into Thin Air: Death ...

History

''Everest'' was commissioned by

in 2014. At the world premiere on January 30, 2015 in Dallas

Sasha Cooke Sasha Cooke (born ) is an American mezzo-soprano. Cooke was born in Riverside, California, and grew up in College Station, Texas, where her parents are professors of Russian at Texas A&M University. She earned a bachelor's degree from Rice Univers ...

(Jan Arnold), Julia Rose Arduino (Meg Weathers), Andrew Bidlack (Rob Hall), Craig Verm ( Doug Hansen),

Kevin Burdette Kevin Burdette is an American bass who has worked as a soloist with the Teatro alla Scala, Metropolitan Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Santa Fe Opera, Seattle Opera, Teatro Colón, Dallas Opera, San Diego Opera, Washington National Opera, New Yor ...

(Beck Weathers), John Boehr (Guy Cotter) and Mark McCrory (Mike Groom) sang. The musical direction was by Nicole Paiement. The production was directed by

Leonard Foglia Leonard Foglia (born August 24, 1954) is an American theatre director, librettist, and novelist. Foglia made his Broadway debut as the assistant director of '' The Heidi Chronicles'' in 1989. He also directed revivals of '' Wait Until Dark'' ...

,Heidi Waleson, Marc Staudacher (Übersetzung): "Fragmente der Verzweiflung", review of the premiere in Dallas, 2015, in: ''

Opernwelt ''Opernwelt'' (''Opera World'') is a monthly German magazine for opera, operetta and ballet. It includes news about current performances, portraits of composers and performers, articles about opera houses, performance spaces, and contemporary and ...

'', March 2015, p. 44. the set design by Robert Brill (

Betty Award Betty Mitchell Awards were created in 1998 to celebrate and honour outstanding achievement in Calgary's professional theatre community. It is commonly called the Betty Award and is named for Calgary theatre pioneer Dr. Betty Mitchell. Awards The ...

), costume design by David C. Woolard and projection design by Elaine J. McCarthy (

) On May 5, 2017, on the occasion of the

Opera America __NOTOC__ Opera America (stylized as OPERA America) is a New York–based service organization promoting the creation, presentation, and enjoyment of opera in the United States. Almost all professional opera company, opera companies and some semi-pr ...

Conference 2017, there was a concert performance at the Winspear Opera House under the direction of

Emmanuel Villaume Emmanuel Villaume (born 1964 in Strasbourg, France) is a French orchestra conductor. He is currently music director of the Dallas Opera and chief conductor of the Prague Philharmonia. Biography Villaume began his musical education at the Strasb ...

. In November 2017, the original staging of the opera was performed by the

Lyric Opera of Kansas City Lyric Opera of Kansas City is an American opera company located in Kansas City, Missouri. Founded in 1958 by conductor Russell Patterson, the company presents an annual season of four operas at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Prod ...

at the

Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts The Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts is in Downtown Kansas City, downtown Kansas City, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri, USA, at 16th and Broadway, near the city's Power & Light District, the T-Mobile Center and the Crossroads, Kansas Cit ...

and again in 2019 at

Calgary Opera Calgary Opera is a Canadian opera company based in Calgary, Alberta. The company has its administrative base at the Mamdani Opera Centre, a facility in the Wesley United Church, since July 2005. The company gives its seasonal mainstage productio ...

. The European premiere took place on May 5, 2018 at the

Theater Hagen Hagen Theatre (German: ) is a performance venue in Hagen Hagen () is a city in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, on the southeastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the ri ...

in a production by

Johannes Erath Johannes Erath (born 1975) is a German opera director. Career Erath was born in 1975 in Rottweil. First he studied violin with Rainer Küchl at der University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna and with Hansheinz Schneeberger in Freiburg. He ...

conducted by Joseph Trafton. Stage and costumes came from Kaspar Glarner. The leading roles were sung by Veronika Haller (Jan Arnold), Musa Nkuna (Rob Hall), Kenneth Maltice (Doug Hansen), Morgan Moody (Beck Weathers), and Elizabeth Pilon (Meg Weathers).

: ''Everest'', program booklet Nr. 10, 2017/2018 season. For this production, director Corinna Jarosch attempted "to make the hallucinations of the mountaineers visible" rather than depict the mountain world realistically.Yvonne Hinz
"Oper ''Everest'' lässt Hagener Theaterbesucher frösteln"
announcement of the 2018 Hagen production, in: ''Westfalenpost'', April 28, 2018, accessed July 7, 2018. The plot was moved to a mountain

sanatorium A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, is a historic name for a specialised hospital for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments, and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often in a health ...

in reference to

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

's novel ''

The Magic Mountain ''The Magic Mountain'' (, ) is a novel by Thomas Mann. It was first published in Germany in November 1924. Since then, it has gone through numerous editions and been translated into many languages. It is widely considered a seminal work of 20t ...

'',Uwe Schweikert: "Kampf gegen den Absturz", review of the 2018 Hagen staging, in: ''

'', July 2018, p. 71. published three months after the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition by

George Mallory George Herbert Leigh-Mallory (18 June 1886 – 8 or 9 June 1924) was an English Mountaineering, mountaineer who participated in the first three British Mount Everest expeditions from the early to mid-1920s. He and climbing partner An ...

and Andrew Irvine. In 2021 the ''Opera Parallèle'' presented Everest in a graphic novel form using studio recordings of the singers and a motion capture process to capture the motions of the singers. The film was released digitally through the Dallas Opera. In 2023, ''Opera Parallèle'' used the digital recordings for an in person show, Everest, An Immersive Experience. In 2024, the background animations were modified to be projected onto a dome and presented at the

California Academy of Sciences The California Academy of Sciences is a research institute and natural history museum in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, that is among the largest List of natural history museums, museums of natural history in the world, housing over ...

planetarium. The planetarium version won a 2025 Dome Fest West award for Best Musical Feature Film.

Plot

May 10, 1996: On the

Hillary Step The Hillary Step was a 40-foot vertical rock face that sat above sea level on the southeast ridge of Mount Everest. Located halfway between the "South Summit (Mount Everest), South Summit" and the true summit, the Hillary Step was the most te ...

of Mt. Everest, pathologist

lies unconscious in a

snowdrift A snowdrift is a deposit of snow sculpted by wind into a mound during a snowstorm. Snowdrifts resemble sand dunes and are formed in a similar manner, namely, by wind moving light snow and depositing it when the wind has virtually stopped, usu ...

as mountaineer

leads his group to the

summit A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous. The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...

. While they enjoy the view, Weathers hallucinates being at a barbecue with his daughter Meg. Hall helps one of the group members, Doug Hansen, to reach the top as the rest of the group heads back down. As Hall takes Hansen's picture, the action flashes back to show Hall's wife Jan awaiting his return in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. Jan has climbed Everest once before, but her

pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...

prevented her from making this trip. When the flashback ends, Hansen begins to have trouble breathing. Hall tries to reach the

base camp Mountaineering, mountain climbing, or alpinism is a set of outdoor activities that involves ascending mountains. Mountaineering-related activities include traditional outdoor climbing, skiing, and traversing via ferratas that have become sp ...

by radio to get help and oxygen. The scene shifts back to Weathers' hallucination of his daughter Meg playing jumprope. Not recognizing his daughter, Weathers takes the jumprope from Meg and straps himself to the rope. Back to consciousness, he realizes that the rest of the group has not returned. It begins to snow and the sunset is approaching. Mike Groom, another expedition member, finds Weathers and urges him to descend just as a storm breaks out. Meanwhile, Jan realizes her husband may be in trouble and she makes contact with the base camp. Mountain guide Guy Cotter, reporting from the camp, urges Hall to leave Hansen behind and save himself. The members of the expedition discover the confused Weathers. While Jan waits for the next call, Hall tries to bring Hansen to safety. He is too late and Hansen joins the chorus, which represents those who have died climbing Mt. Everest. Hall reports Hansen's death to the base camp via radio and asks for Cotter's help in establishing telephone contact with Jan. At 2:00 AM on May 11, the other members of the expedition begin to leave one by one. Hall contacts his wife. They agree on the name "Sarah" for their unborn child and assure themselves of their love just before Hall dies, joining Hansen in the chorus. Weathers, still hallucinating, hears his daughter calling for him in the distance and finally reaches the base camp.

Structure

The authors stated they did not wish the opera to be a standard "heroic epic." Thus, the plot is composed of individual report fragments and flashbacks, rather than being told in a linear fashion, and the characters' motivations are deliberately left unclear.Rudolf Hermes
"Muß man gesehen haben..."
review of the 2018 staging in Hagen 2018, in: ''Der Opernfreund'', May 6, 2018, accessed July 6, 2018. The music sounds contemporary modern, but is nevertheless based on traditional harmonics and emotionally shaped. In the vocal parts, Talbot refers to traditional forms by means of indications such as "aria" or "quartet." The orchestral sound fabric ties in with

minimal music Minimal music (also called minimalism)"Minimalism in music has been defined as an aesthetic, a style, and a technique, each of which has been a suitable description of the term at certain points in the development of minimal music. However, two ...

that is akin to that of

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

.Fred Cohn
"''Everest'' & ''La Wally''"
, review of the premiere in Dallas 2015, in: ''

Opera News ''Opera News'' was an American classical music magazine. It was published from 1936 to 2023 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild—a non-profit organization, located at Lincoln Center, that was founded to promote opera and support the Metropolitan ...

'', January 30, 2015, accessed July 6, 2018. At the same time, there are references to

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini#Operas, his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he ...

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; born Louis Bernstein; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was th ...

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

. There is a focus on rhythm and the spectrum of timbres, with numerous sound effects such as the crackling radio or the howling of the wind.Francis Hüsers: "Ein Berg als Metapher – Everest in Hagen", in:

: ''Everest'', program booklet Nr. 10, 2017/2018 season, pp. 11–13.Andreas Falentin
"Magic Mountain"
, review of the 2018 staging in Hagen, in: ''

Die Deutsche Bühne ''Die Deutsche Bühne'' is the oldest German theatre magazine and reports on the fields of acting, music theatre and dance. It first appeared under this title in 1909. The publisher is the Deutscher Bühnenverein. The editorial team consists of ...

'' May 7, 2018, accessed July 6, 2018. The mountain itself has its own voice, produced by the low wind instruments and percussion, and inspired by the slow cracking movements of glacial masses over rocky ground.Corinna Jarosch: "Joby Talbot: Mit Musik Geschichten erzählen", in:

: ''Everest'', program booklet Nr. 10, 2017/2018 season, pp. 9–10. Elements of dance music were particularly considered in the 2018 Hagen production.

Instrumentation

The instrumentation consists of:Production information
at Music Sales Classical, accessed July 6, 2018. *

woodwinds Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and re ...

: three

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

s (2. also

piccolo The piccolo ( ; ) is a smaller version of the western concert flute and a member of the woodwind family of musical instruments. Sometimes referred to as a "baby flute" or piccolo flute, the modern piccolo has the same type of fingerings as the ...

, 3. also piccolo and alto flute); three

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

s (3. also

English horn The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn (mainly North America), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially ...

); three B-

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

s (1. also

A clarinet The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches. The clarinet family is the largest woodwin ...

, 2. also

E-flat clarinet The E-flat (E) clarinet is a member of the clarinet family, smaller than the more common B clarinet and pitched a perfect fourth higher. It is typically considered the sopranino or piccolo member of the clarinet family and is a transposing inst ...

and

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common Soprano clarinet, soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays no ...

, 3. also bass clarinet and double bass clarinet); two

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

s (2. also

contrabassoon The contrabassoon, also known as the double bassoon, is a larger version of the bassoon, sounding an octave lower. Its technique is similar to its smaller cousin, with a few notable differences. Differences from the bassoon The Reed (mouthpie ...

) *

brass section The brass section of the orchestra, concert band, and jazz ensemble consist of brass instruments, and is one of the main sections in all three ensembles. The British brass band, British-style brass band contains only brass and percussion instrume ...

: four

horns Horns or The Horns may refer to: * Plural of Horn (anatomy) * Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells * The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain * Horns (novel), ''Horns'' (novel), a dar ...

in F, three

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s in C, two

tenor trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the air column inside the instrument to ...

bass trombone The bass trombone (, ) is the bass instrument in the trombone family of brass instruments. Modern instruments are pitched in the same B♭ as the tenor trombone but with a larger bore, bell and mouthpiece to facilitate low register playing, and u ...

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

(also

big drum Big Drum is a genre, a musical instrument, and traditional African religion from the Windward Islands. It is a kind of Caribbean music, associated mostly closely with the music of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Music of Guadeloupe, Carriacou in ...

, big hanging

cymbal A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

China cymbal China type cymbals from three continents In western music, a China cymbal (or Chinese cymbal) is a distinct type of cymbal designed to produce a bright, crisp, and explosive tone that has brought it the nickname ''trash cymbal''. The name "China ...

, tuned

gong A gongFrom Indonesian language, Indonesian and ; ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ; ; ; ; is a percussion instrument originating from Southeast Asia, and used widely in Southeast Asian and East Asian musical traditions. Gongs are made of metal and ...

in F sharp) *

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

(four players): **

vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

aluphone The Aluphone is a tuned percussion instrument consisting of aluminum bells that are struck with a mallet to produce musical tones. In its standard configuration, the bells of the Aluphone are mounted on a frame, but it can also be played as a sin ...

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

tubular bells Tubular bells (also known as chimes) are musical instruments in the Percussion instrument, percussion family. Their sound resembles that of church bells, carillons, or a bell tower; the original tubular bells were made to duplicate the soun ...

crotales Crotales (, ), sometimes called antique cymbals, are percussion instruments consisting of small, tuned bronze or brass disks. Each is about in diameter with a flat top surface and a nipple on the base. They are commonly played by being struck ...

** tuned gongs (one octave Turandot gongs and low B and C sharp) ** China basin ** Sizzle basin ** Ride basin ** two hanging basins (large and small) ** thunderpanel **

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

(preferably piccolo snare) **

temple block Temple blocks are a type of percussion instrument consisting of a set of woodblocks. It is descended from the muyu or wooden bell, an instrument originating from eastern Asia, where it is commonly used in religious ceremonies. Description It ...

s (high, medium, low) **

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

** pu`ʻli (split bamboo sticks) ** little

triangle A triangle is a polygon with three corners and three sides, one of the basic shapes in geometry. The corners, also called ''vertices'', are zero-dimensional points while the sides connecting them, also called ''edges'', are one-dimension ...

** egg shaker (for the effect of a ticking wristwatch) ** deep wood block ** wood birds ** rattle ** finger cymbal **

flexatone The flexatone or fleximetal is a modern percussion instrument (an indirectly struck idiophone) consisting of a small flexible metal sheet suspended in a wire frame ending in a handle. Used in classic cartoons for its glissando effect, its so ...

** two large drums (1 with snare effect by double bass strings glued to the underside) ** two

tamtam The tamtam, sometimes spelled tam-tam, is a type of Gong#Chau gong (tam-tam), gong. TamTam, Tam-Tam, tamtam, or tam-tam may also refer to: * Tam-Tam (album), ''Tam-Tam'' (album), a 1983 album by Amanda Lear * Tam Tam (Samurai Shodown), Tam Tam (' ...

s (large and small) **

wind machine The wind machine (also called an aeoliphone or aelophon) is a friction idiophone used to produce the sound of wind for orchestral compositions and musical theater productions. Construction The wind machine is constructed of a large cylin ...

* sound effects ( samples),

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

celesta The celesta () or celeste (), also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music ...

(also

MIDI keyboard A MIDI keyboard or controller keyboard is typically a piano-style electronic musical keyboard, often with other buttons, wheels and sliders, used as a MIDI controller for sending Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) commands over a USB ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

: twelve first

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

s, ten second violins, eight

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

s, eight

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

s, six

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

References

External links

Score
on

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