Actors in the spoken theatre will normally arrive in the rehearsal room without having memorised their lines from the play. A first day read-through by the whole cast is followed over days and weeks by a gradual sorting out of entrances, exits, nuances of character interpretation and so on, up to the final rehearsals on stage before the first night. During this whole process the actor gradually learns the script, alongside the interpretative elements of the particular production.
In opera, the singer’s schedule is more complicated, because accurate learning of notes and words takes a lot more time. So, before formal rehearsals begin at the opera house, the singer will spend months learning and practising alone, or with a répétiteur, coach and/or singing teacher. As well as the pursuit of accuracy, this stage involves deciding on and practising important musical elements such as phrasing. It also includes making some decisions about characterisation.
Formal work for the full cast at the opera house conventionally starts with purely musical rehearsals, led by the conductor or a senior répétiteur. Here basic ground rules about tempi will be set, and ensembles rehearsed in some detail.
The musical preparation period over, floor rehearsals begin. These are led by the director, with the conductor and répétiteurs present to provide musical accompaniment, and to ensure that musical and dramatic interpretations are mutually consistent. This period in the rehearsal room, lasting up to six weeks (though sometimes considerably less), is the equivalent of rehearsals in the spoken theatre, when all the acted elements of performance are sorted out and practised.
Finally, a variable number of rehearsals takes place on the stage itself, depending on the complexities of the piece and the production. The first are with piano accompaniment. During these, technical and stage management issues are sorted out - trying out furniture, checking sight-lines, getting the chorus on and off stage smoothly. Then a Sitzprobe provides the conductor with his last real opportunity to reassert some purely musical values on the production. A series of orchestral stage rehearsals follows, in which all the elements of lighting, settings and costume are brought together and fine-tuned. Meanwhile the singers get used to singing and moving to the orchestral sound, and questions of sound balance are resolved.
Finally the General Rehearsal, when nobody should stop, whatever goes wrong. This often forms the directorΓÇÖs only opportunity to confirm how the whole show works together before the audience sees and hears it on the first night.
