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Every Part Coming At You: Karina Schmitz, Principal Second Violinist

“Second fiddle” gets a bad rap. Everyone knows who the second fiddles are: sidekicks, forever in the hero’s shadow.

Nothing could be further from the truth, according to Karina Schmitz, Tempesta di Mare’s new principal second violinist. Second violins aren’t the Jugheads of the orchestra, they’re the Ginger Rogerses. They do everything Fred Astaire does, only backwards and in heels.

“Second violin is actually more complicated and difficult than first violin,” says Schmitz about her new job. “The second violins have to be able to follow and lead at the same time.” The concertmaster and the first violins may lead the orchestra, she explains. They introduce the melody and get the ball rolling. But the ensemble clicks in when the seconds pick up the tune and throw it back.

A situation complicated by the amount of real estate separating the violin sections. Tempesta arranges its first and second violin sections at a considerable distance from each other. If the orchestra’s floor plan is in a half-donut shape, the first violins are at the end of one arm and the seconds at the end of the other, with everybody else in between.

There’s historical justification for Tempesta’s configuration. String sections were often split up, according to the few remaining diagrams of baroque orchestras,. But Tempesta doesn’t do it just for historical correctness.

“We do it because it emphasizes what’s wonderful in the music we play,” says Tempesta di Mare Artistic Co-Director Gwyn Roberts. “It emphasizes the interaction between the parts. If the two sections are alternating hitting the same note, but they're sitting next to each other, who can tell? You need them to be separated in order to get that sense of conversation.”

Schmitz agrees. It makes for a tough day at the office, though. “I have to say, I’m still trying to get used to playing across the orchestra,” she says. “The first few rehearsals for a concert can be very frustrating. The level of concentration that I use in this position is very high. Every time we rehearse, I feel I’m giving the entire 100%.”

But Schmitz is used to challenges. A violist as well as violinist—she used to play viola for Tempesta and continues to hold viola positions in other orchestras—Schmitz remembers the day she first played the instrument. She was twelve and a performer cancelled when family were preparing to play string quartets (they’re all musical). “They handed me a viola, showed me viola clef and ten minutes later, we were playing.” She was hooked right away, not just by the viola’s low sweet tone but also by its place in the middle of an ensemble. She likes being part of the glue that holds top and bottom together, a function that is a big part of her new job.

In fact, nearly all of Tempesta’s violinists also play viola, so they’re used to listening to the parts above and below them. Add to the equation that Tempesta periodically rotates violinists between the first and second sections, and one senses that life in the string section is a panoramic experience. Schmitz wouldn’t want it any other way. “If you settle into it at any point, if you let that autopilot take over for an instant, you’ve lost it.”

“It’s amazing to feel like you’re playing everyone else’s part while you’re playing your own,” says Karina Schmitz, second fiddle and loving it. “It’s an amazing feeling to have every part coming at you.”

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