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Leonard Bernstein said, “If there is no one to play second fiddle, there is no harmony,” and it is reliably thought he did not refer to the brand of hairspray of that name. But, in this instance, may his words have been misconstrued?
However, it is true that if an orchestra is to have a long and successful life, the leader of the second violins needs to be a player of the utmost capability; though often it is considered the player sent to lead the second violins is sacrificed on the conductor’s altar, much like a virgin would be walled up by mediaeval builders, or the Romans sacrificed a bull and drank its blood; for the greater good. Should it therefore have come as a surprise that the second fiddle player, leader of the second violins, in the celebrated St Winifrede’s Convent Orche
