Doug Rosenthal's trip to Appomattox Court House

The end of the Civil War. An end to terrible things. Everything back to normal, like the concluding moments of a sitcom episode.

Admittedly, this is how I imagined the Surrender at Appomattox Court House ever since grade school. Not only because of how textbooks present it, but also because the hero of the day, Ulysses S. Grant, is in my family tree. He and my grandfather’s great-great grandfather were first cousins, removed seven generations. (They probably never even met.) So when I made my pilgrimage last month to the place where Uncle Ulysses saved the Union, I arrived proud and eager to celebrate. 

Doug at Appomattox Court House

My first stop was to the Visitor Information Center, where I watched a brief film outlining the events leading to the eventual surrender of the Confederacy. “With malice toward none”, an expression from Abraham Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, was very much taken to heart by Grant and General Robert E. Lee, who did everything they could that fateful day to try and begin to mend a broken nation. 

And then my perspective of the surrender became less cut-and-dry.

Immediately following the film, I attended an outdoor presentation of a gentlemen dressed as Dr. William Christian, Appomattox County's doctor at the time of the Civil War. This was a Living History interpretation, so as far as he was concerned, it was October of 1865, months after the Civil War ended. He looked like a real 19th-Century Virginian—long beard, distinct drawl, and eyes that might as well have been tattooed with “Don’t Tread on Me”. The audience of this presentation was comprised of thirty 9th-graders and a handful of adult tourists, including me. Doc Christian asked us why we had come to Appomattox Court House. I wanted to give the children a chance to answer, but it was clear that no one was going to speak up. So, I raised my enthusiastic, liberal hand and asked, “I’m from the North, and respectfully, I’d like to know why you decided to stand with the Confederacy.”

He said that at first, he and his fellow Virginians didn’t want to get involved in the tensions between President Lincoln and South Carolina, the first state to secede. And yet, Virginian soldiers were among the first to be sent to fight on behalf of the Union—and many did not come home. They did not want to continue waging war against their fellow Southerners, and so they left the Union.

“So it wasn’t an issue of slavery?”

He paused and stared me down. He reminded me that Appomattox Court House was built on the backs of slaves, and that their economic success depended on their labor. And, at this point in 1865, where were slaves supposed to go? They had a place to live here, and if they were to be freed, they would likely suffer anywhere else. 

I had always known this was a talking point for the Confederacy. But hearing it from an actual person’s mouth—even if those lips were in character—was chilling and disturbing. He could tell that I wasn’t pleased with his answer. When he asked how I get my food in the North, I answered with pro-labor mindfulness that I get it from people who earn a fair wage with decent working conditions. He responded that he'd heard about how Northerners treat minorities. Irish, Jews…and yes, even African Americans. And it’s true. Racism pervaded all around the continent.

Though I was still appalled that someone would give such a rationale for slavery, I decided to be quiet and let Doc Christian continue the presentation. He told us about how Appomattox Court House was left in complete shambles after the surrender. The town was ransacked. Tensions prevailed between Virginians and Union soldiers who were assigned to stay put. And although African Americans were free on paper, it surely wasn’t the case for many in real life.

After this presentation, I explored the grounds and some of the trails nearby. I visited the McLean House, in which Grant and Lee drew up the terms of surrender. I still felt some family pride there, but my newfound perspective held back some of my original enthusiasm.  Indeed, the surrender was not the feel-good resolution that I had romanticized. It brought change to our nation’s framework, no doubt. But the struggles of racism, xenophobia, sexism, North vs. South, Urban vs. Rural…these are just as real in 2015 as they were in 1865. They did not magically disappear.

The McLean House where the terms of surrender were agreed upon

Although the events at Appomattox Court House account for just a portion of the first act in “Appomattox”, I still feel that my visit enhanced my understanding of the opera. As performers, it’s important to know: What are we conveying? Joy? Grief? Hope? Fear? The answer for this opera is, all of the above and more. Indeed, our audiences experienced such a mixed bag of events that demonstrate our country’s truly brackish history. And it was thrilling to portray them from the orchestral pit.

Meet Nate West, our new Bassist!

KCOHO: How long have you been playing the bass, and where did you go to school?

NW: I've been playing the bass since I was 9 in my public school orchestra program in Columbus, Ohio. After graduating high school, I did my undergrad at the Curtis Institute of Music.

KCOHO: Do you play/prepare differently for an opera than playing a symphonic work?

NW: Opera playing is totally different for me than symphonic playing. My approach to the instrument doesn't really change, but the level of focus in rehearsals and performances has to be consistently higher, because the music is often much more flexible, and often idiomatic, than symphonic music. In terms of preparation, I've found it there to be a huge premium on really knowing the music going into an opera rehearsal. Like I mentioned earlier, every opera has its own idiosyncrasies that you just have to know going in, and that can only be learned from listening and preparing ahead of time. If you come in not really knowing he music and the score, you'll be playing an un-winnable game of catch-up throughout the rehearsal process.

KCOHO: How has your first opera run of Carmen been?

NW: I very much enjoyed the run of Carmen. It's an adjustment playing one show for a full month, but at the end of the day, it's really fun music with great musicians. That's hard to beat.

KCOHO: What do you like to do when you aren't playing the bass?

NW: I'd say the biggest thing in my life outside of music is probably my love of any and all sports. I follow just about every professional sport there is and try to play some (mostly basketball) with friends whenever I can, too. Right now I'm pretty invested in the heart of football season, but as a lifelong Cubs fan, the baseball playoffs are taking up a fair portion of my free time just about every single night.

KCOHO: Are you from a musical family?

NW: I would say no, although my only sibling (older sister) is also a musician; she's an opera singer, actually! We're the only ones in the entire family that are professional musicians, though, so it's not like it was something expected to be a big part of our lives from a young age--I started playing bass in fourth grade when my school's orchestra program was available, like so many other kids out there.

KCOHO: What made you choose the bass?

NW: I think it was for a couple reasons, actually. As a young kid I really loved jazz music, and the bass is obviously the most jazz-involved of the stringed instruments available to kids at the 4th grade level in my school. My sister also played violin at the time, and I was also definitely trying to be as different as I could from her, so there was never any question it was going to be the bass for me.

KCOHO: You’re our youngest orchestra member! How old are you, and how many auditions have you taken before? 

NW: I'm 24, and I feel like I've actually taken quite a few, relatively speaking. I think the audition for this orchestra was my 9th, but a couple of those were ones I took when I was very young just to have the experience of doing one. That ended up being beneficial for me, I think--I am still young, but it's taken me several auditions to be able to feel comfortable at all in an audition situation, regardless of age.

KCOHO: Having recently graduated from school, what are the differences you notice about playing in a professional orchestra vs. playing in an orchestra with students and/or younger players?

NW: To me, the biggest difference is the rehearsal process. It's condensed in terms of time, of course, but it moves so much quicker and what's asked for by the conductor is expected to be applied right away. This is something that I think actually can become frustrating while maturing as a student and orchestral player; while one's own preparation level and/or experience level may increase, the level of the orchestra at any school won't necessarily do the same because of all the turnover of students. In the professional experiences I've had since graduating, rehearsals tend to be far more engaging and demanding because so much more is expected right from the start.

KCOHO: Over the summer, do you travel to different summer festivals? Where have your musical experiences taken you?

NW: Yes, I consider myself incredibly fortunate that music has allowed me to travel exponentially more than I otherwise would. I did the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado for a couple years around the time that I was entering college, I've spent two summers at music festivals in the Northeast (Tanglewood in the Berkshires and the Marlboro Music Festival in Vermont), and I spent three summers at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. All great places to spend a summer! I was also fortunate enough to be able to travel to Chile last January to teach at a summer festival there, which was a great way to escape a couple harsh weeks of winter, and joined the Philadelphia Orchestra for their summer European tour this past year. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunities to travel that I've had, but it's actually not uncommon for musicians; it's a real hidden perk of what we do.

KCOHO: What is it like traveling with a bass? Do you have any funny stories?

NW: Unfortunately, traveling with a bass is no simple task and the horror stories tend to outnumber the funny ones, but it's nothing if not an adventure every single time. There are times when I have to purchase a seat for it when I can't put it in a flight case and check it, and that always gets interesting...you can imagine people's reactions to an instrument that big in a space as tight as an airplane cabin! Because different airlines have different size seats, too, sometimes it takes up a  solid seat and a half--which leaves me with half a seat for an entire flight. This was the case on one memorable (unfortunately...) 8 hour journey back from Chile. Just about the only thing you reliably count on when traveling with a bass is that you'll be asked "don't you wish you played the piccolo?" At least 20 times at every airport!

KCOHO: What are you most looking forward to this season?

NW: Hard to say what exactly I'm looking forward to most--my gut wants to say it's doing the Ring cycle, but that may just be what I'm most anxious about! I'm also very much looking forward to all the ballet weeks--I've only worked with dancers a very small amount before but I've enjoyed it as a very different type of collaboration, so I'm excited to have the opportunity to do plenty of that.