There are no words more likely to bring colour to the cheeks of the Second Violins than the phrase 'playing second fiddle', with its implication that their role is somehow inferior or subordinate to that of the Firsts. But there is no doubting that their parts are often (though not always) less demanding than those of the First Violins and certainly involve fewer excursions to the higher reaches of the fingerboard.
The pleasure for most Second Violins comes not from 'playing the tune' - a privilege which undeniably usually falls to the Firsts - but from supplying, in the company of the violas, cellos and basses, those vital harmonies which can transform even the most banal of musical themes into pieces of music with real light and shade. There is also the fascination of observing the different ways in which composers approach this task: the delicate counterpoint of Bach, the embroidery of Mendelssohn, the even-handedness of Dvorak (who, as an orchestral player himself, always went to great pains to share out the tunes), the hammered-out semi-quavers of Beethoven; and so on.
On the concert platform, the Second Violins are usually located alongside the Firsts, and this is the arrangement favoured by The Alderley Edge Orchestra in the interests of achieving a good ensemble. An alternative layout, whereby the Seconds are located to the right of the conductor as a mirror image of the Firsts, has its adherents although it is less common today than it used to be. In fact, such an arrangement can occasionally make better musical sense, especially in passages (for example, the famous opening bars of the finale of Tchaikovsky's Symphonie Pathétique) where a composer has clearly written antiphonal parts with such physical separation in mind and which lose much of their impact in the more conventional string layout.
Being accustomed to playing a supportive role in the orchestra, it is not surprising that the Second Violins of The Alderley Edge Orchestra are, without exception, very kind and supportive individuals. This statement is, of course, entirely unconnected with the fact that the writer of these notes is drawn from their ranks.
