When I study or do school work, I like to listen to my favourite classical (that's classical with a lower-case 'c', mind you) pieces, and I thought this might be an interesting idea for a fanfiction. Those of you who are familiar with Symphony Orchestras will know that this is not how a performance usually goes down, but in the interest of...making it interesting, it will be a bit different than usual.
This won't be a long fic either, probably just one other chapter - two at most - but it's fun to write and hopefully enjoyable to read.
Martha stared at herself in the mirror for several minutes.
What was a girl supposed to wear to a symphony? She turned to she could have a look at her backside. It did look rather good in these trousers, she mused, although she'd be sitting all evening, so not like it would make much of a difference…
With a sigh, she finally decided to keep the trousers. She was starting to run low on time anyway. John would be expecting her at the theatre any second. She threw on her maroon leather jacket over a frilly white top and untucked her hair. Quickly, she zipped up a pair of black booties with a small heel. And took off to meet John.
It was only a 15-minute tube ride, but Martha found herself anxiously checking her watch, nervous that he would be waiting impatiently for her. She tapped her foot on the ground, earning herself several annoyed looks from other passengers, which she decidedly ignored.
When her stop finally came, she practically flew out of the car and up the stairs to street level, feeling her heart beating excitedly in her chest. Her first date with John. She took a deep breath when she reached the top of the stairs, then walked casually to the theatre.
She caught a glimpse of him easily – well dressed in a tight, brown pin-stripped suit that practically had her drooling and a long brown trench coat. She noted with amusement that he was practically bouncing on the balls of his converse-clad feet. Trust John to wear converse with a suit.
"John!" She called when she was close enough, waving when he turned towards her voice. He grinned widely at her and quite positively skipped towards her in his excitement.
"Martha! Thank you so much for coming!" He said excitedly. "No one else was available tonight! Weeeeelllll, that's probably not true, they probably didn't want to be rude and just plain say no," he continued, tugging on his ear thoughtfully with the hand that was not tucked into his trouser pocket. Martha raised her eyebrows, amused. "Let's go in!" He said enthusiastically. He took his hand out of his pocket, and for a moment Martha's heart leaped in her chest when she thought he might take her hand, but he just straightened out his jacket and started to walk towards the door.
She felt a slight pang of disappointment, but shrugged it off and followed him in. When they were inside the beautiful concert hall, Martha went towards the ticket line, looking to make sure John was following her. To her surprise, he walked right past the line, two tickets already in hand. She jogged to catch up with him. "You didn't have to buy mine, John." She told him, though she was thrilled he had.
"Ooooooh, of course I did! I invited you!" John replied cheerfully, handing the two tickets to the usher, who ripped off the stubs and handed the tickets back with a smile, directing them to the correct aisle.
"Well in that case," Martha grinned as she followed him down the aisle, "did you get us good seats?"
"Best in the house!" John told her playfully, finding their row and walking to the middle before carefully removing his coat and plopping himself down gracelessly. They were rather close to the stage, where more chairs and music stands than Martha had thought there would be were carefully lined up. John pulled out a program from his pocket, opening it and reading it carefully, a wide grin on his face.
The concert hall filled up quickly, to Martha's surprise, which she expressed to John.
He gave her a puzzled look. "Martha, it's the London Symphony Orchestra. They sell out most of their shows! I thought you said you were a big fan?"
"I meant more of the genre," Martha covered quickly, ignoring John's raised eyebrows. In truth, she didn't know much about classical music at all, and knew next to nothing about the London Symphony Orchestra, but when John had invited her to a concert she'd immediately said yes, because she'd been flirting and waiting for him to ask her out for ages.
"You'll love this, then," John said. "Composer was brilliant – bit of an opium addict, but absolutely fantastic. That's what the symphony tonight is called, by the way. Symphonie Fantastique! Great name, that. 'Fantastic Symphony'." He continued to ramble, giving her a long and detailed history of the music as the hall continued to fill.
When they had been seated for about ten minutes, the musicians started to fill the stage, each finding their designated seat and carefully sitting, instruments in hand. Martha could identify most of them – the obvious ones, anyway, like the violins and the cellos, the clarinets, the trumpets, the flutes, the tiny flute that she knew had a different name but couldn't remember at the time being, the trombones, the tubas. She found herself surprised, however, that there seemed to be several instruments she didn't recognize. She felt inclined to ask John, maybe lean in and whisper the question into his ear, but felt her cheeks heat up as she realized that if she did so she would basically be telling him that she knew nothing about the genre after all.
She watched, brow furrowed, as a single instrument played a note, and then every single musician seemed to play the same note. She watched as many played for only a few seconds before pulling away, adjusting something on their respective instrument, then playing again. They were tuning their instruments, Martha realized, fascinated, as they all repeated it twice more. She found herself in awe of the musicians, that they could hear their own instrument amongst the noise and adjust it to match pitch perfectly.
She turned to John, to remark on how they were all quite well versed in tuning themselves, hoping to impress him with what little knowledge she had, but found he wasn't looking at her. He wasn't even looking at the entire orchestra, like she thought he might – she could imagine his wide eyes darting around the stage, taking every inch of it in.
But no, his eyes were fixed in one direction, and when she followed it, she found her eyes landed on a young girl.
She appeared to be in her early twenties, with wavy bleached-blonde hair, the front section of which was tied back into a pouf that accented a kind face and a wide mouth. She was seated on the edge of the stage, making her one of the most visible people on the stage. She had a violin in one hand and a bow in the other. Like the rest of the orchestra, she was dressed in black, though unlike most of the girls Martha could see, she was not wearing a skirt, but rather tight black pants and a fitted black shirt.
She looked at John, opening her mouth to ask if he knew her, but he seemed to think she was asking something else and opened the program, showing him a picture of the blonde, who had her violin to her cheek and seemed to be quite engrossed in whatever she was playing. Martha looked up at him in question to find him starting at her again, awe in his gaze.
"Rose Tyler," he said, sounding breathless. "One of the most talented musicians the London Symphony Orchestra has ever seen. She's also one of the youngest players in the whole orchestra – she's only twenty-two, Martha! Twenty-two years old and the lead violin in the London Symphony Orchestra. And incredibly humble! I was watching an interview on the telly a few days ago – doesn't take any credit. Really brilliant."
"Oh," Martha replied, dumbfounded. "I thought you might know her, the way you were looking at her."
"Know her? She's…" he trailed off slightly before continuing. "No, I don't know her. Wish I did, though! That'd be brilliant, if I did. Just brilliant." He seemed to continue to want to talk, but the lights dimmed, cueing the start of the show. Martha was actually rather relieved. She didn't want to spend the whole date talking about some blonde he wished he knew.
The entire orchestra stood at attention rather suddenly as an older gentlemen came out. He seemed to be in his fifties or sixties, with white hair, a receding hairline, and a rather serious expression. His pants were quite possibly the oddest part of his ensemble – a plaid yellowy-gold colour, only partially visible under a formal black tailcoat. Martha thought she caught a glimpse of a gold waistcoat, but he turned too quickly for her to notice. She did, however, notice the silky-looking ribbon that was tied around his neck in place of a conventional tie, or even a bowtie.
John inconspicuously pointed to a name on the program. Doctor William Hartnell. Doctor Hartnell took a sweeping bow before stepping onto a small podium with a large musical stand covered in books. Music, Martha assumed.
He lifted his hands, palms down, and the entire orchestra sat except for the violinist – Rose Tyler, who put her foot on the base of her stand and extended it so that it was much taller – more suitable for reading music while standing.
Martha noticed that John's hands were positively shaking with excitement as he pointed to the program again.
Violin Concerto in E Minor, Opus 64, J.L. Felix Mendolssohn
Solo Violin: Rose Tyler
Martha could admit (although slightly bitterly) that Rose Tyler was a very talented musician. She seemed to capture the eyes of everyone watching the concert, and Martha swore she saw a few mouths hanging open) as she soulfully played the piece, the bow of the violin seeming like an extension of her arm as it danced up and down, hitting the strings to create a perfect sound before quickly and expertly darting to the next note. Even Martha, who knew next to nothing about classical music, could feel the emotion of the piece, and she watched, slightly awed, as Rose Tyler's eyes shut for several minutes, feeling the piece rather than reading it.
She didn't like, however, that John was practically melting in his seat, his eyes never leaving the talented blonde for a second.
Towards the end of the piece, Rose's bow was moving faster than Martha thought was possible, the music going at a speed that seemed incredibly fast, but Rose Tyler didn't seem flustered. Instead, there was a small smile on her face as she continued to play moving along with the music in a way that seemed like she was almost keeping time with her movements. Martha could almost tell that the young musician was no longer aware that she had an audience – she was playing for herself, making quick head and body movements that Martha had only ever seen professional players do on TV – she hadn't realized that musicians actually moved so much when they played.
The peace finished with a flourish and a wide smile on Rose Tyler's part, and to Martha's embarrassment, John was one of the first people on his feet, giving her a standing ovation that was quickly followed by much of the crowd. Martha hesitantly got to her feet, clapping far less enthusiastically than her date.
As Rose Tyler shook hands with the conductor – a formality, Martha assumed - he leaned over to whisper something to her, which made the blonde smile widely and laugh before bowing her head and returning to her seat, fixing her stand as she did so.
"Was that the Fantastic Symphony?" Martha leaned over, getting rather close to John so he could hear her, but he still had to lean slightly to one side to be able to hear anything over the clapping.
To her surprise, he shook his head, still clapping. He leaned in close enough that she could feel the tickle of his gravity-defying hair brush against her before saying, "No, that was an opening concerto. A brilliant one, if you ask me. The symphony is next." When he leaned away (still clapping!) Martha noticed a perplexed look on his face, and felt a blush rise to her cheeks when she remembered that she'd told him she knew all about classical music.
It was several minutes before the audience finally took it's seat, and Martha breathed a sigh of relief when she finally plopped back into her padded chair. The orchestra took a few minutes to rearrange itself – members leaving the stage, coming onto the stage, switching seats.
Soon, everyone was back in place (though the conductor was gone, Martha noticed with confusion), and it seemed the second part of the concert was about to begin. She looked over at John, and realized that his eyes were still directed at Rose Tyler, a wide grin on his face. With a huff, she settled back into her seat.
Please review :)