Violinists from Bonn’s Beethoven Orchestra have decided not to go ahead with their groundbreaking legal action in which they were suing for higher wages because they felt they played more than their colleagues in the woodwind and brass sections.
Some 16 first and second violinists from the 106-strong orchestra agreed to drop their lawsuit, originally scheduled to have been heard by a labour court in Bonn on Thursday, and try and negotiate a compromise with the city authorities instead, Bonn’s mayor Baerbel Dieckmann announced late on Wednesday.
”We’ll use the next few weeks to reach an acceptable solution,” Dieckmann said.
The string players’ unusual legal action made big waves in the German classical music scene last month and was believed to have soured the atmosphere within the Bonn orchestra, one of the highest paid in the country.
The violinists were denounced for attacking an unalterable fact of life in classical music — that string players are traditionally required to play a great deal more than wind or percussion players.
The musicians were seen as cynically suing for more money simply because they played more notes than, say, a flautist or a tuba player. But the violinists themselves insisted they only wanted to be treated equally.
All players in the orchestra are contracted to play up to eight sessions a week. But depending on the repertoire being performed, the services of woodwind or brass players were required less frequently than those of their violinist colleagues.
So, in concrete terms, the musicians hoped to be paid around 100 euros ($123) more per extra session played.
The orchestra’s players gross an average 3 000-4 000 euros per month, depending on their experience and seniority.
The German Theatre Federation, which had criticised the violinists’ action, described their decision to drop the lawsuit as ”a good decision”. Now the problem could be discussed calmly and an acceptable solution found for all, the federation said. – Sapa-AP