Klarinet Archive - Posting 000116.txt from 1994/01

From: Charles Hillen <CFH200U@-----.BITNET>
Subj: Mozart's works
Date: Thu, 20 Jan 1994 08:31:50 -0500

I have to say I agree with Karen Noel-Bentley when she says we must live and
play in the 20th Century. I think, though too, that part of our art and the
refinement thereof is trying to get closer to the spirit of what the composer
wrote...moreso than trying to abide by the letter of the law. Mozart's
personality has been well documented. Studying the "times" in which a composer
lived, their lifestyles (if you can find out), and their approach to their own
arts, are all ways musicians can feel closer to their sources. If we only use
dynamic markings, ornaments, articulations, and tempi to vary a composer from
piece to piece, we are really sticking them in a pigeon hole. I opine that if
an astute composer like Mozart didn't write it in the music, he must have
considered it negotiable...common practice of the day notwithstanding.

I'll never forget how once when I was in rehearsals for the Serenade in E-flat,
our coach made us labor and labor over what Mozart meant by a dot under a slur.
We got copies of the Mozart letters, tried to find references, got some that
were pretty close, but usually found that when he talked about his own music
he was very allegorical and used a lot of metaphor. We finally wound up
deciding how we'd play them, we all did them the same way...caput.

During that time, some of the players got so caught up in how to play those
few notes that the enjoyment was gone, they were always frustrated; Is that
what Mozart wanted too?

We have to embrace one another when these questions come up. We are artists,
human beings; Mozart, with all his genius, may not have found the perfect way
to translate his ethereal talent to the written page.

Charles Hillen at ODU