Klarinet Archive - Posting 000170.txt from 1994/03

From: SCOTT MCCHESNEY <MCCHESS4641@-----.EDU>
Subj: History question...
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 1994 19:16:49 -0500

O Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen of the list...Scott, of the Misinformed
Father's Association crawls out from his hole of embarrassment to show his face
in the sun again and ask for forgiveness...and a question.

In a few short hours (2, actually) I shall don the formal black tux and play in
a concert. One of the pieces we are playing is called _The Sword and the
Crown_, by Phillip (?) Gregson. It is a marvelous piece based on incidental
music written for Shakespearean plays about Henry IV and Henry V.

The piece is quite authentic in its instrumentation - there are no saxophones
in the piece, because (I assume) saxophones weren't around in the late 1500's
and early 1600's. However, everything else in the standard concert band is
there - save for a few unusual, and probably not used at the time, percussion
choices. He even goes into chant singing, flute players playing recorders, and
adding a harp for that "trubadour" (sp?) effect.

All this setup is to ask this: each instrument, if I remember correctly, had an
ancestor that sounded vaguely like the present-day instruemtn around in
Shakespear's day. There were flutes, oboes, a really funky bassoon, and
brass instruments of all shapes, colors, and kinds. There were even drums
around. But, what was around that fits the humble Clarinet family? The
Clarinet, as I understood it, didn't really come about until Mozart - the early
to mid 1700's. We're almost a hundred years off, yet there are Clarinet parts.

Is this just for convenience, given the importance of Clarinets in the modern
concert band, or were there really Clarinets back then? There are extensive
Clarinet solos in the work.

It's too bad none of you esteemed members live anywhere close to Cedar Falls,
IA - the concert is actually shaping up to be a good one. Ah, well - I'll just
have to share the intimate details tomorrow.

What's the scoop?

-- Scott McChesney

-- Hoping he doesn't have to look
stupid again

   
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