Klarinet Archive - Posting 000131.txt from 1994/10

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Some hot news (for those who find this kind of thing "hot")
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 1994 06:19:02 -0400

I am still awaiting some promised documentation, but for those interested
in the history of the clarinet, there has been a remarkable discovery made
over the past few years, and those living in the Boston area will be able
to hear the thing that I am going to speak about this very weekend during
the concerts of the Handel and Haydn society.

The matter has to do with Anton Stadler's basset clarinet.

Until around 1938, it was not known that the clarinet for which Mozart
wrote both the concerto, the quintet, and several famous solos such as
the aria "Parto" from Titus had extensions down to low, written C.

In the case of the concerto and quintet, one could only speculate that
such a clarinet existed by pointing out sections of the solo line that
made little sense, such as certain arpeggios breaking at certain points
for what did not appear to be logical reasons. And the reason why one
could only speculate was because the autographs of these two works were
lost and what Mozart actually wrote could only be guessed at.

Then, in the late 1930s, an article appeared in a British journal by
a man named Dazeley and he put forward the then radical idea that
Stadler's clarinet (i.e., the person for whom Mozart had done the works)
was special, namely that it had an extension that permitted it to be
played a major third lower than the clarinet of traditional compass.
All of a sudden, major sections of that concerto now made much more sense.

Well you all know the results of that work. Today you can go out and
buy a basset clarinet (in A only) and a number of recordings have been
made featuring such instruments. And both the concerto and the quintet
have had to be looked at in light of this work.

But until recently, it was still just theory. No matter how logical it
was, no matter anything, not a single example of Stadler's basset
clarinet could be found. No picture, no sample, no nothing!!

The case of the basset clarinet in B-flat was somewhat different. The
several solos that Mozart wrote survive in autograph. Therefore one
can see, in his handwriting, the requirement for low C, low D, etc.
So Stadler had to have had one in B-flat, almost certainly he had one
in A and that is a dead argument; i.e., that the basset clarinet
existed in Mozart's time and was the instrument for which he wrote
a number of solo works is incontestible but no one knew what it looked like.

And in the absence of any documentation it was assumed that such an
instrument would look like a clarinet, but be longer. With respect to
the bottom end of the basset clarinet, the ones available today
from Buffet, Selmer, and LeBlanc all have bells on the bottom end.
That's logical. What else should they have?

And now the news!! A picture of Stadler's basset clarinet has been found
and it does not have a traditional bell. It is bulbous like that of an
English horn. And this weekend in Boston, such an instrument made by
a clarinet player (who studied how to make instruments in order to be
able to make one) will be played on by him to do the Mozart quintet.
I am not sure of the spelling but his name is "Huprecht."

Stadler played in London, Paris, Munich, etc. Did any of the programs
for these cities show a picture of his instrument? NO!!! But he played
once in Vilnius, Lithuania and in that program, they printed a drawing of
Stadler's clarinet and thus, for the first time we see exactly what it
was the Stadler played on.

Now if one is into this kind of stuff, this is remarkable news. It
is cataclysmic news. Stadler's clarinet!!! And with a bulbous bell,
not a flared bell.

Of course if one is not into this kind of stuff, it is a big ho hum.

When I learn more and see the picture of the instrument (which is being
sent to me from Boston), I'll tell more. Those of you ho-humming do not
have to listen. But from the point of view of the history of the clarinet
this is equivalent to the discovery of King Tut's tomb.

====================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
(leeson@-----.edu)
(dnl2073@-----.edu)
Any of the above three addresses may be used. Take your pick.
====================================