Klarinet Archive - Posting 000251.txt from 1994/10

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: STADLER - PART 5
Date: Fri, 21 Oct 1994 16:03:57 -0400

Continuing with the Pamela Poulin paper on Stadler from the Mozart Jahrbuch of
1991.

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Because of a conflict with a firework display, the concert was moved from
Thursday the 10th to Saturday the 12th - perhaps a better night in any case.
The location was also changed from the smaller chamber music room of the
Londonschenke Hotel to the larger Ballroom, normally for orchestra or oratorio
performances - solo concerts only if a large audience was expected. Since this
concert included subscription sales, it is reasonable to assume that a large
audience was indeed expected.

In any event, the Friday, 11th of September issue of the "Hannover'sche
Anzeigen" included the promised additional information: "The public is served
herewith [this] piece of news, that the Royal and Imperial Chambermusicians
Stadler will not be able to give in Limmer [a suburb of Hannover] the concert
as announced for Thursday, which would have been at the same time as the
delayed illumination and fireworks. At the request of most of the subscribers,
it will be held in the Ballhofe, not in the Londonschenkensaale. Among other
selected pieces Mlle. Janitsch will be heard alone in a few beloved arias and
then in a duet with Madame Grossman. Stadler will next play a Concerto and
Eight Variations on a clarinet he himself invented, in addition, on his
bassethorn (which he also improved) a few newly composed Variations on the
beloved and well-known folk-song "Freut euch des Lebens", specially arranged
for the compass of his instrument [...]" (footnote 18).This concerto may well
have been Mozart's, but it seems odd that it would not be mentioned by name.
As to the Variations, the Hofmeister-Whistling catalogs list several published
variations composed by Stadler:

Variations sur differents Themes [for clarinet alone], Wien, Cappi et Co., 45
Xr.; also Wien, Witzendorf, 45 Xr.

3 Caprices [for clarinet alone], Wien Haslinger, 24 Xr.; also, Vienna Au
magasin de l'imprimerie chemique I.R. priv. sur le Graben.

3 Vantasies ou Caprices [for clarinet alone], Wien, Diabelli et Co., 40 Xr.

10 Variations ("Musst ma nix in ubel aufnehma", Austrian folksong: "You must
not take amiss with me ...)" [for clarinet alone], Wien, Diabelli et Co., 15
Xr.

Of these, only the 3 Caprices survive. The second Caprice does indeed include
the folk song "Freut euch des Lebens", but basset notes are not included in the
published edition (the second of the two editions listed was consulted).
(footnote 19)

It is difficult to determine exactly when Stadler's "Grand Tour of Europe" came
to a close, probably at the end of 1795 or the beginning of 1796. The official
lists of the Royal and Imperial Court Orchestra in the Viennese "Staatlicher
Schematismus" are not very helpful either, with Stadler's name reappearing in
1794.

Unfortunately, Stadler's own basset clarinets have not come to light. (footnote
20) He probably had one in B-flat, required for the obbligato clarinet in the
aria "Parto, parto, ma tu be mio" in "La clemenza di Tito" and one in A for the
Mozart Quintet and Concerto. In addition, as indicated in the above newspaper
accounts, it appears that Stadler himself wrote variations for his basset
clarinet.

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Footnote 18: According to Prof. Dr. Heinrich Sievers, Madame Grossman was the
wife of the Theater Director in Hannover (Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Grossman,
ca. 1746-1796, who mounted productions of Mozart operas there as early as
1788). Mlle. Janitsch was the daughter of Anton Janitsch, a composer and the
concermaster in Grossman's Schauspiel troupe.

Footnote 19: Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Vienna. See Karl Friedrich
Whistling, Handbuch der Musikalischen Litteratur, Leipzig 1817, pp. 195-216;
ibid, 2 vols., Leipzig 1828-1829, vol. 1, pp. 280-309; Friedrich Hofmesiter,
Handbuch der musikalischen Literature, Leipzig 1844-1845, pp. 98-103.

Footnote 20: According to Constanze, in a letter dated May 1800 to the
publisher Johann Anto Andre, "For information about works of this kind, you
should speak to the elder Stadler, the clarinettist, who used to have the
originals of several [works of this kind], and has copies of some unknown trios
for basset-horns. Stadler delcares that while he was in Germany, his suitcase,
with these pieces in it, was stolen. Others, however, assure me that this
suitcase was pawned there for 73 ducats; but there were, I believe, instruments
and other things in it in addition to therese original manuscripts" (see
Bauer-Deutsch IV, p. 356). This valise could have contained the autographs of
Mozart's Concerto and Quintet as well as perhaps a basset clarinet.

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