Klarinet Archive - Posting 000083.txt from 1994/12

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: C clarinets and Dan Leeson's curse
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 1994 09:10:28 -0500

With respect to the intent of composers of the early romantic period and
their use of C clarinet, Roger Shilcock writes "... I can't believe that
Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn ... asked for the C clarinet for
any other reason than that the key of the piece seemed to make it
desirable."

Horse hockey!!

I don't know nor does Roger know what the reasons were for the referenced
composers to use a C clarinet. I hear that argument all the time. It
starts simply enough: "I can't believe that ..." and the next thing you
know the transition is made that says "Therefore ..." The scariest use
of that phrase comes whenever some bassoonist says (in a performance of
the Gran Partitta) "I am convinced that if Mozart had had a contrabassoon,
he would have used one." And the next thing you know, all the pizzicatti
have vanished.

It does not matter what reason they had in mind. I must presume that
the ears of the three people in question (their internal ears or how they
heard the music in their head) were sensitive enough to exploit the
peculiar character of sound of a C clarinet for WHATEVER REASONS motivated
them to select the C clarinet. I will even grant Roger's argument; i.e.,
classical and early romantic composers did not like to write for more than
3 flats or 1 sharp for any clarinet-type instrument including the basset
horn. So whenever the concert key required that unwanted thing to happen,
they changed instruments. Clarinetists could go to any of 4 pitches, and
basset hornists to any of 2 pitches. (In Stadler's case he even had a
basset clarinet in C.)

But once they changed clarinets, they exploited the sound character of
the instrument, even if their change was deliberate, whimsical,
or capricious. The selected instruments (or their combination in the
case of an orchestra) was what created
the sound of the piece in their inner ear.

Surely Roger, whose comments on this list show that he has to have a great
ear (though his children will have a fungus if he continues to disagree)
must recognize the significant difference of character in both the Schubert
Octet in the single movement in which a C clarinet is used, and in the
Beethoven first piano concerto where a C clarinet solo accompanies the
pianist for an extended period.

Bottom line: I am not smart enough to second guess what the reasons were
for the actions of the composers mentioned by Roger. I don't even care
what their reasons were. To hell with their reasons. The only fact I have
is what they did, and I will not be drawn into a metaphysical dialogue
about why they did it. To do that justifies the following absurdity:
"It is true that Beethoven's fifth symphony opens with clarinet in B-flat,
but the only reason why he did that was because he did not have a tenor
saxophone in B-flat. So the change is justified. And furthermore, the
C clarinet music encountered at a later stage of this work can, by the
same logic, be played on a C melody saxophone."

OK, so you are laughing. "A saxophone in Beethoven ... Har de har har."

Why is the logic different? Because it is so absurd as to be obvious???

I am a simple country boy, and the city slickers on this list are
trying to take advantage of a poor hayseed like me. But I'll take
the composer's directives any time, thank you.

PS, I wasn't trying to open the argument in my previous note, just simply
saying that we had been through all of this in the past and that several
viewpoints were expressed. I did not even say which point of view I
preferred. I was being repertorial, and then my ability to deliver a
curse came into question!!

====================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
====================================

   
     Copyright © Woodwind.Org, Inc. All Rights Reserved    Privacy Policy    Contact charette@woodwind.org