Klarinet Archive - Posting 000344.txt from 1995/06

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re Strauss' use of C clarinets
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 1995 11:04:04 -0400

A wonderful posting of Donald Yungkworth about Strauss' insistence on the
use of C clarinets where he specifies them!!

Let me add that the works indicated by Donald are not the only ones in which
he insisted on a C clarinet because Donald indicated only the operas in
which the phenomenon occurs. There is also the Alpine Symphony in which
the bass clarinet player doubles on C clarinet (as in Die Frau Ohne
Schatten which is a b.c., basset horn, C clarinet triple with the C part
coming in the last 20 minutes when you are most exhausted). There are also
the most telling examples of all. After the war, and humiliated at having
to undergo anti-Nazi declassification (Strauss was more stupid in his
handling of the political mess during the war than anything else, in my
opinion), he sat alone in Garmisch composing a variety of works. Among them
are two great wind band works called "The Happy Workshop" and "The Invalid's
Workshop." The latter was a brand new composition, the former an outgrowth
of a single movement he originally wrote for the 1941 commemmoration of
the 150th anniversary of Mozart's death. Both works are identically scored
and call for a monster clarinet section of 5 players. "Happy" calls for
C clarinet, 2 B-flats, 1 basset horn, 1 bass clarinet, while "Invalid"
calls for C clarinet, 2 A clarinets, 1 basset horn, 1 A bass clarinet.

About 10 years ago I did the "Happy" with George Silfies, the wonderful
first clarinet of St. Louis and he played the C part on a B-flat. I had
brought my C with me for just such an opportunity and I said something
like, "George, why don't you want to play the part on a C?" And he
said, "I just can't find a good one. Get one for me and I'll do it that
way!!" So I yanked out my C and said, "Try this one."

George grumbled a little but I had his back to the wall. We played
half a movement and I couldn't get the thing away from him!! He loved it
and said, "If I had a C like this, I would play it all the time."

And the piece, now with a C clarinet, changed character at once. All of
a sudden the upper end soared, the conductor Larry Leighton Smith got
a great big smile on his face like his throat was cut, and we had a
hell of a performance!!

I am unable to characterize the sound of a C clarinet in words, but whatever
it is, it is different from that of a B-flat clarinet. The same phenomenon
occurs when a C is used for any of the Strauss operas. The conductors
get wide eyed. I did Frau Ohne Schatten at the Met in NY at least 25
years ago with Karl Boehm and at the end I was wailing away with a C
clarinet and I saw Boehm looking at me with a strange expression on his
face. So after the rehearsal, I went to him and asked, very politely,
if there were something that I was doing that was upsetting the maestro.
He said, no, that he was not upset, but that he had never heard the
part sound like that before. I told him that I was executing the part on
a C clarinet and he smiled and said, "Strauss would have approved of that
young man!" I was very pleased.

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