Klarinet Archive - Posting 000147.txt from 1995/08

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Diane Cawein's inquiry on Bellini fantasies
Date: Wed, 9 Aug 1995 15:32:00 -0400

I have nothing but admiration for Diane in her choice of dissertation
topic (though the topic may have been suggested to her by someone else).
I'm impressed!

As a younger man, I hated those few Bellini, Verdi, Donizetti transcriptions
with which I came in contact because I saw them as cheapening the literature
rather than improving it. But inside, in my secret heart, I loved them
because they were such wonderful fun to play and wonderful to accomplish.
So my neuroses with respect to this love/hate relationship paralyzed me from
doing anything with respect to them. I neither thought about them, played
them, or paid any attention to them.

But this epoch of music history played an important role in what we do today,
affected composers in ways that caused them to think about the way clarinets
could do dramatic things, and influenced our teacher's teachers, our teachers,
and, consequently, ourselves.

I look forward to seeing Diane do a summary of her work for some
journal so that I will know when to contact University Microfilms for the
whole dissertation. I have walls full of dissertations, some of which are
great treasures, and some of which are less than that.

Two years ago I played the Rossini Stabat Mater, I mean the big work not the
Cujus Animan fantasy taken from it. And yet, as I was playing the work, all
I could think about was how, as a 13 year old in Paterson, NJ, I worked on
the fantasy thinking that it was the most remarkable piece of music I had
ever played. Considering the fact that all I had every played was that
piece, that wasn't much of a universe of music to judge by, but 13 year olds
do not have universality of understanding on these things.

I mention this simply to show that this kind of music has influence on us
in many ways. I add for Diane's consumption that she should consider some
portion of her dissertation to discuss why this kind of music existed in
the first place. Where did it come from? What is the source for this kind
of playing? I think that she will find that it leads right back to the late
18th century when musicians were encouraged to improvise, and these works
are simply extreme cases of the kind of brilliance of execution that could
be accomplished by some of the better improvisors of the time.

Helluva topic!!!

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