Klarinet Archive - Posting 001049.txt from 1995/10

From: "Lorne G. Buick" <mcheramy@-----.CA>
Subj: Re: Villa-Lobos
Date: Mon, 30 Oct 1995 11:31:03 -0500

>Has anyone ever played the WW quartet? I read it the other day and was
>surprised that he wrote low Ebs. Was this originally written for A
>clarinet? It was suggested in rehearsal that Villa-Lobos wrote much his
>music for a group of musicians that had "non-standard" insruments

Hi- I'm not familiar with the Quartet, though I've played the Trio, which
is irrelevant since it's on A anyway. But having lived in South America I
wouldn't be at all surprised if it was written for someone playing a B-flat
with a low E flat. When I lived in Chile ('79-81) a few players there still
didn't own A clarinets- they used the B-flat for everything, with the low E
flat adding the low E in A parts. This may have been relatively common in
Brazil too (I'm just guessing, if anyone actually knows the facts please
confirm or correct!)