Klarinet Archive - Posting 000225.txt from 1996/05

From: Jacqueline Eastwood <eastwooj@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Jacqueline Eastwood's comments on "clarinet quintets"
Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 11:28:29 -0400

First Dan, then Connie... how many more of you are going to beat me with
my own stick?

My entire point was merely to educate a young person who of course had no
way of knowing what we were all babbling about with the term "clarinet
quintet". Persoanlly, I did not know what this meant until some older
person explained it to me, so I thought I would pass on the baton, so to
speak.

I know that Mozart had written some trio and quartet material involving
clarinets, bassets, etc. but I did not know of a quintet. PARDON ME! I
also apologize for my ignorance of every porivately commissioned work on
the face of the planet which involves any derivative of the clarinet
family including chalumeau.

Needless to say, I'm having a VERY BAD day. My beloved is off for a
six-week festival in Flagstaff which I cannot do because I have a real
job which I cannot leave for 6 weeks. So have some pity, you
carnivores! I'm going off into a little corner of cyberspace now to sulk.

Jacqueline Eastwood
University of Arizona/Arizona Opera Orchestra
eastwooj@-----.edu

yOn Wed, 8 May 1996, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:

> Jacqueline is, of course, quite correct that the word "clarinet quintet"
> has traditionally come to mean a quintet with clarinet and string quartet.
> However, if I read her remarks correctly, she is unaware of one of the
> great treasures of music which is also a REAL clarinet quintet; i.e.,
> 5 clarinet players.
>
> There is a Masonic work of Mozart for 5 clarinets (2 clarinets and 3 basset
> horns) that is so magnificent a work of music, that I tremble simply by
> thinking about the performances of it I have done. I think it is K. 440
> or maybe K. 440d. I forget.
>
> Of course, one could argue that a work for 2 clarinets and 3 bassets is not
> a clarinet quintet) and then there would be some discussion about the
> basset horn and its kinship with the clarinet. But putting that issue
> aside, it is hard for me, at least, not to think of the work as a
> clarinet quintet, also.
>
> But, where the rubber meets the road, Jacqueline is much more correct than
> I in this descriptive title business.
>
>
> ====================================
> Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
> (leeson@-----.edu)
> ====================================
>