Klarinet Archive - Posting 000306.txt from 1996/08

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Craig Hill on Harmoniemusik
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 1996 19:53:14 -0400

Craig Hill posts several questions under the generic subject of
Harmoniemusik with a specific request for certain information about
the Entfuhrung arrangements; i.e., the various arrangents for winds
of Mozart's opera "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail" ("The Abduction
from the Harem" and sometimes referred to as "The Abduction from
the Seraglio").

There are at least three such arrangements, one by Wendt for
clarinets, oboes, horns, and bassoons as published by Musica Rara
from a set of parts that I lent to the editor, Hymie Voxman, at
least 15 years ago; a set of parts of almost identical nature
except that the clarinets are replaced with English horns by an
unknown arranger and published at least 30 years ago by Barenreiter
but only in rental; and a set of parts discovered by Bastiaan
Blomhert for clarinets, oboes, horns, and bassoons and which
Blomhert asserts is the very arrangement that Mozart is said to
have made in a letter that he wrote to his father. These parts are
available only on rental from Music Associates of America in either
Teaneck or Englewood, NJ. )Actually Mozart says that he had to
make such an arrangement and mentions how difficult it is to do
such a thing but there is no evidence that he actually made the
arrangement.)

There are at least two recordings of the Blomhert discovery which
is distinguished by its extraordinary length and inclusion of some
very long and effectively uncut arias such as the monster "Martern,
alle artern" ("Unending tortures"). The first recording was made
with Blomhert conducting an original instrument group in Boston.
The second recording was done by Sabine Meyer's group with program
notes asserting that the arrangement is not by Mozart but is
instead by Rosiniack. Since I have not seen the arguments in favor
of Rosiniack, I cannot comment on them. But I did read Blomhert's
doctoral dissertation (in English, by the way) and he lays out a
very impressive historical case. I also discussed the arrangement
with him in Salzburg in 1991. There is no doubt that we have a
problem here and I am not in a position to solve it.

Blomhert still maintains his assertion to be correct and the guy
who did the notes for Meyer's recording says the exact opposite.
At the moment, it has taken on the status of a Mexican standoff.
A review of the Blomhert find by Robert Levin was printed in the
Mozart Jahrbuch about 4 years ago and is negative as to Mozart's
involvement. However, it does not suggest who might have done the
arrangement. Blomhert dismisses the criticism.

I own a set of parts to the work. The first clarinet part is
something like 56 pages. It is a BIG arrangement. I have also
played it, gave several talks on it, and wrote the review of
Blomhert's dissertation for the Journal of the CBDNA. A large part
of it was played at the CBDNA convention about 10 years ago by the
wind ensemble of Ohio State and I made remarks about the various
movements.

Hill comments that the arrangement seems to be better than the one
of Wendt and that's not surprising. Wendt had little imagination
and his idea of scoring was to have an oboe play a solo accompanied
by winds, movement after movement. In my opinion, he was a dull
arranger.

Hill then asks about the practice of having a double bass in
Harmonien. Yes. Yes. Yes. The Harmonie lacks a true bass even in
the presence of two bassoons. Even Mozart could not fully overcome
that defect until he created the Gran Partitta (and that is the
correct spelling). The Harmonien of Krommer are defective without
the called for 16 foot bass despite their occasionally being
performed without one. I have done both K. 375 and K. 388 with a
bass doubling the second bassoon at the octave. It adds
immeasurably (not that there is much wrong with the original).

Sorry for such a lengthy technical response but a question on this
list deserves a full answer.

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