Klarinet Archive - Posting 000395.txt from 1997/01

From: "Nichelle A. Crocker" <crockena@-----.EDU>
Subj: infallibility and intentions
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 00:04:52 -0500

Everybody keeps talking about what a composer wanted and intended. Why not
spend a little time thinking about what the composer wrote?

Some people seem to be suggesting that the measure of a clarinet part's
greatness is how easy it is to play. Are there no other considerations?

Brahms sat down and "thought up", through whatever process, his Third
Symphony. Whether or not the finished product resembled or even did justice
to his original ideas and conceptions, we do not know. Some pieces are
better than others, as well as some parts of those pieces and so on. I fail
to see how this affects the performance of the piece. For better or for
worse, what he actually did write is what we've got.

Nichelle Crocker
crockena@-----.edu