Klarinet Archive - Posting 000048.txt from 1997/03

From: Gary Young <gyoung@-----.COM>
Subj: Schumann Three Romances -- A or Bb?
Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 17:01:47 -0500

Did Schumann write the 3 Romances (op 94) for A or Bb clarinet? Or both? Or
neither?

The New Grove entry says: "3 Romanzen, ob (vn/cl ad lib), pf," which means
(if it is correct) that Schumann intended this piece to be played on some
clarinet. But the entry leaves it unclear whether Schumann had a
particular clarinet in mind, and also leaves unclear whether Schumann wrote
out any clarinet version(s), or simply expected the clarinet player to read
from the oboe part.

The books by Brymer and Thurston (4th ed.) don't even mention this piece.
Pino's book lists it but does not specify A or Bb. The edition I have,
"revised" by Yona Ettlinger, contains both A and Bb parts, and the
non-piano line in the piano part is marked simply "inst." There is no
indication of the nature of the original that was "revised." The only
recording of this I have is by Stoltzman and Goode, and the liner notes
indicate that the piece is played in a transcription not of the composer's
own devising, without naming the deviser.

The piece plays much better on A than Bb, or so it seems to me. But that
hardly decides the question of Schumann's intent. Maybe he thought it
sounded better on Bb, if he thought about it at all.

I'm sure all this has been explained somewhere, if I only knew where to
look. But I'm at a dead end. So here are my questions:

Did Schumann himself intend the 3 Romances to be played on clarinet as well
as oboe? How do we know? If so, did he specify a clarinet, A or Bb or D
or C or contrabass or... ? Did he write out any clarinet part? Or did he
leave that for others to do? On what clarinet should we play these pieces?
Or doesn't it matter?