Klarinet Archive - Posting 000242.txt from 1997/03

From: Gary Young <gyoung@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Pre-WWII American Repertoire
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 1997 13:56:02 -0500

Copland's "As It Fell Upon A Day" and his Sextet are pre-WWII, I think. I
seem to recall Cage's Sonata is from 1939. Cowell's Six Casual
Developments is I think from the '30's. Someone correct me if these are
wrong. That's when the pieces were composed; I have no idea if they were
played very much at the start.

I assume at least Cage's Sonata would have puzzled lots of folks at first.
Does anyone know when that started to be played? Is it even played now,
e.g. in conservatories? Does any teacher on the list give it to his/her
students? I'd think the piece would be fun to teach, but maybe that's why
I'm not teaching. (I happen to love it. You can do so many things [some
really weird things] with it, and still not violate the composer's intent!
Maybe a sign of my bad taste. :))
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From: Kennen White[SMTP:Kennen.White@-----.EDU]
Sent: Friday, March 07, 1997 6:21 AM
Subject: Pre-WWII American Repertoire

I have a graduate student from Poland studying with me and he is
interested in American clarinet repertoire before the Bernstein Sonata
(1942). I'm having trouble thinking of much repertoire from before
WWII. What did American players play back then, mostly European rep?

Also, does anyone know when the Bernstein Sonata became popular? Was iw
an instead hit, or did that happen after Bernstein became famous?

Dr. Kennen White
Clarinet Professor
School of Music
Central Michigan University