Klarinet Archive - Posting 000353.txt from 1997/06

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Mozart boring??? I must have expressed myself badly.
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 17:44:37 -0400

If there is anyone in the universe prepared to put a knife in the
eye of anyone suggesting that Mozart is boring, it is me. So let
me think about what I might have said to cause that reaction in
Gary.

I think I was speaking about minuets.

There is an issue with minuets and it has to do with repeats.

Today, if you get a bunch of players together and a minuet with
trio(s) appears, no one has to tell the players how to do it.
Everyone knows. First time through, all repeats. On the da
capo, no repeats. Right?

That is 20th century performance practice for a minuet of the
classic period. But how were minuets performed in Mozart's
era?

The is some very hard evidence that all repeats were taken
every time. And for a work such as the Gran Partitta that
has two minuets, both with two trios, that is a great deal
of repeating.

Now, I suggest that one of the functions of those many repeats
was to give performers the opportunity to display their skill
at improvisation. When that skill ceased being a standard
tool in the grab bag of performer skills, then the minuets
with trios, being played with all those repeats BUT WITHOUT
IMPROVISATORY MATERIAL TO ALLEVIATE THE CONSTANT REPETITION,
did result in the music becoming boring.

That does not mean that Mozart is boring, but if I were to
play the same minuet with all repeats done for each trio,
that could result in 6 repetitions of each strain. And that
can become boring both to the audience and to the performers.
Anyone's music presented over and over without some form of
alteration is going to become boring.

But did I say that Mozart, as a composer and without
improvisation, was always boring? Do you want a knife
in the eye? Say that again and I will not let you marry
my daughter.

And I will add this: I avoid performances of K. 622 and
K. 581 for precisely the reason that repetition of the
same thing over and over without performer involvement
in the creative aspect of the music, does bore me. That
doesn't mean that the music is boring, only that the
performance practices that were put in place to allow
people to show their creativity are not being exercised.
As a consequence of that, many performances are boring
BECAUSE OF THE PERFORMERS, not because of the music.

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