Klarinet Archive - Posting 001207.txt from 1997/08
From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: Mozart K622
Date: Thu, 28 Aug 1997 15:13:51 -0400
There is a lot of terrific stuff here, but there are three or four
separate notes and the last two have squashed a lot of history
together.
Mozart did write begin a concerto for basset horn in G, but
abandoned it, deciding to write for a clarinet in A. It was
a clarinet of extended compass and the name of "basset
clarinet" was given to the instrument by Jiri Kratchovil only
30 or so years ago, maybe even more recent than that. When
Stadler did it, he played it on what he called "a clarinet."
The basset clarinet (in any key) is not a basset horn. The
latter instrument was the first effort to extend the range of
the clarinet family and, ultimately, led to the bass clarinet.
But the key of the basset horn that survived history is in
F which makes it an instrument of much lower character. It
is (in my opinion) still a soprano clarinet but its intent
to make it a bass instrument for basset horn trios distinguishes
it from the basset clarinet by orders of magnitude.
I doubt very much if this kind of analysis and placing things
in categories was in anyone's mind during the late 18th century,
but with the benefit of 200 years of history of clarinet development,
we can see the intent and organization of what ultimately took
place. I add that Albrechtbuger mentions the existence of basset
horns in at least 4 different keys beyond F and G, so I suspect
that the transition was not very abrupt.
But in any case, Mozart's use of the basset horn is invariably
as an alto voice and not a soprano voice (though he does
exactly that in the Requiem where the first basset horn doubles
the soprano and the second basset horn doubles the alto). So
even though the basset horn has high notes, they are notes of
the character of an alto human voice (which can also sing
fairly high, too).
It's not terribly clear or orderly, but at no juncture of the
clarinet's history was a basset clarinet in A ever called
a basset horn, nor was a basset horn in F ever called a clarinet.
> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.09
> Subj: Re: Mozart K622
> The words "The theory of course is that" are unnecessary and give the false
> impression (I'm sure not intended) that this is open to question. When
> people like Dan Leeson and I were young it was thought to be open to
> question, but only because we were not familiar with the available
> information. Mozart wrote K 622 for the basset clarinet in A (and if you
> prefer to call it a basset horn in A its all the same to me, and if you're
> interested in what instruments survive look at what Al Rice and I
> contributed to the end of Colin Lawson's handbook to K 622 (Cambridge
> University Press), published prior to Pamela Weston's discovery-see below).
> I'm surprised in the discussions of ornamenting K 622 that people have not
> brought up Pamela Weston's recent edition, which she previewed in Clarinet
> around the beginning of the year. In my view this is essential material for
> anybody trying to decide what she/he is going to do with this piece.
> Nick
> >
> >The person who is probably most qualified to answer questions regarding
> >the basset horn, its appearance, shape, size, history, and the Mozart
> >Concerto K.622 is Dan Leeson (don't call him Dr. however!).
> >But...regarding the recording....most of the recordings today are made
> >with a basset clarinet rather than a basset horn. That is, an A clarinet
> >with a lower joint that has been extended to a range of low C below low E.
> >The theory of course is that the concerto was written for a basset horn
> >(clarinet?) in A, of which no such instrument exists today. Many scholars
> >have reconstructed the concerto so that the lower ocatave is present in
> >the melodic lines. However, there is quite a bit of controversy regarding
> >the authenticity of the different reconstructions. In any event, the
> >recordings of Anthony Pay and David Shifrin are excellent. Shifrin's was
> >nominated for a Grammy, and he was the first person to begin touring with
> >an extended A clarinet back in 1981 or so (hand built lower joint!).
> >
> >Roger Garrett
> >Illinois Wesleyan University
> >
> >On Wed, 27 Aug 1997, Tahna Britton wrote:
> >[snip]
> >
> >> A friend of mine has a recording of Mozart's clarinet concerto played by
> >> a basset horn. He said that Mozart wrote the concerto for a basset
> >> horn. My questions are these (even though I should probably know this
> >> by now!): What does a basset horn look like? I've never seen one, I've
> >> only heard one once. Is a basset horn an earlier form of the modern
> >> clarinet? Also, I once read somewhere that Mozart only wrote the 1st
> >> movement for basset horn and then wrote the rest for clarinet, but I
> >> can't remember where I read that and it doesn't make a lot of sense to
> >> me
> >
> >
> >
>
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================
