Klarinet Archive - Posting 001078.txt from 1997/09

From: Roger Garrett <rgarrett@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: E-flat clarinets/cornets in band music
Date: Tue, 23 Sep 1997 22:56:47 -0400

On Tue, 23 Sep 1997, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:

> Now if that is not what is meant, then I apologize and can go
> back to studying my navel. But if it is what is intended, I
> simply cannot understand how one can come to that conclusion.
> The character of the instrument is so unique that, without it,
> major works of the wind band repertoire would be impacted.
> I refer to the Hindemith B-flat symphony, the Schoenberg
> Opus 43a, Stravinsky's Circus Polka, and others.

Dan....try looking at the approximately 2000 transcriptions that were all
that were available to the band (except marches and suites by Sousa, etc.)
in the early 20th C. Hindemith wrote the Symphony in Bb in 1951...hardly
representative of the time being discussed. The Schoenberg...same time
period (a decade earlier or so)......Circus Polka.....great...except the
version available is for NO Eb clarinets...we have Bb's sitting on high A
s, Bb's, etc. The Holst Suite in Eb calls for 2 Eb's in the second mvt,
and it is delightful when played that way. But for the majority of band
literature, the Eb clarinet adds little or nothing to the composite sound.

> Now it may be the tail wagging the dog and the presence of
> the instrument caused those composers to create parts
> which are idiomatically performed (and performable) only
> on E-flat clarinet. Let me clarify that a little better.
> Such parts could indeed be done on flute or piccolo, but
> I presume the composer wanted the characteristic sound of
> an E-flat clarinet and thus scored it that way.

You presume? Why? As stated, Sousa, Pryor, Clarke, and Revelli knew
exactly why they were written...and that information was passed on via
conversations. Did you know that Guenther Schuller's Symphony for Band
(1981) was written with 3 or 4 euphonium parts? Do you know why? Because
he misread the standard band istrumentation (according to H.R. Reynolds
who had the piece commissioned). Composers write for standard
istrumentation and add parts as necessary. If Eb was so important as a
characteristic sound, why double only flute and piccolo parts? For the
reasons I stated earlier.....because Flute/Picc players in most bands of
the 1920's -30's were scarce.....needed the line to be heard.

> As for cornets, I was the bass clarinet player with the
> New Sousa Band and the brass section always carried both
> trumpets and cornets as different choirs.

As was the tradition....I am in support of such....in most of the original
band music prior to 1965. Paul Bierly has written two books on the Sousa
Band and his music...quite helpful in this regard.

> My ear is not sensitive enough any longer (maybe it never
> was) to distinguish between the sound of a brass instrument
> with a cylindrical bore and one with a conical bore
> (viz a viz the trumpet and the cornet), but I suggest that
> there is one.

Huge difference......but a cornet is not often played correctly by most
trumpet players who try.

> I apologize in advance if I have misunderstood the
> thrust of this thread.

Not sure if you did....but it was a discussion regarding Eb clarinet and
why composers intended to write for the instrument in band compostitions.

Roger Garrett