Klarinet Archive - Posting 000315.txt from 1998/02

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: Cadenza Books???
Date: Fri, 6 Feb 1998 21:39:37 -0500

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.30
> Subj: RE: Cadenza Books???

>
> Out of curiosity, how does one know if there is _supposed_ to be a cadenza?
> I can usually recognize cadential formulas, melodic statements, etc...
> that would probably indicate the presence (or lack) of a cadenza, but there
> are often ambiguities as to whether or not there should be one.
>
> In places that I have found these ambiguities, I have consulted various
> editions of the piece in question (when the urtext edition is unavailable)
> and found a great discrepency in the results.
>
> Are there any thoughts on this?
>
> Thanks,
> Ryan lowe

Well, I wanted Elizabeth to struggle with it for a while and solve the
problem herself rather than giving her the answer. She will take 10
steps forward if she figures it out herself, and 0 steps forward if I
tell her the solution. So let me hold off for a couple of days, but I
will put your note in my save box and answer it over the weekend if
Elizabeth does not want to bite. But I will tell you this: it is
an onn/off switch. A single thing, if present, says "Cadenza" and
if that thing is not present, it says something else. Just look
at any Mozart piano concerto and find the cadenza. Then take another
concerto, a different one of course, but from no later than 1850
because the rules slowly began to change, and look at another
cadenza. Look for some similiarity, something that appears in both
cadenzas. And you should be looking at the accompaniment, not the
solo music because it is in the accompaniment that it happens.

>
> >
> >Good question Elizabeth. I don't think I have ever seen a book
> >with cadenzas for clarinet but each edition of the Weber concerti,
> >for example, may give several different options and even identify
> >who created that particular cadenza.
> >
> >But here there is a caveat. You must be careful when you play a
> >cadenza that the composer is really asking for a cadenza. On this
> >list, which has many, many fine clarinetists and good scholars, I
> >will often see someone asking about "the cadenza in the Mozart
> >concerto." But there is no cadenza in the Mozart concerto, there
> >never has been, and attempts to put one in at the traditional places
> >often lead to catastrophes such as that suggested by Ibert, a monster
> >of a cadenza fully 10 minutes long in place where none was requested.
> >
> >So your first job is to understand exactly what technical mechanism
> >the composer uses to invite you to play a cadenza. The printing of
> >the text "Cadenza" in any printed copy of any work, is not
> >sufficiently reliable. You have to know how to recognize the
> >invitiation. It is built into the music and its presence is
> >unmistakable. So is the absence of the invitation (as in the
> >three places in the Mozart concerto that most people talk about).
> >
> >So figure it out. Look at the Weber concerti. Look at the Mozart
> >concerto. What is different about the invitations?
> >
> >
> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >=======================================
> >Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
> >Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
> >leeson@-----.edu
> >=======================================
> >
> >
>
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================