Klarinet Archive - Posting 001272.txt from 1998/03

From: "Scott Morrow" <sdm@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: This business of instrumental substitution
Date: Sat, 28 Mar 1998 17:39:46 -0500

(tirade clipped here)
>
>This is the slippery slope that one gets to in all these
>instrumental substitutions, from Till Eulenspiegel's
>D clarinet part, to Mozart K. 622, to Sousa marches played
>by a band without an E-flat cornet, to a wind quintet
>arrangement of Beethoven, Op. 103. In every case, pitch
>has been preserved, but timbre, character, and composer
>intent have not.
>
>It is unchecked instrumental arrogance to presume that these
>things don't matter and that there is no significant impact on
>the music as a result of these decisions.
>
(more tirade clipped)

Dan,
Just to add a philosophical wrench into your always-eloquent apoplexy:

When I was at Drexel University, I played in the Colonial Ensemble, a
wind ensemble that played music which was popular in America during the
Colonial and Early Federalist periods. This music ranged from imported
European music (Mozart, Beethoven, etc.) to field marches and two-steps.
Our performances were "narrated" by a history professor who gave the
audience insight into the time period.
The opera pieces we played by Mozart (and Rossini, etc.) were all
written for wind octet: it was apparently the practice at that time to
transcribe popular operatic scores for these more manageable "dance bands"
for balls and soirees. I also remember hearing of a letter from Mozart to
his father in which he mentioned this practice and was thrilled that
"everyone was dancing" to music from his opera.
Now the question:
If the composer KNOWS this is an accepted practice of the period
(ie., altering the instrumentation, and thus, timbre, of the composition),
and is happy that the music is so well received (in this altered form),
couldn't we extrapolate that the composer might not mind a more minimal
alteration, such as using a clarinet in a different key?
I realize this is a specific case, and thus not applicable to every
composer who ever lived and died without specifically stating his/her
wishes. And I also realize that the modern analogy could be extrapolated to
a composer riding on an elevator, smiling as he watches the other passengers
humming along to his melody seeping into the car through the sound system!
But this brings us back to the dilemma: at what point do we cross the
line between helping the composer's work get out to the public and
bastardizing the music?

-Scott

Scott D. Morrow
DNA Synthesis Core Facility
Department of Biochemistry
The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
Baltimore, MD 21205
(410) 955-3631