Klarinet Archive - Posting 001114.txt from 1998/07

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Mozart and the right clarinet
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1998 01:24:10 -0400

At 10:12 AM 7/25/98 EDT, Dan Leeson wrote:
(Bill Hausmann wrote:)
>> But have we, in 200 years of study and analysis, gone well beyond what even
>> a genius like Mozart could have devoted much attention to, given his
>> circumstances at the time? Have we, with the luxury of almost unlimited
>> time, ascribed motives to him that he simply did not have time to consider
>> when he was cranking out manuscript as fast as he could feed to his family?
>> Was the K622 written for basset clarinet merely because the soloist
>> requested that he write a concerto for it, and the low notes stuck in,
>> almost as an afterthought, to please the commissioner? Is all the interest
>> in sound palette just a way of trying, through analysis, to figure out WHY
>> this stuff sounds so good, when in fact it may be little more than happy
>> accident? Or even worse, if it had been written in a different key in the
>> first place, would we now think it sounded WRONG in the current correct
>> key, because we would be USED TO the sonorities of the original?
>>
>It is an imperfect system. We see data and we try and form valid
>opinions based on that data. I have zero idea if I am right, but the
>logic is solid.
>
>Your suggestion is valid but it presumes a totally unordered world where
>things happend without cause. It is not a world that interests me even
>though it might be right.
>
>On the bottom level, I think that Mozart's ear was so refined that he
>heard a difference in character between an A clarinet and a B-flat
>clarinet in his head, something that ordinary mortals have difficulty
>doing in a real live situation. For you and I (I should really speak
>only for myself), hearing quality at that level is beyond us. We hear
>the difference in quality between a bass clarinet and an E-flat clarinet
>and everything closer to each other than that is the luck of the genes.
>
>Accepting the premise of your very excellent question leads me to a
>world of chaos where nothing happens because of a plan, but happens because
>of accident. Not interested in that world thankyou.
>
Gee, Dan, I didn't really mean to leave you in a chaotic world. Mozart may
well have had ears that could pick out a insufficiently powdered wig in the
second violins, but of course, we will never know. And even so, the
question is only a matter of degree, really: HOW MUCH did his (presumed)
ability to hear the difference between an A and a Bb clarinet affect the
overall composition of K622? Was the technical ability and/or the
particular instrument of his intended soloist (Stadler, was it?) possibly
even MORE important to the resultant composition? Did he write particular
passages because he KNEW they could be played smoothly by that person? And
would he have written it for Bb had the man's Bb clarinet had a nicer tone
than his basset clarinet?

Bottom line is, I don't believe anything Mozart did was strictly a random
occurrence either. But I do think that the true reasons some of his
artistic decisions were made were somewhat more mudane, practical, and
down-to-earth than the different sonorities of A vs. Bb clarinet, Mozart's
incredible genius notwithstanding. Whether the key was chosen to match the
instrument or the instrument was chosen to match the key, I cannnot imagine
that any but the most minor and least significant choices would be made
based upon the subtle differences in their sonorities, the more important
decisions being made on the tonal characteristics and flexibility of the
clarinet family in general. Thus, I don't believe that playing the K622 on
a Bb clarinet makes any meaningful difference, certainly not enough to mark
down a student for in a solo contest. The kid will buy an A clarinet when
he is ready to.

Related thought which came up while pondering this question: Would anyone
be interested in doing a double blind listening experiment using a number
of recorded samples of solo clarinet as described below?

1. Bb clarinet
2. A clarinet
3. A clarinet speeded up to match Bb pitch
4. Bb clarinet slowed down to match A pitch

Would 1 and 3 really sound substantially different, assuming well-matched
instruments? Would 2 and 4? I honestly don't know, but would be curious
to find out. (I occasionally play the Mozart Clarinet Quintet with my Music
Minus One record, speeded up so it will match pitch with my Bb. I don't
personally notice the other instruments sounding different, although the
increased tempo bothers me a little.)

Bill Hausmann bhausman@-----.com
451 Old Orchard Drive http://www.concentric.net/~bhausman
Essexville, MI 48732 http://members.wbs.net/homepages/z/o/o/zoot14.html
ICQ UIN 4862265

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is too loud.

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