Klarinet Archive - Posting 001264.txt from 1998/07

From: njs5@-----.uk (Nick Shackleton)
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and the right clarinet
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 14:58:19 -0400

Well, Dan is not ALWAYS right. No basset horn from Mozart's day has survived
that has d# and c# so we can be pretty sure that "basset horns generally
didn't have them".
However the argument is weakened by the fact that Mozart certainly knew of
basset horns with these notes; so far as the players for whom he composed
was concerned, they could play all the notes.
Nick Shackleton
>> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.23
>> Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and the right clarinet
>
>> Why he wrote for bassetclar in A could simply have been that:
>> Bassethorn was his original first choice - then "Stodla" came along with
>> an extended clarinet with (we think) d# and c# (which bassethorns
>> generally didn't have), and so... I think this employs Occam's razor.
>> rjs
>
>I do not follow this note. Both basset horn and basset clarinet had
>all semitones from low e down to low c, so why does rjs suggest
>that bassethorns generally did not have them?
>
>
>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, 29 Jul 1998, Bill Hausmann wrote:
>>
>> > Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 08:18:35 -0400
>> > From: Bill Hausmann <bhausman@-----.com>
>> > Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
>> > To: klarinet@-----.org
>> > Subject: Re: [kl] Mozart and the right clarinet
>> >
>> > At 01:25 AM 7/27/98 -0700, you wrote:
>> > >Bill Hausmann wrote:
>> > >>
>> > >> >
>> > >> For the K622, I can buy this argument, and maybe for the Quintet and
other
>> > >> clarinet solo/chamber works as well. But for symphonies, etc., the
logical
>> > >> extension of this argument is that he was tailoring his music to
EACH AND
>> > >> EVERY player in the orchestra! I cannot believe that even Mozart,
genius
>> > >> that he was, had the excess brainpower, much less the time and
inclination,
>> > >> to get that deep into the minor variances of individuals' sounds.
>> > >>
>> > >Very good point about symphony writing but the argument may still stand
>> > >up. While writing the symphony and deciding whether to write the
>> > >clarinet in A or B flat He would be trying to achieve some tonal aspect
>> > >I think we can agree on that point. So knowing the limited number of
>> > >players available could he not have taken that into account. For
>> > >example theoreticaly in his mind he wanted to write for the A. BUt
>> > >realiized theat no player's tone that he knew of at the time on an A
>> > >would live up to the tonal aspect he heard in his mind. However,
>> > >certain players could acheive the sound on B flat so he would write in B
>> > >flat.
>> > >
>> > Where this argument loses me is that, if we assume he is paying that much
>> > attention to one individual CLARINET player and his particular sound, we
>> > must also assume he chose particular keys, even particular notes, to suit
>> > the tone qualities of each oboist, flutist, trumpeter, horn player,
>> > bassoonist, even string player, in the WHOLE orchestra, in EACH piece he
>> > wrote. If so, no wonder he died at 35. The strain killed him!
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > 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.
>> >
>> > -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>=======================================
>Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
>Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
>leeson@-----.edu
>=======================================
>
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>
>
>

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