Klarinet Archive - Posting 001280.txt from 1998/07

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Re: Mozart and the right clarinet
Date: Wed, 29 Jul 1998 14:58:35 -0400

In a recent paper that Bob Levin and I did for the Mozart Jahrbuch (and
which my friend Nick Shackelton has a copy of, by the by), we examined
every piece of music that Mozart wrote for both clarinet and basset horn
to see if there were any notes that he never used.

Now I did not keep the details of the examination, but I do have the
conclusion. Except for high c-sharp on clarinet and one low note
on basset horn, there is at least one instance of Mozart writing that
note. I don't remember what the low note was but I think f-sharp comes
to mind.

Not included in the examination were any works for which the autograph
could not be examined, and that excludes the concerto and the 581
quintet. The upper range restriction that I chose arbitrarily was
high d.

Now it may very well be that some basset horns and basset clarinets
exist without the full complement of notes below low c, perhaps
eliminating one such note. But if Mozart wrote for Stadler's
instruments he must have been informed that the four semitones
between low e and low c did exist or he would not have written for
them. The fact that he excludes one such note does not mean that
the instrument did not have it. Perhaps the occasion for him to
use that note never arose.

=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
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