Klarinet Archive - Posting 000464.txt from 1998/08

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Haydn and his questionable compositions
Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1998 16:22:43 -0400

About 5 years ago, the then husband and wife team of Austrian
scholars, the Badura-Skodas, stated that 5 lost Haydn sonatas
had been made available to them and this was an important
find.

It certainly was! Paul Badura recorded them in anticipation
of having a lock on the market. Eva Baruda-Skoda scheduled
a series of lectures on how these works were found. The
classical world waited in great anticipation. Seminars were
set up for Harvard, Princeton, Berline, etc.

The sonatas, unfortunately, turned out to be fake. On this there
was no question. When speculation and questions arose about
the sonatas, followed by the discovery that they were written
with a steel nibbed pen not available to Haydn, the works went
down the tube. Finally, the author of them admitted faking
the pieces.

The Badura Skodas had been duped and it hurt them both
significantly.

At least 30 years ago, I got access to some wind octets that were
inscribed with Haydn's name. Original compositions. Not known.
Then I got a call from the conductor of the Mozart festival in
San Luis Obispo asking if I would lend him my copies for a
recording. Though I was happy to do so, I offered the opinion that
there was no evidence other than his name on the music (though not
in Haydn's hand) that this was music of Haydn and that there were
some serious stylistic concerns about the music's authenticity.

Cliff Swanson (the conductor) did the right thing. He recorded the
works and then, in his lucid program notes, stated that there
was some question about the authority of these works.

About 50 years ago, H. C. Robbins Landon, maybe the world's
best Haydn scholars, was attempting, with several other Hadyn
specialists, to authentical or deauthenticate a bunch of
symphonies that had been attributed to Haydn. Nothing was
available but the music. No history. No background. Just
5 symphonies with Haydn's name on the first page.

On the basis of style alone, Robbins Landon and the other guys
decided that three of the works were by Haydn. Five years
later, the autographs of the works were found and none of
them were by Haydn.

It is possible to make a living finding Haydn pieces that are not
Haydn pieces. This does not mean that Dieter Klocker has perpetrated
a fraud. The concerto may very well be by Haydn, but the odds are
against it. If I were in his shoes and found such a work somewhere,
attributed as a Haydn clarinet concerto, I would have done the same
thing as he did; i.e., recorded it in terms of what it is said to
be, though I would also have done a big dance in case history proves
me to be wrong in 10 years.

Besides, if he had found a clarinet concerto of Joachim Schnutz,
who would give a damn? But finding a Haydn concerto, now that's
important.

Do you have any idea how much phony Haydn is out there? And do you
have any idea how much real but unknown Haydn is out there? I should
live so long as to find out.

In the back of the Koechel catalog, there is a list of about 200
pieces that are called "Doubtful and spurious works." 200 pieces!!!!
There are probably another 150 such works that have not even been
identified but have Mozart's name on them. Several were just said
to have been identified as entire scenes in collaborative operas
in which Mozart played a role. One such scene from the opera "The
Whirling Dervish" is scheduled to be played at the next AMA conference
and then the work will begin.

I think you should all know that I am hot on the trail of a concerto
for tenor sax by Mozart. And when I find it, I shall be about
as famous as one can get. I may even consider arguing the question
that it was for tenor sax in A, or maybe baritone sax in E-flat,
(with extension down to low A), but that may be difficult. However,
such assertions could win me the Nobel prize while waiting. I'll
make a living on that piece and have two mistresses. You know that
finding such pieces is not all bad.

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