Klarinet Archive - Posting 000306.txt from 1998/11

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and a "new concerto"
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1998 22:54:09 -0500

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.53
> Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and a "new concerto"

>
>
> klarinet@-----.org schrieb:
>
> > > From: MX%"klarinet@-----.99
> > > Subj: [kl] Mozart and a "new concerto"
> >
> > > This falls under the category of "things that make you go hmmmm.
> > >
> > > I was glancing through an older issue of the HB Recordings catalog
> > > (May to be exact) and on p. 13 came across this description of a recording
> > > by Dieter Klocker.
> > >
> > > "Scholarly research has revealed that the E flat Concerto, which
> > > was previously thought to be a sixth violin concerto, was probably
> > > intended to be for the clarinet."
> > >
> > >
> > > Does anyone have an idea if this research exists and where to find it? I
> > > have not heard of this one before.
> > >
> > > Laroy
> > >
> > > Dr. Laroy Borchert
> > > Professor of Clarinet
> > > NMSU
> > >
> >
> > Laroy, if you believe this one, there is a bridge in Brooklyn that
> > I would like to sell to you. There are several anomolies in the
> > description the first of which is that Mozart wrote only 5 violin
> > concerti and the second of which is the relative impossibility of
> > transcribing what is suggested to be a work for clarinet to an
> > idiomatic work for violin.
> >
> > Suppose for a moment that Mozart did write another clarinet concerto
> > and the violin mafia decided to steal it and make it into a violin
> > concerto. The two instruments have such different tessaturas and
> > are used so radically differently that what would come out would be
> > a crippled piece of composition.
> >
> > There is yet another factor at work here; i.e., who is going to buy
> > a clarinet concerto that was formerly a violin concerto of Ludwig
> > Schnurtz (made up name)? No one. So instead, a clever marketeer
> > says, "Let's tie this one to Mozart somehow and it will make a
> > mint."
> >
> > Now let us talk about that bridge that I own in Brooklyn...
> >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > =======================================
> > Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
> > leeson@-----.edu
> > =======================================
> >
> > Hey Dan, whoah, not so fast! I also always thought that Mozart only wrote five
> > violin concertos (and was always jealous as a clarinettist with only one!) but
> > there *is* a work for violin and orchestra which *may* be by Mozart. It's
> > called "Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in Eb Major K 268". Yes, it even has
> > a Koechel number! You can buy a pocket score from Eulenburg. It's Edition
> > Eulenburg Nr. 718.

Sorry. This dog won't bark. K. 268 (as wellas K. 271a) is a work of
seriously disputed authorship, Eulenburg score nothwithstanding and has
been moved to that section of the Kochel catalog reserved for
"doubtful and spurious" pieces.

The following is a complete list of works for solo violin and
orchestra that are by Mozart:

1. K. 207 in B-flat
2. K. 211 in D
3. K. 216 in G
4. K. 218 in D
5. K. 219 in A

There are also three works for solo violin and orchestra that are only
one movement long and thus do not conform to the concerto form.

They are K. 261 in E, K. 269 in B-flat, and K. 373 in C.

There is also the concertone for two violins which in no way fits
the description of the work under discussion, and the concertante
for violin, viola and orchestra, same story.

There is no 6th violin concerto and it is unlikely that Klocker
has found a work of Mozart. It may be wonderful and delightful,
but it is almost certainly not by Mozart.

>
> Now, why don't we know of this piece as a violin concerto? It's very simple:
> It's practically unplayable and totally ungrateful to play on the violin. No
> violinist in his right mind wants to do it! (Which supports what you say about a
> crippled piece) Was Mozart ,as a commission composer, likely to write an
> unplayable piece? It's not like he didn't know any better... What's more likely
> is that it was written for a Bb instrument (being in the key of Eb). Clarinet is
> the most likely candidate.
>
> The differences between the violin and the clarinet version of this piece remind
> me somewhat of the differences between the viola and the (normal i.e. short)
> clarinet version of the Mozart A major concerto which both appeared in print
> simultaneously after Mozart's death. Also, as you suggest with the Eb concerto,
> the viola version of the A major is not comparable to the clarinet version. Of
> course it is eminently more playable being in A and not in Eb. I don't think (I
> have absolutely no evidence here, only my feeling for Mozart which I trust) that
> Mozart did the arrangements. (neither one: the clarinet nor the viola
> arrangement)
>
> As far as the question as to whether this piece is by Mozart, I recommend that
> you first listen to it. If you are familiar with Mozart (and I *know* you are),
> you'll recognize him here. Try it! But don't ask me for any scholarly
> evidence....
>
> David
> David Glenn
> notestaff@-----.ch
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================

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