Klarinet Archive - Posting 000509.txt from 1999/04

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: Bells up continued
Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 15:50:46 -0400

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.86
> Subj: [kl] Re: Bells up continued

> Another issue brought up in the "Bells-up" argument is the purported
> inapplicability of this technique to the bass clarinet. This is not
> necessarily so. Mid-19th century bass clarinets are often straight in
> form, played with the bell pointing straight down onto the floor like an
> English horn; see the catalogs of the Sax compnay in Wally Horwood's
> book, "Adolphe Sax", for an illustration. Such instruments were made by
> Heckel--a purveyor of instruments to the region of the world where
> Mahler lived--into the 20th century, and for all I know may have been
> common. It is entirely posible, then, that the direction was meant
> seriously by the composer for the bass clarinet.

Robert, the difficulty of which I spoke on several occasions in
interpreting the "bells up" specification in the Mahler symphonies
has nothing to to with the bell. Whether the instrument Mahler had
in mind had a straight or an upturned bell does not affect the
specific problem of which I spoke; i.e., it is technically
impossible to execute on a bass clarinet that is elevated in such
a fashion as is very possible on oboes and soprano clarinets. The
mouthpiece entry into the mouth does not permit it, the weight of the
instrument vitiates against it, and finally the ultimate head position
cannot be physically achieved.

The intended angle in oboes and clarinets is approxiamtely 90 degrees:
i.e., the angle at which the instrument enters the mouth is perpendicular
to the head at the moment of execution. Many players use less than this
but the effect requested calls for such a dramatic angle. Because of
the difficulty in executing with an instrument at such an angle, most
players lean their head backwards as much as 20 degrees while the oboe
or clarinet retains perpendicularity with the axis of the body.

That physicality cannot be achieved on a bass clarinet and that you say
otherwise leads me to believe that there is some miscommunication between
us in terms of how a Mahlerian bells up is actually performed.

Also, in your description of the number of clarinets needed to
perform Mahler symphonies, you underestimated. Many of the symphonies
symphonies call for 6 instruments: C, B-flat, A, D, bass in B-flat,
bass in A. I used to bring all six! Actually the E-flat part is
generally meant for a D clarinet but I did not own one of those.

You might consider that some of us on this list have played all
the Mahler symphonies on multiple occasions over 40 years so we
have a small amount of experience with the problem, and playing
"bells up" with a bass clarinet -- in full understanding of what
that phrase means -- is technically impossible. I have no doubt
that Mahler could not possibly have meant for the bass clarinet
what he had every right to expect from soprano clarinet players
and oboists.

Finally this: you overestimate Mahler's ability to be aware of
every nuance of a symphony orchestra. I own copies of the
autographs of most of the Mahler symphonies, and the changes that
he made following performance after performance (and in multi
color inks so that one knows that change occurred later or
earlier than that change) show that the orchestral affects that
he originally intended were not being achieved by his directions.
So he changed his directions. Thus he was not always, as you say,
"a professional composer ... who knew every idiosyncracy of the
orchestra..." He tried his best to give complete directions but
his revisions show that he sometimes failed to achieve his intended
goal.

>
> Mahler was a professional composer, a conductor who knew every
> idiosyncracy of the orchestra, and a genius of proportions that we on
> this list can only hope to dimly understand. We must presume that
> (editorial screw-ups aside) he meant what he wrote. It is our duty as
> performers to analyse the problem, practice various solutions, and make
> it work, not to dismiss it out of hand. Do we dismiss the second Eb
> clarinet part in the third movement of the first symphony, merely
> because it is inconvenient for the fourth clarinet player to truck 5
> horns (Eb, C, Bb, A and bass)?
>
> By the way, I own an Eb clarinet by Stecher, Wien, that most likely was
> used in the US premiere of the 1st and 5th symphonies, under Mahler.
> Unfortunately, it dosen't answer when I ask it if Mahler meant what he
> wrote on this issue.
>
> Robert Howe
>
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=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================

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