Klarinet Archive - Posting 000259.txt from 1999/05

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: Re: [kl] C Clarinets
Date: Sun, 9 May 1999 00:16:50 -0400

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.99
> Subj: Re: [kl] C Clarinets

> On Sat, 8 May 1999, Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu wrote:
> > It was a rule in clarinet playing that the instrument could
> > only execute in the written keys of C, F, and less frequently
> > G. Mozart taught his students never to write for clarinets
> > in anything but C and F, though he later relented to allow for
> > written G.
> >
> > The clarinet type was selected that enabled the clarinet player
> > to play in these non restricted keys no matter what the concert
> > pitch was.
> >
> > So given a concert key of say A major, a clarinet was selected
> > that would put its written key in C, F, or G, in this case either
> > the A or the B-natural clarinet.
>
> Dan, this information is terrific. When will this paper be
> published.....or, has it been already? Will it be available?

The next edition of the Mozart Jahrbuch will come out in Dec., 1999
and it will have the paper (co authored by Bob Levin and me). If
you are desperate, I could probably make a copy of it but it is
about 40 typed pages. So you had better be desperate.

>
> I am curious - in Beethoven's case - is there any evidence to lend
> credibility that he was writing for a specific clarinet rather than what
> key could be more easily played with a particular instrument? I'm not
> asking to fuel the flames - I am asking that, even in light if the
> innovation of later, more sophisticated clarinets, if you know if
> Beethoven was striving for a particular sound?

Beethoven worked under exactly the same rules as Mozart. Every time
the concert key went this way or that, he either changed clarinets,
or on occasion, simply had them stop playing because there was
insufficient time for a change.

In Mozart's case, he was even wilder in what he did. He knew that he
was not permitted to write for a clarinet in more than 1 sharp, so when
he needed to do so, he wrote for it in the WRONG KEY!!! I have at least
5 specific cases in which the clarinet is deliberately written in the
wrong key in order to not violate the general principle that one could
not have a clarinet playing in more than 1 sharp. An obvious place
is the c minor wind octet, last movement, at the fermata when the
work goes from c minor to c major. Mozart is trapped!!! c minor
allows the clarinet to play in d minor or 1 flat. Everything is fine.
But c major requires the clarinet to play in d major or two sharps.

So Mozart ignores the whole problem, leaves the clarinet in 1 flat,
and then writes all the accidentals in where they occur; i.e., every
f# and c# is explicitly written in and every b-flat is nullified with
a natural sign. Take a look at the score. THE CLARINET PART IS
DELIBERATELY WRITTEN IN THE WRONG KEY. Incidentally, the title
of the paper that Levin and I did is "Mozart's deliberate use of
incorrect key signatures for clarinets and basset horns."

In some of the Mozart operas, Mozart paints himself into a corner
and he has to leave the clarinets out because there is insufficient
time to change and he has gotten himself into a key signature that
is not legal for clarinets (at that time, of course).

By the way, did you ever notice that the entire overture to
Don Giovanni is written in the wrong key for clarinets!!!
The overture is in concert d minor and is for clarinet in A.
What key should the clarinets be in? What key are they in?

He was a prisoner of his times and he could not use any key he
wanted for any clarinet.

By the way, that is the main reason why one can prove with almost
absolute certainty that Mozart did not write the Sanctus of
his Requiem mass, K. 626. Sussmayr did. He wasn't very smart
and he wrote for both basset horns in the key of written A major
or 3 sharps. That would have been inconceivable for Mozart.

The things you see when you are out without a gun.

>
> Someone posted regarding the Eb clarinet as Peter Hadcock played it -
> being the same sound (almost) as his Bb/A clarinet playing. John Yeh
> sounds very similar on his Eb as he does on his Bb. In fact, he sounds
> similar on his C as he does his Eb and D. I wonder if this is something
> that could only be done in this century - with the advent of better
> clarinets, engineering, etc. I own a couple of very old clarinets - 2
> 5-key clarinets, and one 14 key A clarinet - all in beautiful shape (ivory
> and all) - I wonder what the difference is in the way that they sound?
> Roger Garrett
> Professor of Clarinet
> Director - Concert Band, Symphonic Winds & Titan Band
> Advisor - Recording Studio
> Illinois Wesleyan University
>
>
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=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================

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