Klarinet Archive - Posting 000367.txt from 2000/03

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] re A Clarinet Question
Date: Sat, 11 Mar 2000 11:47:10 -0500

KJF asked why both a Dvorak and a Sibelius work called for A clarinets.

Although I am not at all certain why those specific works call for
clarinets in A, I'd like to offer a general solution to the problem of
why any particular clarinet is called for, though one can find many
compositions that do not comply with it.

Mostly, it depends on the book(s) of orchestration that were studied
during the composer's formative years. Such books, particularly during
the period of time when both Dvorak and Sibelius were students, were
very clear about which clarinet should be used under which
circumstance. They generally said that flat keys should use clarinets
in B-flat, and sharp keys use clarinets in A. Keys with neither sharps
nor flats should use clarinets in C. The reasons why this advice were
given can be dated back to the late 1700s and were given long after the
origins for these constraints were established in the first place.

You will still find some contemporary texts on orchestration suggesting
this very thing, and some student somewhere will write a composition 50
years from now calling for a clarinet in A only because his
orchestration text told him so.

Now a lot of these suggestions had simply been carried down from earlier
books on orchestration, and clearly the suggestions were violated very
frequently, but as a general rule that was what was taught from ca. 1780
to about 1900.

The theory that the selection of a particular clarinet type was based on
the instrument's characteristic sound does not have much evidence to
support it, though once selected, a particular clarinet pitch's
distinctive sound did add its color to the overall orchestral palette of
sound. This is why I suggest that the instrument called for should be
used and not arbitrarily changed by the local player.

Dan Leeson

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Unsubscribe from Klarinet, e-mail: klarinet-unsubscribe@-----.org
Subscribe to the Digest: klarinet-digest-subscribe@-----.org
Additional commands: klarinet-help@-----.org
Other problems: klarinet-owner@-----.org