Klarinet Archive - Posting 000762.txt from 2000/03

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Wagner
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2000 12:23:06 -0500

Thank you Michael, but your contribution confirms my point. Twenty-six
years after Newhill did his very excellent article (and also wrote a
brief precis of it for The Clarinet sometime later) people are still
talking about the "Wagner Adagio for Clarinet."

As I said, musical misinformation is like a cancer. There is no cure
for it.

Michael Bryant wrote:
>
> John Newhill unravelled the mystery and the
> references for his articles that interested parties need are:
> Music and Letter, Volume 55 No 2, (April 1974)
> "The Adagio for Clarinet and Strings by Wagner/Baermann"
> and
> Clarinet and Saxophone Volume 13 No 2 (June 1988)
> "The Works of Heinrich Baermann"
> Mike Bryant
>
> >Daniel Leeson wrote on 24 March 2000 14:29 about Wagner
> >
> >
> >>Jonathan, the general feeling about musical misinformation is that, once
> >>it enters into the body of knowledge and by whatever method it got there
> >>and no matter how wrongheaded it is and no matter what proofs are given
> >>to show that it is full of doo-doo, no power on earth can ever get it
> >>out.
> >>
> >>It is like a cancer that infects the history of whatever it is the
> >>cancer has attached itself to. Five hundred years from now, some poor,
> >>benighted student will play a concert at which the Wagner Adagio will be
> >>the centerpiece.
> >>
> >>There is nothing you can do about it, either.
> >>
> >>Have a nice day.
> >>
> >>Dan
> >>
> >>Jonathan Cohler wrote:
> >>>
> >>> It's amazing how long the mis-information on this piece has persisted
> and
> >>> been passed along. I remember seeing a performance of this work with
> >>> Harold Wright about fifteen years ago, which was already a good fifty
> >years
> >>> after it was known that the work is by Heinrich Joseph Brmann. Here are
> >>> the program notes from my recording "Cohler on Clarinet" (Ongaku
> >024-101 -
> >>> http://www.ongaku-records.com/ ). I hope these are helpful:
> >>>
> >>> ----------------
> >>> Jonathan Cohler
> >>>
> >>> Adagio from Quintet in No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 23 (1820-1821)
> >>> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> This piece has been a victim of musicological negligence for more than
> >160
> >>> years! Brmann was the famous clarinetist for whom Weber wrote most of
> >his
> >>> clarinet music. Unfortunately for Brmann, Weber wrote his last clarinet
> >>> piece in 1816 (the Grand Duo Concertant on this recording), and Brmann
> >>> still needed fresh pieces for his concerts. This Adagio is the slow
> >>> movement from one of three clarinet quintets for clarinet and string
> >>> quartet that Brmann himself composed between 1820 and 1821.
> >>>
> >>> Shortly after Brmann's death, the music to this piece seems to have
> >>> disappeared. In 1926, the slow movement was discovered, but the copy
> had
> >>> no name on it. For some strange reason, musicologists and the
> publishers
> >>> decided to attribute this work to Richard Wagner, one of the later great
> >>> Romantic composers. If you are willing to forget that it sounds nothing
> >>> like Wagner, and that Wagner wrote no solo works for the clarinet, then
> >>> this attribution might be reasonable. Otherwise, it is quite a leap of
> >>> faith.
> >>>
> >>> Interestingly, in the earlier part of this century, some musicologists
> >>> discovered the error, but the attribution continued until as recently as
> >>> ten or fifteen years ago. Fortunately, the entire quintet has been
> >>> properly rediscovered and it is published by Musica Rara.
> >>>
> >>> At 4:37 AM -0500 3/24/0, Roger Shilcock wrote:
> >>> >This could be because it's not by Wagner. It's by one of the
> Baermanns -
> >>> >Heinrich, I think - and comes from a chamber music piece; I don't have
> >any
> >>> >sources of info. to hand, but I think it's (before rearrangement!) the
> >>> >second movement of a clarinet quartet.
> >>> >Roger S
> >>> >
> >>> >
> >>> >On Thu, 23 Mar 2000, bob and deborah shaw wrote:
> >>> >
> >>> >> Date: Thu, 23 Mar 2000 16:46:59 -0600
> >>> >> From: bob and deborah shaw <theshaws@-----.com>
> >>> >> Reply-To: klarinet@-----.org
> >>> >> To: Klarinet <klarinet@-----.org>
> >>> >> Subject: [kl] Wagner
> >>> >>
> >>> >> I have fallen in love with the Wagner Adagio and decided to do some
> >>> >> research on the piece. So far I have found tons of info on Wagner's
> >>> >> operas, but cannot find anything on the the Adagio for clarinet. Can
> >>> >> anyone steer me in the right direction. Do you know of sources where
> >I
> >>> >> can find info on this piece of music? Thanks so much,
> >>> >>
> >>> >> Deborah
> >>> >>
> >>> >>
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> >>> >>
> >>> >
> >>> >
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> >>--
> >>***************************
> >>** Dan Leeson **
> >>** leeson0@-----.net **
> >>***************************
> >>
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--
***************************
** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
***************************

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