Klarinet Archive - Posting 000779.txt from 2000/07

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Weber Concerto derived from Mozart?
Date: Sat, 22 Jul 2000 15:22:06 -0400

Andrea Bergamin wrote:
>
> > Da: les debusk <sflane@-----.com>
> > Risposta: klarinet@-----.org
> > Data: Sat, 22 Jul 2000 11:46:12 -0400
> > A: klarinet@-----.org
> > Oggetto: Re: [kl] Weber Concerto derived from Mozart?
> >
> > I had come across an article which stated that Webers Concertos were thought
> > upon when/after Mozart wrote his famous clarinet concerto.. i cant remember
> > where i read this but it was just on my mind.. do you think that Mozart's tone
> > and way or composer in his concerto rubbed off onto weber's clarinet
> > concerto?..
>
> I'd like to read this article.
>
> Technically speaking... there is no evidence of this fact.
>
> Mozart were affected by the early works for clarinet and it is obvious from
> some behavior (for example... the contrast of the registers: the melodic
> line is not "fluid" but is broken through the register zones of the
> instrument...). Mozart refers to the clarinet technique he has heard in
> Mannheim and there are some similitude with Stamitz's concerts.
>
> In Weber the instrument is used more modernly: jumps, dynamics,
> articulation... something you will never find in Mozart's 622.

Very well put Andrea but, as you said below, very subjective. From the
point of view of articulation, no one has any idea of what Mozart
requested because there is no source to check. But what is there in
Mozart's other compositions that use a clarinet (and for which we have a
source) that leads you to believe that the way he wrote is less "modern"
than the way Weber wrote? Personally, I have no objections if you feel
Mozart's music in this way, but I think it to be a mistake to generalize
it as descriptive of what he actually did. Are you suggesting there are
no leaps or widely spaced intervals in the concerto, the quintet, or
even the clarinet parts of the wind serenades.

Many people who, as you clearly do, like Mozart and probably play it
very well make the leap from what it is they like to do and to hear,
across the canyon and conclude that what they like is (or is not)
Mozart's characteristic metier.

I suggest that Weber's concerti are still lovely pieces but they fade in
and out of popularity because they are so fixed in time, whereas the
Mozart concerto has no such restriction and is as delightful today as
the day it was written. Personally (and very much personally), I think
the Weber concerti are over the hill with far fewer performances by
major players as the years go by, whereas fistfights break out on this
list about which low notes to play in K. 622.

And Weber's slippage from the music scene is also a characteristic of
his operas and symphonies too. To mount Oberon, for example, is most
unusual partly because Weber is perceived as a bright, second-class
composer. I don't suggest that this is true and I have no ability to
make such judgements, but look for yourself. When was the last time you
heard a symphony by Weber? What was the last Weber opera you heard?
When did you last hear a major, world-class clarinet play perform a
Weber concerto?

Just a thought, but I still very much enjoyed your perspective on this
matter even though we may have different views on it.

Dan Leeson
>
> >From the formal point of view the two concerts are completely different.
>
> ---
>
> If you are talking of general "tone" then we can only discuss on subjective
> feelings.
>
> To me... they are completely different.
> In Weber you can find a flaunty way of playing: more virtuosistic,
> wheedling, whimpering...
>
> In Mozart the clarinet is more evocative, more innerly deep; there are no
> "commercial effects".
>
> But... this is subjective!
>
> > Da: les debusk <sflane@-----.com>
> > Risposta: klarinet@-----.org
> > Data: Sat, 22 Jul 2000 11:46:12 -0400
> > A: klarinet@-----.org
> > Oggetto: Re: [kl] Weber Concerto derived from Mozart?
> >
> > I had come across an article which stated that Webers Concertos were thought
> > upon when/after Mozart wrote his famous clarinet concerto.. i cant remember
> > where i read this but it was just on my mind.. do you think that Mozart's tone
> > and way or composer in his concerto rubbed off onto weber's clarinet
> > concerto?..
> >
> > "Dee D. Hays" wrote:
> >
>
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--
***************************
** Dan Leeson **
** leeson0@-----.net **
***************************

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