Klarinet Archive - Posting 000845.txt from 2001/02

From: Tony@-----.uk (Tony Pay)
Subj: Re: [kl] "dans la coulisse"...
Date: Thu, 22 Feb 2001 14:02:15 -0500

On Thu, 22 Feb 2001 00:30:21 +0100, a.bergamin@-----.it said:

> I'm going to play Saint-Saens "Carnival des Animaux" this weekend.
>
> In the "Coucou" Saint-Saens writes "dans la coulisse".
>
> I've asked someone but I've found different interpretations of this
> sentence. Someone says that I should play behind the scenes some other
> that I should play with the bell between my legs...
>
> I need a definitive meaning for this sentence.

Others have answered your question correctly.

The Carnival of the Animals can be approached in a variety of ways, one
of which is to 'send it up' a bit -- so that the pianists are
incompetent, for example.

One time we had two clarinet players on the concert, so I persuaded the
conductor to have *two* cuckoos, stereophonically placed. (The second
cuckoo made its appearance around 2/3 of the way through, and after
alternating a bit, the final joke was to divide the final, slow
cuck----oo between the players.)

This was a broadcast and televised Henry Wood Promenade concert, and the
unfortunate aspect of the affair was that the joke, which amused the
audience considerably when the 'second' cuckoo entered, was completely
incomprehensible on both radio and TV. In fact, they cut the movement
on the TV rebroadcast a few days later.

You have to be quite careful about sending pieces up, of course. We
tried the same trick in Italy, and succeeded in offending someone who
thought that this movement was one of the most beautiful of
Saint-Saens's creations, both in atmosphere and in harmony.

Compare: no one would dream of sending up the 'Swan'.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd Tony@-----.uk
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE GMN artist: http://www.gmn.com
tel/fax 01865 553339

... When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.

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