Klarinet Archive - Posting 000128.txt from 2002/03

From: "mlmarmer" <mlmarmer@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Netherlands Wind Ensemble
Date: Fri, 8 Mar 2002 11:54:20 -0500

Hi Michael,

I appreciated the email about the NWE 7th symphony and the notes on the
piece.

This recording on Chandos has Harmen de Boer and Gerrit Boonstra as the
clarinetist and they did add the Bass and Timpani. Their recording of the
7th is about 5 minutes less than a normal full orchestra recording. Again,
I highly recommend this for anyone's CD collection. I am sure it will not
remain in print very long over time. It came out in 1996.

Also, I am reading the Barry Cooper book, on Beethoven, and of course, many
know how the third symphony upset many, with the drastic change in the a
symphony was heard and its form, but his first symphony caused a commotion,
by him making the wind parts, as a equal to the strings. That was unheard
of in 1800. Beethoven was like the Beatles in 1964, with their dramatic
change in the rock world. Some loved the changes and many hated the changes
in the music world, but eventually they came around to appreciate the music,
in both cases.

Mike Marmer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Bryant" <michael@-----.uk>
Subject: Re: [kl] Netherlands Wind Ensemble

> Apologies for this long post
>
> This is a very exhausting work to play . My parts came from the Beethoven
> Archive in Bonn and needed some repair. I have heard that it has been
> published, but do not know the name of the publisher. The NWE
> added some percussion. The 7th Symphony in the "composer's
> version" was recorded by Belgian RT in 1984 for the Accent label,
> ACC48434, on period instruments by a group called Octophoros.
> The clarinettists (C essential and B flat) were Hans Rudolf Stalder
> and Elmar Schmid. Here are the notes with that CD:
>
> The transcription is in general a subject, which in this day and age (a
> prolific time for transcriptions) an author can only struggle against in
> vain ; but at least one can rightfully demand that the publisher declares
> the fact on the title-page, so that the reputation of the author is not
> diminished and the public is not deceived.
>
> With these words Beethoven angrily took to the field against the
> unauthorised arrangements of his works (Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung
> 3.11.1802).
>
> There was as yet no author's copyright, but on the other hand, in the days
> before modern methods of reproduction, arrangements were a necessity for
the
> dissemination of compositions. When not everyone could afford a full
> orchestra, versions of orchestral works for piano solo, piano duet and
piano
> trio were in great demand.
>
> In the Vienna of Joseph II this was certainly not the only reason for
music
> being rewritten. Vienna was the capital of the greatest European kingdom,
> and it enjoyed this status in the eyes ofthe whole world. Schiller
described
> the city as a place in which every day was Sunday and where the spit
turned
> constantly over the fire. Its inhabitants were obsessed with theatre,
opera
> and music, provided that nothing made any great demands on the intellect.
> Every prince wished to have musicians at his disposal as long as funds
> allowed. At the royal court as well as at the Liechtensteins,
> Schwarzenbergs, Khefenmullers, Kaunitzes, Esterhazys, Kinskys,
Lobkowitzes,
> Morzins and Razoemovkys in fact a lot of music was made, but also in the
> less well-endowed middle class households it could be enjoyed by everyone
;
> in private theatres, in the Hofburg theatre open to the public and at the
> numerous public concerts (Akademien). In addition there were also the
summer
> street serenades, so that Charles Burney could rightly report that indeed
> Vienna is so rich in composers and encloses within his walls such a number
> of musicians of superior merit, that it is but just to allow it to be the
> imperial seat of music as well as of power.
>
> About 1780 this Vienna became the forerunner of a new musical fashion,
which
> Mozart accurately represented in the closing scene of his opera Don
> Giovanni. In his great dining hall the Spanish nobleman awaits the arrival
> of his stony guest. In order to give the meal a festive air, a wind
ensemble
> plays arrangements of arias from recent Viennese operas. Even his man
> Leporello appears to know all the tunes.
>
> The wind ensemble which Mozart used on the stage consisted of 2 oboes, 2
> clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons. That was no accident.
>
> Wind instruments were already very popular for table music. At the time
when
> the highly regarded clarinettist, Anton Stadler, trod the boards in
Vienna,
> the octet, often augmented with a deep bass instrument (contrabassoon,
> double bass of serpent), was so popular that it attracted a special name :
> the Harmonie. When Mozart informed his father "I have to compose a
> Nachtmusik immediately, but only for a Harmonie", he also mentioned the
> scoring of his Serenade at the same time. The Gran Partita for 13 wind
> instruments was not known as Harmonie music, but a great wind composition
of
> a quite special kind. The Emperor and a few high aristocrats formed their
> own Harmonie, and tried to recruit the best virtuosi. Quite clearly music
> playing lackies could no longer withstand the increasing demands of the
> music. Composers and arrangers were commissioned to furnish a repertory.
> Mozart's final scene plainly showed how the nobility were mad about opera
> arrangements, especially as entertainment for the banquets lasting hours,
> with which they filled their days.
>
> Strange to say the greater part of these arrangements were made by three
> Bohemian musicians. Josef Triebensee worked primarily for the Royal and
> Imperial Harmonie, in which his father was the first oboist. He arranged
> inter alia the whole of «Don Giovanni» to aid the digestion of his
Highness.
>
> The second oboist, Johann Went, could boast of about forty opera
> arrangements, of which five were from Mozart. And since he also worked on
> commission from the obstinate Prince Schwarzenberg, who preferred to
listen
> to the cor anglais rather than the clarinet, he had to rework many of the
> operas a second time. Wenzel Sedlak served Prince von Liechtenstein as a
> clarinettist, which in no way hindered him from composing for the Imperial
> Harmonie as well. His greatest work is undoubtedly the arrangement of
eleven
> sections of Beethoven's Fidelio for a nine-part Harmonie, in fact under
the
> supervision of the composer himself as is shown by an advertisement m the
> Wiener Zeitung of lst July 1814.
>
> By 1782 compositions and arrangements for Harmonie had become such a
> lucrative business that Mozart was obliged to undertake an arrangement of
> his Entfuhrung aus dem Serail with his own hand. The reasons for this he
> explained in a letter to his father : Well, I am up to my eyes in work,
for
> by Sunday week I have to arrange my opera for Harmonie. If I don't,
semeone
> will anticipate me and secure my profits... you have no idea how difficult
> it is to arrange a work of this kind for Harmonie so that it suits these
> instruments and yet loses none of its effects.
>
> Two years later Maximilian Franz, the brother of Joseph II was « elected »
> to be the new Elector of Cologne. On the way to his new residence in Bonn,
> he allowed a Harmonie to accompany him, thus introducing the Viennese
> fashion into Germany. So it is certainly no accident that in 1792 the
young
> Beethoven offered his Prince a wind octet as table music (first published
> posthumously as op. 103).
>
> The music publishers did not immediately anticipate good profits from
> Harmonie music ; not until Germany and France took it up was their
interest
> aroused. Triebensee began to print parts of his works in 1803 and Sedlak
> selected five operas for publication between 1812 and 1815 (among them
> Fidelio). In 1816 Beethoven personally issued his 7th and 8th Symphonies
in
> various versions edited by S.A. Steiner. The Allgemeine Musikalische
Zeitung
> gave this full publicity. « The name of the genial Herr Beethoven is a
> guarantee so to speak for the great value of the two new Grand Symphonies
> offered here ». Available are : Orchestral scores and individual parts and
> versions for string quartet, piano trio, piano duet and piano solo. « All
of
> these editions were completed under the direct supervision of their
creator,
> Herr Ludwig van Beethoven.
> Significantly neither the advertisements nor the publications discriminate
> between these arrangements for non-symphonic forces. Obviously in those
days
> phenomena were viewed more tolerantly than would be the case today.
> Beethoven and his contemporaries apparently viewed arrangements as another
> suit of clothes in which a piece of music could be dressed in order to
meet
> a particular set of circumstances.
>
> We are inclined to call Ravel's orchestration of Mussorgsky's Pictures at
an
> Exhibition, an enrichment, and Stravinsky's piano arrangement of the Rite
of
> Spring, a reduction. Beethoven regarded the orchestral version of his 7th
> Symphony as the one suitable for the concert hall. The version for
Harmonie
> was best suited for the palaces of the aristocracy, and the piano edition
> was made for personal use. That does not imply a value judgement. Why else
> would he have offered an example of the piano version as a gift to the
> Empress of Russia, and received for it a princely reward of 50 ducats.
>
> The popularity of the Harmonie indirectly exerted a great influence on the
> composition of the symphony orchestra and the art of orchestration. The
> eight-part wind section was more and more used in the orchestra in its
> entirety. This process can be followed in many works : the second
> orchestration of Mozart's 40th Symphony, the last London Symphony of
Haydn,
> the Magic Flute and the Creation.
>
> Beethoven could always turn to the Royal and Imperial Harmonie (at that
time
> Franz II's) for his Akademie concerts. It is therefore not surprising that
> the consequences of this development can certainly be perceived from the
> First Symphony onwards (1800). Orchestral sound clearly consists of two
> separate groups, each with its own character : the strings and the
Harmonie.
> And Beethoven's preference for the wind instruments is revealed on nearly
> every page of his symphonies.
>
> Arrangements for wind band alone give us further matter for thought. For
> example symphonic works are arranged in a similar way by all transcribers.
> In addition to their own part, the oboes play that of the flutes, the
> clarinets take the place of the violins, the bassoons that of the violas
and
> cellos and the contrabassoon that of the double basses. But since neither
> oboes nor clarinets can reach the upper notes of flutes and violins,
> transposing the work down is more often than not inevitable. This does not
> seem to have created problems, even when the pastoral tonality of F major
is
> transformed mto the heroic, tonality of into flat major. Sedlak rewrote
the
> Fidelio overture down a third in C major ; Beethoven's Seventh ends up in
G
> major instead of A major, but in the Scherzo the original F major is
> maintained. The symbolic nature of different keys, esteemed by numerous
> musicographers, loses ground here !
>
> Most often the arrangers also decide to make cuts in the symphonic
versions.
> Sedlak amputates the overture of bars 200-225 (in which there is a
> modulation from C major to B major) and replaces them with two bars at the
> unison - of his own invention No conductor today would allow himself to
make
> such a cut in a work by Beethoven, but the master himself intervened even
> more drastically in his Seventh - or at least authorized it. In the last
> movement, which is in traditional sonata form, he eliminated the entire
> development section !
>
> The scherzo was constructed as a rondo, with a three-fold return of a
presto
> and two returns of a slower trio in which Beethoven introduced tension by
> progressively eliminating the internal repeats and replacing the vehement
> accents of the central presto by a 'sempre piano'. In the version for wind
> band, there is only the 'piano' left of this 'sempre piano'; a presto and
> one trio section have been left out, but the internal repeats subsist, so
> that the movement as a whole becomes a conventional scherzo or minuet
form.
>
> The last two movements have not been shortened, but in the allegretto a
bar
> is missing, (253), which is not essential to the musical development and
> which is a literal repetition of bar 249. The disappearance of this bar
> breaks the regular two-bar phrasing characteristic of this section, but
that
> may be precisely its purpose. In bar 254, the first flute seems to enter
too
> soon, as does the first violin in the final bars. The superfluous bar
(253)
> destroys this acceleration, but at a bad time. Above all, it is only in
this
> bar that the initial motif of the allegretto ends on a weak beat and not
on
> the following strong beat. Here is a bone to pick for Beethoven
connoisseurs
> !
>
> Mike Marmer wrote on Friday, March 08, 2002 1:26 PM
> Subject: [kl] Netherlands Wind Ensemble
>
>
> > I just want to let you all know about an interesting recording on CD I
> have
> > by a group called the "Netherlands Wind Ensemble".
> >
> > The recording is 3 pieces by Beethoven and it is the last piece that is
> > really interesting, the 7th Symphony, done all by 2 oboes, 2 clarinets,
3
> > bassoons, 2 horns, one double bass and one timpani.
> >
> > If you are into Beethoven, I highly recommend this recording, available
at
> > Amazon. It is on Chandos, 9470.
> >
> > Mike Marmer
> > Germantown, MD
> >
> >
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