Klarinet Archive - Posting 000092.txt from 2002/08

From: "Michael Bryant" <michael@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Fantastic experiences continued...
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2002 08:11:44 -0400

Tanya wrote on Monday, August 05, 2002 9:33 PM
(snip)
The program notes state that as Stadler and Mozart were both Freemasons
"it is probable that the clarinet and particularly the basset horn (also
used in the Requiem and The Magic Flute) had a particular ritual and
symbolic significance for them". Can anyone expand on this?

Mozart wrote Masonic music without the basset horn:
for voice and piano K 483-4, K 619, voice and organ K 468
and voice and orchestra K429. It was not essential. Is it possible
that it goes no further than: Mozart liked the sound of the basset horn
played by fellow-mason Anton Sadler and it was suitable for the purpose?
Robbins Landon wrote a lecture on "Mozart and the Masons"
(Thames and Hudson, 1982/91) with only one passing reference
to Anton Stadler (p.56). The Viking Opera Guide gives the
instrumentation of most of Mozart's operas: three use basset horn:
Die Entfuehrung: 2cl/2 basset horns; Magic Flute: 2cl/2basset horns;
La Clemenza di Tito: 2cl/basset cl/basset horn. Stadler was with
Mozart in Prague in 1787 and for Tito 1791 hence the obbligato parts
in Sesto's aria 'Parto, ma tu ben mio' and Vitellia's rondo 'Non piu di
fiori vaghe catene'. The basset horn parts of the Requiem do not go
below the range of the standard clarinet. So again Mozart wanted
just the sound of the basset horn? Further reading:
Alfred Einstein: Mozart, Chapter 4, Catholicism and Freemasonry
Robbins Landon: '1791, Mozart's Last Year', Chapter 6, Midnight for the
Masons

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