Klarinet Archive - Posting 000030.txt from 2002/11

From: "WILLIAM SEMPLE" <wsemple@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: reverse Mozart
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 13:59:00 -0500

Thank you. A learned response, and very informative.
Your answer suggests a corollary question: why did the Bb clarinet emerge as
the dominant instrument, especially since so many instruments in an
orchestra are pitched to concert C.

At least from a modern perspective, it is hard to imagine the Mozart
Concerto or Quintet played in any other key than A and on any other
instrument other than an A clarinet.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel Leeson" <leeson0@-----.net>
Subject: Re: [kl] Re: reverse Mozart

> WILLIAM SEMPLE wrote:
> > Did Mozart selected the key of A because that was what the early
instruments
> > were tuned to? Was the key of Bb a more modern invention?
> >
>
> I'm not sure I understand your question, but I think you are asking why
> Mozart requested a clarinet in A for the concerto rather than a clarinet
> in B-flat. If that is not what you meant, I apologize for wasting your
time.
>
> He had a choice of four clarinet pitches he could have used because
> there were four kinds of clarinets in use in Austria at tha time he was
> writing. They were pitched in A, B-flat, B-natural, and C, though the
> B-natural clarinet was used far more rarely. All were effectively
> contemporaenous with each other and he could have used whichever one he
> preferred.
>
> However, if he decided to write the concerto in the key of A major (for
> whatever reason), then he was stuck with the A clarinet because that is
> the only one that would have a written key that was appropriate to the
> music of the era.
>
> Alternatively, there is the faint possibility that he chose the A
> clarinet (and thus, the concert key of A major) because he was enamored
> of the character of sound produced by an A clarinet.
>
> Finally, there is the possibility that Stadler, for whom he was writing
> the concerto and who had three basset clarinets, one in A, one in
> B-flat, and one in C (according to the article on clarinets in new
> Groves), requested that he use the A clarinet for any of several
> reasons. Perhaps it tuned best. Perhaps it played best. Perhaps the
> low basset notes were more reliable on that particular instrument.
>
> There is also the very remote possibility that the concerto was
> scheduled for a particular concert and, in that case, Mozart would have
> chosen his key of concert A major so as not to clash with the other
> works to be played on the same concert.
>
> But you must discount the idea expressed in your question that clarinets
> in various pitches were invented or available sequentially in time.
> They were, effectively, all available at the same time, the first
> probably being the clarinet in C.
>
> --
> ***************************
> **Dan Leeson **
> **leeson0@-----.net **
> ***************************
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>

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