Klarinet Archive - Posting 000043.txt from 2002/11

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: reverse Mozart
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 13:59:13 -0500

guiomarks@-----.net wrote:
> Has there been any effort in modern times to reintroduce/recreate the clarinet
> in B-natural? It seems that this would be a logical step for the period
> instruments community.
>
> David Oakley
>
> On Fri, 01 Nov 2002 07:20:29 -0800 Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
> wrote:
>
>
>>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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>>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>

I know of no such effort, though the high-pitched clarinet in B-flat
that was in use in the first half of the 20th century came very close to
being a clarinet in B-natural. Mozart used the instrumnent only twice
and its theoretical purpose was to permit facilitation for concert keys
in more than 3 sharps.

Dan

--
***************************
**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
***************************

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