Klarinet Archive - Posting 000696.txt from 2003/04

From: Stephanie Cox <stylemarc205@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] K622 instrumentation
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:40:32 -0400

Thanks for your response. Everything you said does
make sense. And it was only something I'd read. I'm
certain it's not the one and definitive reason that
someone gave for teh absence of oboes.

--- Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net> wrote:
> Stephanie,
>
> While you are correct to state that oboes are not
> used in K. 622, the
> reason behind that is simply because Mozart chose
> not to use them.
> Anyone who suggests a reason for Mozart's action is
> signing their
> speculation with Mozart's name.
>
> And if you find the argument that he didn't use them
> because they would
> have taken attention away from the solo clarinet (as
> was your
> recollection), you must ask yourself, in what way
> would they have taken
> attention away from the clarinet? Is the sound
> character of an oboe so
> penetrating and momentous that one's attention would
> immediately shift
> from the solo clarinet to the oboe if it were to
> play? It's an argument
> that's possible but hard to believe and impossible
> to prove.
>
> You would be safe to say that his choice of
> instrumentation was
> invariably a personal decision based on some inner
> voice telling him
> what sound character he wanted. And it also had to
> do with what
> instruments were available at that moment, a case
> that I don't think
> applied to K. 622. He was in Vienna and could have
> any instrument he
> chose. Perhaps Stadler told him that he was going to
> tour with the
> concerto and Mozart had to conceive of the
> possibility of a reduced
> orchestra in the boondocks.
>
> I point out that of all his piano concerti, only one
> has BOTH oboes and
> clarinets (K. 491) so maybe he thought that their
> simultaneous presence
> was not the musical sound he wanted to hear in a
> concerto. But this was
> not a man for whom instrumental sound was
> unimportant. He would have
> known exactly how to hand the oboe, had he included.
>
> Dan

=====
"Once one dismisses the rest of all possible worlds, one finds that this is the best of all possible worlds."

lyrics from Leonard Bernstein's 'Candide'

Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo
http://search.yahoo.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is supported by Woodwind.Org, http://www.woodwind.org/