Klarinet Archive - Posting 001176.txt from 2003/04

From: AnneLenoir@-----.net (Anne Lenoir)
Subj: [kl] Mozart's 12 duets for 2 basset horns
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:48:32 -0400

A very dear friend has just sent me the sheet music of Mozart's 12 duets
for 2 basset horns. Fortunately he also sent a CD that had several of
the duets on the CD plus a couple of Divertimenti. #III K-4396, and #II
K-4397. As I was listening to the CD and trying to find the selections
on the sheet music, I realized very quickly that these duets simply
cannot be performed in public on 2 Bb clarinets or 2 A clarinets,
because they just wouldn't sound good in the higher pitches. Even if a
person were to attempt to "transpose" the duets down a 4th, they still
wouldn't sound right. Not just because the lower notes would be missing,
but because the tone would not be right.
O.K. Dan and sometimes Tony. I get it! ANNIE
P.S. The basset horns that I heard on the CD were not "extentions" of an
excisting Bb or A clarinet. They were definitely basset horns in Eb or
F. So all this means that if I decide to perform these types of duets in
public, that I am going to have to save up $6000 or more, and then find
somebody else who owns the same type of basset horn. I hope I can make
enough money to afford one, and live long enough to get to play it.

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