Klarinet Archive - Posting 001178.txt from 2003/04

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Spelling/pronunciation/Haydn
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2003 00:48:34 -0400

At 10:20 AM 4/24/2003 +0100, Tony Pay wrote:
>...But then, some nine years later, travelling back from England, he
>happened to stop at Passau, where he heard a version of his work in
>which the orchestral sonatas were overlaid by a choral setting of a
>rather second-rate German poem about the crucifixion, and the readings
>and sermons replaced by recitativo settings.
>
>And this to me is the startling thing: far from being angry with the
>local choirmaster responsible, he was taken with the idea, if not the
>execution; and, obtaining a score, went home to produce his own version.
>"I think we can improve on some of the harmonies," he is reported to
>have said to the choirmaster.
>
>He got help with recasting some parts of the poem from the librettist
>who later produced the text for the Seasons and the Creation, threw out
>the recitatives in favour of a simple four-part choral setting of
>Christ's words, and improved the harmonies as he had promised.
>
>Now, although you might say that all of that bears testimony to Haydn's
>generosity of spirit -- and it surely does -- I think it is also
>evidence of the much more casual attitude of the eighteenth century to
>both text and authorship...

Back in the day when composers did not receive royalties for their work, I
suppose they could afford to be more casual about it. Nifty story!

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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