Klarinet Archive - Posting 000536.txt from 2003/08

From: "Patricia A. Smith" <patricia@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Articulation in the Weber Concertino
Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2003 15:58:46 -0400

Anne Lenoir wrote:
> I decided to play Concertino with practically no articulation, and it was a lot easier for
> me...Yesterday I was browsing through Volume 30, Number 1 of "The
> Clarinet" from December, 2002. I noticed an article on pp. 50-61 "Carl
> Maria von Weber's Clarinet Concertos" by Frank Heidlberger...Heidlberger had some copies of segments of the original
> scores on p.60. He mentions the fact that the original scores were
> marked without articulation, and goes on to talk about Weber's
> friendship with Baermann, and showing the later articulations that were
> created by Baermann. I thought to myself, "I really think that it is
> o.k. for a person to customize their own articulations when playing
> works of Weber." ...after I finished the performance, I did get quite a long
> round of applause and had to stand up 3 times in the band shell. This
> doesn't usually happen during our concerts... The audition was for subbing for the first clarinetist, who
> will be missing a few concerts this year. The conductor loved my
> clarinet playing and told me that they would be using me this season.

Hi Annie, sorry for all the snips, trying to keep things brief for the list.

First of all, congratulations, both on a GREAT performance, and on a
successful audition! WOOHOO! It must feel wonderful to be able to play
like that, and not only enjoy yourself, but also give so much enjoyment
to others! You go, Grannie Annie! *standing up, cheering, stomping!*

Secondly, IIRC, from the distant, muggy past, study of music history,
didn't several composers of that period write their originals without
articulation? D'oh. I don't really express myself properly here. What
I mean, is, those manuscripts that HAVE been found, of course. Haven't
the overwhelming majority of them been bererft of articulation, the
implication being that the player was expected to "fill in the blanks",
so to speak?

I remember having to learn the Johann Stamitz concerto as a transfer
student my third year. *MAJOR GROAN* I still hate that piece of music.
If you can call it that. I learned something from it, but I'm still
not quite sure what. (An appreciation of Dello Joio, Copeland and
Brahms, perhaps?) It was not the most stellar time for me as a student,
I can tell you that.

Patricia Smith

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