Klarinet Archive - Posting 000409.txt from 2003/11

From: Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] mozart requiem
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2003 17:22:54 -0500

David Glenn wrote:
> - snip -
>
>
>>> doing the Kyrie on A clarinets. Had a fleeting thought of doing
>>> it on the basset horn ... ;-)
>>>
>>
>> Interesting locale, Eichstetten/Kaiserstuhl. I have visited it on a
>> number of occasions because my wife's family is from that village.
>> To make sure I have it right, it is about 30-45 minutes from the
>> French border, and the Kaiserstuhl is visible from Freiburg,
>> right??
>>
>> As for the use of A clarinets in the Kyrie fugue, why? There are
>> no key complications when playing it on basset horn. The Sanctus
>> definitely has a key complication requiring basset horns in F to
>> play in written A major, a definite no no. But there is no reason
>> to use anything but basset horns for the Kyrie. What is the issue
>> that makes you feel that such an instrument change is needed?
>>
>> Dan
>>
> ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Hi Dan,
>
> Yes, Eichstetten is near Freiburg. I've never travelled from
> Eichstetten to the French border but I would guess it would take
> about half an hour taking the small roads around the Kaiserstuhl,
> yes.
>
> Sometimes we go up to the mountaintop called Hochblauen which is near
> Kandern where we live. From there, when the weather allows we look to
> the north and can see parts of Freiburg (about 35-40 km as the bird
> flies). Looking to the left of Freiburg, we can see the Kaiserstuhl.
> To the left of that are the Vosges mountains and the Rhine with its
> side canal. Looking south, we see parts of Basel and sometimes,
> rarely, we can see all the way to the Alps! (ca. 150-200 km). We can
> make out Eiger, Moench and Jungfrau. That was a short geography
> lesson!
>
> About the Kyrie: I'm sorry to not have been clear. I meant the extra
> Kyrie in D minor not belonging to the Requiem which Mozart wrote in
> Munich a few years earlier. I thought about saving myself the
> intonation problem of changing from A to basset when we start the
> Requiem on those exposed tones. But don't worry, we played the Kyrie
> on A clarinets and then changed to bassets for the Requiem.

Ah, now I undertand. Sure, we discussed that either A or B-flat
clarinets could be used for the d-minor Kyrie. And as I remember, the
only source for that work has A clarinets in the key of 4 flats which,
while peculiar, has precendent in two other Mozart works.

>
> About the three sharps in the Sanctus: how did that happen?! Is that
> Sussmayer's fault??

The Sanctus is the first section of the Requiem completely without
Mozart's involvement and is entirely by Sussmayr. So here is the first
time that Sussmayer is writing something that has no Mozart material to
guide him. In the earlier numbers, all drafted by Mozart, the keys and
the use of basset horn within them was very consistent with the entire
business of key signature complexities in 18th century music.

But the Sanctus was composed and scored entirely by Sussmayr. It's in
the key of D major which requires basset horns to play in A major. It's
a good key for "glory" music because trumpets in D were always used for
church music that included a lot of "Hosannas." But Sussmayr was not a
man experienced in this kind of situation and, what is worse, he had no
idea how to write for a basset horn. I think that he may have thought
them to be a form of French horns in which the tradition then (and often
now, too) was to write the part in C major with the accidentals written
in where needed, because that is the way that he wrote for the bassets
in the Sanctus, the manuscript of which I have personally examinied.

In fact, in a published paper on Mozart's use of the clarinet, I stated
that the fact that the key signature of the Sanctus calls for three
sharps is prima facie evidence of Mozart's uninvolvement with that
section (as well as the Osanna fugue that follows it).

While Sussmayr may or may not have been a good composer (I'm not
qualified to make that judgement), he was a poor orchestrator. I assume
you are using the Sussmayr edition and I ask you to pay attention to
what happens in the Osanna fugue following on the Sanctus. For
absolutely no known reason, Sussmayr silences the basset horns (who
should have been accompanying the soprano and alto choral voices). But
in the repise of the Osanna fugue (which follows the Benedictus) he uses
them as he should, though in a different key. It was supposed to be in
the same D major key. What a putz!!

The next time my wife and I are in France (we have a place near Selestat
though we have not been there in two years), we shall come over and eat
something interesting with you. Are you familiar with the Rhine ferry
near Kappell? Well I take that ferry quite often. It costs nothing and
takes 10 minutes for the whole trip. The captain points the boat
upstream and the current forces it right into the lock on the Kappell
side or even the French side which is at the town of Rhinau.

In Freiburg there is a kitchen supply store that is the largest in all
of Germany. The stuff they have there is incredible. You can buy
something as small as a salt shaker or as big as a pizza oven that will
take 25 pizzas, and anything in between.

Dan
>
> The cathedral was so full that many had to stand. It went quite well.
> I so love to play the basset horn! And then that music!
>
> Best, David
>
>
--
Dan Leeson
leeson0@-----.net

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