Klarinet Archive - Posting 000482.txt from 2004/08

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Source for K. 581 (was K. 581 performance practice)
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2004 19:05:58 -0400


-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Pay [mailto:tony.p@-----.org]
Sent: Monday, August 16, 2004 1:30 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: RE: [kl] Source for K. 581 (was K. 581 performance
practice)

On 15 Aug, "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net> wrote:

> Something cannot be established to be authoritative unless a
manuscript is
> available for confirmation. If not, it is not authoritative.
I recognize
> that it might be, and perhaps "necessarily" would have been a
useful
> descriptor, but I was tring to convey the absolute reality of
the
> situation. My suspicion is that what we have is probably
fiarly close to
> what Mozart wrote. Judging from past experience that means
about 20 wrong
> notes, 100-200 wrong dynamics, 5 incorrect rhythms, and no one
knows how
> many incorrect phrase shapes.

I think your suspicion in the case of K581 is pretty wide of the
mark. The
first edition of K581 is *very* unadorned, both with regard to
dynamics and
with regard to phrasing. And we know that very many Mozart
*manuscripts*
have this character.

=====================
Every complete Mozart manuscript that I have ever seen, either in
the original or facsimile form, had dynamics and phrase shapes in
abundance, or I should say as many as he wanted in the music.
Insofar as clarinet music, the manuscripts of 375, 388, 452,
Kegelstat trio, etc. are all available for corroboration. While
I do not disagree that the first edition of 581 is unadorned,
there is no reason to believe that those lack of adornments are
as such because they are absent in the manuscript. Besides, the
editor did not work from the manuscript but, instead, from a set
of manuscript performance parts, which compounds the problem.

=====================

Clearly, in assessing the extent of editorial interference, you
have to take
into account the *sort* of editing you're dealing with. Unless,
that is, you
think there is a sort of 'anti-editor' who takes things out of
the manuscript
rather than putting things in -- which I for one find
psychologically
implausible.

If there are a lot of markings, then I agree the situation
becomes more
difficult, as in the case of K361.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd tony.p@-----.org
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE
http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
tel/fax 01865 553339

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