Klarinet Archive - Posting 000581.txt from 2004/08

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] The making of K. 581
Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 21:08:52 -0400

For the Romantic period there are lots of sources that talk about
achieving the smoothe surface. There are also the actual phrase
markings in the Romantic literatures; i.e., lots of slurs, etc.
But for the Baroque and Classical period there really aren't any
explicit sources for winds. It determined (or I should say,
deduced) from the manuscripts. They are often barren of slurs in
fast passages requiring use of the tongue, though elsewhere the
phrase markings are very clear and unambiuous.

So if this condition exists, it is rational to assume that the
manuscript markings are deliberate rather than accidental. I am
told, but I don;t know first hand, that there are sources
speaking to the issue of phrasing for brass instruments during
the 17th and early 18th centuries that confirm that the surface
textures of music from that period (and for brass) were rough.
Certainly the surface textures of string music (such as the Bach
Brandenburg concerti) are very articulate.

On the other hand, there are some who suggest that the surface
texture of 18th century string music was due more to gut strings
than to phrase patterns.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Audrey Travis [mailto:vsofan@-----.ca]
Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 5:19 PM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: Re: [kl] The making of K. 581

Dan
How do we know that Mozart's music had a rough surface texture?
And
how/why did we get the transition from rough to smooth by the
time of
Brahms? Are there textual sources?

Audrey

dnleeson wrote:

>
> Music in Mozart's time (and even moreso in earlier periods) had
a
> very rough surface texture. Tonguing was much more prevalent.
> Listen to Bach's fast trumpet music. Mozart's manuscripts show
> lots and lots of tonguing. But they also show slurring too, so
> one cannot presume that the absence of articulation is a
mistake.
>
> But by the time Brahms came around, it was important for
surface
> texture to be smooth, with no tongue to make the surface rough.
> That is a characteristic of romantic music. SMOOTH. And that
was
> the style of music that Macellus was emulating. It was
> beautifully done, but it was Mozart's music with Brahms surface
> texture, which is just as inappropriate as Brahms music with
> Mozart's surface texture. Marcellus what a magnificent
> clarinetist but I never thought he knew very much about how
music
> from various epochs differed, one era from another.

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