Klarinet Archive - Posting 000703.txt from 2004/08
From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] [clarinet] The Mozart Forgeries
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 13:33:20 -0400
I must defend myself!!
Anytime one writes something, there is always the question of how
much detail to supply. Some find detail boring and say, "Just
give me the bottom line." I think that genius is in the detail
and if one is going to write about forging an 18th century
manuscript, then the reader needs to be enveloped in the
technology of paper, ink, quills, staff liners, watermarks,
handwriting, and page personality, because without these things
(and in depth, too), the story would be superficial and not
believable.
One cannot say, "So he made all the paper," and presume that the
technical necessities of that task and the effort to do it are
well-understood.
I don't know if you remember a fiction novel entitled "The Day of
the Jackal," by Frederick Forsythe. It was a simple
assassination story made brilliant by the author taking you
through every step of the process, and in considerable detail.
He even went into the technology of the bullet he intended to use
to assassinate Charles De Gaulle.
Look at the novel "Hawii" by James Michener. His detail is such
that the creation of the islands over a half dozen geological
periods takes an entire chapter, and without it, a lot of
meaningfull stuff would have been lost.
So to rebut David's statement, "... we don't **NEED** to know
*ALL** the gory details!!," I respond, "Oh yes you do, and be
grateful that I did not also give you a complete history of my
sex life, which would have added at least two more sentences, one
of which would dealt with the guilt involved."
I'll tell you that one of my motivations behind the book was the
reaction to the play and film, "Amadeus." I was flabbergasted at
the brilliance of the two separate representations of the
author's work. I loved both. But the hoity-toity Mozart lovers
would only say, "It wasn't accurate," which was true but
irrelevant. People who would not have spent 20 seconds thinking
about Mozart and his music were made to go to public libraries
and ask for books about the man or buy records of his music.
Others, completely ignorant of classical music, would ask, "What
was that piece when ...?"
So when I wrote "The Mozart Forgeries," I set out to do two
things: (1) give a good yarn with special enjoyment for clarinet
players (who, in the main and with lots of exceptions, don't know
very much about the history of either 622 or 581 -- they only
know the melodies), and (2) do so accurately within a fictional
story (which is a sort of oxymoron - technically accurate
fiction).
If there is one thing that we clarinet players are trained to do
when we play a work, it is pay attention to the details.
David Neithamer, next time I come to Virginia, you are buying the
dinner and it will be a hell of a lot more than a pizza!
Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net
-----Original Message-----
From: David B. Niethamer [mailto:dnietham@-----.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 7:41 PM
To: Moderated Clarinet
Subject: [kl] [clarinet] The Mozart Forgeries
I've just finished Dan Leeson's book, and want to add to the
chorus of
good reports about it.
The plot twist at the end is well set up, and well written.
I learned more about paper making than I ever cared to know.
(Note to
author - we don't **NEED** to know **ALL** the gory details!!)
But it was
still interesting. $20 million or not - what kind of idiots would
ruin a
perfectly good wine press like that?!?!?!?
I view this novel as a thinly veiled roman-a-clef. I think in his
heart
that Dan would like to view himself as Forger. How did I come to
this
opinion? At the end of Chapter 53,
Librarian: "Want to go out, have some dinner, and
celebrate?"
Forger "How about a pizza?"
Need I say more? There's also the issue of several days with "the
ever-vigorous Shirley", but this is a family list!
So, if a "short, stocky bald guy who's quirky and funny"(1)
approaches
you with valuable manuscripts to sell, discretely check for your
wallet!
I highly recommend that you enjoy this book if you haven't
already done
so!
(1) Seinfeld - Marissa Tomei episode
David
David Niethamer
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/
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