Klarinet Archive - Posting 000482.txt from 2004/09

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: [kl] Kegelstatt (was, a little Monday morning present for all)
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 10:39:57 -0400

On 27 Sep, "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net> wrote:

> http://gallica.bnf.fr/Anthologie/notices/01164.htm
>
> The entire manuscript of the Kegelstatt trio, now a part of the
> Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, may be seen at this link.

Thanks for that, Dan.

> Strangely, the 3rd page from the end and the 2nd page from the
> end are in the wrong order.

It's not quite that. The 2nd page from the end is an insert, one that Mozart
wanted put in after the 8th bar of the *4th* page from the end.

I've always thought a very striking thing about this MS is that all those
strange sudden 'f' dynamics in the first movement -- for example, bars 16 and
18 -- are missing. I find it helpful to know this, because it means that
those dynamics weren't a part of Mozart's original conception.

Why are they there in the printed edition, then?

Well, of course they might have been an afterthought of Mozart's, and be
meant to be taken seriously, and played dramatically. But another theory
that springs to mind is that someone, perhaps Mozart himself, put them there
to ensure that the fortepiano melody doesn't fall into two bits because the
first Eb won't sustain. (This is a problem that doesn't occur on a modern
piano, of course.) Playing it louder helps that on the earlier instrument.

And what *that* means, if true, is that it's OK not to do a dramatic
'Beethoven-type' forte at those points. I think a much more gentle 'lean'
from clarinet and viola in order to help support the piano line is much more
in keeping with the spirit of the movement, even on early instruments.

And on modern instruments, you can almost ignore the 'f' entirely.

Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd tony.p@-----.org
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE http://classicalplus.gmn.com/artists
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... STICK 'stik n. 1: A boomerang that doesn't work.

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