Klarinet Archive - Posting 000487.txt from 2004/09

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Kegelstatt (was, a little Monday morning present for all)
Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 13:38:28 -0400

Tony brings up one of the most difficult problems of any editor
who is preparing an edition of a work and has access to the
autograph in the composer's hand.

Tony notes differences in the Barenreiter edition of the
Kegelstatt and the manuscript score, and that is the kind of
issue that arises; i.e., what did Mozart mean? What he wrote is
clear, but what he meant is problematic, as Tony clearly
documents. In this source it is one thing, that source it is
another.

In theory, the solution to these problems is supposed to be
written up in a volume called the "Critical Commentary." There
exactly what the editor did and why he or she did it is supposed
to be very clearly explained. But often, the critical
commentaries are not done by the editor, or else not done at all.

It sounds like such an easy task. You have the autograph, so
make the edition read what the manuscript says. Big deal. A
chicken could do it. But as you can see, in the case of the
Kegelstatt (and probably almost very other manuscript by Mozart),
problems arise.

The source of the problems is that music manuscript is not a very
comprehensive way of documenting what is in the composer's head,
and there is almost no way to conflate what was later done to the
performing parts with the original ideas as expressed in the
manuscript score.

There are a set of performing parts for the entire opera Marriage
of Figaro. And these parts, manuscript parts mind you, were used
for the performances in 1784 which may have been conducted by
Mozart. These parts are full of pencilled addenda. What's
right? What's wrong? Were these changes put in at Mozart's
suggestion? Or are they the normal crap that many musicians
write in their parts and which have no authority at all?

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Tony Pay [mailto:tony.p@-----.org]
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 7:40 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] Kegelstatt (was, a little Monday morning present
for all)

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
tel/fax 01865 553339

... STICK 'stik n. 1: A boomerang that doesn't work.

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