Klarinet Archive - Posting 000101.txt from 2005/02

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] A bassethorn riddle
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 19:13:22 -0500

At 11:48 PM 2/4/2005 +0000, Tony Pay wrote:
>On 4 Feb, Joe Fasel <jhf@-----.gov> wrote:
>
> > because S=FC=DFmayr might not even have known that a basset horn is a
> > clarinet?
>
>No, it's not the Mozart Requiem.

My first thought (after the Requiem, of course, but that wouldn't be much=20
of a riddle) was the Bach Mass in B minor. My second thought was "basset=20
horns in Bach? Can't be.".

I'm still extremely doubtful, but a quick googling of:

bach "mass in b minor" basset horn

Yielded:

http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Vocal/BWV232-Gen8.htm

=93We can only speculate on the details of Zelter=92s approach to the=
B-Minor=20
Mass, since his =91Singakademie=92 score was lost in WW II. Georg=
Sch=FCnemann,=20
who examined Zelter=92s manuscript in the 1920=92s, states that in the=20
=91Quoniam=94 Zelter suggested that the corne da caccia be replaced with a=
=20
flute, and the bassoons with basset horns or muted cellos.=94

I'm still highly doubtful, since to substitute basset horns for bassoons=20
seems silly (comprehendible in the artistic sensibilities of the 1920s, but=
=20
still silly). But to further substitute clarinets for basset horns which=20
are themselves substituting for bassoons seems unthinkable even in a modern=
=20
performance and down right absurd in a period performance for what seem to=
=20
be staggeringly obvious reasons.

Please. Please. Say it ain't so.

-Adam

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