Klarinet Archive - Posting 000133.txt from 2005/02

From: Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] RE: A bassethorn riddle
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 10:48:53 -0500

Isn't this a leap of faith? Perhaps the player(s) just chose to play it on
clarinet (or didn't own basset horns)?

Tony's makes a very convincing argument that the piece was performed using
clarinets. This does not address why the basset horn parts exist, however.
Mendelssohn being one of the few historical champions of the basset horn
(where champion = writing *anything* for the instrument), it would seem
likely he intended the basset horn to be the preferred option.

Given the scarcity of basset horns even then, it would seem illogical for
him to write for clarinets and then include optional basset horns just in
case clarinets were not available. It seems much more likely that he would
write for basset horns and include clarinet parts in case the basset horns
were not available.

Clearly, Mendelssohn wasn't overly concerned with historically accurate
instrumentation (if he was, there wouldn't be basset horn *or* clarinet
parts in Bach). It would also be in keeping with the traditions of
Mendelssohn's time for him to not be overly concerned with whether the
parts were played on basset horns or clarinets.

I don't think this matter could be satisfactorily resolved without
comparing both the clarinet parts and basset horn parts with Bach's
original score. If the goal is to reproduce what happened at the first
performance, clarinets seem to the be the clear answer. If the goal is to
play it as Mendelssohn intended, I don't know that we have enough
information to make a compelling case either way.

-Adam

At 06:50 AM 2/6/2005 -0800, dnleeson wrote:

>Tony Pay writes about his performance on clarinets of the work
>that basset horn parts:
>
>[snip]
>
>"But there is a copyists error, three semiquaver pitches
>mistranscribed, in
>both first clarinet and first bassethorn parts. This error in
>the bassethorn
>part is left uncorrected, whilst the clarinet part has the
>correct pitches
>reinstated in another hand, most likely that of the player
>concerned. Had it
>ever been played on the bassethorn, *that* part would have been
>corrected
>too."
>
>This statemement is absolute gold. You could take this to the
>bank and is almost certainly authoritative enough to get life
>insurance!!

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