Klarinet Archive - Posting 000140.txt from 2005/02

From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: RE: [kl] RE: A bassethorn riddle
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2005 13:58:46 -0500

On 6 Feb, Adam Michlin <amichlin@-----.com> wrote:

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

You need to understand the purpose of our concert, which admittedly I haven't
explained. It's an interesting story.

The young Mendelssohn was almost single-handedly responsible for beginning
a Bach revival in Berlin in 1829. At the age of 20, he rehearsed and put
together a working performance of the SMP, which he directed from the piano
keyboard *from memory*.

Our performance was intended to be a recreation of this historic event.

Bach's score was heavily abridged -- in fact Mendelssohn left out about an
hour's music -- but though many of the arias that are much loved today
weren't heard at this historic Berlin performance, the musical community,
(including senior members of the prestigious Berlin Akademie) was astounded
by the power and majesty of a music that they didn't even know existed.

Mendelssohn gave another performance in Leipzig twelve years later,
reinstating four arias and some other music, but our concern wasn't with this
1841 version.

In fact, we do much better today; and we have reconstructions of some of the
obsolete instruments, such as the oboe da caccia, which we have to remember
were not available to Mendelssohn's players. But that has required
considerable detective work.

> 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.

I hope I've made it clear why there is no matter to resolve, though I don't
really understand what you mean about comparing the parts with Bach's 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.

Mendelssohn, as I've explained, was in total control of the first
performance. He didn't have much idea what the obsolete instruments actually
were, so he and his performers did the best they could -- perhaps even by
trying out the various possibilities in rehearsal.

BTW, 'What the composer intended' is a frequently invoked concept. But it's
one that very often does little work -- you're usually better off by
replacing it with an interaction between two other concepts, namely 'What the
composer actually wrote' and 'What things written that way at that time
usually meant'.

Anyhow, it doesn't need invoking in this particular case, since we can figure
out what the composer/arranger actually *did*.

Tony
--
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