Klarinet Archive - Posting 000330.txt from 2005/02

From: Elgenubi@-----.com
Subj: [kl] re: Composer's intentions
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2005 16:52:02 -0500

Sarah, this subject has been discussed many times here. Be aware that Dan
and others have thought a lot about the subject and have their arguments pretty
well laid out. Please don't get angry; this subject deserves discussion, and
your comments reflect feelings of many people.

Dan, I think I can add something to this. (I think I last contributed many
years ago when I remarked that I like the Carnival of Venice Variations; I
believe they are on your list of 'Terrible' pieces of music.) I agree absolutely
that the composer's intentions should be honored to the greatest extent
possible. Mozart did something that we cannot explain with words. His music
exists. However, all we have that physically represents his music is his marks on
paper, and words about the music that he and others wrote at the time that he
created the music. So when people like you work so hard to understand the
manuscripts and letters of artists like Mozart, I am very appreciative of the
performances that result. When I listen to the Clarinet Concerto or the Serenade
for 13 instruments, and I am transported, I can imagine that some of Mozart's
spirit is in me. I can more easily imagine it because I know that other good
souls have worked to present all we know about him in the performance. I
realize this is very emotional and corny language; I use it purposefully perhaps
to counterbalance the emotions we hear from people (like Sarah I think) who
defend playing music in some new way because they 'like' it.

I see that Dan has further written about simply 'liking' something not being
a real argument for something. He said that better than I will, but I will
continue anyway.

To play a Mozart Quintet for Clarinet, Basset Horn, and String Trio,
substituting a Tenor Sax for the Cello is absurd. Substituting a violin for the
Basset Horn sounds pretty weird to me also, as it did to Dan. But if we did
either of these things in our own living room because we enjoyed the result or at
least to here something of what the work was like, that's OK. We're channeling
Mozart, perhaps poorly, but we are enjoying music. If we were to present
such a performance for others, we would risk presenting Mozart badly, we would
risk teaching someone that knows little about music that Mozart was weird or
absurd. This would be bad; this would be disrespectful to Mozart.

But I can imagine a modern artist doing something new and strange to one of
our old favorites, in a public performance, and having it be good art. The
artist must be intellectually honest. He must give complete credit to the
Composer as the source and take complete responsibility for the changes to the work
and for the result. I don't think this is necessarily disrespectful to the
Composer. This becomes gray, does it not? If the audience mostly hates it,
then the artist takes the blame, and perhaps he will be accused of being
disrespectful. But at least he is taking responsibility. If the audience mostly
loves the result, again, the audience knows that the artist has created the
change. The composer's original intent is still respected; it just wasn't
presented in this particular performance.

I think this is the difference between these points of view. Dan, I see you
helping us use language to clearly say what we mean, and of course, helping us
understand where Mozart was coming from. I understood you, Sarah, too. I
spent a summer working on a clarinet version of the Beethoven when I was 16. I
enjoyed it a lot. It didn't seem to click exactly; I could not have explained
at the time but the clarinet didn't seem to express the phrases well, the
editorial changes seemed to affect the music badly. I probably learned quite a
bit about music by trying. I don't think I showed disrespect to Beethoven in
the effort.

Wayne Thompson

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