Klarinet Archive - Posting 000548.txt from 2006/03

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Transposed Parts
Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2006 12:22:12 -0500

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Adam Michlin wrote:
> I don't know how Berlioz could be referring to a practice that was
> practically impossible (various inventions, not withstanding) during
> his time, so I can, at most, take from the Berlioz quote that he
> didn't approve of arbitrary substitution of instruments in general
> rather than different pitched instruments of the same family. More
> power to him!

Except that this passage is not an abstract passage: it's from the
section on clarinets where he discusses the different members of the
clarinet family. See
http://www.hberlioz.com/Scores/BerliozTreatise.html#Clarinet

I should have included more of the paragraph to make it clear:

"As a general rule players should only use the instruments specified by
the composer. Since each of these instruments has its own special
character it is at least likely that the composer chose one rather
another because he preferred this particular timbre, and not through any
caprice. To insist, as some virtuoso players do, in transposing and
playing everything on the B flat clarinet, is therefore with rare
exceptions a betrayal on the part of the player. This betrayal will be
even more obvious and reprehensible if it involves, for example, the A
clarinet [which alone could play a low C sharp]."

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