Klarinet Archive - Posting 000240.txt from 2006/09

From: "David Glenn" <davidglenn@-----.net>
Subj: Re: RE: [kl] Clemenza di Tito obligatto
Date: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 17:30:02 -0400

This discussion reminds me: A few weeks back (it was very hot), I was playing in the Roman Bath Ruins of Badenweiler (covered by a huge semicircular glass roof) with a chamber orchestra. It was a gala night of Mozart Arias and, of course I played the evening on my Bb and A basset clarinets with Liebesfuss. Somewhere in the first half, we did "Parto Parto" and I thought, well, I'm doing it on the right instrument but nobody will notice. I was wrong! At the interval an older gentleman approached me and asked who built my basset clarinet. I told him Brian Ackerman and he seemed to know exactly who that was. He said he was in the area to lecture on Mozart and the clarinet but then, suddenly he was gone and to this day, I have no idea who he was!

Who could it have been??

David

-------- Original-Nachricht --------
Datum: Wed, 20 Sep 2006 10:26:32 -0700
Von: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
An: klarinet@-----.org
Betreff: RE: [kl] Clemenza di Tito obligatto

> An excellent question Wayne.
>
> The basset clarinet part exists in Mozart's hand in the
> autograph. I have seen it. And it goes way down to low C on a
> B-flat basset clarinet, though that name did not appear in
> Mozart's autograph, only the call for a B-flat clarinet.
>
> But this gave rise to an historic fistfight about that
> manuscript. In the late 1800s and early 1900s and all the way up
> to 1948, there was absolutely no knowledge of the thing that we
> call "The Basset Clarinet." So when clarinetists and scholars
> looked at the mansuscript of Titus's Parto! Parto! the universal
> agreement was that Mozart had made a mistake about the extreme
> lower end of the clarinet. (Choke!! Gag!!! Upchuck!!!!) So
> whenever that aria was done, the part was altered from the
> original under the supposition that those lowest notes were in
> error.
>
> Beginning in 1948 with Dazeley's famous paper on the original
> version of the Mozart clarinet concerto, he argued, with no
> evidence other than his brain, that the way we were playing the
> Mozart concerto was wrong. He stated that the clarinet for which
> Mozart wrote the concerto had to have gone lower than
> contemporary clarinets. And he gave very good examples from
> contemporary editions of K622 that made much more musical sense
> with a low C in place.
>
> But his paper was not evidence, just his opinion, and lots of
> people said that he was full of hooey. I remember having a
> discussion with a musicologist in Tucson along with John Denman.
> The three of us were having dinner. And I was battling both the
> musicologist and John about the extent of the clarinet in
> Mozart's day. I damn near threw a very good enchillada at him,
> so hot had the discussion become.
>
> Not until some 10 years ago was there finally found an image of
> Stadler's clarinet which absolutely proved the existence of the
> instrument. I forget the woman's who found the image in
> Lithuania or Latva. She teaches at Oberlin, I think.
>
> On the other hand, the basset horn and its descent to low C was
> never in question because instruments of that period existed in
> museums, so no one could say that the Mozart basset horn did not
> descend to low C.
>
> Best question on the clarinet list in the last year, Wayne!
>
> Dan Leeson
> DNLeeson@-----.net
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wayne Thompson [mailto:wthompson222@-----.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, September 20, 2006 9:38 AM
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Clemenza di Tito obligatto
>
>
> List,
> This discussion prompted me to get out my Cecelia
> Bartoli "Mozart Arias" CD. Three arias from Tito are
> there, 'Parto, Parto', 'Deh, per questo', and 'Non piu
> di fiori'. Peter Schmidl plays the basset clarinet
> and basset horn on the two pieces discussed here,
> respectively. (Ah, to be able to play music with
> Cecilia!) The program notes say that the two
> obbligatos were written for Anton Stadler.
>
> All of this leads me to this question. Does the
> basset clarinet part exist in Mozart's hand for the
> Parto, Parto'? I had thought that existence of
> Statler's basset clarinet was not confirmed until the
> researches of the 20th century. Is the basset
> clarinet part I hear on this recording of 'Parto,
> Parto' a reconstruction like that of K. 622? Is the
> statement in these program notes, hypothesis?
>
> Wayne Thompson
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------
>

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