Klarinet Archive - Posting 000040.txt from 2007/11

From: "Daniel Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Alto clarinet anecdote
Date: Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:37:24 -0500

Clark, I am happy that you played the Magic Flute during the recent family
concerts. In fact I was planning to come with my grandaughter, but things
did not work out with here busy 6-year-old schedule. However the basset
horns play a very minor role in the opera and are used in only two places,
one of which has no vocal accompaniment. I speak of the March of the
Priests, and as part of the accompaniment to the aria "O Isis und Osiris" as
sung by Sarastro. But I don't remember the basset horn being prominent in
either of these two works as you suggested. There is no solo work or even
any exposed passages.

As for your suggestion of using a modified alto clarinet with a low written
D in the future. It's a great idea, but all that transposing??? On the
other hand the first basset horn in most of the Mozart work that uses a
basset does not need the low notes. There are none in the Requiem, the Gran
Partitta, the opera Entführung, or anything else I can think of. Only the
bravura solo basset horn part in "The Clemency of Titus" uses the low notes.

What does Tony play on when he is required to do so? Does he have his own
horn or does he use one of the pair owned by the opera. I heard him to
Rosenkavalier last summer, and his basset playing was very fine and in tune.

Dan Leeson
dnleeson@-----.net
SKYPE: dnleeson

-----Original Message-----
From: Clark W Fobes [mailto:claroneman@-----.net]
Sent: Monday, November 05, 2007 8:10 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: [kl] Alto clarinet anecdote

I am one of those persons who owns an alto clarinet and is not afraid to
admit. But then, I live in a basement and am covered with warts :-)

I recently performed a couple of performances of "Magic Flute" with the San
Francisco Opera orchestra for some family concerts. Even though I played 2nd
clarinet, my colleague asked me to play the first basset horn part which is
prominent in a couple of arias.

I do not own a basset horn, but I do own a 1950s vintage Leblanc Paris Alto
clarinet. This instrument has a rather remarkable scale- much better than
either of the basset horns owned by the Opera, so I opted to play the part
on the alto clarinet and transpose up a whole step. All of my colleagues
were quite surprised and delighted at the quality of sound and pitch.

I am about 50% completed with a project to build an extension to low D for
this alto clarinet. With the extra note I will be able to play the full
range of the F basset horn. I have made the extension - which like my Eb
clarinet extension - improves the long B. I am waiting for some keys and
hope to have the project completed before Christmas. I will post a picture
on my website.

Clark W Fobes - Clarinet & Saxophone products
www.clarkwfobes.com

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