Klarinet Archive - Posting 000006.txt from 2008/07

From: "David B. Niethamer" <dnietham@-----.edu>
Subj: [kl] Brahms and the basset horn
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:06:24 -0400

From a letter written by Brahms to Clara Schumann, Sunday, November
25, 1855:

"2.)Aria by Mozart, sung by Frau Guhrau, with orchestra.

"To my delight she was accompanied by two basset horns, which had
been sought out with considerable effort.

"I find that no instrument so moulds itself to the human voice as
does the basset horn, whose sound is almost half-way between the
cello (bassoon) and the clarinet."

In this letter, Brahms is describing a concert in Hamburg, his native
city, in which he played the "Emperor" Concerto by Beethoven. I
quoted it from the book "Johannes Brahms: Life and Letters" by Styra
Avins (pub. Oxford). I often find compilations of letters to be
something of a bore, unless one is trying to read about specific
events contained in a few letters. This book is a wonderful adjunct
to a good biography of Brahms, with biographical annotations for most
letters (or sometimes, groups of letters), and a very thorough list
of sources in case one wants to pursue a particular subject further.
The book contains 564 letters, including the first (to his first
piano teacher) and the last, to his step-mother, Karolin Brahms.

Interesting reading.

David

David B. Niethamer
dnietham@-----.edu
http://members.aol.com/dbnclar1/index.html

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