Klarinet Archive - Posting 000016.txt from 2008/07

From: "Keith" <bowenk@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Brahms and the basset horn
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:24:39 -0400

Quite so. The thing that I really hold against Brahms is that despite saying
this about the basset horn, he wrote nothing for it!

Keith Bowen

> -----Original Message-----
> From: klarinet-return-93720-bowenk=compuserve.com@-----.org
> [mailto:klarinet-return-93720-bowenk=compuserve.com@-----.org] On
> Behalf Of David B. Niethamer
> Sent: 02 July 2008 14:06
> To: klarinet@-----.org
> Subject: [kl] Brahms and the basset horn
>
>
> 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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