Klarinet Archive - Posting 000025.txt from 2008/08
From: "Daniel Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Mendelssohn
Date: Wed, 06 Aug 2008 10:04:00 -0400
There is some confusion here. My posting spoke about the possibility of
Mendelssohn having arranged the Beethoven Opus 18, No. 1 for 2 clarinets, a
basset horn, and a bassoon.
I then gave an example of my having played several of the Beethoven quartets
with a clarinet, mentioning that there was a peculiarity when playing the
viola part on basset horn. This wasn't terribly important. The important
thing was that maybe out there somewhere someone knows about Mendelssohn
having done the arrangement of Opus 18, number 1.
What I am now getting is suggestions on how to transpose. While I'm grateful
for the advice, when I was playing I could transpose standing on my head
including viola parts on basset horn both as written, with the transposition
to concert pitch, and the further complication of the clarinettists using an
A clarinet.
So now let's get back to what I hoped might happen; i.e., someone would know
about the existence of Mendelssohn's arrangement and say something about it.
Dan Leeson
-----Original Message-----
From: Simeon Loring [mailto:sloring1@-----.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 06, 2008 6:50 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: Re: [kl] Mendelssohn
Or reading the alto clef, when all are reading as written, is easy if
you have a few things in mind:
1 read one note up as if it is clarinet in C, don't change the key.
2 read the result an octave lower.
Yes, we do lose the third from e down to c, but it is a small price
to pay as we get to play some of the finest quartets ever written.
Simeon
On Aug 6, 2008, at 9:25 AM, Joseph H. Fasel wrote:
> You can read (alto-clef) viola parts at concert pitch on a Bb clarinet
> by pretending it's bass clef and adjusting the key signature (e.g.,
> you
> read the middle-line C as D in an F clef). The only problem is that
> the viola has a pitch range that goes just a little below that of
> the Bb
> clarinet. I suppose a basset clarinet in Bb would be ideal!
>
> I learned this trick from Lori Lovato.
>
> Cheers,
> --Joe
>
> On Tue, 2008-08-05 at 15:58 -0700, Daniel Leeson wrote:
>> According to a letter written in Munich by Felix Mendelssoh on Oct.
>> 6,
>> 1831, he mentiones a performance of an arrangement he had
>> apparently made
>> of the Beethoven string quartet (Opus 18, number 1), for 2
>> clarinets, a
>> bassett horn, and a bassoon. Baermann was playing first clarinet,
>> and I
>> interpret that to mean the father Baermann.
>>
>> I have played several Beethoven string quartets in a group that
>> used 2
>> clarinets, 1 basset horn, and 1 bass clarinet, but we just sight
>> read the
>> music as is. I played the viola part on a basset horn, and Jack
>> Kreiselman
>> played the bass clarinet. However, these were not arrangements by
>> Mendelssohn. Furthermore, if you play the string quartets that way,
>> they do
>> not sound in concert pitch. For that everone has to transpose as if
>> you were
>> reading a C clarinet part on a B-flat clarinet. It's a pain in the
>> neck but
>> you get the concert pitch of the work that way.
>>
>> If you just play the piece as it is written, you are actually
>> changing the
>> concert pitch down a second. Playing it on basset horn drove me
>> crazy until
>> I finally was able to get my head shaped right. We once tried by
>> having the
>> clarinetists play on A clarinet, and that was a nightmare for me,
>> at least.
>
>
>
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