Klarinet Archive - Posting 000102.txt from 2008/08
From: Tony Pay <tony.p@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Poulenc Sonata
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 11:44:20 -0400
A couple of days ago in Siena, I wrote:
> On Wed, Aug 27, 2008 at 6:29 PM, Glenn Kantor <klarinet@-----.net>
> wrote:
>
> > Again, referring to (the late) Jerry Pierce's opinions on the Poulenc
> > Sonata, he wrote that it was Georgina Dobree who was researching the
> > Poulenc and came across the various drafts that he had made for the work.
> > Anyway, she decided that some of the notes were "wrong" and convinced
> > Chester to reprint the work with the changes.
>
> > Chester followed through with what Georgina claimed were the final wishes
> > in the final drafts of Poulenc. The (4 note) changes are really quite
> > minor, but Chester probably saw an opportunity to gain a few more sales
> > in a later (different) edition.
>
> > True? Not true?
>
> If that's what Jerry Pierce said, it fits with what I know. (I
> obtained the photocopy of the MS from (the late) Thea King, who had it
> from (the late) Georgina.) The earliest version I have is 1963,
> though someone said that there is a 1962 version that contains what
> the French players seem to want. Can we confirm that?
Now at home, and with the various bits of information in front of me, I can
myself confirm that the edition I have, which I bought in December 1963 (I
recorded the fact in ink on the flyleaf in my first year at University), IS
the first published edition; and in it the disputed notes are non-F,
corresponding both to the 1973 edition produced by Thea King and Goergina
Dobree and to the latest 2000 edition.
So when Jerry Pierce (via Glenn Kantor) writes that Georgina had persuaded
Chester to reprint the work with changes resulting from her research, the
impression is given that all would have been well apart from Georgina and
Thea sticking their oar in.
But, the truth is that Chester ORIGINALLY published the work in its non-F
version, following the altered MS that had been sent them by Poulenc, and the
subsequent changes, up to 1973, are down to French and perhaps other
influences. (I look forward to whatever Cuper and Deplus have to say about
that.)
To recap, the timeline is:
(a) 1963: Non-F publication, first edition.
(b) 1963 - 1973: editions 1 to 4, at least one of which is F version (I
haven't seen them all)
(c) 1973: Chester ask Georgina and Thea to sort the matter out, resulting in
edition 5, non-F version.
Explaining this, Chester write in the foreword to the fifth edition:
"Poulenc's Sonata for Clarinet and Piano was completed by the composer only
shortly before his death in 1963 and the 1st edition was published
posthumously. Over the years, several apparent ambiguities have been called
into question, and the publishers have been grateful to a number of
correspondents for their helpful suggestions. Revisions have been made from
time to time in previous editions, but these changes have not satisfied
everyone.
"In preparing this 5th edition, the publishers would like to acknowledge with
much gratitude the assistance of Thea King and Georgina Dobree who -- from
their own long experience of the work -- have studied the manuscript and
previous editions as well as the outside comments that have reached us. They
have produced this present version which we hopefully consider to be the one
most nearly corresponding with the composer's intentions -- implicit as well
as explicit. Those already familiar with this work will find that the
changes comprise corrections of what may be classed as typographical errors
together with clarification of phrasing, dynamics etc., but will notice that
any markings which are purely editorial are shown in square brackets."
Of this foreword, Thea wrote to me on 2 February 1999:
"...that foreword is really misleading as to what we did."
She maintained that they had simply dealt with the text that they were given.
(The MS photocopies that I have provided were from her.)
Here is the remainder of her letter to me in response to my request for
clarification for the purposes of this mailing list in 1999:
"On Sunday I went to hear Moragues play the Poulenc Sonata. As expected, he
did NOT play the Dobree etc version.
"By a lucky chance, she [Georgina] rang me from Leeds on another matter, so I
asked her to remind me about the various reprintings, and did she perhaps
have a copy of the MS we were given to work from. She actually found she had
the copy we were sent -- Eureka! She believes he probably only gave that
version to the publishers. Anyway, it indicates the corrections we made --
the whole idea was to check it against the first printed version which had
been around for 10 years. I must say those 1st movt corrections go more
convincingly above the pf part. So, that was 5th edition 1973 -- but at
[illegible -- perhaps 13th?] edition people who had suspected the 5th of
careless alterations to the 1st mad a fuss (were they French?) and the whole
thing reverted. G. [Georgina] will bring the MS up to London on Sunday. You
will hear from me (I'm afraid) and I'd like to consult with you about a
message to your world-wide friends to explain things. That foreword is really
misleading as to what we did."
Thea is clearly misremembering some of this, as the editions that are non-F
come AFTER the first edition, and certainly not after the 1973 edition;
though clearly people were still playing from previously purchased editions
prior to the 5th, for years after 1973, and may be still.
In passing, you can't tell which edition you have in front of you unless you
have that information in a foreword. My first edtion copy, proved to be such
since I know I bought it in December 1963, has the date 1963 in brackets
underneath FRANCIS POULENC. The 5th edition, which I have in a photocopy of
the clarinet part sent to me by Thea, misleadingly has the date 1962 in
brackets underneath FRANCIS POULENC. But apart from that, and apart from the
fact that there are editorial changes in brackets, there is no indication
in the part itself of which edition it is.
Finally,
(d) 2000: Revised Edition, Millan Sachania, non-F.
I think Thea should have the final word:
"The fashionable preoccupation with print [surely] gobbles up time which
might be better spent trying to find what the music says which CAN'T be put
into print?"
Tony
--
_________ Tony Pay
|ony:-) 79 Southmoor Rd
| |ay Oxford OX2 6RE
tel/fax 01865 553339
mobile +44(0)7790 532980 tony.p@-----.org
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