Klarinet Archive - Posting 000195.txt from 2009/10

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Coolest
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 18:28:32 -0400

The note below is the beginning of a slippery slope.

From the note, and the others I read on this topic, it is almost as if the
player's choice of which clarinet to use is a function of the most amenable
key signature one can have available to them. So if one is playing a work
that happens to have the clarinets in a key with many sharps, one should
transpose the part to a differently pitched clarinet to minimize the
difficulty. Thus if a part happens to call for a clarinet in A playing in 4
sharps, one has the option of playing the work in 1 flat on a Clarinet in
B-flat.

While this is perfectly understandable, it simple moves clarinet players
away from the historical and technical reasons that underlie the peculiarity
of multiply pitched clarinets. Clarinet of varying pitches were not used by
the composer either as a way to simplify the technical problems of many
sharps and flats, or to produce a different sound character.

Multiply pitched clarinets were invented so that clarinets could be used AT
ALL in the most common keys of C and F.

When Mozart gave composition and instrumentation lessons to Thomas Atwood, a
British pupil, he made several comments about the rules for writing for
clarinets, saying, "Clarinets must always be written in the key of C or F."
Thus, pieces in the concerts keys of B-flat and E-flat, had clarinets in
B-flat paying in the written keys of C or F. That's what the rule was for.

What this meant (at least in Mozart's time) was that when the key signature
of the piece being written would not allow B-flat clarinets to play in those
legal keys, he demanded a change of clarinets so as to get the player into
the restricted keys. Thus, when he wrote the clarinet quintet in A major,
he could not use any clarinet other than the clarinet in A. His decision
was not based on the character of sound of the A clarinet, but on the
restriction of which clarinet could be used to achieve the goal of having
the written key of C or F.

But since he was writing for an A clarinet, he might have considered writing
the part so as the take advantage of the character of the A clarinet's
sound.

It is true that this restriction eventually went away, but it left us with
a legacy which appears to have more freedom of choice than it really does
have. The player is not the authority as to which clarinet to use. The
composer is. And even though today's clarinets are often written for in keys
other than C and F, that Mozartean rule and legacy still hangs on. But the
contemporary performance must realize the historical reasons behind pitched
clarinets, and those reasons had nothing to do with the sound character of
the instrument, or ease of written key.

Also keep in mind that Mozart called for the clarinet in B-natural on two
occasions, with both compositions being written in the concert key of
B-natural. So the clarinetist with an instrument pitched in B-natural
played the work in written C. Today those works are played on an A
clarinet, but a C clarinet would be a much better choice to achieve the
sound character of the B-natural clarinet whose size was between the B-flat
and C instruments.

Dan Leeson

> Mark Thiel wrote:
>> For example how do I explain why I have an A clarinet? I could say it
>> makes certain keys easier but it will be a while before I introduce the
>> concept of key to them.
>
> Actually I think that's not so difficult to demonstrate. Just play an
> F# major scale on the Bb clarinet and then a G major on the A. Let them
> see how what you have to do with your fingers is much more complicated
> on the Bb than on the A, even though the same notes are being produced.
>
> They don't have to know about 'key' to see that using a different
> clarinet makes some passages of music easier to play ...

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