Klarinet Archive - Posting 000077.txt from 2010/04

From: "Dan Leeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] K. 622 in G? Part 2
Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:16:20 -0400


Martin Baxter wrote:

> I don't think that Bear is claiming this as evidence; but surely it is
> rumours like this that set people on looking for evidence either way. The
> version of the rumour that I heard was that another person contemporary
> with Mozart transcribed it with Mozart's agreement, but I don't offer this
> as evidence either, although it seems more possible than that Mozart did
> it himself. It seems like the story that Mozart originally intended to
> use Contrabassoon in the Gran Partita; the appearance of a part marked
> Contrafagott in Mozart's handwriting would be needed to settle it,
> although the score of the semi-mythical work by Michael Haydn (?) for 13
> wind instruments, if it really exists, might suggest that there is some
> likelihood of Mozart also originally wanting contrafagott also. However,
> as things are, I think we must agree that "Serenade for 13 wind" is a
> misnomer. But I cannot consider it actually proven.
> Martin
> On 24 Apr 2010, at 04:02, Dan Leeson wrote:

There is no story that "Mozart originally intended to use the Contrabassoon
in the gran Partitta." It's a fantasy unsupported by any serious evidence.
The very best that one could suggest along this line is that the first
edition of the work -- done in 1803 by the Bureau des Arts et d'Idustrie in
Vienna -- had, on the title page, the words, "Contrabasso ou
contra-fagotto." And considering the source and circumstances of the first
edition, it cannot be used to support that instrumentation.

Further there is no likelihood that Mozart directly or indirectly accepted
such an instrumentation. Directly, he specifies contrabasso in the
manuscript, and indirectly, the part calls for "pizzicato" and "arco," terms
that are foreign to the contra bassoon.

Finally this: Mozart never wrote out instrumental parts. He had
professional copyists doing that, so "the appearance of a part marked
Contrafagott in Mozart's handwriting would be needed to settle it" is not an
event that is ever likely to happen.

I'm jumping on this because it is exactly how bad ideas start, and once
started they behave like a disease that is immune to antibiotics.

Dan Leeson

P.S. And to say that if Mozart had had a contrabassoon, he would have used
one puts the author's words in Mozart's mouth.

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