Klarinet Archive - Posting 000135.txt from 2010/06

From: "Lelia Loban" <lelialoban@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] FW: Bass Clarinets for Stravinsky
Date: Mon, 07 Jun 2010 08:29:01 -0400


Clinton F. Nieweg wrote, re. instrumentation in early publications of
Stravinsky's Rite of Spring,
>>In doing research for a corrected edition for use in the U.S., I have had
>>the manuscript consulted and seen 7 published scores of Rite of Spring,
>>but I did not find the use of A bass clarinet for either Bass Clarinet I
>>or II. Both parts are written in both treble and bass clef always with a
>>Bb transposition. >>
[snip]
>>Rite of Spring Sources:
>>1913: first performance [material unpublished]
>>1921: first published edition (?d.Russe de Musique) with changes from
>>1913,
>>1929: corrected edition of 1921 (?d.Russe de Musique)
>>1943: revision of the Sacrificial Dance (Boosey) (changes in meters)
>>1947: "revised version" (Boosey; actually just corrections)
>>1965: more corrections (Boosey)
>>1967: re-engraved (Boosey)
>>2000: Critical edition (Kalmus; ed. Clinton F. Nieweg)

Thank you for providing all this information. This kind of history is
difficult to dig out one bit at a time from even the best libraries and it's
tremendously useful, expecially for composers such as Stravinsky who've been
ill-served by their early editors. (When you recently alerted me to the
astounding pile-up of errors in the first published Firebird ballet scores,
you provided me with a fictional plot point, by the way, so thanks again for
that, too!)

I've been reading more about Stravinsky and his work habits. Here's a 1917
description from a personal acquaintance of Stravinsky:

>"Stravinsky's writing table resembled the instrument stand of a surgeon . .
>. . The bottles of different colored inks set out according to rank . . . .
>Order alone, though, is not enough, it must shed light. Here was an order
>which did enlighten, by a reflection of an inner clarity. This clarity
>revealed itself too in those large pages covered with writing made more
>complex, persuasive and damanding by means of various inks, blue, green,
>red, black - two kinds of black, ordinary and Chinese - each having its own
>place, meaning and special utility. One ink was for notes, another for the
>first text, a third for the second, still others for titles, and a special
>one for the various written indications that go into a score. The bars
>were drawn with a ruler and errors carefully removed with a steel eraser.">
[C. F. Ramuz, "Souvenirs sur Igor Stravinsky," 1917, translated by Dollie
Pierre Chareau, as reprinted in Minna Lederman, ed., "Stravinsky in the
Theatre," New York: Da Capo, 1975, p. 124. This Da Capo edition is a
reprint of Dance Index-Ballet Caravan, 1949.]

In his zeal for clarity, in other words, he wrote unusual notation in scores
already counter-intuitive to people trained in established 19th century
forms. I wonder whether overworked early editors may have looked at all
this obsessional meticulousness, groaned, cussed and treated Stravinsky with
perverse carelessness out of sheer annoyance at having to parse the meaning
of two different shades of black ink!

Lelia Loban
http://members.sibeliusmusic.com/Lelia_Loban

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