Klarinet Archive - Posting 000082.txt from 2010/10

From: Curtis Bennett <curtis.bennett@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] An Urtext "Grrr...."
Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2010 13:47:33 -0400

I'm no musicologist, but I'll comment anyway...

My guess is that this is done for our modern-day desires for how music
should be seen. An ascending line written as C-D-Eb-F-G-G#-Bb-C would
be seen as strange and would really freak out some musicians, and
would likely be "corrected" to C-D-Eb-F-G-Ab-Bb-C even if that's not
what the composer originally wrote.

Furthermore, no one likes seeing a crapload of sharps and flats, so if
the particular passage is harmonically Eb-Major, then a key signature
might be applied. The result is more readable music.

On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 10:19 AM, Joseph Wakeling
<joseph.wakeling@-----.net> wrote:
>
> So, the other day I bought a CD of Janacek's String Quartets, and was so
> taken that when I noticed the score of the second quartet in my local
> music store, I bought it straight away. =A0It's a Baerenreiter Urtext
> edition, taken from the Complete Critical Edition of the works of
> Janacek prepared in collaboration between Baerenreiter and the Czech
> publisher Supraphon.
>
> Anyway, following discussion of the sources, the introduction to the
> little study score has this to say:
>
> =A0 We have corrected obvious errors made during notation, added missing
> =A0 performance markings according to analogous passages, unified
> =A0 different notations of musically-identical passages to the most
> =A0 suitable form, and removed superfluous accidentals
>
> ... which all seems reasonably par for the course, though I always
> wonder about those breezy assertions about "musically identical
> passages" -- but then it continues:
>
> =A0 -- [accidentals] sometimes made superfluous by key signatures we have
> =A0 introduced in all passages where this was appropriate.
>
> Now I'm a little bothered. =A0Introducing key signatures that were not
> specified by the composer? =A0OK, I can perhaps accept that there's some
> norm like the composer never wrote key signatures and that during the
> composer's lifetime the publisher would add them with the composer's
> approval. =A0But it still seems an odd thing to do in an Urtext edition.
> Then this:
>
> =A0 In accord with the editorial principles, we have made enharmonic
> =A0 changes in notation in the following measures and instruments:
> =A0 [there follows a list of over 20 passages where this has been done,
> =A0 some of them spanning up to 10 bars].
>
> Under what circumstances is that normal or justifiable? =A0(OK, maybe
> Janacek started out writing a passage in one key and then shifted to
> another enharmonically. =A0But they don't say anything about why they made
> these changes; just that they did so.)
>
> Not once in the whole score is there any indication which markings have
> been editorially changed, which "missing performance indications" or key
> signatures have been added, etc. etc. =A0The introduction says "All
> discrepancies among the sources are described in the editorial notes",
> but of course, you don't get those with a study score.
>
> The work's genesis in publication is something of a mess -- it was
> prepared for publication after Janacek's death by the quartet who first
> performed it, and they made numerous alterations; there's evidence that
> _some_ (but not all) were made by Janacek in performance, but often the
> evidence is inconclusive (it rests on which of a number of alterations
> to a manuscript copy are from Janacek and which from others). =A0So, it's
> clear that producing an edition is far from easy. =A0But I'm rather
> shocked at finding a score where editorial intervention is not more
> clearly indicated.
>
> Perhaps it's a result of comparison to the Beethoven symphony editions
> (also Baerenreiter) by Jonathan Del Mar, where editorial interventions
> are scrupulously highlighted with brackets [] and similar, but I'm a bit
> bothered by all this.
>
> Experienced editorial people, what light can you shed on the thought
> processes of those responsible? :-)
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--
Curtis Bennett
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