Klarinet Archive - Posting 000227.txt from 2010/10

From: Jennifer Jones <helen.jennifer@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Urtext
Date: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 22:55:13 -0400

Ugh. I hate it when I do that. I mean so what if Kenny G has a
career and (I expect) is sitting pretty with good record sales, where
I am stuck in limbo between a bachelors' degree and graduate school...
It drove me nuts when I got picked on in school...

On Sun, Oct 24, 2010 at 7:25 PM, Jennifer Jones
<helen.jennifer@-----.com> wrote:
> So, what do you call the non urtext versions that catch on (aside from gr=
an Partita (are there a bunch of non-urtext urtexts out there))? =A0Kenny G?
> (Please correct me if I have constructed a bad metaphor)
>
> On Sun, Oct 24, 2010 at 3:25 PM, Dan Leeson <dnleeson@-----.net> wrot=
e:
>> I waited until the discussion of URTEXT editions settled down, but now I=
'd like to comment on the matter.
>>
>>
>>
>> The term "Urtext" is derived from the city of UR, thought to refer to a =
city in ancient Sumer, today Iraq. The general idea is that Ur was the plac=
e where everything, including civilization, began. =A0And so, Urtext, from =
the musicological point of view, means the text based on the original manus=
cript.
>>
>>
>>
>> If the edition is not based primarily on the manuscript, it is not Urtex=
t, even though it may be well thought out and intelligently done. Basing th=
e edition on an early printing is not sufficient to claim that the new edit=
ion is Urtext. It may be an excellent edition in that a thoughtful editor h=
as spent considerable time thinking about what has to be done, but it is NO=
T Urtext.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thus, there can be no Urtext edition of the Mozart clarinet concerto or =
the quintet for clarinet and strings, even though some very well thought ou=
t editions of those works are incorrectly advertised as such.
>>
>>
>>
>> Another layer of complexity is that an editor has a very big say about w=
hat the original manuscript says. =A0No autograph is so clean that there ar=
e no problems in preparing an Urtext edition. Every autograph has its own p=
roblems and the editor is the authority in terms of what the composer meant=
whenever an ambiguous passage arises. One hears an editor say, "I know wha=
t the composer said, but I don't know what he meant."
>>
>>
>>
>> The finished product is a combination of (1) the manuscript, (2) other s=
ources in which the composer may have shed light on that same composition (=
including music other manuscripts and even letters), and editorial changes =
and interpretations made (with the best of intentions) by an editor who may=
or may not be qualified to interpret the sources at his disposal. For exam=
ple, there were editors in the early part of the 20th century who asserted =
that Mozart did not know anything about the lower range of the clarinet, be=
cause he called for notes below low written e.
>>
>>
>>
>> And to complicate the matter even further, there may be an extant manusc=
ript of a work, but it is unavailable at the time the first edition is prep=
ared (from a set of performance parts, for example). =A0So the first editio=
n takes on a patina that it may not deserve. =A0Then, at some later time, t=
he manuscript surfaces, but what happens is that players have become used t=
o the piece in the first edition. And what this means is that performers wi=
ll reject changes based on the manuscript because they differs from what it=
is they are used to.
>>
>>
>>
>> The most egregious example of that phenomenon is the gran Partitta, with=
musicians rejecting an edition based on the autograph because it presents =
material that contradicts the first edition in notes, rhythms, content, res=
olution of abbreviations, etc.
>>
>>
>>
>> I gave a lecture on this matter at U. of Indiana, and it was entitled, "=
Abandon ye all hope of ever getting an Urtext of K. 622."
>>
>>
>>
>> =A0Dan Leeson
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Klarinet@-----.com
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>> http://klarinet-list.serve-music.com
>>
>
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