Klarinet Archive - Posting 000075.txt from 2011/01

From: John Brophy <johnbrophy0@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Tuba mirum - K.626 (off-topic)
Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2011 17:17:56 -0500

. For about two centuries before Mozart, trombone was a funeral instrument,
which is why it would have been particularly effective in Don Giovanni.

I did once have an article, from Scientific American, I think. The nub was
that when trumpets were made from hammered metal, there were enough
imperfections to allow the player to bend the note, and a diatonic scale was
possible even quite low on the harmonic series. But this option vanished
once rolling mills were used in metal production. The article mentioned some
early tutor/ teaching books, which stated that the technique was akin to
singing -- all lip work. Some examples of instruments, clarino, have
survived from Bach's time.
The Haydn concerto was for a slide trumpet; soon after there were Keyed
bugles, also known as Kent bugles; the were introduced to the British Army
by the Duke of Kent, father of Queen Victoria. In the bass register, there
was the ophicleide, beloved by Berlioz. If you get a chance to visit the
Duke of Wellington's home, Apsley House in London, there's a big panorama of
the Duke's funeral showing a huge band, being led by a squad of ophicleides.

The euphonium is all wrong. The Latin says Tuba mirum spargens sonum:
scattering/sprinkling sound like dew-drops.

The words of the Dies Irae are attributed to Jacapone de Todi, a Franciscan,
c. 1250. Its use in Catholic liturgy was discontinued by the Second Vatican
Council about 1966.I'd still say it's most effective in its original
plainsong setting, unaccompanied, on a frosty November morning.

Incidentally, there is a long tradition in Spain, of using the bassoon in
liturgical music.
The most famous use of trombones, in an earlier generation, was in Handel's
Saul, the famed Funeral March is for trombone trio, written in alto clef

On Sun, Jan 9, 2011 at 5:27 PM, Doug Sears <dsears@-----.net> wrote:

> > That aside, is a trombone (whether a modern or period instrument)
> > the instrument that is specified in the earliest sources (as it is in my
> > Dover score)? If so was it because the slide allowed more pitches than
> the
> > natural trumpets of the period would?
>
> In the German-speaking world, the instrument that ushers in the day of
> judgement is known as "die letzte Posaune", the last trombone, rather than
> the last trumpet, I guess because that's how Luther's translation of the
> Bible has it. That seems like a plausible reason for Mozart to use
> trombone,
> but since he was setting the Latin text and wasn't Lutheran one might want
> some confirmation of this idea.
>
> --Doug Sears
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Karl Krelove" <karlkrelove@-----.com>
> To: "'The Klarinet Mailing List'" <klarinet@-----.com>
> Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 7:29 AM
> Subject: [kl] Tuba mirum - K.626 (off-topic)
>
> My wife and I attended a Philadelphia Orchestra performance last night
> conducted by the music director designate, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, of the
> Mozart Requiem. I've heard the Requiem on recordings any number of times
> but
> have only seen it performed live, maybe, once or twice and performed it a
> couple of times, all before I was aware enough of historical issues to have
> noticed what was being used to play the Tuba mirum. Last night it was
> played
> on a standard looking F-attachment tenor trombone by the nervous and
> uncomfortable sounding 2nd trombonist of the orchestra. Several questions
> came to mind as I listened.
>
> . One that no one here may be able to answer (unless some tradition
> has evolved over the centuries) is, why the 2nd player played it instead of
> the principal player, who was sitting idle next to him?
> . That aside, is a trombone (whether a modern or period instrument)
> the instrument that is specified in the earliest sources (as it is in my
> Dover score)? If so was it because the slide allowed more pitches than the
> natural trumpets of the period would? I'm certain the last time I saw the
> Requiem performed a euphonium was used. Obviously, that wouldn't have been
> an option in 1791.
> . Which leads to my other question, why would Mozart (or Sussmayr or
> Eybler or someone else) have chosen a trombone to play a solo part in "The
> trumpet shall sound.?" Trumpets, if you put them high enough in their
> range,
> could play lyrical step-wise passages even without valves - Handel managed
> nicely, and according to the program notes Mozart was well aware of Bach's
> and Handel's work. Would the choice have been considered the best one at
> the
> time because of the slide?
>
> TIA for any insight or reference to anything written in English on this
> topic.
>
> Karl
>
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--
John Brophy
16 St Brigid's Road
Clondalkin
Dublin 22

+ 353 1 459 2136
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