Klarinet Archive - Posting 000058.txt from 2011/03

From: Diego Casadei <casadei.diego@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Mozart and contemporaries
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:05:10 -0500

Many thanks. I'd like to get more details about composers. From 1800
to 1830 we find people who write more or less in a classical style while
others (the more famous ones) started being romantic. It would be
interesting to know the difference in trills, for example, between
contemporary composers. I guess that a good rule of thumb is "use
classical figures whenever the piece sounds classical" but I'm sure
experts can add much more to this :-)

BTW, in the field of opera, at least in Italy, singers continued to do
everything they liked for much longer time than this. There too we find
records of frictions between composers and singers :-)

Cheers,
Diego

Keith Bowen wrote:
> Diego,
>
>> From my own research on contemporary instruction manuals and composers'
> letters, I would say that none of the performance practices we have been
> talking about would be exclusively for Mozart. Indeed much of what is
> suggested about Mozart performance comes from evidence on the general
> conventions of the time.
>
> This would apply generally to classical-period composers, roughly 1750-1830.
> Of course, there were developments and changes during this period. One that
> comes to mind immediately is that the trill changed from being predominantly
> started on the upper note to starting on the principal note. This is also a
> way of saying that the trill changed from being largely harmonic
> (emphasizing the suspension at the start of the note) to being largely
> melodic or decorative.
>
> Incidentally, an aspect of the melodic trill that is little known these days
> is that the principal note should sound more predominantly than the upper
> note. It's interesting to find out how to do this.
>
> Another major trend over the period was against improvisation and
> embellishments. Romantic-period composers were characteristically against
> this, and there is plenty of evidence in which they fulminate against
> players not playing exactly what they have written but insisting on putting
> in 'extraneous' decorations. Which in itself proves the earlier tradition. A
> look at any scores from the late eighteenth century compared with mid
> nineteenth century shows the extraordinary growth of very detailed markings
> (dynamics, articulation) in the score, as composers strove for their
> individual expression, rather than relying on the general performance
> practice of the era plus performers' elaborations.
>
> No doubt Dan and others can add more.
>
> Keith
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Diego Casadei [mailto:casadei.diego@-----.com]
> Sent: 10 March 2011 07:42
> To: The Klarinet Mailing List
> Subject: [kl] Mozart and contemporaries
>
> Hello.
>
> I have a (naive) question on Mozart and contemporaries, for Dan and
> other experts. From several emails, I learned a lot -- thanks!!!! --
> about style and interpretation of Mozart's music. The question is, to
> what degree this applies exclusively to Mozart or can be considered
> general for his period? In addition, what other authors would
> reasonably benefit from a similar approach to the interpretation?
>
> Every composer (at least the most important ones) worked in some
> environment and brought something new. Hence it is interesting to know
> what aspect are important for the authors until Mozart and what other
> things are important from Mozart on.
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Diego
>

--

Diego Casadei
__________________________________________________________
Physics Department, CERN
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