Klarinet Archive - Posting 000192.txt from 2011/03

From: corvo di bassetto <rab@-----.de>
Subj: Re: [kl] Basset Horn Question
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:54:08 -0400

Hello Tom,

Frankly, I think that your nomen does not suffice as an omen to write for the basset horn unless you know more about it than can be communicated on a mailing list. I learned many years ago that writing for instruments you don't really know is futile. You can see this in all those ill written and horrible sounding clarinet parts, in French operas for example or modern music festivals. With the exception of people like Mozart, Weber, Mendelssohn, Brahms who knew the clarinet intimately as played by their good friends, the greatest clarinetists of the respective period, mostly anything written for clarinet is useless or unsatisfying at the least. Now with the basset horn it is even more problematic because there is no standard type instrument. Bore, mouthpieces, reeds and attitudes of players are so vastly different that unless you know the specific player and setup you can't write a meaningful note of music. I personally prefer the alto clarinet (I have a some very good instruments, finding a good mouthpiec is crucial) for ensemble work (for solo the bassetto is my ultimate favorite instrument) because it blends better with other modern clarinets. Most modern basset horns are alto clarinets with added range (and none of the peculiar character of a proper corno di bassetto) anyway.

Best regards
danyel

Am 20.03.2011 um 23:23 schrieb Tom Bassett:

>
> I want to begin writing a clarinet quartet... the problem is I never played basset horn (in F) before and I never even saw music for it. Finale is auto generating the basset horn to have a bass clef... is that normal? I thought basset was the same as alto just in F not Eb in which case it would be in treble. I mean... I've seen contra parts in treble so I dont see why basset would be bass but if that is standard practice then I'd like to leave it that way.
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Tom
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