 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2003-02-06 16:52
http://www.clarinet-saxophone.asn.au/index_articles.htm
For those that haven't had the benefit of reading this fine interview - perhaps the most clear and elucidating of the few that he gave - I wanted to post it as a seperate topic. Many times the article has been referenced while buried in a thread somewhere that may not have been accessed by a majority of readers.
Just click on the above link and scroll down to the interview which has it's own seperate link. The interview is in Adobe Acrobat format.
There is succinct instruction about the art and craft of clarinetistry and an abundance of wonderful commentary on music in general.
It is an interview that reflects the culmination of the most distinguished wind player's orchestral (and chamber musician's) career of the 20th century since perhaps Tabeteau, Kincaid, Herseth, or Lifschey.
It is worth noting that his undisputed stellar reputation as a player was the result of, by comparison with a few select other superstars mentioned above, a relatively short and brilliant career - 25 or so years, having had to retire from playing for health reasons at age 45.
Gregory Smith
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Author: Ralph G
Date: 2003-02-06 17:15
The most surprising thing about this interview is finding out that Marcellus didn't really "practice" as a professional, in the sense that he'd hole up in a practice room for hours and labor away. In his Cleveland days, he'd "woodshed" for an hour or fifty minutes before rehearsals on difficult passages of the repertoire. The only time he recalled he really "practiced" as a student was a two-week stretch with Bonade where he'd practice five hours a day learning JeanJean and the Sixteen Etudes Moderne.
I guess he was aided immensely by the fact that, well, he was MARCELLUS.a
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Author: Ginny
Date: 2003-02-06 18:27
Thank you so much for that link!
Ginny
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Author: Brenda Siewert
Date: 2003-02-06 19:35
Thanks Greg. This is a wonderful article. It's sometimes good to point out things that a lot of newcomers to the bb haven't read. Very useful and encouraging.
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2003-02-06 23:10
Oddly no mention of his life away from music. Did he have hobbies or a family?
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Author: compare
Date: 2003-02-07 00:19
In the article, Marcellus said this on his selection of reeds:
"Well, actually – selection and adjustment.
I used to open a box of a dozen
Morre reeds – 2 or 2 1/2 – and select
two or three “live” ones."
How do Morre reeds - 2 or 2 1/2 - compare to reeds today, lets say a Vandoren V12 cut?
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2003-02-07 00:52
He loved flying and everything about airplanes having acquired his pilot's license. He achieved the highest rating in HAM radio earning his license in record time even with his eyesight gone. He was an addict of vintage movies and had a total recall of their casts. He was a fine and enthusiastic golfer winning several local awards. He was passionate about the silence, the beauty, and the preservation of nature. Until the last crippling states of his diabetes he possessed a Churchillian command of the English language. His conversation was urbane, witty, economical, and often wonderfully and gently droll - always just the right, elegant choice of word. He was as thoroughly American as the jazz he loved and fiercely patriotic. Above all he believed in integrity, quality, and the highest attainable standards in all that touched his life.
- John Browning - Concert Pianist and close Friend.
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He was a conductor of considerable stature (even after losing his sight) leading the St. Louis Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and at one time while in the Cleveland Orchestra was also music director of the Canton Symphony Orchestra. He also conducted chamber music ensembles leading the programs at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Blossom Festival, and Northwestern University as well as being Music director of the Northwestern Univ. Symphony Orchestra while teaching clarinet there.
His beautiful wife Marion who lives in Door County Wisconsin, an extremely fine pianist in her own right and pupil of Leonard Shure, once collaborated on the two Brahms Sonatas with her husband at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Although they could not have children they had a wonderful life together traveling and enjoyed their Door County, Wisconsin summer home which he helped in the design of and building of when first selecting the site on the lakeshore of Greenbay.
If you ever have the chance to read the tributes in one of the Clarinet magazines published shortly after his death in 1996, you'll get a glimpse of what friends and colleagues alike thought of him as a clarinetist and human being.
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One of the 20th century's towering conductor and composers Pierre Boulez said of him,
"When I think about Bob Marcellus, I always imagine him opposite me while I conduct the Cleveland Orchestra. What a pleasure it was to make music with such an exceptional clarinetist: his sonority, his phrasing, understanding of the text, the richness of his instrumental colour, his ability to adapt to different styles, all this was a real joy. And at the same time, all this was done with natural simplicity, with the effortlessness of a great master. To hear him play the repertoire was a fine lesson in music, but to have him as soloist in the Debussy Rhapsodie was to experience a collaboration on the highest level.
When Bob lost his sight, he turned his eminent gifts to teaching and conducting, gradually overcoming the handicap with which he had to live. And always he retained the good humour and balanced temperament that were the essence of his charm.
To remember Bob is not only to bring to mind superb musical moments. It is to recall a great artist, entirely devoted to his mission."
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I also remember him as friend as well as mentor, being comfortable talking with him about almost any subject about which I knew in advance he would have something meaningful and witty to contribute to our conversations.
Gregory Smith
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2003-02-07 01:09
He actually had the maker at Morre develop a 2 1/4 that he used sometimes. But the 2 1/2 German 12.5 tip width were his standards.
Actually strength-wise, the best Morre's in the German 2 1/2 strength, 12.5 tip width of that time equaled about a V12 3 3/4 (if there were such a thing) - half way between a 3 1/2 and 4. But they were shaped much differently than anything on the market today.
There is nothing on today's market that even comes close to resembling the best of the Morre's. I played his personal set-up with those reeds first hand and can remember them as if it happened yesterday. The quality and sonority of sound attainable is really something one never forgets. I used Morres myself for about 10 years until they went defunct in the mid 80's. I don't think that it was coincidental that the somewhat similarly designed V12 - a radical departure for Vandoren, came out about a year later.
Gregory Smith
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2003-02-07 01:16
I posted once about the Morre reed vis-a-vis Marcellus:
Robert Marcellus was responsible for the development of the Morre reed if only in a slightly roundabout way. For many years, Karl Marks Sr. was Marcellus' friend, a former student and as Marcellus told me "his ears" from the audience in Severance Hall, Cleveland (approx.1959-1970). Marks Sr.(of Marks Music fame) was also the sole distributor of Morre reeds after Marcellus encouraged him to establish that sole distributorship when 2nd clarinetist Jim Rettew had a student show the reeds to Marcellus for the first time in 1960 or so. Marcellus thought so much of their potential at that time that in succeeding years he literally gave instructions to the maker in Vienna (Karl Firstl) via his friend and U.S. distributor Karl Marks of Pennsylvania on how to improve them and what resultant changes worked or didn't work. This included any number of things concerning cane quality, length of cut, width of cut, etc. They were not scientificly calculated recommendations but they were general, alterations that Marcellus believed would help the reed and it's basic playing characteristics. And with a few simple rules of carpentry, they could be worked down with rush or preferably sandpaper to produce the most magnificent sound on a Kaspar (Cicero, Chicago and even Ann Arbor) of any reed at that time, or any time.
The V12 style would never have been developed if it were not for it's predecessor, the Morre. The difference being - amongst other things - that it seems Vandoren wanted the V12 to play right out of the box for mass marketing purposes...hence the comparative flimsy quality of the V12's and other imitations in relation to the Morres of the 1960's and early 70's.
The Morre (German Cut 12.5 tip width) that Marcellus used was in it's heyday from around 1962-1973 as he told me (and as I've experienced!!). There were shipments that were dogs every once in awhile even back then but most of the reeds were what he refered to as "lolipops" out of the box, needing very little if no work. If you knew how to work them down as he showed you, they were incredible. The Morres left over today don't even come close to resembling what they were before 1973 or so. The maker went defunct about 10-12 years ago and destroyed his machines and has never revealed the source of his unique cane.
Gregory Smith
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Author: HAT
Date: 2003-02-07 02:16
He was better than just a 'good' golfer. As a young man he apparently placed very well in several tournaments. Turned in lots of rounds under 80, possibly lower (I forgot the details I saw in one of his early bios).
When he could no longer play I know it wounded him very deeply.
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Author: Alseg
Date: 2003-02-07 02:16
What a remarkable story.....There is a nice book available about Bonade...Maybe you should consider writing one about Marcellus.
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Author: Douglas
Date: 2003-02-07 02:25
Wouldn't it be wonderful if there were a depository/museum for the equipment of important clarinet players...the clarinets and mouthpieces of excellent players like Marcellus and Harold Wright and Hadcock, for example....for others to examine, measure, copy. Does anyone (Greg?) know just what happened to Marcellus's instruments?
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Author: Gregory Smith
Date: 2003-02-07 03:21
I've never really asked. Not that I don't think it somewhat important. I did know his equipment well having played on it many times and over extended but intermittent periods both as a student and later on.
Gregory Smith
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Author: Stéphane
Date: 2003-02-07 11:23
Doug,
If you want to play like Marcellus, I guess you will need to "examine, measure, copy" his soul rather than his equipment...
Stéphane.
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Author: Douglas
Date: 2003-02-07 12:37
Stephane, I'm not wanting to imitate anyone, just asking about the preservation of the equipment of important players. Don't read things into my posting that are not there.
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Author: ed
Date: 2003-02-07 18:36
Greg Smith says:
"There is nothing on today's market that even comes close to resembling the best of the Morre's."
I have always felt that what Greg refers to as the unique cane was so important to the essence of this reed. While people talk about the V12 as the Morre cut, they really bear no resemblence as the cane is quite different.
For the period while I studied with Marcellus he once commented favorably on my sound and asked about my equipment. I replied that I was using a Kaspar 13, inverted Bonade and some old Morre reeds I had. He smiled in a wistful smile like someone remembering an old friend and replied, "Unmistakable"
While I only studied with him for a relatively short time, it was not only a dream come true, but also one of the high points of my life to study with him and spend some time with and get to know this remarkable man
Thanks Greg for your thoughts on him. Anytime you want to share more, please do.
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Author: musiciandave
Date: 2007-06-13 00:39
It was (if I recall) Diabetes that took Marcellus sight.
What age did it happen?
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Author: William
Date: 2007-06-13 14:40
This interview is worth keeping--everyone start your printers before it is lost forever [CTRL--P]
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Author: Gregory Smith ★2017
Date: 2009-06-06 06:40
A "shooting star" by today's standard of playing-career longevity, this past June 1st was the 81st anniversary of this remarkable musician's birth. Only 20 years as The Cleveland Orchestra's principal clarinetist. 1953 - 1973. The principal clarinet chair was endowed in his name.
There are precious few in the classical music world whom one knows while with them that they are in the presence of someone possessing greatness. Robert Marcellus was truly one of those very precious few.
Thanks for reviving this thread.
Gregory Smith
Evanston, Illinois.
Post Edited (2009-06-06 06:41)
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Author: Simon Aldrich
Date: 2009-06-06 16:08
I studied with Marcellus in what turned out to be his last year of teaching (94).
Doing a Performance Certificate (fewer academic subjects) and owning a car, I was responsible for picking up Mr. Marcellus, taking him to his studio at Northwestern, getting him a coffee, setting up his instrument (wetting reed and putting it on the mouthpiece, etc). and reading him his mail. Then, after he taught for 2 hours, I would drive him home.
Alseg wrote to Greg:
>There is a nice book available about Bonade...Maybe you should consider >writing one about Marcellus.
When I was at Northwestern Clark Brody was also teaching there. He and Marcellus had many stories from the old days, fascinating stories like touring behind the iron curtain during the cold war. It seemed a crime that these stories from another era would be lost when the person departed.
It struck me as a real loss to have those accounts undocumented, that such compelling portraits of that rich period in music would not survive the teller's passing.
Back then I thought that the ICA should have a fund to finance the documentation of memories, recollections and reminiscences of clarinetists who are links to a previous era.
It needn't be more complicated than having someone chew the fat with the player in question over a few days while recording it and then transcribing it.
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Simon Aldrich
Clarinet Faculty - McGill University
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre de l'Opera de Montreal
Artistic Director - Jeffery Summer Concerts
Clarinet - Nouvel Ensemble Moderne
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Author: Wes
Date: 2009-06-10 20:31
Thank you for making this wonderful interview available! One also wonders how he developed his opinion of oboe sound and vibrato.
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The Clarinet Pages
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