The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

New Topic | Go to Top | Go to Topic | Search | Help/Rules | Smileys/Notes | Log In

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Write down the unwritten, Please

Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-07-21 17:07

So, Tony Pay, Jonathan Cohler, and some of my playing colleagues allude to the unwritten conventions applied to the performance of Classical Music. I don't share the oral histories, and can't find a guidebook that would help me break through these mysteries

Lets see, if I can conjure up a few (that may be wrong)
*Start trills on the upper note;
*Play short appogiaturas on the beat;
*Play long appogs as written;
*Play an eingang when the orchestra holds;
*End a trill with a turn;
*Play the third quite sharp;
*Employ vibrato when the notation is cantabile or dolce;

Does anyone know where this lore is archived?

Will someone write down the authoritative "word"?

Bob Phillips

Reply To Message

Re: Write down the unwritten, Please

Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2007-07-21 17:41

Bob,

The conventions are not unwritten at all. But, as in any field, becoming an expert requires serious study. Every period had its theorists (e.g., Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, Leopold Mozart and a number of others) whose works documented conventions for composers and performers of their time.

There are numerous works on performance practices of different periods -- though they were often written for instruments other than the clarinet. Here are a couple of starting places:

Gotthold Frotscher, "Performance Practices of Early Music"

This is a little paperback I picked up at a book sale. It goes up through at least the middle of the 18th century. This one may not be easy to find and I suspect there are others that are similar in nature but more widely used. It is, however, a good source for other references, both historical and "contemporary" (the book was first published in 1963).

"Interpreting Mozart on the Keyboard" by Eva and Paul Badura-Skoda.

This outstanding book was suggested to me by Dan Leeson. Read it and, among other more useful things, you will learn that trills don't "always start on the upper note" (and why and when they should and when they shouldn't).

My guess is that others will add to the list I have started -- just when you thought all you had to do was practice...

Best regards,
jnk

Reply To Message

Re: Write down the unwritten, Please

Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2007-07-21 23:37

Quantz, On Playing the Flute, is IMHO the best of all the treatises. Read it from cover to cover and then start playing.

It's impossible to recapture what it was like make music at that time. The best we can hope for is to play older music, informed by the treatises and as best we can with 21st century minds and experience.

Ken Shaw

Reply To Message

Re: Write down the unwritten, Please

Author: Bob Phillips
Date: 2007-07-22 05:47

Thanks Ken and Jack K.

I've just "discovered" Quantz and find his stuff delightful. Now I'll go look for his book --and the ones on Mozart and the Frotscher.

Bob Phillips

Reply To Message

Avail. Forums | Threaded View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

The Clarinet Pages

For Sale
Put your ads for items you'd like to sell here. Free! Please, no more than two at a time - ads removed after two weeks.