 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: davidsampson
Date: 2008-01-06 05:06
For christmas I received Michael Drapkin's "Symphonic Repertoire for the Bass Clarinet." In it is an excerpt of Alban Berg's Violinkonzert. Above the first note is a block letter 'H', and what can best be described as a right angle bracket. At the end of that note is a close bracket of the same style. Several other notes in the piece have this over them. Sometimes there is no letter, on the brackets. Other times have an 'N' or 'CH' instead of 'H'. What does this mean, and how does it affect my playing?
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Author: NorbertTheParrot
Date: 2008-01-06 07:12
This notation is clarified in the score. It tells you whether you are the most important instrument at this point in the music, or whether you should stay in the background. In essence:
H (Hauptstimme) means main part.
N (Nebenstimme) means subsidiary part.
Brackets with no letter mean you are in harmony with an H or N part.
RH (Hauptrhythmus) means main rhythm.
CH (Choralmelodie) means the choral melody (Es ist genug) introduced on a quartet of clarinets towards the end of the work.
The Berg Concerto Dem Andenken eines Engels (In Memory of an Angel) is one of the great masterpieces, to be heard again and again.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2008-01-06 14:21
Hauptstimme and Nebenstimme markings are useful in all kinds of music. I use them frequently, to remind myself to bring out a passage or keep out of the way.
For example, in the fourth movement of the Mozart Quintet, most people play the first variation as a clarinet solo, rather than a light descant over the melody in the 1st violin. In my score, I've put an H sign in the first violin part, and an N sign in my part, to remind myself that I'm the tinsel, not the Christmas tree.
Ken Shaw
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The Clarinet Pages
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