 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: joevacc
Date: 2000-09-25 04:29
This may be a hard question to answer because there was evidence of clarinets in Paris as early as 1751. (I think)
Mozart arrived in Paris 1764 so one can only assume that he knew of them at that time. As far as I know the development of the clarinet
varied greatly throughout Europe. There were compositions for the chlumeau in the early part of the century. It is hard to remember
all of the details and dates but the book that I am trying to keep in mind is "Mozart Clarinet Concerto" Cambridge Music Handbooks.
This book goes into great detail on dates and where Mozart was throughout his life. I hope someone can answer your question directly!
It is a very interesting one.
Best,
jv
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-09-25 15:56
Well said, Joe, B J's provocative question got me off my duff also! Mozart [1756-91] and Haydn [1732-1809] of course knew of and wrote for cl's quite early. Baines in WW Insts. and their history, gives a lot of info, and the pic, plate XXVII, pg 208-9 shows a 5 key boxwood extendable to an A, of 1780, at the Bate in Oxford, which I saw years ago!! Another book in my small library, "Music in the Classic Period" R G Pauly has a lot re: Mozart as I'm sure Groves and M's biographies do also. Baines p 117+ and partic.p 302 , Moz to father " If only WE had clarinets", p299 also will be of interest. Happy research!! Don
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-09-25 17:47
Many thanks for your replies. My guess is that he probably heard the instrument for the first time during his visit to Paris in 1763, since Rameau's Zoroastre featured the instrument, and Johann Stamitz had had a successful season in Paris with several symphonies that included clarinets and horns. I think I am right in saying that Mozart first wrote for the clarinet in the divertimento K.113 in 1771, but if anyone has evidence to the contrary, I would be very glad to hear from you. Thanks Joevacc for the tip about the Cambridge book on the concerto. I managed to find it without any trouble and it was indeed very useful.
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Author: joevacc
Date: 2000-09-25 23:56
It amazes me that we are talking about a seven-year old Mozart! They say that he was able to play the klavier at age 3 and was composing at 5. He was taken by his father in 1762 to Munich and Vienna to be presented to the royal courts. Since the clarinet was invented in Nurembug in 1690, I wonder if the Mozart family was aware of the clarinet by 1762? By then, in addition to being an accomplished keyboard player, he was able to play the violin!! - without any formal training!!! In 1764 he wrote his first THREE symphonies! Wolfgang's older sister, Maria Anna was also a brilliant keyboard player who was with Wolfgang and Leopold (his father) in 1762. Your question beejay, leads me to wonder WHO was playing the clarinet in those years?? Thank you Don for all the great references! I hope that this thread continues.
jv
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-09-26 11:54
Joevacc
I can't find any evidence that Leopold Mozart was aware of the clarinet, so it's unlikely he woud have passed on a love of the instrument to Wolfgang. It is known, however, that two German clarinetists were hired for the first performance of Rameau's Zoroastre in, I believe, 1749, so the instrument would have been fairly well established by the time that Mozart first went to Paris, as you remind us, at the age of seven. We have Mozart's letter to his father about the clarinets at Mannheim, but he was was so bedazzled with female charms that I think he found everything there to be wondrous, And although he may have had a particular fascination with the clarinet, he went out of his way to avoid the clarinet virtuoso Joseph Beer during a subsequent trip to Paris because he was "a dissolute kind of fellow." I think Mozart's fascination with the clarinet was rooted in his friendship with Anton Stadler and his musical circle. It was for Stadler and his brother, and a couple of visiting basset horn players from Bohemia, the Springer brothers, I believe, that Mozart wrote some of his finest chamber music. I wonder (and perhaps someone could enlighten me on this) why so much of Mozart's masonic music was written for the basset horn. Was it because Stadler was also a mason (although in a different lodge)? Or did the triangular shape of the basset horn have a masonic symbolism (the magic three)? Mozart's writing for the clarinet or the basset horn shows an intimate knowledge of the capabilities of the single reed instrument. I also wonder, though, whether he also liked the clarinet because it was new and perhaps democratic, in contrast to oboes, horns and other instruments used in the court orchestras. There is an enormous amount of clarinet writing in the operas that Mozart wrote for popular rather than court audiences. And one more question. Was it the violin that Mozart played as a child? He certainly played the viola later on.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2000-09-27 22:16
B J - Its evident you have done much homework on this interesting question [sss]. Do you know of "Mozart Speaks" by Robert L Marshall "drawn from letters etc".?Find a copy, its fascinating!! The earliest [life-clar] reference, I found is on pg 294 "According to Nannerl [Mozart], M's fascination with wind instruments began in childhood", with ref. to Sy in Eb K 16, showing oboi and corni. Pg 297 to Leopold, Mannheim,3 Dec.1778 "Ah,if only we had clarinets too! You cannot imagine the glorious effect of a symphony with flutes,oboes and clarinets." notes following ---There were no clarinets in the Salzburg court orchestra at that time. --- On pg 387 - 8, described are cl'ists Joseph Beer [1744-1812] in Concert Spirituel beginning in 1771 and Anton Stadler [1753-1812] M's close friend and fellow Mason {drinking buddy??} for whom he composed [as known], who developed the basset-clarinet. I'm sure there is more gold here, but look it up !!! Don
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-09-28 01:32
Don, I never read that one, but I did read the Anderson translation of the Mozart family letters (Macmillan) -- and, by the way, what a wonderful story-teller Leopold was. I hadn't heard that comment by Nannerl. Fascinating. I suppose wind instruments at that time would have been used predominantly out of doors, and I wonder if that might have been one of the attractions to the very young Mozart. After all, show me the kid who doesn't like a marching band ...
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