 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: hammerclarinet
Date: 2015-02-16 05:22
Hi,
Does anyone own or know where I can find a copy of the transposed bass clarinet part for Lizst's Mazeppa? We will be performing it in my youth orchestra. The part is written for C bass clarinet in bass clef. It would make my life a lot easier if I was able to get a copy it. Thanks!!
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2015-02-17 21:11
The only reason for a bass clarinet part to be written in C bass is that it was copied for a score that was printed in C for all instruments. In my 50 years in the BSO the only time that happened to me, and the section, was some edition of the Cindarella suite and we asked the librarian to get us the "proper" set of parts. Though I've never played that piece that I remember, though I would have if it were in C for the bass clarinet, I bet there's a different edition with ALL the clarinet parts in Bb or A.
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
Post Edited (2015-02-17 21:12)
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2015-02-19 01:09
I had some free time this morning so I did a little research around the internet. Mazeppa is the sixth in a series of 12 symphonic poems that Liszt wrote between 1848 and 1858. (He wrote one more in 1882.) Of these, only one, Les Preludes, ever achieved "war horse" status. It also served as theme music (and perhaps incidental music) for a very popular 1930s science fiction movie serial, Flash Gordon. Les Preludes is the only Liszt tone poem whose parts are available on IMSLP but the scores for all the other symphonic poems are also there.
I was curious about the Bass Clarinet part so I looked at the Mazeppa score to see if Ed's explanation was the right one. Prokofiev is rather well-known for composing everything in the key of C and leaving it to his copyists to sort things out for the transposing instruments. I remember doing a suite from his opera, The Love for Three Oranges, where the set of parts we received had no transpositions for any instrument. But, as it turns out, that is not what Liszt did in Mazeppa. The score is not in C for all the parts nor is it in concert pitch. Rather, it shows transposed parts for all the instruments. Yet it calls specifically for a bass clarinet in C.
While bass clarinets in A are rare today, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, they appear to have been fairly common as are parts written for them. Parts for bass clarinets in C are much more rare. This is the first I have ever seen in symphonic literature. There may be some in operas. The instrument did exist but was likely rare. I have seen (a picture of) a Selmer bass clarinet in C from the early 1900s (range to low E) on eBay. That is the only bass clarinet in C that I have ever encountered. BTW, it sold for around $2,500.
I think that Breitkopf and Haertel were probably the original publishers. It's their scores that appear on IMSLP. Reprints are available from both Kalmus Music and Luck's. It's possible that one or both of them may have transposed the original bass clarinet parts but I wouldn't bet on it -- the piece is not often played and the parts are not listed as transposed in either catalog. I suspect that if you ordered a part from one of these sources, you would receive the original C bass clarinet part. You could try contacting them and asking if they have transpositions, though.
If you search online, you can find some individuals who will create a transposed part for you if you send them a pdf of the original -- probably for around $10-$20. My section partner recently had someone transpose a C clarinet part for her. She said the price was reasonable and the quality and turnaround quite good.
If you can't find a part anywhere else and aren't inclined to do your own transposition, you could try this site:
http://www.jtownpublications.com/transposed-bass-clarinet-parts/
Best regards,
jnk
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Author: Ed Palanker
Date: 2015-02-19 19:02
Jack, you have too much time on your hands. :-) That's interesting though. I've never heard of a Bass clarinet in C and except for the one example I mentioned, I've never come across a part in C, and as I said, it was not a problem getting one in Bb and A. Bass parts in A are fairly common up to the middle of the last century. Of course we didn't play all the opera rep in the BSO as an opera company would. So now, in the twilight of my years, and retired, I learn something new.:-).
ESP eddiesclarinet.com
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Author: pewd
Date: 2015-02-19 19:39
Attachment: mazeppa.jpg (30k)
It looks like your 1st clarinet has a transposition task as well.
Myself, I'd key it into Finale or a similar software program.
- Paul Dods
Dallas, Texas
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Author: Jack Kissinger
Date: 2015-02-19 20:05
Entirely too much time, Ed. Just for grins, I googled "operas that use bass clarinet in C" without the quotes. I actually got a couple of relevant hits.
In his book, The Clarinet, Erich Hoeprich, writes (p. 272):
An isolated and extraordinary moment in the history of the bass clarinet and its music occurred in 1836 when the English clarinettist Thomas Willman accompanied an aria by Sigismund von Neukomm,"'Make haste, O god, to deliver me," for a "counter-tenor-Lady's voice," accompanied bass clarinet obbligato and strings. Willman, playing a bass clarinet in C made by George Wood of London, with a range to low Bb, performed with Mrs. Alfred Shaw, a well-known alto. The bass clarinet part has a range of just over three octaves....
Hoeprich also notes (p. 272), "In the 1840s Berlioz mentions bass clarinets in both C and B flat, implying both were commonly in use..."
Also, in From the Clarinet D'Amour to the Contra Bass: A History of Large Size Clarinets (p. 373), Al Rice writes:
Baron Armand Marie Ghislain Limnander de Nieuwehove (1814--1892) was a Belgian composer ... wrote four stage works for the Paris Opera. Le maitre chanteur was ... not a success. The 'premier tableau' in act three begins with a slow, expressive unaccompanied solo for a bass clarinet in C....
This latter work, like the bass clarinet in C appears to have become extinct but, who knows, the basset horn is making a comeback. Maybe one of these days bass clarinetists will have to schlep around instruments in A, Bb and C. Aren't you glad you retired?
Best regards,
jnk
Post Edited (2015-02-19 20:06)
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Author: kdk
Date: 2015-02-19 21:18
Amer, can you scan the part into a pdf? The parts aren't on IMSLP for me to download it directly.
If you mail me off the BB (my email address is in my profile here), I may be able to help.
Karl
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