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RE: Robert Marcellus

Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 1999-07-30 21:57

Mark Charette wrote:
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Kathy Handyside wrote:
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Hi Mark -

Tell me the anecdotes! I love that kind of stuff!
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Search the Klarinet Archives for a few. Some were sent to me personally and I can't share those (they were sent to me by a couple of his students and a couple of teachers who worked alongside him at different times).

Greg - anything you can share with us?

Kathy -

Marcellus was strongly influenced by George Szell's overwhelming musical personality and by his early training. He reached the pinnacle of his profession and would permit no contradiction of what he said, particularly if it went against something Szell had said. According to a series of postings on the Klarinet board, he was viciously contemptuous of even slight ornamentation in Mozart and would leave a student who tried it in tears.

You went to him for his marvelous playing and for the very important things he could teach, but you dared not contradict him, or even hint at alternatives to what he said.

Players at that level know so much, and hear so accurately, that they know exactly what to say to a student. The down side is that the necessary big personality can push aside everyone else in the room. When you're the 3,000 pound gorilla, you start to expect the lower forms of life to stay out of your way and crush them if they don't.

Such is life.

Ken Shaw

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Robert Marcellus new

Kathy Handyside

1999-07-30 15:45