The Clarinet BBoard

The Clarinet BBoard The C4 standard

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

Previous Message | Next Message

Re: KV 581 article

Author: Cdh
Date: 2024-04-26 14:48

Liquorice wrote:

> Craig- what makes you think Stadler changed the low Bs?

It's complicated - but I hope this explanation will be clear enough.

Most literature on the subject of KV 622 talks about "the adaption" or the "arranger", but it is possible to discern *two* hands at work. The second one for the most part just places passages which were notated in the bass clef an octave higher. The first one uses other means - inversions and turning points.

This is well illustrated by bar 147 in the Rondo. All three early prints give three d's (above middle c') in a row, which is plainly nonsensical. This was clearly the result of putting a passage up an octave from which a low B had already been replaced with a low d. In other words a two stage process: either two different people, or the same person at different times with a different aim on each occasion.

If two hands are at work, it makes most sense if the first one was Stadler. We can see a similar approach to the process of adaption in the Clarinet Quintet. Stadler performed that work in Vienna for Salieri's birthday *after* his instruments were stolen/lost/pawned on tour. On that occasion he most likely played on a regular A clarinet, since Lotz died in 1792 and most likely no-one else was making basset clarinets at that point. Stadler would have had to adapt the part for a normal A clarinet himself. (I think maybe Kurst Birsak is the only scholar who has dared to speculate that Stadler made the adaption for regular clarinet.) Interestingly, we can see the same approach to adaption of bar 295 of the first movement of KV 622 as in bar the adaption or bar 147 in the first movement of KV 581: namely the introduction of an extra turning point which creates oscillating thirds. It seems like the same hand at work.

In the case of bar 61 in the Rondo, the normal reconstruction, made by placing the scale an octave lower, is still incorrect for the reasons outlined in a previous post in this thread. There must have been a previous version, which hopefully looked like my reconstruction! So the transformation to the version in the early editions was also a two stage process.

> On my instrument I can still play low Bs, even if I change the
> direction of the bell. I just have to use the other knee :-)

We don't know how much time Stadler had to get used to playing with the other knee, or if that was really practicable on his instrument. His first performances on the instrument, of the Quintet, were undoubtedly sitting, since string quartets usually played seated. So as well as using the other knee he may have been getting used to standing with the instrument when he played the concerto. I have always played the concerto with a conductor, and prefer to sit because of the freedom it gives my thumb for the basset keys. Stadler probably needed to stand because he was also directing.

> But with bell facing backwards, which is actually far more
> comfortable for instrument stability, the sound in all
> registers projects noticeably less well.

So there we have it: Stadler was faced with difficult choices. The instrument works best bell forward (for me too) - which is easiest in the sitting position. But if you want to stand, then balancing the instrument is easier with the bell backwards, but this comes with poorer projection and requires a different technique to close the knee-hole. A the same time he was learning a new work which we have all had a lifetime to try and master.

Hats off to all those who have a go at standing, bell forwards AND low B's!

Post Edited (2024-04-27 08:07)

Reply To Message | Avail. Forums | Flat View

Newer Topic | Older Topic

Topics

Author

Date

KV 581 article new

Cdh

2023-06-28 15:17