6 ehpin Society Sovrnel $4 (res. 1777) COLIN LAWSON (ed.): The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. 240 pp. ISBN 0 521 47668 2 (paperback). Price: £40 (hardback); £14.50 / $19.95 (paperback), ‘COLIN LAWSON: Mozart: Clarinet Concerto. Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996. 111 pp. ISBN 0 521 47029 0 (paperback). Price: £19.95 (hardback); £6.95 / $10.95 (paperback). Both of these books are important contributions to the literature on the clarinet. The first is a collection of twelve essays by fourteen leading English clarinettists and teachers edited by the clarinettist-scholar Colin Lawson; the second is Lawson's thorough and thought-provoking study of the most well- known clarinet concerto. ‘Although The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet is a practical guide to the clarinet written primarily for players and teachers, there is much of interest to the specialist and researcher. Its twelve chapters include the following topics: ‘Single reeds before 1750" (Colin Lawson); “The development of the clarinet’ (Nicholas Shackleton); “The Clarinet Family, clarinet in Bb, A, and C’ (Lawson); “The high clarinets’ (D, Eb, FG, Ab; Basil Tschaikov); "The basset horn’ (Georgina Dobrée); “The bass clarinet’ (Michael Harris); “The development of the clarinet repertoire’ (Jo Rees-Davies); ‘Players and composer’ (Pamela Weston); “The mechanics of playing the clarinet’ (Antony Pay); “Teaching the clarinet’ (Paul Harris); ‘Playing historical clarinets’ (Lawson); “The professional clarinettist’ (Nicholas Cox); “The contemporary clarinet’ (Roger Heaton); ‘The clarinet in jazz’ (ohn Robert Brown); and ‘The clarinet on record’ (Michael Bryant). Four “appendices list tutors for the early clarinet in modern edition or facsimile; a select list of tutors; recommended studies; and orchestral excerpts and studies. These are followed by notes, a bibliography, and an index. It is a remarkably varied and full account; the only areas not discussed in detail are folk and non-Western clarinets and acoustics. The essays are well-written and each stands as a good summary of the current knowledge of the clarinet, reporting the author’s original research and many interesting ideas. There are photographs of the complete clarinet family, a tenor chalumeau, two baroque clarinets, and twelve historical clarinets from the collection of Nicholas Shackleton. In addition, there are several photographs of players and composers for the clarinet, reproductions from different historical tutors, and lists of repertoire for the high clarinets and contemporary clarinet. Readers of GSJ will mostly be concerned with the organological material presented by Shackleton in Chapter 2 and in the many observations concerning historical instruments by Lawson in Chapters 1, 3, and 8. Lawson has been associated with the chalumeau since the publication of his book The chalumeaw in the music of the eighteenth century (Ann Arbor, 1981) and in Chapter 1 he succinctly summarizes its history, repertoire, and the repertoire of the contemporary baroque clarinet. He also presents a thorough discussion of the C clarinet in Chapter 3 with most persuasive reasons for players to adopt this neglected instrument. In Chapter 2 Shackleton presents an excellent summary of the development of the clarinet and comments on the basset horn, alto, and bass clarinets in just sixteen pages. Nevertheless, several new observations concerning hhistorical clarinets are included with an illuminating table of clarinet bore dimensions taken from instruments made from 1780 to 1960. 284 This content downloaded from 132.174.255.86 on Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:33:32 UTC All use subjest to JSTOR Terms and Conditions‘The following comments by the reviewer concern the interpretation of some evidence and present some new material. They are not intended to detract from the value of this book. A few of the photographs of the music manuscripts and instruments are rather dark but are still readable. In Chapter 1, on page 3, Buonannis description of the clarinet in 1722 only indirectly supports Doppelmayr’s claim in 1732 that J. C. Denner invented the clarinet since Buonanni simply stated that he was unaware of the inventor of the instrument. ‘The chalumeau maker Liebau mentioned on page 4 can now be identified with one A. Libau of Hamburg whose letter dated May 1760 offering oboes and Dassoons to the Scherwin court is preserved in the Scherwin archives (correspondence to the reviewer from William Waterhouse). The dates of activity of this maker can now be assigned around the mid-eighteenth century, later than earlier researchers had presumed after studying the chalumeaux in the Stockholm collection. ‘The Denner three-key clarinet in Berkeley mentioned by Lawson on page 6, is still quite controversial. Martin Kirnbauer has suggested in an article in Tibia (1992) that it was buil by Johann Christopher Denner’ second son Johann David Denner during the 1740s or 1750s and this view has been supported by Herbert Heyde in his essay in William Waterhouse’s The New Langwill Index: A Dictionary of Musical Wind-Instrument Makers and Inventors (London, 1993). If the Berkeley clarinet was built by J. C. Denner (who died in 1707) it becomes difficult to chronologically fit it in with the known examples of three-key clarinets. The ‘earliest three-key clarinets and clarinettes d’amours date from not earlier than about 1735 or 1740; and the Berkeley clarinet’s unusual set of four double finger holes suggests at least a date of mid-eighteenth century or later. Kirnbauer stated that after the death of an instrument maker the widow customarily ran the shop with help from family members. It appears that the Denner family members continued to use J. C. Denner’s stamp to insure sales of their instruments. Johann David Denner was active as a maker from about 1736 to 1764 just at the ‘right’ time when this clarinet should have been made. At the time that my Baroque Clarinet book was completed in the early 1990s I stood by the attribution of this instrament to J. C. Denner but now it appears more reasonable to re-attribute it to Johann David Denner. Lawson mentions on p.15 that Garsault (1761) noted the similarity of embouchure between the chalumeau and the clarinet. It might be clearer to the reader that ‘embouchure’ in French refers to the mouthpiece rather than the position of lips while blowing, ‘There are actually two early ivory clarinets (p.16), not one, both made by Georg Heinrich Scherer in the RCM and Paris collections. Shackleton (p.17) ‘mentions that the very earliest clarinets were provided to monasteries but that we have little idea what they were used for. Sehnal (‘Die Harmoniemusik in Mahren von 1750 bis 1840" in Kongressberichte Oberschitzen/Burgenland 1988 ‘Bblach/Sidtirol 1990, ed. B. Habla, Tutzing, 1992, pp.259-62) has recently shown that wind band music (‘Harmoniemusik’) was played in the Augustine monastery in Brinn from 1741 through the nineteenth century. It then seems reasonable to assume that musicians in other monasteries alo played Harmoniemusik. Shackleton points out (on p.19) the unusual use of twin holes for L3 and RL on the Denner three-key clarinet in Berkeley. When he wrote the 285 ‘This content downloaded from 132.174.255.86 on Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:33:32 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions‘essay he was unaware of an anonymous, probably German, five-key ivory clarinet (1820) with these twin holes preserved in the Boston Symphony Orchestra collection, ‘Shackleton's statement (p.19) that there are no surviving 5-key clarinets earlier than 1770 is accurate unless earlier dated instruments are found. Although Caleb Gedney (fl. 1754-1769) made clarinets in London, none have been found to verify if they carried five keys. Itis less well known that Heinrich Carl Télcke of Braunschweig made clarinets from 1751 and Jeremias Schlegel of Basel made clarinets from 1759. Two clarinets (both with five keys) by Télcke survive and three clarinets and one clarinette d'amour (with five keys) by Schlegel survive. All of these instruments could be dated 1770 or later but unfortunately there are no examples known dated earlier than 1770 to really test the validity of Shackleton’s statement. ‘Was the Boehm-system clarinet first exhibited in 1843 or 1839? Shackleton states the former (p.28) while the Jury report for the 1839 Industrial Exhibition (1839, vol. 2, p.365) indicates that Louis Auguste Buffet exhibited ‘une clarinette constnute d’apris le méne systime, mais que M. Boehm n’avait pas cherché jusqu’ic d appliquer ala clarinete’. Ie is surprising that Shackleton states (p.31) that the basset horn is generally believed to have been invented in Passau in 1770 when his own extensive investigations (in GSJ XL, 1987) showed that the earliest basset horns ‘were probably made about 1760. The ‘improved’ basset horns with seven keys were made by Anton and Michael Mayrhofer of Passau about 1770, and one ‘example carries a stamp indicating their priority to its ‘invention? Most extant alto clarinets appeared after 1820 2s Shackleton states (p.32). However, one early alto (probably in Eb) with five keys is preserved in the Berlin collection. It may be dated to circa 1800 and includes a straight body and a key for F/C but none for FH/CE. ‘Another high clarinet to add to Tschaikov’s informative essay on high-pitched clarinets is the virtually unknown high Dp clarinet mentioned only by Charles Mandel in A Treatise on the Instrumentation of Military Bands (London, 1859). It apparently was made for a short time in England during the mid-nineteenth century as a clarinet suitable for playing first violin parts and could easily be paired with the Db flute. The problem identifying this instrument if it is not ‘marked with 2 pitch designation is that it could be easily mistaken for a high- pitched C clarinet, so frequently found in collections. The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet is recommended. Lawson's Mozart: Clarinet Concerto consists of seven chapters, three appendixes, notes, a selected bibliography, and an index. Te is the most thorough and comprehensive study of the concerto to appear in print. His chapters are: “The eighteenth-century clarinet and its music’; ‘Mozart, Stadler, and the clarinet “The genesis and reception of the concerto’; ‘Stadler’s clarinet and its revival’; ‘Mozart’ original text’; ‘Design and structure’; and ‘Performance practice’. The appendixes include the text of William McColl’ translation of the text of the AMZ review of the music of Mozart’s concerto (previously published in The Clarinet, 1982); a listing of basset clarinets, clarinets of Viennese origin, and basset horns relevant to a study of the concerto compiled by Nicholas Shackleton; detailed descriptions of the basset clarinets by Albert Rice; and a listing of works by Anton Stadler including his lost compositions compiled by 286 This content downloaded from 132.174.255.86 on Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:33:32 UTC ‘All use subject to JSTOR Terms and ConditionsAlbert Rice. In addition, there are two photographs of basset clarinets, one by Eric Hoeprich made in 1994 after an cighteenth-century engraving of the instrument used by Anton Stadler during his 1794 concert tour and a basset clarinet in C by J. B. Bisenbrandt of Gottingen (1800). ‘Although some of the information presented in Chapter 1 may be found in the Cambridge Companion there is much new and additional material in this informative essay. In later chapters David Ross's observations on the Theodor Lotz clarinet is quoted, and on several occasions Pamela Poulin’s extensive work fon Stadler and the Mozart concerto is also appropriately acknowledged and quoted, sometimes extensively. Lawson's original ideas and observations are based con careful research and his many performances of the concerto with a fine boxwood copy ofa basset clarinet made for him by Daniel Bangham. In addition, an insightful musical analysis of the concerto is presented in Chapter 6. ‘The following comments are concerned mainly with typographical errors. On p2, C. G. Murr’ book which includes a reference to J. C. Denner is entitled Beschreibung der vornehmsten Merkwiirdigkeiten in Niraberg. The fact that Michael Haydn's aria ‘Kommt her ihr Menchen’ (p.15) was written in a ‘clarino’ style in 1772 does not prove that this part had to have been played on a baroque clarinet. Four or five-key instruments could certainly have been played; the most important point made here is that the ‘clarino” style for the clarinet continued to bbe composed during the 1770s. Michael Haydn (p.15) actually wrote three concertante movements, not two, for the A clarinet in his Divertimento P58/38 deest. Lawson mentions the air in act two of Ferdinando Paer’s opera Sargino (1803) was written for the basset clarinet but this part has not been reproduced in any publication to the knowledge of the reviewer. It would be most interesting to examine this music (a manuscript of this opera in the New York Public Library includes a virtuosic part for the Bb clarinet but with no notes below ¢). The anonymous basset hom in the RCM collection (p.45) similar to Eisenbrandt’s basset clarinet carries eight keys not six One correction should be made to a footnote in Table 2 (p86): the Griesbacher clarinet (no.5) was not stolen from Mozart's Geburthaus but is now preserved in the Salzburg Museum (according to the reviewer’ correspondence with Kure Birsak of the Museum staff). The Lotz basset horn (no.1) in Table 3 ‘was not totally destroyed during World War Il; it is preserved in the Berlin collection without a bell and mouthpiece. An additional basset horn by Doleisch (dated 1800) is now in a US. private collection. It originally had eight keys with five added during the early nineteenth century. An additional basset horn by Griesbacher is preserved in Rome at the Museum of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, no.50. It includes eleven keys several of which were later additions. ‘The following are corrections to Appendix 2: no.9 has sixteen keys; a key for € should be added; and gt’ should be added to the keys of no.10. On p.92 the sources for Anton Stadler’s Czakan music were obtained from Marianne Betz’s book Der Csakan und seine Musik (Tutzing, 1992). Lawson’ book is highly recommended and is absolutely essential for a thorough understanding of the greatest clarinet concerto. ALBERT R. RICE 287 ‘This content downloaded from 132.174.255.86 on Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:33:32 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions