Gran Partitta - Softcover

Leeson, Daniel N.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1438980191 ISBN 13: 9781438980195

Verlag: AuthorHouse, 2009

Inhaltsangabe

The book is an attempt to gather in one place the important and critical information about Mozart's Serenade in B-flat, K. 361 for 13 instruments. The work is a very popular one, though, paradoxically, rarely performed due to its unusual instrumentation. Every effort was made to have the text of the book easily read, even though some of the technical issues involved have considerable complexities.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Leeson's degrees are in mathematics and he was an employee of the IBM Corporation for almost 30 years, after which he taught mathematics at De Anza College in California State for another 15 years. He is also one of America's leading Mozart specialists, with a particular emphasis on Mozart portraiture. He has published articles in the Mozart; Letters, Eighteenth Century Music

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gran Partitta

By Daniel N. Leeson

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2009 Daniel N. Leeson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4389-8019-5

Contents

Dedication..........................................................................1Acknowledgements....................................................................3Table of Contents...................................................................7Introduction: Have Basset Horns, Will Travel........................................9Chapter 1: The Basic Issues.........................................................13Chapter 2: Mozart's Paper, Ink, and Pens............................................15Chapter 3: The K. 361 Manuscript....................................................27Chapter 4: The Holograph's Peripatetic History......................................33Chapter 5: Subtitle.................................................................39Chapter 6: Instrumentation..........................................................43Chapter 7, Part 1: The Date of Composition..........................................47Chapter 7, Part 2: The Date of Composition..........................................61Chapter 8: The First Edition........................................................75Chapter 9: Performance Issues.......................................................85Chapter 10: Seating Arrangements and Conductors.....................................93Chapter 11: The Third Trio for Minuet 2.............................................97Chapter 12: One Measure Too Many....................................................101Chapter 13: The Two-Stage Theory....................................................113Chapter 14: Mozart's Alleged Wedding Serenade.......................................115Chapter 15: Other Works Containing K. 361 Music.....................................121Appendix 1: A Salute to Fritz Volbach...............................................137Appendix 2: Biography Of Johann Friedrich Schink....................................143Appendix 3: Roger Hellyer's Case For 1781...........................................147Appendix 4: Bastiaan Blomhert's Case For K. 361's Octet Version.....................153Appendix 5: The gran Partitta Manuscript Undergoes Conservation.....................157Appendix 6: First American Performance, Boston, March 6, 1911.......................165Author biography and Informal Photo.................................................167

Chapter One

The Basic Issues

Given music predominantly for wind instruments, Mozart's Serenade for 13 players, K. 361, is an infrequently performed though, paradoxically, a very popular work. When any player is invited to be part of the band, even the most jaded, worn out, bored, and I've-played-everything instrumentalist looks forward to the experience, because of the work's miraculous ability; specifically, it can refresh cynical, tired-out players, reminding them that the joy of their youth and the goal of their lives, namely participating in the performance of music, is still a magnificent gift, and a joyful, glorious, self-enriching thing to do.

But does K. 361 have enough facets to be the subject of an entire book, or is this attempt going to deteriorate into a giant pile of romantic goo?

Get together a bunch of music lovers who know and love the composition and there will immediately be a great many opinions on almost any aspect of the work, including its history, form, instrumentation, character, seating arrangement, applicable performance practices, need for a conductor, and, in my own case, the spelling of the work's subtitle.

While the best place to start is usually at the beginning, in the case of K. 361, there is no uniform understanding of where that beginning may be found. After more than two centuries of research, no one, in my opinion, has been able definitively to establish a case that provides answers to the questions of when the work was written, what circumstances led to its creation, and who might have commissioned it. It is irrational to suggest that Mozart - without a specific purpose in mind - would have written an hour-long, seven-movement work for 13 performers, using instrumentation without precedent just to while away some free time. But assuming that there was a motivation behind its creation, that incentive and its approximate date have not yet been conclusively established.

There are a number of theories about the still-unproven origin of K. 361, probably more than any other composition in the Mozart repertoire, with impassioned discussion breaking out in the blink of an eye during almost any conversation about the work. In short, instrumentalists (mostly wind players), conductors, and music lovers feel a special affinity for the composition, with many holding strong opinions that are hostile to dissenting views. One of the main issues that interests me is that a number of seriously incorrect beliefs about K. 361, and which were thought to have been left behind, each with a stake through its heart, are once again being put forward as viable theories about various aspects of the work. Bad ideas are often difficult to kill.

Author Peter Shaffer provided an insight into K. 361's emotional depth by making the architecture, character, and content of the work's third movement into the dramatic turning point of both the play and somewhat different film, Amadeus. Early in the drama, the central character, Antonio Salieri, is looking at the original manuscript score of K. 361, specifically the third movement. As he looks, the movement's music plays in his head while the theater audience eavesdrops. Salieri is so overwhelmed with what he hears - because he has never previously encountered music of such authority - that he begins a memorable dramatic monologue, different in the film than in the play that describes the architecture of the movement. On the surface, one would think that the technique of using a dramatic monologue to convey this kind of information is not likely to work, but the brief moment stops the show. And accompanying the elegant prose of Salieri's theatrical oration - rivaling even the moving soliloquies of Shakespeare - the music and its impact on Salieri's essence are described in emotionally shattering detail.

The play - the work's original form - was first presented in 1979 at London's National Theatre, and later moved to New York's Broadway where it ran for 1,181 performances, and was nominated for seven Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre (the Tony). It also garnered the best actor prize for its two main characters, as well as best director, best play, best costumes, best lighting, and best set designs.

Appreciation for the film - derived from the play, though different from it in many respects - came in the form of a series of highly positive accolades, including eight awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscar), four from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, four from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the Golden Globe), and a Directors Guild of America award.

There were detractors, though their opinions on the play and film left me stunned with disbelief that otherwise responsible and intelligent Mozart lovers could be wearing such blinders. The bulk of the criticism centered on the historical inaccuracies in both the play and the film, which, while true, appeared to me to be both mean-spirited and missing the central issue behind the message of the drama.

Amadeus is neither about Mozart nor Salieri. They are simply convenient characters put in...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: AuthorHouse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2009
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1438980191
• ISBN 13: 9781438980195
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 172
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: KreGa Onlinehandel GmbH; 4950000000000; info@krega-onlinehandel.de; ; Birkenweg 31; Brakel; 33034; Deutschland