Yesterday I found myself going over tricky spots in Schumann 1 and Manfred Overture with my colleague, Maestra Tomaro while having Thai food at the Blue Elephant.. Aside from the excellent broad noodles, sticky rice, green tea ice cream and the usual regrets one has about Schumann's inability to make his ideas sound, I was reminded of the wealth of inspiration in the score. So many great ideas, and I love how he channels Beethoven 4 in the 2nd movement. My colleague brought up questions of textual authenticity in Manfred, and we wrestled with the rightness or wrongness of what he apparently wrote. Even with the manuscript facsimile of the symphony in hand, one wonders, "Is that really what he intended?"
The problems begin in bar 1, which in the manuscript is clearly written down a third from what is found in the final version. Structurally, the original version makes more sense, especially when one considers the opening of the 2nd movement. The 1st melody traces the 6-7-8 of the scale, mirroring the original opening of the 1st movement (B-flat, G, A B-flat). I myself change the printed text of the 1st movement when I perform it; Schumann only rewrote it because the fanfare didn't sound with the horns in B-flat. Knowing this, why isn't it performed more often as he originally intended?
One could go one about the orchestration, which has been retouched by a host of well meaning, gifted conductors from Mahler to Weingartner to Szell. Is it wrong to retouch? Is it wrong to rewrite? Where is a musical ethicist when we need one?...oh, that would be us, wouldn't it? Musical ethics is a topic that will continue to arise as we move forward in our discussions.
Answers to Mozart question - some other major works in the key of A Major:
A Major Violin Concerto, K. 219
A Major Violin Sonatas, K. 305, 526
A Major Piano Sonata, K 331
Clarinet Concerto, K. 622
Clarinet Quintet, K. 581
Aria: "Un aura amorosa" from Cosi fan tutte
A Major Piano Concertos, K. 414, 488
Check them out, lots of great music there!
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