source file: m1436.txt
Date: Thu, 4 Jun 1998 06:56:27 -0500 (CDT)

Subject: Not Tuning-Related

From: mr88cet@texas.net (Gary Morrison)

I realize that this is not strictly tuning-related, so feel free to
chuck it without reading it.  But I suspect that quite a few of you might
have some comments on it anyway.

   I posted this to rec.music.classical:


                         ======================


   I woke up a few mornings ago with a wild crazy idea that it might be fun
to attempt Haydn's famous Eb trumpet concerto on a soprano sax.  I got a
copy of the score (well, trumpet and piano parts anyway) and have been
toodling around with that.  It seems to have some promise on soprano sax,
although there's a few things in there that'll have to be done a tad
differently.

   But anyway, what I wanted to ask about was a comment on the trumpet part
that it was originally scored for "Clarino in Eb".  That seems to be
extremely unlikely at best, for two reasons.  First, "clarino" as I
understand it, and as the New Harvard dictionary seems to confirm, refers
to performance on a natural trumpet in the clarino (i.e., high) register.
That's the sort of playing we're familiar with, for example, in the Bach
Orchestral Suites, or the Brandenburg Concerti.

   But this almost certainly can't be played in the clarino register of a
trumpet;  it's much too low in pitch for that:  many notes go down in the
3rd- or 4th-harmonic range.  You'd probably have to go down to the
tenor-trombone range of fundamental before that would be possible.  And
even if you did attempt it on a tenor-trombone range fundamental, it would
almost certainly be too chromatic for that.

   Such a thing would be possible on a natural horn, partly because they're
playing higher harmonics, being that they're on an F fundamental, but more
importantly because they can adjust the pitch by cramming their right hand
in and out of the bell.

   The other reason why "Clarino in Eb" is highly unlikely at best, is that
in the liner notes to Christopher Hogwood's performance of this concerto,
he pointed out that Haydn wrote it for, essentially, a keyed bugle rather
than a natural trumpet.

   That's an interesting recording, by the way;  I recommend it.  Probably
the one of the more interesting things about it is the trumpeter had to
tongue each note;  possibly because slurs don't come out very well on a
keyed bugle;  I don't know.

   My guess would be that the editor, A. Goeyens, saw the part written for
Eb transposition, and assumed that it was a natural trumpet part, since
that's how natural brass parts are written (for use with an Eb crook).

   Anybody have any guesses on that?  Tanks!