The Clarinet

Historical Perspectives of Excellence for the Clarinetist
John Cipolla
http://www.johncipolla.com/

As students of music, which all musicians are, we look up to the great artists as models who set artistic standards. By listening to their music and studying their work we strive to improve our skill and level of artistry. Looking back in history at the work of these artists gives us a perspective of how great these musicians truly were.

It is our responsibility as musicians to do our "homework." We need to take the time to dig through those dusty old stacks of NBC Symphony, Philadelphia and Boston Symphony recordings in the back of the record store and hunt out those rare recordings of players from the past. We need to ask our teachers and colleagues about the players in those orchestras. We need to go to the library and read the articles and interviews written about these musicians. Piecing together this puzzle is a fascinating, enlightening and never ending task.

Once some progress is made, one will begin to gain a historical perspective of the excellence of these artists. This perspective gives musicians an understanding of the degree of devotion they had towards their craft and art. It also helps a musician to realize that they are not merely learning to play a musical instrument but are following in the footsteps of a long lineage of extremely dedicated artists. Understanding who these artists were and their contributions is a necessity for all musicians. This article will examine some of the attributes of the great musicians through the exploration of a select few clarinet giants throughout the European classical and American jazz history of music.

To appreciate the stature of these masters, we should understand what sets them apart from their peers. Their distinctive qualities are:

Sound
Unique Stylistic Approach
Flawless Technical Command of Their Instrument
Deep Theoretical and Complete Understanding of the Music
Spirit and Emotion

Sound can have multiple meanings. It usually refers to the tone one produces on the instrument. This tone can have a very distinctive and recognizable quality to it and, in great artists, it is considered their signature. In a broader sense though, sound can refer to one's general approach; for instance, a player's vibrato or a jazz musician's harmonic or rhythmic tendencies when improvising.

Two unique sounds in jazz are Artie Shaw and Buddy DeFranco. Artie Shaw's tone was vibrant and radiant. It was instantly recognizable. Buddy DeFranco , more from the modern jazz school of BeBop, made his mark on the listener with his imaginative harmonic and rhythmic approach to improvising over the chord changes.

In the orchestral world, Robert Marcellus and Harold Wright were two greats with beautiful and very recognizable tones. Many artists have admired and imitated aspects of their sounds. Both of these artists strove to produce a beautiful and personal sound. Unfortunately, many of today's players tend to imitate these sounds very successfully. I say unfortunately because the life's work of these artists was to strive for a unique and individual sound and approach. Players today should do the same. Many clarinetists today spend too much of their time imitating the exact tonal qualities of people like Marcellus and Wright. The point in studying the work of these masters, though, is to internalize their concept and approach.

In examining history we must not pass over players who may have not been ground breaking in their approach but nevertheless offered something distinctive such as a Unique Stylistic Approach. Style encompasses aspects in playing such as vibrato, phrasing, dynamics and overall conception of the music being played. Reginald Kell is a good example of a player who put his stamp of originality on the listener with his vibrato and phrasing. Many players consider his approach extreme. He used liberal vibrato and took many liberties in phrasing using ritards, accelerandos and tenutos over important structural notes. Though many may not agree with his approach one must respect the fact that he was a very well schooled and practiced musician who had an unique way of playing music on the clarinet.

The clarinet may be the instrument of our choice but we must not forget that we are musicians first and our goal is to play and express music. Therefore when piecing together our historical puzzle we must also look beyond players of our own instrument. In doing so, four players stand out as truly unique in their stylistic approach to music. These artists are Jasha Heifetz, Arthur Rubinstein, Art Tatum and Charlie Parker. There are not many players that the listener can recognize after only a few bars of music, but these players possess that quality. Analysis of their styles has filled volumes of books. Most important though for us, as historians, gaining perspectives of players past, is to listen closely to their recordings and comprehend and internalize as much of their approach as possible.

To be at the pinnacle of one's expressive powers, an artist must possess Flawless Technical Command of His/Her Instrument. Some players that had this ability were Carl Baermann, Heinrich Baermann, Gaetano LaBanchi and Ernesto Cavallini. Remember that when developing our perspectives we must consider players from all eras. Since there were no recordings available when these nineteenth century players lived, we can only comprehend their total command of the instrument by examining their written works and treatises.

Heinrich Baermann (1784-1847) wrote many virtuosic compositions that stretch the technical limits of the clarinet. This is especially true considering that Baermann played on an instrument that was not as technically complete as our modern instruments today.

Heinrich's son Carl (1810-1885) was said to be an even greater virtuoso than his father. In addition to glowing reviews of Carl Baermann's virtuosity we have the luxury, as historians, to examine his five part Method for Clarinet, which is still in print in various editions. (The most recent editions, created by this author, are available on Music Minus One with play-along CD's so the student can work with an accompanist in one's own home. They are called The Virtuoso Clarinetist and The Art of Clarinet. Baermann's method is progressive and parts four and five are extremely demanding both musically and technically. His expectation was that the students of his method would become artists after they dutifully completed all five parts. And since he wrote the compositions (parts 2, 4 and 5 are actual musical compositions) in his method book, including the piano and clarinet parts, we can be sure that he was a very competent pianist and a virtuoso clarinetist.

Ernesto Cavallini (1807-1874) was an Italian clarinetist. He played a six keyed wood box clarinet. Though there are no recordings of this great artist, he did leave a legacy of both original compositions and music that was composed specifically for him. Through these works we can understand his virtuosic skill. Cavallini's 30 Caprices have been included in the formative studies of most clarinetists throughout history. They have withstood the test of time for over 100 years. The 30 Caprices explore both technical and musical challenges on the clarinet.

Cavallini played at La Scala, various court and theater orchestras in St. Petersburg and taught at St. Petersburg Conservatoire and the Milan Conservatoire. Interestingly, two of Cavallini's greatest fans were Rossini and Verdi. In fact, Verdi wrote many of his big clarinet solos for Cavallini, including the solos in the third act of La Forza del Destino. This is significant because the admiration of such masters as Rossini and Verdi speaks extremely highly of Cavallini's artistry.

Gaetano LaBanchi (1829-1908) played in Italian opera orchestras as well. We should consider that in this time period, Europe and especially Italy, were thriving centers for opera. These players played in the opera orchestras for the now historical productions of Puccini's and Verdi's famous operas. LaBanchi and his peers worked with some of the finest singers and musicians in all of Europe. So when examining LaBanchi's Method for Clarinet, now unfortunately out of print, we can understand the completeness of his studies and teaching. His method consisted primarily of contrasting slow and fast etudes for solo clarinet in the 12 major and minor keys. Not only are they extremely demanding technically but they are written in a very bel canto operatic style. Therefore there are countless interpretive possibilities, just as a singer would employ when singing a great aria.

The nineteenth century may well have been the height of clarinet artistry. There were many opera orchestras throughout Europe employing many clarinetists. The environment these clarinetists worked in while playing these great operas has never again been duplicated. Not only was the popular music of the day their livelihood but it was also the cultural entertainment for the public. A period in history parallel in nature was the 1930¹s and 40¹s in America. The popular entertainment and music of that period was jazz. Artists such as Tommy Dorsey, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw and Benny Goodman were the "pop" stars of the day.

In LaBanchi's time the public knew the repertoire and was quite an educated audience. Clarinetists in LaBanchi's (1829-1908) and Carl Baermann's (1810-1885) time were able to hone their craft and art to a very high degree because they were constantly immersed in it. It is periods like this in history that often produce some of the highest caliber artists.

The composer and teacher Paul Hindemith who wrote a book entitled Elementary Training for Musicians, understood the necessity for musicians to have a Deep Theoretical and Complete Understanding of the Music. The word "elementary" in his title is deceiving because the exercises in the book are extremely challenging to virtually any musician. Hindemith has the student singing large intervals, reading many different clefs, counting complex rhythms and performing many other difficult tasks. His goal in creating such a book was not to discourage the student, but rather raise his/her proficiency as an overall musician. This is done through ear training and the development of conducting skills, a keen sense of rhythm, sight reading skills and all of the aspects that make up a complete rounded musician.

This completeness in an artist is an aspect that gives the player deep insight into music. Great artists don't perceive the music as merely the solo part and accompaniment. They understand the harmonies, important structural notes in a phrase, historical and stylistic context that the music fits into and virtually all the other aspects of the music necessary to produce a convincing and moving performance.

Instrumentalists such as Baermann, Lefebvre, Cavallini, Klose and Perier had this complete training. They all had good piano skills, well trained ears, a good sense of rhythm, a thorough background in harmony and a clear sense of music history.

Two notable clarinetists and musicians, Klose (1808-1880) and Jean Xavier Lefebvre (1763-1829), were not only excellent clarinetists but also very worthy composers. Both composed contest pieces for their students to play at the Paris Conservatoire. This later became the duty of the composition professors. It is clear though that these musicians left a legacy of work through their compositions and set high artistic standards for future young musicians to achieve.

This dual role of player/composer is not a necessity for all clarinetists but is nevertheless worthy of admiration in these artists. We should perfect the other skills necessary to a musician, such as piano skills, ear training and a thorough understanding of theory, structure, form and harmony, as they did.

All of these traits combined enabled these musicians to give a meaningful performance. The decisions the player makes about phrasing and interpretation are made with consideration and understanding of the music. They are not made randomly. But remember that this is not a dry intellectual approach to music. The composers give an extraordinary amount of thought to the direction, concept and content of the music they write. The performer must respect that and prepare for the performance as thoroughly as possible, understanding all the aspects of the composition to be played.

The final distinctive quality of the great artists to be examined here may very well be the most important one of all: the Spiritual and Emotional content of their performance. This intangible trait is the lasting impression that the listener takes home with them after a performance. Simply put, "Did the performance move the listener?"

A look back at orchestral history will find some interesting observations. There have never been more well trained and technically proficient musicians than in today's orchestras. But it seems we have sacrificed some individualism that the earlier, less technically proficient orchestras possessed. There is no doubt, the musicians of today's orchestras are extremely well trained, but this is not the point. The fact that we are all human makes us all individuals. So why not strive to develop the artistic and beautiful qualities in that individuality? Players such as Hamelin, Perier and Cahuzac did possess this emotional and spiritually moving quality in their playing.

This quality in a player and in music in general is what makes music a unique craft and art. Though the practice of music requires intellectual thought and reasoning the result it produces is primarily emotional. Therefore the ability to evoke these emotions in a listener on a very deep level is what great artists strive to do.

A teacher once told me, "You'll learn more from the experience of working with your peers than you will studying with a teacher." This is partially true. Though our peers may be excellent musicians, looking back at the players and artists from previous eras, and understanding their contributions will help us to broaden our scope of the great artistic strides that have been made by these select individuals throughout history. It's easy to be content in our small world of what we already know or what one teacher teaches us. But by piecing together the fascinating puzzle of great clarinetists throughout history, and understanding what made them unique, one can gain a historical perspective of the excellence of these legendary individuals. This is a perspective that every amateur and professional musician of any instrument should have.

John can be reached at: johncip@mindspring.com

Copyright ©1997 by Cipolla, John. All Rights Reserved.