At 2:53 PM -0700 5/13/11, Mark D Lew wrote:
Mahler writes the chorus down to Bb2 in his Symphony #2 (the basses are divisi, with the others on the next octave up).
I didn't know that, but he and Strauss also wrote some piccolo parts down to low C and flute parts down to low Bb. The key, I think, is that he DID know who he was writing for, and knew that it would be sung, just as he knew that some flutemaker in Vienna was experimenting with extra-low flutes and piccolos and that his flute players could get them.
You write for what's available. It's that simple. Every time Broadwood shipped a new piano with an extended range to Beethoven, he started using the extra high and low notes immediately. The difference with Stravinsky is that I'm not sure he could have known in advance that the extremes he wrote COULD be played. Josquin (or Pierre de la Rue) also wrote the bass down to a low Bb at the end of "xxxx," but again we don't know what pitch standard he was writing for. I assume that Mahler was writing for somewhere around 435 to 450, if not necessarily 440.
John -- John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music Virginia Tech Department of Music College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:john.how...@vt.edu) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html "We never play anything the same way once." Shelly Manne's definition of jazz musicians. _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
