I fall into a not-unheard-of-but-pretty-rare category of horn players
who have played the Mozart Requeim. (Those who know the
instrumentation well can guess the jist of this story, but I'll tell
it anyway).
As a college student I got a call to play the Mozart. I told my horn
teacher about it. He said that there are no horn parts, but there must
be other works on the concert using the horn. So I took the gig.
When I got photocopies of the music in the mail, there was only the
Requeim in the folder. I found the parts extremely difficult, very
high, and unlike any classical horn parts I had ever seen. But, hey,
it was a gig; and I was hungry.
When I got to the first rehearsal and saw the original parts, I
realized the mistake. The piece was written not for "horns in F" but
for "Corni di bassetto en fa"--Basset Horns in F. I was playing
clarinet parts. The contractor hadn't known the difference.
I pointed it out to the conductor expecting to be sent home. But he
shrugged his shoulders and said, "Too late to hire anybody now. Go
ahead and play it". It was unbelievable fun!! Really inspiring to be
a part of such a work. Especially knowing that I would never play it
again.
By the way, the other horn player's wife was in the audience. After
the show, we asked her how it sounded, expecting her to say it was
hideous. She said, "It sounded great! It didn't sound anything like
Mozart, but it sounded great".
Tim Thompson
Timothy Thompson, D.M.A.
Professor of Music
University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
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