The silent bass clarinet

During a rehearsal of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony:

Stokowski had inserted a gratuitous part for bass clarinet. “It so happens,” wrote O’Connell, “that the player of this instrument was a quite temperamental gentleman as well as a composer, and when he saw Stokowski’s addition to Schubert’s score, he was possessed by fury.”  When he expressed his feelings resonantly, Manager Skinner saved the day by persuading him to sit through the symphony pretending to play, but sounding nothing.  “The compromise was effected.  Stokowski didn’t notice,” O’Connell concluded.

Chasins, Abram (1979) Leopold Stokowski: A Profile.  London: Robert Hale, p.208.

Posted

in

by

Greg

Tags:

, ,

Featured Content

Trombone Shorty on writer’s block
Sometimes, I’ll work through it, and sometimes, you know, you might have to make a couple of test bottles or test wines, and it helps you get closer.  But if I don’t stop, I might get on the machine here and make five tracks, but I know that they’re not really worth anything.  I’m just […]
Bach’s reputation
“The difference between the reputation that Bach enjoyed in his lifetime and that which accumulated posthumously is one of the most remarkable phenomena in the history of music.” Siblin, Eric (2009) The Cello Suites.  Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin, p. 65.
Horowitz’s stringent requirements
When Vladimir Horowitz performed in Japan: …. a kitchen had to be built in his suite because he insists that all his meals – fish or chicken only – be taken there. The electrical wiring ran afoul of Tokyo fire laws, requiring new wallpaper and a special floor. Several critics suggested in a music journal […]
The importance of melody
I have never questioned the importance of melody. I love melody, and I regard it as the most important element in music. I have worked on the improvement of its quality in my compositions for many years. To find a melody instantly understandable even to the uninitiated listener, and at the same time an original […]
The Anecdote to Distraction is Art
“If you are on a mission to discover what you have to offer, and to bring it out into the world, every moment you spend distracted is a moment you aren’t following your art. It’s a moment you aren’t pursuing your true potential.” — David Kadavy David Kadavy, “The Anecdote to Distraction is Art”, https://steemit.com/productivity/@kadavy/the-antidote-to-distraction-is-art-1515195404-5002096. […]
Other terms 1
Go to more crosswords
The development of concert life in London
The public concert, as an institution, dates from England from the Restoration period [from the 1660s]; previously music, unless ecclesiastical or dramatic in character, had been essentially the art of a small circle.  The largess of aristocratic patronage and the profits of publication were the composers’ rewards.  But with the middle of the seventeenth century […]
Lullaby
Title: Lullaby Composer: Greg Smith Instrumentation: Piano Product medium: PDF score     Related products:     – Lullaby (mp3) SAMPLE:
It is cruel that music should be so beautiful
“It is cruel, you know, that music should be so beautiful.  It has the beauty of loneliness and of pain: of strength and freedom.  The beauty of disappointment and never-satisfied love.  The cruel beauty of nature, and everlasting beauty of monotony.” Benjamin Britten
Tchaikovsky on Arensky
“Arensky is a man of remarkable gifts, but morbidly nervous and lacking in firmness—altogether a strange man.” Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, in a letter to N. F. von Meck, Frolovskoe, July 2nd (14th), 1890. Cited in Modest Tchiakovsky, The Life & Letters of Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, np., Outlook Verlag, 2018, p. 477.