Quintet in A for Clarinet & String Quartet

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

edited and reconstructed by Alan Hacker

Basset Clarinet, 2 Violins, Viola and ‘Cello

A part for the normal clarinet is also provided

To hear some illustrations of passages where Alan uses the low basset notes to advantage,  click on the quaver

This edition was produced, in the first instance, as a reconstruction in which the basset clarinet part has been quite extensively reworked by Alan Hacker (click here for biography).  He has worked from the principle that, in the original lost manuscript, Mozart would have made full use of the potential of the basset clarinet. - going well beyond the obvious extension of the arpeggios of the minuet and trio. Today, many more performers possess the basset instrument and will therefore find this version, produced by such a respected clarinettist , of especial interest. Knowing that most players will still be limited to the shorter instrument, a version is also provided for the normal instrument. 

The basset edition has been recorded by Alan with the Asperger Kammer Solisten ( Hera records - HERA02190).  The arrangement for normal clarinet is so well known that, the first time you hear this, it may well sound strange but, on repetition,  it begins to sound more natural than the version we all know and love.

Alan writes of the Basset Clarinet Edition:-

“Mozart’s Special Woodwind Voice

 Bel Canto composers had to know the personal voice, the range and expressive capabilities of the singers that they were going to write for; Handel and Mozart adapted or even wrote new arias for replacement soloists. Mozart’s Cosi has a particular interest for us.  Fiordiligi was written for Da Ponte’s lover, La Ferrarese, a soprano with dramatic skill and an extended lower range.  Not a coincidence then that around the same time Mozart became involved with his favourite woodwind instrument to which had been added an extended lower compass - played by his friend Anton Stadler.  Cosi is a great opera for the clarinet - C, Bb and A are used and even one in B natural for the great Fiordiligi aria in Act II. Furthermore the tenor aria in the same act includes a low D in the second clarinet part which can only be played on the basset clarinet of whom Anton Stadler, the second clarinettist , was a protagonist.

 What a pity that sketches of that time and which include the basset clarinet were not completed or have not survived. At least there are 199 bars of a basset concerto which Mozart completed later.  Thank heavens for the completed quintet, one of the greatest chamber works in history, so popular that it was arranged not only for the normal compass clarinet (by Mozart himself?) but also for a number of other instruments. At least two of these arrangements give us an indication that the quintet known as Stadler’s, was written for the basset clarinet.   The Artaria Edition, to which I drew attention in the Eulenburg score of 1970, includes basset notes!  The last bar of the first movement, a written low C - traditionally in the bass clef - is particularly notable. Another early 19th Century arrangement, this time for the fortepiano, at bar 41, has a continuation of the downward scale and in double octaves.

It is now time for the Quintet to be published in an edition which takes account of the basset clarinet. I reckon this range was used far less than in the concerto but this is no argument for always playing the work on the short clarinet.  The extra length, like the ubiquitous modern bass clarinet to low C, has a darkening effect on the tone which would be noticed even if no changes were made to the text.

Here are the key arguments.

1. The title: “Stadler’s Quintet”. Mozart is hardly likely not to have used the basset clarinet.  As I said at the opening, he always wrote for a specific voice - in this case for the new instrument of one of his closest friends. He wrote for this in the aforementioned sketches for which, unlike the quintet, we have the manuscripts.

2. The basset notes printed in the Artaria Edition.  Why are they there? Where would they have come from?

Editorial additions

The Basset notes which I have added are shown in the score below the clarinet parts without stems, a separate part is provided for the basset clarinet

Phrasing and dynamics both from early editions and my own suggestions are distinguished in the score only by [ ] for dynamics and / for slurs.  The extra dynamics are based on the greater number to be found in the contemporaneous Cosi. After all “Stadler’s Quintet” was written for an intimate friend who would be trusted to add more detailed expression.   However, Mozart, in particular, is a composer who writes music that can not be fixed - ordered in one way! Hence despite the addition of some dynamics etc., long stretches (F to G in the first movement for example) have been left open to all their possibilities of the moment.

Early editions also include some printed ornaments - the most significant being a top C at the end of bar 8 in the slow movement.  All of this, especially ornamentation,  is a tricky subject though and must relate to the expressive and technical individuality of the player and the spontaneity of performance.  Surely one should have a go if one is confidently expressive, yet this is hard for our generation. Who dares to risk adorning/blemishing the wondrous music of the Larghetto? Yet contemporary evidence tells us that the middle section of the concerto has been ornamented.  Ornamentation can also mean the alteration of articulation within a phrase on a repeat or similarly changing the dynamics or colours the second time around. The suggested ornamentation of the reprise of the clarinet part in the Larghetto from bar 51 upto but not including the appoggiatura A in bar 69 is all editorial.

This the first modern edition that includes the basset clarinet - is based on thirty two years of performances on both modern and classical clarinets.”

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