On Jun 18, 2006, at 1:56 PM, Andrew Stiller wrote:
OK, I'll bite. 19th-c. orchl. piece. Only the score survives, in
copyist's hand. Trombones (alto, tenor, bass) on two staves: A and T
on one, in the alto clef, and bass on the other, in bass clef. When I
extract the parts, should the tenor trombone part be:
1) in the alto clef, because that's what it is in the score.
2) in the tenor clef, because that's the norm for 19th-c. tenor
trombone parts.
3) in bass clef, because that's what's usual today.
NOTE: I am trying to be "authentic" here, so, e.g., the clarinets are
getting parts for cl. in C, as per the score.
OTHER NOTE: The composer himself, in all his surviving autographs of
other works, *always* scores all three trombones (always three, never
more or fewer) on a single staff, in the bass clef.
Opinions?
VERY heavy question, there, Andrew!
However, with your note about authenticity, there would be a slight
bias on my part to option #2.
Option 1 carries the least weight, IMO, since it was common for
composers (or their publishers, I'm not sure who made which decision)
to use whatever clef was convenient in the score and expect the copyist
to make it right according to convention. This didn't stop some
publishers from printing even bass trombone in tenor clef (or even
alto!) but these examples were abberations. (The preceding opinion
might have been different a month ago if David F. hadn't opened my eyes
to some views on composer's intent versus appearance in the score. What
a list this is!)
But option 3 might be a better choice for a modern educational edition.
Christopher
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