(If you live near NYC, you can see the NYP perform this piece in just under 3 weeks.)
I recently played principal on this piece. Not having an assistant, I was very grateful for the section you mentioned where the 2nd horn plays lead. It's a lot of time on the face without much break, including a pretty hefty blow in the Credo, which is right before that section. This is where IMSLP becomes incredibly handy. According to them, the parts we used were set by Breitkopf and Härtel around 1880. Who knows what might have happened back then. BUT, there is also a scan of the first-edition score from 1827 on IMSLP. Fast- forward to page 201 of the PDF, and you'll see the first page of the Sanctus. The scan is way too low-resolution to read exactly what it says, but I think it says basically "Corno 1 tacet", "Corno 2 in E", "Corni in D 3, 4". This is corroborated by the Ernst Eulenberg score they have. http://imslp.org/wiki/Missa_Solemnis,_Op.123_(Beethoven,_Ludwig_van) This was written fairly late in his life. He had already written his first 8 symphonies. Surely whoever played first on the premier of number 6 would have expressed in one way or another how much work it was, and perhaps Beethoven was becoming more sensitive to that issue. As noted, he was not shy about trying new things, so I think we can reasonably believe that he could have orchestrated it this way himself. I wonder where the original manuscript is. Michael On Sunday 06 June 2010 10:24:33 pm Punto wrote: > Does anyone know of any writings on Beethoven's choice to give the > second horn the lead part in this movement while the first lays out for > about 74 bars? It is not in any way similar to the 4th horn writing in > the 9th symphony or 2nd horn solos in Fidelio or elsewhere since it > clings to the high horn tessitura from beginning to end. In no way does > it appear to be a late classical/pre-romantic second horn part. If it > weren't Beethoven, I might just think that it was an attempt to give the > principal player a rest, but he never showed any evidence of doing that > anywhere in his writing for any instrument (or voice, for that matter). > One other interesting touch in the second part; several exposed written > F-sharps (horn in E), below the staff, in the Agnus Dei. > > A very intense piece of music and he clearly was trying out a lot of > adventurous ideas in it. I hope that someone can point me to some > authoritative study on its orchestration. I just played (and quite > enjoyed) second on a rough and tumble performance of this with meager > forces and an even sparser audience and it would be nice to benefit from > the common knowledge out there on this if there be any. > > Peter Hirsch > > > > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/mhrivnak%40hrivna > k.org > _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
