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Letter from Henri Pousseur

28 Beard Avenue
Buffalo, N.Y. 14214
April 4, 1967

Mr, Huot Fisher

Chairman, Dept. of Music
Frostburg State College

Dear Mr. Fisher,

It is right that the English version of the explanations to Madrigal I

is somewhat misleading. At that time, my English was very little, so
little that I didn't even try to control the translation of my French
and German texts. It is only later, when I was here last year, that I
noticed how bad it was.

1. The player has to play what is written; the piece therefore, can
be played on any kind of instrument: it was even played on a bass
clarinet (in Prague).

2. All black notes are natural, all "white" notes are "flattened,"
which means a half step lower.

3. The word "shaded" has been wrongly used in the translation to render
the words "barr£e" in French and "durchgestrichen" in German. That
means what you call a "stroke through the stem."

4. Grace notes with a stroke have to be always played as fast as pos-

sible and always slurred. Without a stroke they may undergo some fluc-
tuations of speed, one extreme (the beginning or the end or even some
place in the middle or also the beginning and the end) being as fast as
possible, the other somewhat or even much slower, but always reached
gradually. If nothing is indicated, the articulation (legato, staccato,
portato, mixtures) is then free.

May I add some little remarks that have occurred in working with
different clarinetists:

1. Use the longer type of silences to introduce (especially at begin-

ning and end, but also maybe somewhere in the middle) some truly long
silences (up to 4 or 6 seconds); but not all, of course, there must be
a constant variation of durations of notes as well as of silences.

2, The abrupt dynamic changes need not always use the whole range from
PPP to FFF. One can jump from pp to mf, for instance.
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3, The portato sign means that the notes have to be at least somewhat
longer than a staccato note but always at least somewhat separate from
the next ones,

4, 120 for the beat of the measured notes is really a very extreme of
slowness. One should try to reach a tempo quite higher* The piece has
to be very lively, almost clownesque at some moments (except, of course,
the long and quiet possibilities of which 1 spoke. But clowns are also
sad, you know. . .).

!5, If one wishes it and is able to integrate it organically, one can

introduce some special effects, like flutter-tongue, "chords," etc.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely.

Henri Pousseur