Theodor von Schacht (1748 – 1823) for many years has
been music director at the court Thurn and Taxis in
Regensburg, Germany. During this time as one of the
first composers he introduced the basset horn in the
music. In 1790 he composed a ‘Serenatta’ for the
curious instrumentation basset horn, 3 violas, horn and
bass ( Fürst Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek und
Zentralbibliothek, Regensburg D-Rtt/ Schacht 159). By
nearer investigation of the composition it becomes
obvious, that the parts o...(+)
Theodor von Schacht (1748 – 1823) for many years has
been music director at the court Thurn and Taxis in
Regensburg, Germany. During this time as one of the
first composers he introduced the basset horn in the
music. In 1790 he composed a ‘Serenatta’ for the
curious instrumentation basset horn, 3 violas, horn and
bass ( Fürst Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek und
Zentralbibliothek, Regensburg D-Rtt/ Schacht 159). By
nearer investigation of the composition it becomes
obvious, that the parts of basset horn and viola 1 and
on the other hand the parts of viola 3 and horn are
practically identical. We do not kow if the respective
parts should be played simultaneously or if they should
be substituted by each other. This means, the Serenatta
is formally a sextet, but practically a quartet. In
order to have more possibilities in instrumentation we
prepared a violin part substituting viola 2, and a
clarinet part substituting basset horn (the basset horn
part is so high that it can be played without changes
of the musical material on the clarinet).
Played as a quartet, the instrumentation can be:
1. basset horn, viola, horn, bass
2. basset horn, 2 violas, bass
3. basset horn, violin, viola, bass
4. clarinet, viola, horn, bass
5. clarinet, 2 violas, bass
6. clarinet, violin, viola, bass
7. 3 violas, bass
8. violin, 2 violas, bass
9. violin, viola, horn,bass
10. 2 violas, horn, bass
