Editor's Note: Arthur Jensen has been a regular correspondent since the inception of the Society. His letters are especially welcome since they offer an unusually perceptive view of the oboe playing scene, not only in Europe but worldwide. The following is a series of excerpts from several letters over several years. Arthur Jensen was born in Logan, Utah. He studied at the University of California at Berkeley, and began the study of the oboe at the San Francisco Conservatory in 1948 with Julius Shanis (who was also the first teacher of John deLancie, Laila Storch, and many others). He continued his studies at the Konservatorium Basel in Switzerland under Alexander Gold from 1949 through 1951. In June of 1950, he gave the first performance in Basel of the Mozart Concerto, K. 314, the newspaper critic called it a "master performance." In 1950 he studied with Jules Goetgheluck, who was then, and is still, first oboist of the Paris Orchestre National- during the summer of 1951 he studied with Marcel Tabuteau at Perpignan. From 1951 to 1952 he was a student of Edgar Shann and received his diploma with a "premier prix" from the Conservatoire de Musique de Lausanne in Switzerland. In February of 1952 he was appointed to the Mozarteum Orchestra and the Musikhochschule Mozarteum, in which post he made many tours as soloist with Bernhard Paumgartner and the Camerata Academica to Italy, France, Switzerland, and Germany. During an eleven-year period of ill health during which he was obliged to give up playing, he taught music history at the Mozarteum and did private studies in musicology. In 1965 he was re-engaged as professor of oboe at the Mozarteum, and in 1968 he recommenced his activities as a soloist appearing in Germany, Spain, Austria, and Madeira He was a member of the oboe jury at the International Music Competition of the German Radio in Munich in both 1972 and 1976. In 1975 he published Praktischer Beitrag zur Intonationslehre (devoted to practical aspects of intonation techniques), and at present is working on a book about "Neglected Aspects of 18th Century Ornamentation."
. . . I note that you have discussed Hosek's Oboe Bibliographie I in one of your numbers. Had this not been the case I should have asked you to publish a translation of the bit I am writing for the Oesterrischische Musikzeitschrift (tardily, I am ashamed to say). Hosek deserves the biggest pat on the back that we can give him. He gets nothing else. If I were God, I'd see to it that his World Oboe Center was realized in top shape and crown him as honorary king of the thing!
As you know, we are not allowed to divulge any internal polemics about the Munich Competition, which is a very straightforward competition based on the rule of the consensus. Each juror gives his ratings secretly according to the dictates of his convictions and taste . . . I give you here my personal feelings about this very difficult test of ability and remind you emphatically that what I say is valid only as my own opinion. I think you may agree and others may differ-- again according to taste and personal conviction.
The program was difficult in every respect. I think it was justifiably difficult. Even the Pasculli (Concerto on Motives from Donizetti's Opera 'La Favorita') is justifiable. It is not merely a demonstration of a certain type of virtuosity it demands good taste and nobility of expression to be admissible and then it becomes a fine piece of bravura which people like Gerard Schwarz and Rolf Smedvig would perform so beautifully on the trumpet that any listener would be pleased and amazed. Unfortunately none of the oboists who played this piece demonstrated the necessary good taste and refinement of phrasing to carry it off. It appeared to me that an expressive, noble, legato line, leading with tension to its goal (without cheap distortions and inappropriate swells -- truly their lines were like strings of sausages!) was something these young people had yet to learn.
A very few of them did have tone and phrasing but they had not yet perfected their breathing control. Breathing technique was indeed the key to this competition. Circular breathing may help here and there but it is not the secret which solves the problems. Breathing must be organically musical, relaxed, thorough in expiration and fast. One must never allow oneself to get tired while playing; once you get tired it is already too late. The second Schumann Romance appears to be beyond everyone. Breathed properly, it can be played over and over again. Perhaps faulty breathing is a sin of the young oboist who tries to accomplish by physical strength what can best be accomplished by proper technique. Later on in life you either learn to do it correctly or you give it up entirely!
Almost all of the 53 oboists who competed at Munich had fast fingers--to no avail it seems. Perhaps only those with ''fingers'' felt they had a chance in Munich and the others stayed away; I certainly don't know. Of one thing I am certain: the beautiful phrases, the lovely big, soft tones (with one or two exceptions), the mature, convincing musical concepts with refined high-tension and perfect breathing techniques stayed home. With the exception of ''fingers'' the 1976 competition in no way displayed the qualities shown by a large number of the 1972 group. There was too much emphasis on technique and not enough on taste and refinement. Some players did good jobs on one piece and relapsed into cheapness on the next. Munich is no place for bad taste! To win there one has to be completely convincing.
My rating of the components necessary for competition playing are as follows. . . . In order to play musically and beautifully an oboist must first of all be in the best of physical health and have nerves of steel; then he must have perfect breath control and never get tired out because of oxygen hunger; he must have a complete musical concept which keeps every tone in line and shows direction (no unorganic "false" accents or explosive upbeats); he must know how to phrase with nobility and poetry (not slush) and for this he must have perfect legato and vibrato control and all nuances of articulation; he must have stylistic knowledge (it is very poor form to play downbeat ornaments before the note in German and Italian music of the baroque and classic periods and trills at this time all started from the upper auxiliary) and know how to ornament and play a good cadenza (short and with taste -- not simply an agglomeration of runs and arpeggios); he must have a good tone (normally I should put this at the head of the list, but the plurality of tastes in this respect leads me to put less emphasis on it in this case); and finally, finger technique. No first or second prizes were awarded. Thomas Indermuhle of Switzerland received a third prize. Incidentally Maurice Allard and Leon Goossens (who was ill) did not come to Munich.
On another subject, how can Professor Sundet say "A true Tabuteau scrape is as hard to blow as a four-ply veneered board." If John Mack and others put up with that, the Russians will certainly overrun us soon! Please tell Professor Sundet for me that he obviously doesn't know what a Tabuteau reed is like and therefore should not write about it. When Tabuteau let me play his reed in Perpignan twenty-six years ago I was amazed that it literally played itself. "Four-ply board" indeed! I know you want TTWO to be a forum for every opinion, but not for such serious misconceptions. In my own teaching I use many different reed scrapes. All I ask for is the proper result. My own scrape is unique, as are the shape and general dimensions of the reed, but I can't stand to hear people talk about Freud when they haven't read Freud or about Tabuteau when they never worked with Tabuteau. John Mack or Laila Storch or SOMEONE should answer Professor Sundet in better detail than I can.
Let me reiterate that my opinions about Munich are truly my own. I wish Ray Still could be persuaded to give his opinions too; I know they would be meaningful to your readers. I must tell you again how much I appreciate TTWO and the Journals you are doing a splendid job and I pray daily that you will have the strength and energy to continue this work that means so much to all of us.
Quite a few slip-ups get into the TTWO's and should be commented upon editorially. The chap who says that Beethoven never wrote an oboe concerto writes out of pure ignorance! When Haydn was teaching Beethoven in Vienna, Haydn sent an accompanying letter to the Archbishop in Bonn with a number of Beethoven's works to show what the boy could do and to induce some financial aid for further study. Haydn enumerates among these works an oboe concerto. The Archbishop replied that most of the works sent (among them the oboe concerto) had already been composed to be performed when Beethoven was in Bonn. Robbins-Landon, the Haydn expert, claims that the Haydn concerto is definitely not by Haydn and offers the hypothesis (which I reject on stylistic grounds) that this was the oboe concerto written in Bonn by the young Beethoven. Another one of your contributors defames Louis Bleuzet, one of the finest of the fine and a truly worthy successor to Georges Gillet. I know many of Bleuzet's pupils; no teacher has produced a better crop and they all loved and admired the man. I once heard a recording of Le Tombeau de Couperin played by Bleuzet-- sheer perfection in every way! I have a reed made by Bleuzet it is typical of the good French school which was full and mellow (not hard and thin as is the usual connotation of the term "French"). I have nothing to do with the French school which I left many years ago, but I hate to have superb artists defamed simply on the basis of some poor, distorted recordings; which reminds me of our friend who could make such remarks about Tabuteau's reeds. How can people perpetuate patent untruths when they have never heard Tabuteau or Bleuzet in person, much less played on their reeds? I feel your young readers especially need to have the record put straight!
Your paragraph about Hosek and the viscosity of all of us with the oboe, reeds, et al really says the thing perfectly! I just don't have time to get one-third of my work done and the thought of doing your kind of good deeds for the oboe-playing fraternity really kills me! My conscience says: "You should write down all these things for Hosek; you should get off two or three really substantial things to Dan," but it also says that I should stop procrastinating the other dozen important things which oboe players need to do. I've done over twenty-five years of study on eighteenth century ornamentation and have a lot to say that hasn't been said yet, but oh, to find the time! Incidentally when you are next in touch with Ronald Roseman who did the article on ornamentation in the Journal and who records with Gerard Schwarz--please give him my congratulations for his fine work. He is not just good on paper, but a fine performer as well!
Incidentally, someone should warn young players who have never recorded commercially about making judgments from recordings. If I were to judge Koch from his records, I should be deceiving myself to an extreme. Hear him in person or on a really fine recording job and there is no doubt that he is the only one alive today to fulfill the various criteria so well. On the other hand, recording engineers can make other players sound great, and then when you hear them in person--what disappointment! Criteria such as music-making, fingers, breath control, may all be first-rate, but the tone can be devastating! Incidentally the finest recording ever made of some of the finest music ever written is Heinz Holliger's and Maurice Bourgue's of the Jan Dismas Zelenka trio sonatas. Here is a good example of fine playing enhanced by superb engineering.
Keep up your efforts you have more admirers across the world than you know. Interesting to have news of Laila Storch, Bob Gilbert, Bill Criss--they make life worth living, and you belong in that list. I am still enjoying teaching more than anything. Up to now, all my pupils have won first chair positions and are also busy as soloists, which gives me great satisfaction. Another highly exciting occupation is my collaboration with Robert Eliscu (solo oboist of the Munich Philharmonic and one of the really top men in the oboe field here) in the perfection of a special rosewood oboe which must be heard and played to be believed.
Perhaps you and Hosek should open up a shop in Munich!!