Klarinet Archive - Posting 000062.txt from 2008/03

From: simonaldrich@-----.ca
Subj: [kl] Brahms Serenade Op. 11 nonet version
Date: Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:08:16 -0400

Harold Smith asked Oliver Seely "Was not aware that Brahms had written a nonett for wind and strings. Please enlighten me as to any details you may have."

While in his early twenties, Brahms spent parts of the winters of 1857-60 at the little royal court of Detmold, as choir director, pianist and piano teacher. The Serenade in D major Op. 11 was composed during this time, over several seasons and in as many as four different guises. Apparently it started life as a three or four movement work for wind and string octet; the first full version, with six movements, saw light in 1858. The scoring was now for nine instruments, one of each Classical orchestral instrument except with the substitution of a second clarinet for the oboe. But when he tried it out for Clara Schumann, she declared that it
needed to be rewritten for full orchestra. The following year Brahms expanded the instrumentation to a small orchestra (likely with the same winds but multiple strings); finally in 1860 came the scoring for full orchestra, the form in which the work is usually performed. Brahms toyed with the idea of transforming it into his first symphony, but desisted - being perhaps a little shellshocked by the rocky reception in 1859 of his first piano concerto.
Reports vary as to whether Brahms remained fond of the nonet version of the Serenade and the manuscript score and parts simply disappeared, or whether he deliberately destroyed them. Either way, the chamber version was never published. Consequently it is only accessible in reconstructions. That printed parts are as yet only available on rental has seriously hampered the adoption of the Serenade into the mainstream chamber repertoire.

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Simon Aldrich

Clarinet Faculty - McGill University
Principal Clarinet - Orchestre Metropolitain de Montreal
Artistic Director - London Chamber Music Festival
Clarinet - Nouvel Ensemble Moderne

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