Klarinet Archive - Posting 000021.txt from 2009/10

From: Jonathan Cohler <cohler@-----.org>
Subj: Re: [kl] Beethoven Op. 11 clarinet trio
Date: Fri, 02 Oct 2009 14:00:47 -0400

In response to Dan L.'s query:

Here is the article I wrote about the piece for my recent CD
(Jonathan Cohler & Claremont Trio) that includes the Beethoven and
Brahms Trios plus the Dohnanyi Sextet. This sheds some light on the
confusion over this issue.

Best,
Jonathan Cohler

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Trio in B-flat Major for Piano, Clarinet, and Cello, Op. 11 (1797-8)

Like Mozart before him and Brahms after him, Beethoven too was
closely associated with a virtuoso clarinetist. For Mozart it was
Anton Stadler, for Brahms it was Richard Mühlfeld, and for Beethoven
it was Viennese clarinetist (Franz) Joseph Bähr (1770-1819). Bähr
asked Beethoven to write this Trio, in fact, and he specifically
suggested the theme for the third movement theme and variations. Bähr
played in the premieres of this and several other works of
Beethoven's.

Many accounts of this work have confused the Viennese Bähr with the
older Bohemian clarinetist (Johann) Joseph Beer (1744-1812), who was
the first clarinetist to have a truly international solo career.
(Beer worked closely with composer Carl Stamitz.) The multiple
spellings of their names, some of which are identical, and the fact
that both men performed in Vienna at the same time in the 1790s,
added to the confusion, which has now been carefully sorted out by
historians.

The theme that Bähr suggested comes from the then very popular opera
L'amor marinaro ossia Il corsaro ("Love at Sea" or "The Corsair") by
Joseph Weigl, which opened on October 15, 1797. The tune is from the
aria "Pria ch'io l'impegno", a light-hearted trio for three basses,
which begins "Before we work, we must have something to eat." The
tune was so popular at the time that several composers including
Paganini, Joseph Eybler, Antonie von Lilien, and Beethoven, among
others, wrote sets of variations based upon it. This Trio eventually
acquired the name "Gassenhauer" ("popular song") as a direct result
of that tune's popularity.

Although Beethoven died before finishing the metronomization of all
his works, Beethoven's student Carl Czerny provided metronome marks
for this Trio in his book On the Proper Performance of all
Beethoven's Works for Piano (Vienna 1820). As is usual for Beethoven,
the fast tempi are very fast. Czerny's metronome mark for the first
movement is quarter note equals 176! Curiously, no previous
recordings of which I am aware come close to this mark, and most are
a good 30 to 40 percent slower, thereby completely changing the
movement's character. Given Beethoven's frequent admonitions on the
importance of tempo, we attempted to follow the Czerny/Beethoven
metronome markings in this recording, but never to the detriment of
the musical values, which always require a certain amount of
flexibility, as Beethoven also noted.

In 1817, Beethoven wrote to Viennese composer Ignaz Franz Edler von
Mosel (1772-1844), "As far as I am concerned, I have long thought of
giving up the senseless terms, Allegro, Andante, Adagio, Presto, and
for this Mälzel's metronome offers the best opportunity," and later
in 1826, he wrote to his publisher B. Schott & Sons:

"The metronome marks will shortly follow; do wait for them. In our
age such things are certainly necessary; also I hear from Berlin that
the first performance of the Symphony [No. 9] went off with
enthusiasm, which I ascribe in great part to the metronome marking.
We can scarcely have any more tempi ordinari, for one must follow the
ideas of unfettered genius."

According to Anton Schindler (1795-1864), Beethoven's first
biographer, "When a work by Beethoven had been performed, his first
question was always, 'How were the tempi?' Every other consideration
seemed to be of secondary importance to him." Playing the first
movement at the Czerny/Beethoven tempo of 176 certainly makes it very
brilliant and exciting, in keeping with Beethoven's marking of
"Allegro con brio."

The work is dedicated to Maria Wilhelmine Gräfin von Thun, born
Countess Uhlfeld (1744-1800), who was one of the most important women
of Vienna's high nobility and a former patron of Mozart's. Later, two
of her sons-in-law, Count (later Prince) Andreas Kyrillowitsch
Rasumowsky and Prince Karl von Lichnowsky, also became patrons of
Beethoven.

The Trio was published on October 3, 1798. An interesting incident
occurred in May of 1800, which has been related to us by another of
Beethoven's students and friends, Ferdinand Ries (1784-1838). At this
time, improvisational duals between rival virtuoso pianists were
fashionable. The events were usually held at the home of a wealthy
patron or member of the nobility and the audience would include
supporters and patrons of each pianist. By this time, Beethoven was
already known as perhaps the greatest improviser of all time, so he
was rarely challenged. Nonetheless, this didn't stop virtuoso pianist
and sometime charlatan Daniel Steibelt from making the challenge.

They met first accidentally at the home of Count Moritz von Fries, a
wealthy banker. According to Ries, Beethoven played this Trio, in
which, "there is not much room for display," so Steibelt was
confident he would prevail. Steibelt then played one of his quintets,
improvised, "and made a good deal of effect with his tremolos" which
were a new and impressive effect at that time. Beethoven couldn't be
convinced to play again, but eight days later there was a second
concert also held at Count Fries'. Ries notes,

"Steibelt again played a quintet which had a good deal of success. He
also played an improvisation (which had, obviously, been carefully
prepared) and chose the same theme on which Beethoven had written
variations in his Trio. This incensed the admirers of Beethoven and
him. It was his turn to seat himself at the pianoforte and improvise.
He went in his usual (I might say, ill-bred) manner to the instrument
as if half-pushed, picked up the violoncello part of Steibelt's
quintet in passing, placed it (intentionally?) upon the stand upside
down and with one finger drummed out the theme from the first few
measures. Then, impelled by his insulted and excited feelings, he
improvised in such a manner that Steibelt left the room before he
finished. He would never again meet him again, and, when invited
anywhere, always stipulated that Beethoven should not be present."

Beethoven won the duel decisively and was never again asked to take
on any piano virtuosi; his position as the greatest improviser in the
world was firmly established. Czerny relates that Beethoven later
wished (perhaps as a result of the Steibelt incident?) that he had
written a different finale of his own for the Trio. Although it was
common at the time for composers to write variations based on
another's theme, Beethoven did not like the practice, and this Trio
is, according to biographer Barry Cooper, "the only one of
Beethoven's multi-movement instrumental works" that contains such a
set of variations.

Written only six years after Mozart's death, when Beethoven was just
27 years old, the Trio is more a part of the Classical period than
the Romantic period, albeit with the jarring and unmistakably
powerful characteristics of Beethoven throughout. The critic of
Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung called it, "at various points not
easy, but still more flowing than other works from this authorŠ"
Given its fundamentally classical nature, however, we took the
standard classical approach of adding ornamentation and a bit of
improvisation on the repeat of the exposition in the first movement.

>Does anyone have some information about the party for whom Beethoven
>wrote the first of the two clarinet trios, Op. 11. (The other trio
>is an arrangement of the septet, but that does not interest me here).
>
>The best of all possible worlds would be the full name, dates of
>birth and death, and an image of some sort.
>
>Kind thanks,
>
>Dan Leeson
>
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------

--
Jonathan Cohler
Artistic & General Director
International Woodwind Festival
http://iwwf.org/
cohler@-----.org

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