 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: miss_birdie501
Date: 2003-04-07 20:18
I am looking for some information on Mendelssohn's Clarinet Sonata - not the Basset Horn clarinet sonata, but the sonata for clarinet written in 1842. I have not been able to find any information as it is not one of his major works. Does anyone know where I can find some information on it? I have looked in the book "Clarinet" by Brymer, Groves Encyclopedia of Music and I did a search on both yahoo and google. Am I missing something?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-04-07 20:28
miss_birdie501 wrote:
> I am looking for some information on Mendelssohn's Clarinet
> Sonata - not the Basset Horn clarinet sonata, but the sonata
> for clarinet written in 1842.
1842? My list for 1842 shows:
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Shakespeare, Opus 61 (Stage Music)
Die Stiftungsfeier (4 male voices)
Kinderstücke in G Major, Opus 72#1
Nachtgesang (4 male voices)
Symphony #3 in A minor, Scottish, Opus 56
Wanderlied -Eichendorff, male voices Opus 50#6 (Choral)
He wrote a sonata in 1824, though ...
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-04-07 20:48
Mark is correct...the date of the composition is 1824...GBK
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Author: miss_birdie501
Date: 2003-04-08 02:25
I saw that posting but none of that really helped because none of that has to do with the sonata. That is what promted my question as when I looked at the information listed there was only info about the basset sonata and that one is not the same as the clarinet sonata, and yes, the sonata was written in 1824...mistyped. Sorry. Does anyone know anything about the sonata?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2003-04-08 02:33
Oh. I thought you said you Googled ...
2nd page after you type in Mendelssohn clarinet sonata:
"The Prodigy's Voice: Mendelssohn and His Clarinet Sonata (1824)." The Clarinet 29/2 (2002): 70-77.
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Author: miss_birdie501
Date: 2003-04-08 13:38
I found the Eric Werner book in a local library. Thank you very much for your help. I am going to pick it up today and I will let you know if it was exactly what I needed!
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Author: miss_birdie501
Date: 2003-04-09 02:36
In looking through Werner's book about Mendelssohn, the clarinet sonata is NEVER mentioned...I find that very odd. It is not even listed in the appendix as one of his "works." Any ideas?
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-04-09 03:13
The short answer:
The Sonata, although composed in 1824 was not published during Mendelssohn's lifetime.
The Simon/Guenther edition of the Sonata was first published in 1941 but it was based on a copy which was not in Mendelssohn's handwriting.
Only after the actual autograph was discovered (1987) did it's authenticity become clear.
The Werner book, published in 1963, did not mention the work due to (at that time) its lack of verifcation.
However, the Werner book does give an excellent description of the published works during Mendelssohn's early teen years 1821-1825, and the formulative style that Mendelssohn developed during this period was a great influence on subsequent works.
The Werner book is still to this day the most important scholarly work on Mendelssohn, covering not only his musical style, but the sociological and political events which influenced his life, and others...GBK
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Author: D Dow
Date: 2003-04-09 04:54
The Mendelssohn sonata is really one of the worst pieces ever written for the instrument. This is an opionion shared by many of my fellow clarinet players and teachers...
The slow movement is the high point and I would add the finale is really pretty cruddy. As to what purpose it was written we may never know. It is so lackluster it probably doesn't matter to much...
Mendelssohn also wrote reams of music, some brilliant and some not so good....I have never assigned it to a student...I just don't want them hating music ....
David Dow
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Author: GBK
Date: 2003-04-09 06:47
"...The Mendelssohn sonata is really one of the worst pieces ever written for the instrument..."
Maybe not the worst, but definitely in the Top 5.
As it didn't leave a lasting impression with the public, that may have much to do with the reason it was never published during Mendelssohn's lifetime.
Funny thing....no one seemed to miss it.
Strictly a teenage work of historical interest, but with little substantial musical value.
I let my Junior High kids play it, but only as a curiosity to show the work of a composer who was their age when he wrote it...GBK
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Author: miss_birdie501
Date: 2003-04-10 02:40
I do not think it is necessarily a bad piece. I think that it was overshadowed by many of Beethoven's pieces at the time and therefore was not published right away. And it does have music interest as it is written in sonata form and can be a study of that no matter how good or bad people think it is.
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