 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: beejay
Date: 2000-10-08 08:18
Can anyone tell me with certitude who was it who FIRST wrote the theme that appears as Wagner's adagio for clarinet and orchestra, but which is also the slow movement of a clarinet quintet by Baermann?
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Author: Gavin
Date: 2000-10-09 07:58
Yes, I'd like to know that as well. Does anyone have any theories, even if they can't say with certitude who first wrote the piece? Perhaps I am showing my extreme ignorance, but I used to think that the reference to Wagner in the reproduction of this piece in a clarinet "album" I own was some sort of misprint and that it should have said Baermann. However, I note that it is possible to purchase the sheet music separately to "Wagner's clarinet adagio", so I am probably wrong. I've never come accross any recordings, but I can't say I've ever gone specifically looking...
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Author: Mark Charette, Webmaster
Date: 2000-10-09 11:53
From the liner notes on Jonathan Cohler's CD (also reprint in Klarinet by Jonathan):
<blockquote>Adagio from Quintet in No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 23 (1820-1821)
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This piece has been a victim of musicological negligence for more than 160 years! Bärmann was the famous clarinetist for whom Weber wrote most of his clarinet music. Unfortunately for Bärmann, Weber wrote his last clarinet piece in 1816 (the Grand Duo Concertant on this recording), and Bärmann still needed fresh pieces for his concerts. This Adagio is the slow movement from one of three clarinet quintets for clarinet and string quartet that Bärmann himself composed between 1820 and 1821.
Shortly after Bärmann's death, the music to this piece seems to have disappeared. In 1926, the slow movement was discovered, but the copy had no name on it. For some strange reason, musicologists and the publishers decided to attribute this work to Richard Wagner, one of the later great Romantic composers. If you are willing to forget that it sounds nothing like Wagner, and that Wagner wrote no solo works for the clarinet, then this attribution might be reasonable. Otherwise, it is quite a leap of faith.
Interestingly, in the earlier part of this century, some musicologists discovered the error, but the attribution continued until as recently as ten or fifteen years ago. Fortunately, the properly rediscovered and it is published by Musica Rara.</blockquote>
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Author: Earl Thomas
Date: 2000-10-13 01:41
MMark is totally correct. The work was published by Breitkopf u. Hartel and became quite well known thereafter. It is a slow movement from a Baermann Clarinet Quintet. When Breitkopf u. Hartel published it, they added a string bass part. It's a lovely work - very expressive, and quite well written for the instrument.
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