Author: Tony Pay ★2017
Date: 2014-11-18 19:33
Schumann wrote them for clarinet in A; a Bb part is supplied by some publishers for people who don't have an A clarinet.
We don't have Schumann's manuscript of the Fantasiestücke from which the first edition (1849, Carl Luckhardt, Kassel) was prepared. However, the manuscript of an earlier version, titled 'Soiréestücke', survives in Paris. The first movement of this is written for clarinet in A; the remaining two movements appear in the score at concert pitch, with the instruction that they be transposed for the A clarinet.
The earlier Soiréestücke was published by Faber Music in 1985, and it's interesting to compare the two versions. Alan Hacker, editing them, thought that the earlier version was superior; I feel the contrary, except that in the Soiréestücke the final two chords of the second movement are missing: I agree with Alan in this case that the transition from the second to the third movement is preferable.
(I always try to persuade the pianist to leave the chords out in the Fantasiestücke too – and sometimes I succeed:-)
Tony
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