Weber's Clarinet Concertino Opus 26

Face-to-face

As a professional musician, it is important that one does not simply learn the notes and rhythms in a piece of music, but also the history surrounding it and its composer. There is much to learn about a piece of music and how it may be performed from original scores, performance history, and knowledge of the composer and the time period in which it was written. This lecture recital aims to open eyes to the amount of relevant knowledge one can gain from researching a piece of music’s composer, setting, and the importance of doing this research. This presentation will include a lecture on the history of the composer, Carl Maria von Weber, the clarinetist for whom his Clarinet Concertino Op. 26 was written, Heinrich Baermann, as well as the time period and culture surrounding it and its success in performance. This knowledge is drawn from Pamela Weston’s Clarinet Virtuosi of the Past, articles about Weber from online sources, and G. Henle Verlag’s Urtext version of the concertino. Following this background information will be a performance of the concertino followed by a close examination of the forms, variations, and styles used in the piece.