Famous clarinetists of the 18th and 19th centuries
editAnton Stadler
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Austrian clarinetist Anton Stadler (1753 - 1812) was the most famous clarinet and basset horn player in the early days of the clarinet. He was a Masonic Lodge Brother of Mozart, who dedicated the Clarinet Quintet K. 581 and the Clarinet Concerto K. 622 to Stadler. Stadler premiered these works and a number of others, including the Kegelstatt Trio K. 498. At Mozart's suggestion, Stadler collaborated with instrument maker Theodor Lotz to develop a clarinet whose range was extended downwards by a major third (to C instead of E), an instrument now called the basset clarinet. The Clarinet Quintet and the Clarinet Concerto were both written for this instrument. Concert tours took Stadler as far as Riga after Mozart's death in 1792.[1][2]
Iwan Müller
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Iwan Müller (1786 - 1854), a German clarinetist born in Reval, became known both as a great virtuoso and performer and as a clarinet maker who made substantial improvements to the instrument. He invented round leather pads to seal the tone holes tightly, replacing the rectangular felt pads of the time, and used conical tone holes for the keys with rings around them. These improvements enabled the clarinet to be fitted with more keys. Müller developed a clarinet with 13 keys instead of the usual five, a design that was adopted by the manufacturers of other woodwind instruments and used worldwide. He worked as a soloist in Germany, Russia, England, France and Switzerland and was a court musician to the Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe.[3]
Hyacinthe Eléonore Klosé
editHyacinthe Klosé (1808 - 1880) was a French clarinetist born on Corfu who worked almost exclusively in Paris as a military musician, a soloist, a teacher at the Paris Conservatoire. He developed the Boehm clarinet, also known as the French clarinet, with the instrument maker Louis Auguste Buffet. It was based on the Müller clarinet and differed from conventional clarinets in several regards. It used a different arrangement of tone holes, adopted the ring key system used by Boehm on the transverse flute, increased the number of keys to seventeen, and had a different inner bore. Modern clarinets are almost unchanged from this version and are used throughout the world, with the exception of Germany and Austria.[4][5]
Johann Simon Hermstedt
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Johann Hermstedt (1778 - 1846) was a German clarinetist and the director of the orchestra of the Prince of Sondershausen, which took concert tours through Germany, Austria and the Netherlands. He was a technical virtuoso, although his interpretations did not always meet with approval. He was a friend of Louis Spohr, who once called him the "most excellent of all living clarinet virtuosos" and frequently performed the four clarinet concertos dedicated to him. Goethe also praised his playing. As Spohr took no account of the technical possibilities of the clarinet at the time, Hermstedt was repeatedly forced to make improvements to his clarinets.[6]
Heinrich Joseph Baermann
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German clarinetist Heinrich Baermann (1784-1847) was born in Potsdam and was the principal clarinetist and soloist with Bavarian State Orchestra. He undertook numerous concert tours throughout Europe, from Rome to St Petersburg. His performances with the famous Italian soprano Angelica Catalani were particularly celebrated. He was a technical master of the instrument but he was particularly praised for his tone and his interpretive skill. Carl Maria von Weber, who dedicated all his clarinet works to him, described him as a "dear friend" and called him a "truly great artist and marvellous man".[7]
Carl Baermann
editCarl Baermann (1811- 1885), the son of H. J. Baermann and the 1st singer at the Munich Court Theatre, Helene Harlas succeeded his father as clarinetist and court musician of the Bavarian State Orchestra. He also undertook a number of concert tours, although not to the extent of his father. He received numerous honours and became a professor at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Munich. As such, he wrote an extraordinarily detailed clarinet school, which is still used today as the most important work of study, at least for the German clarinet.[8][9]
Richard Mühlfeld
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Richard Mühlfeld (1856-1907) was a German orchestral and chamber musician, principal clarinetist of the Meiningen Court Orchestra under Hans von Bülow, principal clarinetist of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra from 1884 to 1886. He held leading positions at the Meiningen Court Theatre from 1888 on and was from 1891 on the ducal music director. Mühlfeld was a friend of Brahms, who encouraged his career as a chamber musician. As such, he popularised Brahms' clarinet works in many European countries. Brahms called Mühlfeld "the nightingale of the orchestra" and wrote to Clara Schumann: "You cannot play the clarinet more beautifully than he does."[10]
Oskar Oehler
editOskar Oehler (1858-1936), a German clarinetist and clarinet maker, took clarinet lessons during his training as an organ builder. He then worked as a clarinetist in orchestras in Weida, Halle (Saale) and Nice. After his return to Germany, he was a clarinetist in the famous Laube Orchestra in Hamburg, and in 1883 he co-founded the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. During his time in the orchestra and on several trips, he studied the instruments of other clarinetists and gained experience in clarinet making. In 1887 he opened a workshop as a clarinet maker and in 1888 gave up his employment with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra to devote himself entirely to this activity. At the turn of the 20th century, he devoted several years to improving and perfecting the German clarinet, the most advanced version of which at the time was the Baermann/Ottensteiner clarinet, which was also played by Mühlfeld. In 1905, this work led to the patenting of a clarinet with 22 keys, five rings and a cover that operates two keys on the right side, and which is still played almost unchanged today by German and Austrian professional clarinetists and is generally called the Oehler or German clarinet.[11][12]
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- ^ Oskar Kroll, Die Klarinette (The Clarinet), Bärenreiter Kassel, 1965, chapter Lebensskizzen hervorragender Klarinettisten (Life sketches of outstanding clarinetists), p. 80 n
- ^ Symposion.music, Pamela Poulin (1982), The basset-clarinet of Anton Stadler
- ^ Oskar Kroll, p. 81
- ^ Oskar Kroll, p. 81 n
- ^ E. A. K. Ridley: Birth of the 'Boehm' Clarinet. In: The Galpin Society Journal, vol. 39, 1986, p. 68 n
- ^ Oskar Kroll, p. 82
- ^ Oskar Kroll, p. 83
- ^ Oskar Kroll, p. 84
- ^ Stephen Fox: Mühlfeld's Clarinet], at Stephen Fox
- ^ Oskar Kroll, p. 84
- ^ Oskar Kroll, p. 85
- ^ Thomas Reil and Enrico Weller, Der Klarinettenbauer Oskar Oehler (The clarinet maker Oscar Oehler), published in 2008 by the Verein der Freunde und Förderer des Musikinstrumentenmuseums Markneukirchen, pp. 15 and 18