clarinet and guitar, trios, duets, basset horn, clarinets
CD #LE356

Composers

Unforgettable Hues

Anton Diabelli (1781-1858), born near Salzburg to parents of Italian origin, was a composer, teacher and music publisher. He studied for the priesthood, but moved to Vienna in 1803 due to the dissolution of Bavarian monasteries during Napoleonic times. Diabelli taught piano and guitar and composed masses, songs, and pieces with piano or guitar. His work as a proofreader for S.A. Steiner & Co. led to an interest in music publishing. In 1818 he became partner in Cappi & Diabelli, the first publishing house to issue works by Franz Schubert and Schubert's principal publisher until Schubert left in 1823.
     In 1819 Diabelli decided to publish a volume of variations on a waltz he had written, and invited important Austrian composers and a few non-Austrians to write variations on it. Among the nearly fifty composers who responded were Schubert, Hummel and an eleven-year-old Liszt. Czerny wrote the coda, and the set was published as Vaterlaendische Kuenstlerverein. Beethoven responded with 33 variations, known as the Diabelli Variations, Op. 120, published in 1824. That same year Diabelli assumed control of the publishing house, renamed Anton Diabelli & Co. Although Diabelli did not publish many works by Beethoven, he obtained the rights to many of Schubert's pieces following Schubert's death and continued to publish his works for many years, contributing to the publishing house's great success. Notturno, Op. 123 (1820), first issued under the title Notturno for 2 csakans with guitar, was dedicated toto Ernst Krähmer, a csaken virtuoso whose music is also featured on this recording.

Hansjoachim Kaps (1942-2004) studied at the Municipal Conservatorium and taught at the College of Education and the University of Arts in Berlin. He was artistic director of the Berlin Guitar Ensemble, giving concerts and making recordings with them as conductor and guitarist. He also taught guitar privately. In addition to composing, he edited many compositions and guitar studies and is widely published.

Ernst Krähmer (Dresden, 1795; Vienna, 1857) learned to play several instruments as a child with little tutoring. When he was eleven he entered the Military Institute of Annaburg, where he studied music intensively. Two years later he was soloist in a flute concerto and clarinet concerto for a public exam, and the following year he was soloist on bassoon and oboe. After he returned to his parent's home at fifteen, two outstanding chamber musicians for the King of Saxony took notice of him and gave him oboe lessons for three years. In 1814 Krähmer went to war, but was discharged after contracting a lung condition brought on by forced marches. He was invited to be oboist at the court theater in Vienna in 1815, and in 1822 was named chamber musician at the royal chapel. He married the celebrated clarinetist Caroline Schleicher about the same time. They toured in Russia, Hungary, Bohemia and diverse parts of Germany together, where they were widely acclaimed. Ernst Krähmer was not only a first class oboist; he was also a distinguished csakan player, and wrote a number of works for that instrument. Rondeau Hongrois, Op. 28 (Hungarian Rondo) for A clarinet and guitar, originally for csakan and guitar, was first published by Diabelli in 1830.

Heinrich Neumann (Heiligenstadt, 1792-1861) began his musical career as a clarinetist and music teacher in Frankfurt am Main. After a stint as a band director in Padeborn, he moved to Detmold in 1823, where he was principal clarinetist in the court orchestra. The following year he was appointed director of the band. Neumann moved to Cologne in 1829 and conducted a military band. He became conductor of the Royal Wind Society in Antwerp, possibly in 1843, and won a competition in Manheim in 1855 for a symphony. He also composed trios; clarinet studies; and pieces for two clarinets, basset horn and strings, clarinet and orchestra, and a cycle of six serenades for clarinet (or basset horn) and guitar. The basset horn replaces theviola in Serenade, Op. 27.

Mario Broeders (b.1931), composer, pianist and clarinetist, lives on Long Island in New York. Born in Tandil, Buenos Aires, he studied in Argentina and at the Juilliard School of Music. Some of the great clarinetists from around the world who have performed his music include Ricardo Morales, Fabio Casola, Luis Rossi and Jan Jakub Bokun. Some of his music has also been recorded on the Albany label. Mr. Broeders founded Music Publishing, Inc, a firm specializing in classical and popular styles in the grand Argentine tradition. The firm has published nearly one hundred scores. Memorias de los Cerros y de los Llanos (Memories of the Mountains and Valleys) is in reference to Venezuela, and the piece and was composed using the "feeling" of the folkloric tradition. The third movement, Joropo, is the National Dance of Venezuela; the rhythm, structure and melodic line are very close to the traditional.

Norbert Burgmüller (1810-1836), composer and pianist, studied music with his parents and older brother. His father's death in 1824 left the family in financial straits, but Count von Nesselrode-Ehreshoven provided support, and in 1826 invited Norbert to Kassel, where he studied with Louis Spohr and Moritz Hauptmann. Burgmüller remained in Kassel until 1830, giving lessons, composing, and giving a number of performances, including his Piano Concerto. In 1830, following a broken engagement, he began to show signs of epilepsy and began to drink heavily. He returned to Düsseldorf, where he lived with his mother.
     Felix Mendelssohn became Düsseldorf's city music director in 1833, a post once held by Burgmüller's father. Mendelssohn promoted Norbert's work and the two became good friends, but Mendelssohnr's departure to Leipzig in 1835 left Burgmüller with fewer opportunities. He suffered from depression and, save for a few friends, pretty much lived the life of a recluse. His contemporary, the Belgian musicologist and composer Fétis called him "bizarre, an enemy of the ways of the world, of social convention, and of all constraint." Burgmüller himself wrote, "I was not ready to deal with the world. I believed only in music -- at first I could not see the necessity (I was too stupid), and now I am too obstinate and perhaps also too proud to adapt myself to the ways of mankind."
     Burgmüller contemplated a move to Paris where his brother Friedrich lived, but Norbert died in Aachen, where he went to take the mineral waters for his epilepsy. Some say he drowned during an epileptic fit; others say it was a suicide. His death was widely mourned by the musical community. Mendelssohn wrote the Funeral March, Op. 103 for the funeral, and Robert Schumann wrote an obituary in which he said, "Since the early death of Schubert, nothing more deplorable has happened than that of Burgmüller."
   Ständchen (Serenade) (1825) written when Burgmüller was a teenager, is the name Burgmüller's brother gave to the Allegretto in E flat major when he sold some of Norbert's works in 1862. Luiggi Magistrelli arranged the viola part for basset horn. Burgmüller wrote an alternate version called Allegro in D Major scored for viola, cello and guitar.

Henry (first name unknown) was a clarinetist in Paris, active around 1815. Fétis maintains that he was the son of Bonaventure Henry. Serenade, Op. 22 for clarinet and guitar, published by Dufaut et Dubois in 1823, is said by Fétis to belong to Henry's cycle of works for clarinet and guitar. They are in the Bibliothèque nationale de France (Vm 3661- 3662).

Jamie K. Auberg (b. 1975) is a music educator, composer and movie producer. He teaches clarinet and piano at Centerstage Academy, general music and choir at Denbigh Christian Academy, and band at Hampton Christian High School in Virginia. Jamie was composing regularly by the time he reached high school, winning several awards and receiving a performance by the Peninsula Youth Orchestra. A graduate of Christopher Newport University, he studied composition with Master Sergeant Aldo Forte, composer of the Langely Air Force Band, and participated in a masterclass given by George Crumb. The Langley Air Force Band Clarinet Quartet presented his Quartet on tour. Jamie has written several movie scripts and musical scores for his own films and is currently producing a feature-length film that will premiere at the Phi Beta Fraternity National Convention in Williamsburg, Virginia. He also composed the music to the Virginia Film Company's movie "Honorable Men" and is currently co-writing the movie script for the Company's newest comedy.

--Marnie Hall

Sources for Notes: Burgmueller: Klaus Zehnder-Tischendorf, www.burgmueller.com (www.burgmüller.com); Neumann:More Clarinet Virtuosos of the Past by Pamela Weston; Kaps: Aline Maerz of Haus der Musik Trekel. Other sources: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd edition), Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart and Fetis' Biographie universelle des musiciens.

Links to alphabetical list of composers:
Bios and links to all their recordings at this site