Brahms: Clarinet Quintet

On its first appearance in 1891, Brahms' Clarinet Quintet was immediately recognised as a remarkable achievement, and a century later it still has the power to claim the hearts and minds of players and audiences alike. Widely regarded as Brahms' supreme achievement in the field of chamber music, the Clarinet Quintet is here placed in the context of the history of the clarinet and its repertory, and of Brahms' own compositions before 1891. The influence of the Meiningen clarinet virtuoso Richard Mühlfeld unleashed a new vein of creativity in Brahms, and this forms a basis for discussion, together with questions of performance practice (in relation to both clarinet and string quartet) and the legacy of Brahms' clarinet music. These chapters are complemented by a comprehensive analysis of the music.

List of illustrations

vii

(2)

Preface

ix

1 The nineteenth-century clarinet and its music

1

(12)

An integrated model: Mozart's Clarinet Quintet

1

(2)

The age of virtuosity

3

(3)

Clarinet chamber music after 1850

6

(3)

The development of the clarinet

9

(2)

Muhlfeld's Baermann-Ottensteiner clarinets

11

(2)

2 Brahms and the orchestral clarinet

13

(8)

Brahms's orchestras

13

(1)

The character of the orchestral clarinet

14

(1)

The German tradition of wind writing

15

(1)

Brahms and the clarinet: early works

16

(2)

Mature orchestral writing

18

(3)

3 Brahms's chamber music before 1891

21

(10)

Aspects of style

21

(1)

Formal procedures

22

(1)

Chamber music with wind

23

(2)

String chamber music

25

(2)

The String Quintet Op. 111

27

(4)

4 The genesis and reception of the Clarinet Quintet

31

(16)

Brahms and Meiningen

31

(1)

Richard Muhlfeld

32

(2)

The Clarinet Trio Op. 114

34

(2)

Clarinet Quintet reception, 1891-4

36

(4)

Brahms's Clarinet Sonatas Op. 120

40

(2)

Muhlfeld's final decade

42

(2)

The Brahms Quintet after Muhlfeld

44

(3)

5 Design and structure

47

(19)

Introduction

47

(2)

Allegro

49

(5)

Adagio

54

(5)

Andantino -- Presto non assai, ma con sentimento

59

(3)

Con moto

62

(4)

6 Performance practice

66

(15)

Introduction: the issues

66

(1)

Changes in musical taste

66

(2)

Muhlfeld's clarinet playing

68

(3)

The string quartet

71

(3)

Tempo flexibility, articulation and nuance

74

(4)

Later interpretations

78

(3)

7 The legacy of Brahms's clarinet music

81

(7)

Introduction: clarinet music after Brahms

81

(1)

The influence of Brahms

81

(1)

Max Reger

82

(1)

Robert Fuchs and his contemporaries

83

(2)

The clarinet quintet in England

85

(3)

Appendix 1: A list of Brahms's chamber music

88

(1)

Appendix 2: A review of the first London performance, The Times, 29 March 1892

89

(2)

Appendix 3: The mechanism of Muhlfeld's Baermann-Ottensteiner clarinets

91

(2)

Notes

93

(15)

Select bibliography

108

(4)

Index

112

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Brahms: Clarinet Quintet

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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Brahms: Clarinet Quintet

Summary

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials

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