Brightmusic Chamber Ensemble

Carl Maria von Weber, Introduction, Theme and Variations for Clarinet and String Quartet (attrib. to Joseph Küffner)

German composer Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826) was born in the waning years of the Classical period and was one of the first major composers of the Romantic era.  Although best known for his operas, he had a special affinity for the clarinet.  His virtuosic and innovative works for the instrument are considered some of the most significant in the repertory. 

The clarinet was invented around 1700 and after multiple refinements was an established member of the orchestra by the beginning of the 19^th century.  The leading clarinetist of the day, Heinrich Joseph Baermann, a close friend of Weber, was having a major impact on its repertory, introducing new works by several composers including Weber. The two friends went on tour performing Weber’s compositions, a tour that would enhance public and critical perception of the composer.  The result greatly advanced Weber’s career, which would be a brief one: he died from tuberculosis at the age of 39.  

While this piece remains in the catalog of Weber’s works, it is now widely believed to have been written by a lesser-known contemporary, Joseph Küffner. The lighthearted, lyrical introduction and theme are followed by a set of increasingly more-demanding variations, with an introspective adagio respite, before dashing to the joyful and acrobatic conclusion.   

John Corigliano, Soliloquy (for Clarinet and String Quartet)

Celebrated American composer John Corigliano (b. 1938) has garnered an Oscar, a Pulitzer Prize and five Grammies, among a number of other awards and accolades.  He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.  He is also on the composition faculty at the Juilliard School.  Born to a musical family, he is the son of John Paul Corigliano, Sr., long-time concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.  He studied composition at Columbia University and the Manhattan School of Music and at age of 26 won the chamber music competition of the Spoleto Festival in Italy.  

Originally written as a clarinet concerto in 1977, the single-movement Soliloquy was adapted in 1995 by the composer for clarinet and string quartet in memory of his father.  “The Soliloquy begins with a long, unaccompanied line for the violin,” explains Corigliano.  “The other strings enter, and a mood of sustained lyricism introduces the clarinet.  The prevailing feeling is that of desolation.”  He says that he “deliberately avoided an emotional climax,” and Soliloquy ends as it began, with the same long violin line joined by the clarinet.  

Walter Rabl, Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 1, for clarinet, violin, cello and piano

Viennese composer Walter Rabl (1873-1940) is virtually forgotten today owing to the small number of his works from the end of the Romantic era.  Rabl completed a doctoral program in music at the German University in Prague and accepted a position at the Royal Opera of Dresden as coach and chorus master. 

He composed the Quartet in E-flat major in 1896 and dedicated it to Johannes Brahms.   The four-movement work won first prize at a prestigious competition for young composers sponsored by the Vienna Musicians’ Society.  Brahms, a judge for the competition, enthusiastically recommended the piece to his own publisher.  Despite early successes, Rabl gave up composition at the age of 30 to focus on conducting and vocal coaching.

Robert Schumann, Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44

German Romantic composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856) abandoned the study of law at the University of Leipzig to become a student of the celebrated piano teacher Friedrich Wieck.  Over time a romance developed with Wieck’s daughter, Clara.  In spite of her father’s strong objections, Clara became Robert’s wife, and the marriage would be one of the most famous love stories in music history. 

Widely regarded as one of the finest chamber works of the Romantic era, the Piano Quintet in E-flat major was written in just a few weeks in 1842 amid a phenomenal burst of creativity.  It was dedicated to Clara, a brilliant pianist, who was at the keyboard for its public premier in 1843 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.  She would write in her diary that the quintet was “magnificent—a work filled with energy and freshness.”  The four-movement work begins with a sunny first movement followed by a starkly-contrasting funeral march.  The Scherzo is a vigorous whirlwind of scales, and the finale “is a brilliant piece of composition, a strong-boned, imaginative sonata-rondo [with a] breathtaking double fugue in three parts that spectacularly incorporates themes from the opening and closing movements,” wrote James M. Keller (Chamber Music, a Listener’s Guide, p. 422). 

Program Notes by Sara Grossman