Clarinet Concerto No.2 in E Flat Major (Op.74, J118)
Carl Maria von Weber (1786-1826)

Weber was the composer of the first great romantic German opera, Der Freischütz and was the first composer to make extensive use of descriptive orchestral effects and motives. He basically laid the foundations on which Wagner was to build.

Carl Maria von Weber was born on 18^th November 1786 at Eutin in Germany, the son of a travelling theatrical musical director. At an early age he showed a prodigious musical ability, writing his first opera when only 13 years old!

He arrived in Munich in 1811 where in the court orchestra played the greatest clarinet virtuoso of the period, Heinrich Bärmann. Weber soon became friends with Bärmann and it was for him that Weber wrote both of his Clarinet Concertos and a Concertino.

I. Allegro – The work starts with the full orchestra playing a majestic march. The clarinet enters fortissimo with great bravura making leaps between the extremes of the instrument’s compass.

II. Andante con moto – This is entitled Romanza and shows the clarinet in the role of an operatic diva in this gentle and lovely movement.

III. Alla Polacca – The finale is a rondo in the Polish style and is marked ‘Brillante’ and gives the soloist the chance to show his great virtuosity with spectacular florid variations which bring the concerto to a spectacular close.

The first performance on 25^th November 1811 was greeted with ‘frantic applause’ and of Bärmann’s playing, Weber wrote ‘godlike’. The work remains to this day, one of the greatest in the clarinet repertoire.

Programme notes by Jonathan Hodgetts

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