For tonight’s concert we have music by Franz Schubert (1797-1828) from his teenage years and music by WA Mozart (1756-1791) from the last months of his life.
Though Anton Stadler had the reputation as more than a bit of a scoundrel and died “emaciated,” clarinetists worldwide owe a debt to his splendid clarinet playing for inspiring numerous clarinet solos and passages by Mozart, including tonight’s Clarinet Concerto K 622 (1791). (Other compositions for which Mozart wrote pieces and passages for Stadler include the Clarinet Quintet K 581, the Gran Partita for Winds K 361 -- performed live and earlier on video by the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra -- the Masonic Funeral Music K 477, and several clarinet obligato parts in Mozart’s opera La Clemenza di Tito K 621.)
Mozart may have met Stadler as early as 1781, the year that Mozart established himself in Vienna as a free-lance composer having been literally “booted” out of the service of Hieronymus von Colloredo, the Cardinal-Prince of Salzburg. Their friendship was such that Mozart had a variety of nicknames for Stadler: “Stodla”, “Miracle of Bohemia” and “Nàtschibinitschibi”, a combination of “penny-pincher” and “foolish man.” Stadler was known for his beautiful playing in the low register of the clarinet often termed the chalumeau. In fact, Stadler mostly played on the basset clarinet, which had an extended lower range of approximately a major third compared to the modern clarinet in A. Despite Stadler’s claims to have invented the basset clarinet, it was invented and built by the Vienna court instrument maker Theodor Lotz around 1788.
After Mozart’s death, as testament to its great audience acceptance, Stadler took the Clarinet Concerto on a tour that lasted about four years, during which he visited at least nine cities, performing it more than a dozen times. However, the original manuscript of the concerto was lost; Stadler
that it was stolen from a portmanteau while he was in Germany. However, a letter from Mozart’s widow, Constanze, to the publisher Johann André, suggested that Stadler had pawned it
The score wasn’t published until 1803. As the original solo part had been lost, the Concerto was reconstructed from instrumental parts and rescored for the readily available A clarinet. Thus, several passages where the solo part lies too low for this clarinet, were shifted an octave higher. By playing the concerto on a reconstruction of the basset clarinet, all the scales and arpeggios can be managed top to bottom without having to break them up with octave leap transpositions.
The Clarinet Concerto is in the classical three movements. The opening Allegro (fast) is in the classic concerto sonata form perfected by Mozart, beginning with the orchestra presenting the themes. The clarinet is given its turn with the melodic material with plenty of new passages tailored for the soloist. The development has even more soulful playing of the clarinet who brings the themes back in the recap with the orchestra. There is a passage where the soloist can improvise but no solo cadenza as such. The second movement Adagio (Slow) has some of the most beautiful passages that Mozart ever wrote, including a sequential passage that is guaranteed to take one’s breath away. It is in ABA’ form with an extensive solo cadenza before the A repeat which is often played softer and embellished.
The finale is titled “Rondo: Allegro” (fast with a recurrent theme). But this movement is not a strict rondo but has aspects of sonata form with some truncated brief restatements and some development. The middle “C” section of the ABACABA form begins in the minor and has spectacular playing by the soloist. The next B section is developed by Mozart and the final return of the main theme is fuller-than-full and builds delightfully to the conclusion.
Program Note by IPO Board Member Charles Amenta, M.D