Clarinet Sonata (Saint-Saëns)
The Clarinet Sonata in E♭ major, Op. 167, was written by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1921 as one of his last works. This clarinet sonata is the second of the three sonatas that Saint-Saëns composed for wind instruments, the other two being the Oboe Sonata (Op. 166) and the Bassoon Sonata (Op. 168), written the same year. These works were part of Saint-Saëns's efforts to expand the repertoire for instruments for which hardly any solo parts were written, as he confided to his friend Jean Chantavoine in a letter dated to 15 April 1921: "At the moment I am concentrating my last reserves on giving rarely considered instruments the chance to be heard."[1][2]
Saint-Saëns dedicated the work to Auguste Périer, a professor at the Conservatoire de Paris.
Structure
[edit]| External audio | |
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| Performed by Richard Stoltzman and Irma Vallecillo | |
 I. Allegretto | |
| II. Allegro animato | |
| III. Lento | |
| IV. Molto allegro |
The work consists of four movements. A performance takes approximately 16 minutes.
- Allegretto (E♭ major, 12
8) - Allegro animato (A♭ major, 2
2) - Lento (E♭ minor, 3
2) - Molto allegro (E♭ major, 4
4)
The theme of the first movement is reprised at the end of the fourth movement.
Reception
[edit]For the musical scholar Jean Gallois, the Clarinet Sonata is the most important of the three wind sonatas: he calls it "a masterpiece full of impishness, elegance and discreet lyricism" amounting to "a summary of the rest". The work contrasts a "doleful threnody" in the slow movement with the finale, which "pirouettes in 4/4 time", in a style reminiscent of the 18th century.[3]
Today the sonata is part of the standard repertoire of the clarinet.
References
[edit]- ^ Ratner, Sabina Teller (2002). Camille Saint-Saëns, 1835–1922: A Thematic Catalogue of his Complete Works, Volume 1: The Instrumental Works. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-19-816320-6.
- ^ Jost, Peter (2010). Camille Saint-Saëns, Clarinet Sonata op. 167 – Preface. Munich: G. Henle Verlag. pp. IV–V. ISMN 979-0-2018-0965-6.
- ^ Gallois, Jean (2004). Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (in French). Sprimont, Belgium: Éditions Mardaga. p. 368. ISBN 978-2-87009-851-6.
External links
[edit]- Clarinet Sonata (Saint-Saëns): Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Clarinet Sonata on YouTube, performed by Stefano Novelli and Akanè Makita
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