Clarinet Sonata in E flat major Op.120 No.2 (1894)

On finishing his String Quintet in G major in 1890 Brahms declared that it would be his last work. Less than a year later he heard the playing of Richard Mühlfeld, the self-taught clarinettist of the Meiningen Orchestra, and changed his mind. It was for Mühlfeld, his “Primadonna”as he called him, that Brahms composed four more chamber works, the two last being the pair of Sonatas Op.120 written on a summer holiday at Bad Ischl in the Salzkammergut. Although he wrote alternative versions of the sonatas for viola (and later for violin), the textures occasionally require the characteristic sound of the clarinet for their authentic realisation. In the Sonata in E flat major this applies not so much to the mainly lyrical Allegro amabile, or not until the beautifully scored tranquillo ending, still less to the turbulent Allegro appassionato scherzo but above all to the variations of the last movement where the relationship between clarinet and piano is so sensitively explored and the colours so expertly blended.

All four of the scores Brahms wrote for the “prima donna” of his last years, the Meiningen clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld, were published with alternative versions featuring viola in place of the clarinet. As far as the first two of them are concerned, the Trio in A minor Op.114 and the Quintet in B minor Op.115, there can be little doubt that the original version is much the more effective. When it comes to the two sonatas Op.120, on the other hand, the viola has a good case, not the least important factor being that its darker sound is so well suited to the resigned, even melancholy mood of what were to be Brahms’s last chamber works.

Although the argument in favour of the viola is probably more applicable to the Sonata in F minor, it is by no means out of place in relation to its companion in E flat major. Even the sunny opening theme of the Allegro amabile, heard on (in this case) viola in the opening bars, has a touch of nostalgia about it and that melody dominates, though discreetly, the whole of the first movement. Its salient intervals are incorporated in the second subject, which is introduced hesitantly by the viola in a sort of canon with the piano, while a third theme presented by the viola is a close variant of the first. An apparently affortless, seamless construction sinks gently into a tranquillo coda.

The Allegro appassionato begins defiantly in E flat minor and, although its efforts are rewarded by the apparent reassurance of a broadly melodious middle section in B major, it ends in regretful resignation. Harmonically unrealistic thought that reassurance proved to be, however, the closing movement - Brahms’s very last set of variations, incidentally - demonstrates that its message was not entirely misleading. The fifth variation, a protesting Allegro initiated in E flat minor by the piano, resolves into a serenely conclusive E flat major.

On completing his String Quintet in G major in 1890 Brahms declared that it would be his last composition. Less than a year later he heard the playing of Richard Mühlfeld, the self-taught clarinettist of the Meiningen Orchestra, and changed his mind. It was for Mühlfeld, his “Primadonna”as he called him, that Brahms wrote his last four chamber works – the Trio in A minor Op.114 and the Quintet in B minor Op.115 at Bad Ischl in the summer of 1891 and the two Sonatas Op.120 at the same resort in the Salzkammergut three years later.

Of the two sonatas, as their respective tonalities suggest, the first in F minor is the more dramatic. Its less eventful companion in E flat major seems to aspire to recapture the idyll represented by the Violin Sonata in A major written at Lake Thun in Switzerland five years earlier. The first movements of both the Violin Sonata in A and the Clarinet Sonata in E flat are headed Allegro amabile and are scarcely clouded in their lyricism. There is a touch of regret in the latter, however – not surprisingly perhaps in what Brahms surely knew would be his last chamber work. Even the sunny opening theme of the Allegro amabile, heard on the clarinet in the opening bars, has a touch of nostalgia about it and that melody dominates, though discreetly, the whole of the movement. Its salient intervals are incorporated in the second subject, which is introduced hesitantly by the clarint in a sort of canon with the piano, while the third theme presented by the clarinet is a close variant of the first. An apparently affortless, seamless construction sinks gently into a tranquillo coda.

The Allegro appassionato begins defiantly in E flat minor and, although its efforts are rewarded by the apparent reassurance of a broadly melodious middle section in B major, it ends in regretful resignation. Harmonically unrealistic though that reassurance proved to be, however, the closing movement – Brahms’s very last set of variations, incidentally – demonstrates that its message was not entirely misleading. The fifth variation, a protesting Allegro initiated in E flat minor by the piano, resolves into a less agitated (più tranquillo) but joyful E flat major ending.

On completing his String Quintet in G major in 1890 Brahms declared that it would be his last composition. Less than a year later he heard the playing of Richard Mühlfeld, the self-taught clarinettist of the Meiningen Orchestra, and changed his mind. It was for Mühlfeld, his “Primadonna”as he called him, that Brahms wrote his last four chamber works – the Trio in A minor Op.114 and the Quintet in B minor Op.115 at Bad Ischl in the summer of 1891 and the two Sonatas Op.120 at the same resort in the Salzkammergut three years later.

Of the two sonatas, as their respective tonalities suggest, the first in F minor is the more dramatic. Its less eventful companion in E flat major seems to aspire to recapture the idyll represented by the Violin Sonata in A major written at Lake Thun in Switzerland five years earlier. The first movements of both the Violin Sonata in A and the Clarinet Sonata in E flat are headed Allegro amabile and are scarcely clouded in their lyricism. There is a touch of regret in the latter, however – not surprisingly perhaps in what Brahms surely knew would be his last chamber work. Even the sunny opening theme of the Allegro amabile, heard on the clarinet in the opening bars, has a touch of nostalgia about it and that melody dominates, though discreetly, the whole of the movement. Its salient intervals are incorporated in the second subject, which is introduced hesitantly by the clarinet in a sort of canon with the piano, while the third theme presented by the clarinet is a close variant of the first. An apparently affortless and seamless construction sinks gently into a tranquillo coda.

The Allegro appassionato begins defiantly in E flat minor and, although its efforts are rewarded by the apparent reassurance of a broadly melodious middle section in B major, it ends in regretful resignation. Harmonically unrealistic though the B-major reassurance proved to be, however, the closing movement – Brahms’s very last set of variations, incidentally – demonstrates that its message was not entirely misleading. The fifth variation, a protesting Allegro initiated in E flat minor by the piano, resolves into a less agitated (Più tranquillo) and joyful E flat major ending.

On completing his String Quintet in G major in 1890 Brahms declared that it would be his last composition. Less than a year later he heard the playing of Richard Mühlfeld, the self-taught clarinettist of the Meiningen Orchestra, and changed his mind. It was for Mühlfeld, his “Primadonna”as he called him, that Brahms wrote his last four chamber works – the Trio in A minor Op.114 and the Quintet in B minor Op.115 at Bad Ischl in the summer of 1891 and the two Sonatas Op.120 at the same resort in the Salzkammergut three years later.

Of the two sonatas, which were also published in alternative versions for viola, the second is the one more likely to flourish in an arrangement for flute. As their respective tonalities suggest, the first in F minor is the more dramatic while its less eventful companion in E flat major seems to aspire to recapture the idyll represented by the Violin Sonata in A major written at Lake Thun in Switzerland five years earlier. The first movements of both the Violin Sonata in A and the present Sonata in E flat are headed Allegro amabile and are scarcely clouded in their lyricism. There is a touch of regret in the latter, however – not surprisingly perhaps in what Brahms surely knew would be his last chamber work. Even the sunny opening theme of the Allegro amabile, heard on the flute in the opening bars, has a touch of nostalgia about it and that melody dominates, though discreetly, the whole of the movement. Its salient intervals are incorporated in the second subject, which is introduced hesitantly by the flute in a sort of canon with the piano, while the third theme presented by the flute is a close variant of the first. An apparently affortless and seamless construction sinks gently into a tranquillo coda.

The Allegro appassionato begins defiantly in E flat minor and, although its efforts are rewarded by the apparent reassurance of a broadly melodious middle section in B major, it ends in regretful resignation. Harmonically unrealistic though that reassurance proved to be, however, the closing movement – Brahms’s very last set of variations, incidentally – demonstrates that its message was not entirely misleading. The fifth variation, a protesting Allegro initiated in E flat minor by the piano, resolves into a less agitated (Più tranquillo) but joyful E flat major ending.