Adagio & Rondo

Adagio and Rondo (1808)

After Mozart, the next major protagonist of wind instruments was his distant relative Carl Maria von Weber who, thanks to the revelatory playing of Heinrich Bärmann, was particularly and most fruitfully attracted to the clarinet. His one surviving work for wind band indicates, however, that he had a rare gift for scoring for wind even before he met Bärmann. Although they are in different keys and were written at different times, the dates on the manuscripts (24 June 1808 for the Adagio and 6 July 1808 for the Rondo) and the keys (E flat and B flat respectively) are close enough to justify their presentation as one work. If the Adagio betrays the influence of Mozart – Die Zauberflöte inevitably comes to mind – the delightful Rondo is entirely characteristic of the debonair and brilliant composer who was to write the clarinet Concertino and the two Concertos just three years later.