Carl Maria von Weber

From Wind Repertory Project
Carl Maria von Weber

Biography

Carl Maria (Friedrich Ernst) Weber (18 November 1786, Eutin, Germany - 5 June 1826, London, England) was a German Romantic composer. Weber's childhood was concerned with a constant struggle between his music practice and a congenital hip joint disease which prevented him from normal boyhood activities. He studied piano and violin with Michael Haydn in Salzburg and Abt Volger in Vienna. His ambitious father exposed the boy's talents in concerts all over Europe until the death of his mother finally stopped the exhausting tours and young Weber entered the choir boys school in Salzburg.

Founder of the German Romantic opera, Weber also takes high rank as a composer of concertos. When Mozart introduced the clarinet into the higher levels of music, it rapidly became a favorite solo instrument. Weber was a great friend and admirer of Heinrich Baerman, the leasing clarinetist of his day, and for Baerman Weber wrote, among other works for clarinet, Concertino for Clarinet and the Second Grand Concerto in E-Flat.


Works for Winds


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