Harmonie Opus 71

From Wind Repertory Project
Franz Krommer

Franz Krommer


General Info

Year: 1808
Duration: c. 18:35
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Floricor Editions
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €50.00

For further availability information, see Discussion tab, above.


Movements

1. Allegro moderato – 6:30
2. Menuetto – 3:35
3. Andante Allegretto – 5:15
4. Adagio-Allegro – 3:45


Instrumentation

Full Score
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
Horn in F I-II


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Harmonie-Musik, music for wind ensemble, held an important position in the eighteenth century, serving particularly as Tafelmusik (Table Music) to accompany dinner. By the end of the century the most frequently found ensemble consisted of eight parts, pairs of oboes, clarinets, French horns and bassoons, with an additional 16 foot part for double bassoon or double bass to add depth. This number of players became current in Vienna from 1782, with the encouragement of the Emperor Joseph II, who from 1787 employed two clarinettists, the Stadler brothers, in the Court Orchestra.

It was for one of these groups in Vienna that Krommer wrote his thirteen Harmonien. While Krommer's music for wind ensemble is original, it was also common practice for wind-bands to play their own transcriptions of popular operas, and Mozart himself had transcribed the music of his first successful opera in Vienna in 1782, Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), while incorporating table-music of this kind in his Don Giovanni five years later. The fashion gradually waned in the altered circumstances of the early nineteenth century.

This Harmonie-Musik probably written in Vienna immediately before Krommer's appointment as Ballett-KapeIlmeister to the Court Theatre. It is in characteristic classical style, the musical language of Haydn and Mozart, in four movements that follow customary forms of chamber music rather than multi-movement compositions common in divertimenti or in operatic transcriptions. Bach starts with an Allegro, followed by a Minuet, a slow or relatively slow movement and a more rapid final movement. They are clearly intended for players of some accomplishment and show both elegance and wit in their instrumental writing, not least in the finale of Opus 71, with its soulful introduction and final hunt, aptly introduced by the horn, immediately followed by the rest of the ensemble.


- Program Note from liner notes of CD KROMMER: Partitas for Wind Ensemble Op. 57, 71 and 78


Commercial Discography


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Cleveland State University (Ohio) Wind Ensemble (Birch Browning, conductor) – 6 October 2016


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources