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Konzertstuck No. 1 in F minor

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Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (trans. Thomas Knox)


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This work bears the designation Opus 113.


General Info

Year: 1833 /
Duration:
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Clarinet, basset horn, and piano
Publisher: U.S. Marine Band
Cost: Score and Parts - Unknown


Movements

1. Allegro con fuoco
2. Andante
3. Presto


Instrumentation

(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

It may be surprising to learn that a work with the commonplace title Konzertstück No. 1 was originally entitled Battle of Prague and Grand Duet for Steamed Dumplings and Sweet-Cheese Strudel. It was “composed and humbly dedicated to Baermann Senior and Baermann Junior by their very devoted Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy.” Early in his career, Mendelssohn became friends with Heinrich Baermann, one of the great clarinetists of their time and the musician for whom Carl Maria von Weber wrote many of his clarinet works. Like Weber, Mendelssohn became enamored with Baermann’s expressive playing, but upon visiting Baermann and his son, clarinetist and basset hornist Carl Baermann, Mendelssohn enjoyed another of the Baermanns’ talents: cooking -- in particular, the cooking of sweet dumplings and cheese strudel.

Mendelssohn invited the Baermanns to his home in Berlin to visit and, of course, to cook their special dishes. They agreed on the condition that Mendelssohn would “cook up” a piece for them. Carl Baermann described the event:

When I showed up at the appointed time, he [Mendelssohn] put a chef’s hat on my head, drew an apron around my waist, and stuck a cooking spoon into the waistband. He did the same himself, except that instead of a spoon, he stuck a pen behind his ear. Then, to the great delight of the kitchen staff, he led me into the kitchen…. He returned to his room where, as he said, he was going to stir and knead the tones, add salt and pepper, sweeten them, and make a spicy sauce before cooking everything over a good hot fire….

As the clock struck five, my heart skipped a beat, and I hoped that the dumplings had risen properly. To my great relief, they had risen beautifully, and the cheese strudel was bubbling away melodiously in the pan. I then brought my offerings in covered dishes to the table at the time agreed upon, and Mendelssohn also had his duet in a covered dish. We rehearsed the duet that very evening in his music salon, and after we made a few minor technical and instrumental changes in the piece, father and I were still more delighted with the charming piece than Mendelssohn was with the dumplings and strudel -- although he kept saying that my dumpling composition was more brilliant than his.

This led one week later to the composition of Konzertstück No. 2 in D minor, Opus 114, also written for the Baermanns. Both are light, highly melodic works that have become important staples of the clarinet repertoire.

- Program Note from U.S. Marine Band concert program, 10 April 2022


Media

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State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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  • United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (Jason K. Fettig, conductor; Joseph LeBlanc, clarinet; Parker Gaims, basset horn) - 10 April 2022


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

  • Scherzo (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Ambrose) (1823/2021)


All Wind Works


Resources

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