A Look at the Clarinet in the 20th Century

What is the Clarinet?

BAND/ORCHESTRA

CARTOONS

INTERNET

PRACTICE ROOMS?

PRACTICE ROOMS!

What is the Clarinet? (continued)

Developed from a Baroque instrument – Chalumeau.

Credit for inventing given to Johann Christoph Denner.

Three Different Systems: Albert system Boehm system Oehler system

Albert v.s. Boehm

French v.s. German

Timeline #1: 1930s/1940s

HISTORICAL MUSICAL

1933 – Adolf Hitler comes to power in Germany.

1933 – New Deal instituted in the United States.

1934 – Socialist Realism adopted in Soviet Union.

1938 – Germany absorbs Austria.

1939 – Germany invades Poland (WWII begins).

1941 – United States enters WWII.

1945 – WWII ends with defeat of Germany and Japan.

1930 – William Grant Still, Afro-American Symphony

1933 – Union of Soviet Composers founded.

1936 – Dimtri Shostakovich’s opera Lady Macbeth attacked Soviet press.

1937 – Shostakovich, Fifth Symphony

1939 – Paul Hindemith, Clarinet Sonate

1943-44 – Aaron Copland, Appalachian Spring

1948 – Soviet Union cracks down on “formalist” composers.

Paul Hindemith

Among the most prolific composers of the 20th Century.

Taught two generations of musicians.

Began composing in a late Romantic style, but later adopted ideas of New Objectivity.

Fled to the United States in 1940.

Dealing With the Nazis

Reich Music Chamber Composers had to

cooperate with the regime in order to have their music performed.

No coherent Nazi style of new music emerged.

Focused more on performance than on composition.

Used Beethoven and Bruckner as symbols of the alleged superiority of the German people.

Hindemith’s Clarinet Sonate (1939)

Neo-Classical Harsh approach to counterpoint. More expressive with mood and melody. Movement 1 – Massig bewegt (moderately moved)

Clarinet and piano trade phrases. Long-breathed melody. Harmonic language – outside the box, but clear. Soft contour of the melody

Movement 2 – Lebhaft (Lively) Thematically connected to Movement 1 More active than Movement 1, but decisive. Clarinet lines are more angular.

Hindemith’s Clarinet Sonate (1939) - continued

Movement 3 – Sehr langsam (very slowly) More dramatic than Movements 1 and 2. Emphasis on minor modalities. Cadenza-like passages create a sense of mystery.

Movement 4 – Kleines Rondo, gemachlich (Little Rondo) March figure alternates with various episodes of

thematic elaboration Clarinet assumes an accompaniment role to the

piano. Ends with a nonchalant reiteration of the main

theme

Timeline #2: Late1940s -1950s

HISTORICAL MUSICAL

1949 – North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed.

1950-53 – Korean War. 1953 – USA and USSR

both test hydrogen bombs.

1958 – European Common Market formed.

1945 – Charlie Parker/Dizzy Gillespie, Anthropology.

1949 – Leonard Bernstein, Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs.

1949-50 – Miles Davis, Birth of Cool.

1955 – Bill Haley and the Comets, Rock Around the Clock.

Jazz History

1910s – Mix of Ragtime and dance music. 1920s – “The Jazz Age”

Blues – Vocal genre based on a simple repetitive formula.

New Orleans Jazz – Style of jazz after WWI which centered on group variation of a given tune.

Big Bands – Type of jazz ensemble featuring brass, reeds, and a rhythm section. Duke Ellington Count Basie Benny Goodman

1930s Swing – jazz music featuring large ensembles and hard-

driving rhythms.

Leonard Bernstein

Big composer of both Broadway and Classical music.

Became a sudden star after filling in for a sick Bruno Walter.

Received more praise for his Broadway musicals than his symphonies.

Taught Seminars at Brandeis University.

Made his greatest impact as a conductor.

Prelude, Fugue, and Riffs

Completed for the Woody Herman Big Band. Woody Herman – jazz clarinetist, jazz saxophonist,

and bandleader from 1930 to 1987. Never performed until 1955 by Benny

Goodman on “The World of Jazz.” Goodman was a jazz clarinetist and bandleader from

Chicago. He was known as the “King of Swing.” The piece was dedicated to Benny Goodman. The Prelude and Fugue are played by the group

and the Clarinet Solo does not start until Riffs.

Timeline #3: 1970s/1980s

HISTORICAL MUSICAL

1974 – Resignation of President Nixon.

1978 – Election of Pope John Paul II, first Polish pope.

1980 – Solidarity strikes in Poland.

1982 – AIDS established. 1989 – Berlin Wall falls. 1991 – Soviet Union

dissolves and Cold War ends.

1970 – Miles Davis, Bitches Brew

1979 – Stephen Sondheim, Sweeny Todd.

1986 – John Adams, Short Ride in a Fast Machine.

Richard Rodney Bennett

One of Britain’s most respected musicians.

Studied European avant-garde techniques with Pierre Boulez in 1957.

Knighted for Services to Music in 1998.

Composed both concert and film music.

Sonatina for Clarinet

Three Movement Unaccompanied Piece Dedicated to Angela Morley Highly Chromatic with clear pitch and

harmonic centers. Notation and overall structure are

traditional. Avoids strict repetition by repeating

melodic materials with different rhythms.

Angela Morley

Morley and Bennett

Sonatina for Clarinet: Movements

1st Movement – Con fuoco Filled with chromatic triple figures. Uses some duple figures over the 9/8 time signature. Mostly uses sudden dynamic changes.

2nd Movement – “Night Thoughts” (Lento) Dream-like movement Modified ABA form – B section contains a agitated or

“nightmare-like” section. Uses more crescendos then the other movements.

3rd Movement – Scherzando AABA form

A Sections are in 6/8 (scherzando). B section is a 4/4 allegretto section.

Lighter than the previous movement.

Thank You for Coming!