The Concertos for Clarinet

Abstract

EVERAL YEARS AGO the project of listing all the known concertos for clarinet was undertaken with the idea of calling them to the attention of my colleagues in the hope that this information would widen their concept of the music available to the clarinet soloist. For their guidance a brief description of the music, its style, difficulty and worth would accompany each listing. This appeared to be a simple task, covering 30 or 40 items. Research was begun and to my amazement their number turned out to be legion. A new dealer's list would add a few; visits to dealers in Europe turned up more. There is no point in delaying the publication of the list as it stands for it will never be final or complete. Many works included have not been available for purchase and many are in libraries which could not be visited. The list as now issued includes many works of which copies have not been seen. If any reader possesses a copy he is willing to lend me for prompt inspection, he is begged to send it on to me.l The sources of information have been various, including Geoffrey Rendall's valuable book, The Clarinet (Philosophical Library, N.Y. 1954) and of course Eitner's Quellen Lexicon in 10 volumes, to say nothing of catalogs of libraries and publishers. Everything in the Library of Congress and the Fleischer Library in Philadelphia has been examined. Other collectors have been of much help, notably Himie Voxman of the State University of Iowa and Wallace Tenney of