He wrote two concertos for clarinet and orchestra, and a big sonata in concerto style, opus 48, for clarinet and piano. Besides these there is an Air and Variations, opus 33, for clarinet and piano, and a quintet, opus 34, for clarinet and strings. Weber also wrote a charming trio, opus 63, for flute, cello, and piano.
Spohr, too, showed a special favor towards the clarinet and he, like Weber, wrote two concertos for it. Three of Spohr’s works which were broadly famous in their day and much beloved are the nonet for strings, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, opus 31; the octet for violin, two violas, cello, double-bass, clarinet, and two horns, opus 32; and the quintet for flute, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano. The two former are delicately scored, but the latter is marred by the piano. Some idea of the fervor with which Spohr’s music was loved may be gained from the fact that Chopin, the most selective and fastidiously critical of all composers, conceived Spohr’s nonet to be one of the greatest works of music. Doubtless the perfection of style delighted him, a virtue for which he was willing to forgive many a weakness. At present Spohr’s music is in danger of being totally neglected.
Mendelssohn contributed nothing to this branch of chamber music, and Schumann’s contributions were slight enough. There is a set ofMärchenerzählungen, opus 132, for clarinet, viola, and pianoforte, which have some romantic charm but no distinction, and three Romances for oboe. Brahms’ trio for clarinet, violoncello, and piano has already been mentioned. Besides these he wrote two excellent sonatas for clarinet and piano, and a quintet for clarinet and strings. These works are almost unique among Brahms’ compositions for an unveiled tenderness and sweetness. All three were probably in a measure inspired by the playing of his friend Professor Mühlfeld, who even from the orchestra made an impression with his clarinet upon the memoriesof those who gathered at the epoch-making performances at Bayreuth. The quintet, opus 115, is one of the most poetic and moving of all Brahms’ compositions. The two clarinet sonatas, one in F minor and one in E-flat major, were published together in 1896 as opus 120. In these there is the same unusual tenderness which appeals so directly to the heart in the quintet.
Since the time of Brahms most composers have written something in small forms for the wind instruments with or without piano or strings. Most of these have a charm, yet perhaps none is to be distinguished. One of the most pleasing is Pierné’sPastorale variée, for flute, oboe, clarinet, trombone, horn, and two bassoons. But here we have in truth a small wind orchestra. D’Indy’sChanson et Danses, opus 50, two short pieces for flute, two clarinets, horn, and two bassoons, Fauré’sNocturne, opus 33, for flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two horns and two bassoons, and some of the smaller pieces of a composer little known, J. Mouquet, are representative of the best that the modern French composers have done in this kind of chamber music. Debussy’sRhapsodie, for clarinet and piano, is evidently apièce d’occasion. It was written for the Concours at the Conservatoire. Max Reger’s sonata in A-flat, opus 49, No. 1, for clarinet and piano, and a concerto forWaldhornand piano by Richard Strauss stand out conspicuously among the works of the Germans. In this country Mr. Charles Martin Loeffler is to be recognized as one with an unusually keen instinct for the effects of wind instruments in chamber music. His two Rhapsodies for oboe, viola, and piano show a delicacy of style that cannot be matched in work for a similar combination by other composers.