Traditionally, a clarinet quartet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, plus the standard string trio of one violin, one viola and one cello. Nowadays, the term clarinet quartet can also refer to a combination of four clarinets of any size [including (contr)alto and (contra)bass clarinet, and basset horn]. The term is also used to refer to a piece written for any of these ensembles.
History During the second half of eighteenth and the first of the nineteenth centuries, a large number of quartets for clarinet and string trio were written and published, particularly in Paris, as they proved highly popular in Parisian salon concerts, apparently even more so than quintets for clarinet and strings. Among the earliest examples are the six quartets by Carl Stamitz published as his opus 8 in 1773. Most of these are in a concertante style, treating the clarinet as soloist.
Works for clarinet quartet The following is an incomplete list of quartets for clarinet, violin, viola and cello, with their composers in alphabetical order. Johann Andreas Amon 2 Clarinet quartets (B-flat major and E-flat major), op. 106 (1824) Carl Baermann Clarinet quartet, op. 18 [published by Schott] Heinrich Baermann Clarinet quartet in B-flat major, op. 18 (1816-1817) [published by Gambaro, Breitkopf & Härtel (1818/19) and Schott (ca. 1820)] Matthäus Blasius (1782, 1782-84, ca. 1788 and ca. 1799) 3 Clarinet quartets (F major, E-flat major and B-flat major), op. 1 [published by Sieber (1782)] 3 Clarinet quartets (G major, F major and B-flat major) [published by Breitkopf & Härtel (1782/4)] 6 Clarinet quartets, op. 13 [published by Sieber (1788?)] (ca. 1795) 3 Clarinet quartets, op. 1 [published by Momigny (1805) and Janet] 3 Clarinet quartets, op. 2 [published by Momigny (1805)] 3 Clarinet quartets, op. 3 [published by Momigny (1805) and Sieber] 3 Nocturnes for clarinet and string trio, op. 14 [published by Dufaut & Dubois] 3 Nocturnes for clarinet and string trio, op. 24 [published by Dufaut & Dubois] Clarinet quartet, op. 30 [published by Dufaut & Dubois] Clarinet quartet in F major Clarinet quartet in B-flat major Clarinet quartet in C major Romances de Gilles variés for clarinet and string trio [published by Dufaut & Dubois] Christian Cannabich 2 Clarinet quartets (F major and B-flat major) (1774) Antonio Casimir Cartellieri 2 Clarinet quartets Charles-Simon Catel (ca. 1796) Bernhard Crusell Clarinet quartet in E-flat major, op. 2 [published by Kühnel (1812), Costallat and Richault] Clarinet quartet in C minor, op. 4 [published by Peters (1816), Gambaro and Richault] Clarinet quartet in D major, op. 7 [published by Peters (1823)] François Devienne
Clarinet quartet in B-flat major (1798) Georg Druschetzky Clarinet quartet in F major
3 Clarinet quartets (E-flat major, B-flat major and E-flat major) [published by Hentz and Jouve (ca. 1806 to 1814)] (1788-1791) 3 Clarinet quartets, op. 2 3 Clarinet quartets (E-flat major, F major and C major), op. 5 [published by Imbault] 3 Clarinet quartets, op. 6 [published by Imbault] 3 Clarinet quartets, op. 7 [published by Gaveaux] Clarinet quartets, op. 13 [published by Imbault] 3 Clarinet quartets, op. 39 Clarinet quartet in E-flat major Clarinet quartet in B-flat major
3 Clarinet quartets (E minor, D major and A minor) Berthold Goldschmidt Clarinet quartet (1983) Carl Andreas Göpfert (ca. 1803 and 1818) Clarinet quartet, op. 2 [published by André] 2 Clarinet quartets (C minor and B-flat major), op. 16 [published by André] 3 Clarinet quartets (F major, B-flat major and E-flat major), op. 36 [published by André] Adalbert Gyrowetz Clarinet quartet in E-flat major Peter Hänsel Clarinet quartet in B-flat major, op. 19 (ca. 1808) Pieter Hellendaal Johann Simon Hermstedt Clarinet quartet Franz Anton Hoffmeister (ca. 1802) 3 Clarinet quartets (E-flat major, B-flat major, E-flat major) 6 Clarinet quartets (B-flat major, E-flat major, D major, B-flat major, E-flat major, E-flat major) Clarinet quartet in B-flat major Clarinet quartet in E-flat major Clarinet quartet in B-flat major Clarinet quartet in E-flat major Clarinet quartet in B-flat major Clarinet quartet in E-flat major Clarinet quartet in B-flat major Clarinet quartet in E-flat major (1799)
Clarinet quartet in E-flat major (1786) Clarinet quartet in B-flat major (1790) Clarinet quartet in C major (1790) Johann Nepomuk Hummel Clarinet quartet in E-flat major (1808)
Gartenmusik (1949) Leopold Koželuch Conradin Kreutzer Clarinet quartet in E-flat major, KWV 5203 (1800) Franz Krommer (ca. 1802, 1811, 1814, and 1816) Clarinet quartet in B-flat major, P IX:3 (op. 21 no. 1) Clarinet quartet in E-flat major, P IX:4 (op. 21 no. 2) Clarinet quartet in E-flat major, P IX:5 (op. 69) (1809-1810) Clarinet quartet in D major, P IX:12 (op. 82) Clarinet quartet in B-flat major, P IX:13 (op. 83) Clarinet quartet in B-flat major, P IX:B1 Johann Küchler (1774) 6 Clarinet quartets (F major, C major, C major, F major, G major and F major) Clarinet quartet in E-flat major Jean-Xavier Lefèvre (ca. 1805) 3 Clarinet quartets, op. 2 [published by Jouve (ca. 1818)] 3 Clarinet quartets (C minor, E-flat major and B-flat major) (3me Livre de Quatuors) [published by Sieber] Clarinet quartets, with François Simonet [published by Naderman] John Mahon Friedrich Mainzer 12 Clarinet quartets [published by Breitkopf & Härtel (1785/7)] Clarinet quartet in F major (1799) Donald Martino Clarinet quartet (1957)
Clarinet quartet in B-flat major, op. 1 [published by Schott] Clarinet quartet in F major, op. 2 (1814) [published by Schott] Wolfgang Motz Aufzubrechen ... ins Offene ... for clarinet and string trio (1983/84) Friedrich Müller Clarinet quartet in B-flat major, op. 80 (1859) [published by Hofmeister] Iwan Müller (1817–18) Clarinet quartet in B-flat major (1816) [published by André (1821)] Clarinet quartet in E minor [published by André (1821) and Ricordi] Clarinet quartet [published by Gambaro] Johann Georg Nanz Clarinet quartet in B-flat major Krzysztof Penderecki Clarinet quartet (1993) Václav Pichl (ca. 1790) 3 Clarinet quartets (E-flat major, B-flat major and E-flat major), op. 16 Ignaz Pleyel 3 Clarinet quartets (C major, E-flat major and B-flat major) (1791)
6 Clarinet quartets, op. 1 [published by Sieber (ca. 1770)] Alan Rawsthorne Clarinet quartet (1948) Otto Reinhold Clarinet quartet in D minor (1928)
Clarinet quartet in B-flat major Andreas Romberg Clarinet quartet in B-flat major (1788), SteR 155 Nicholas Schmidt Clarinet quartet [published by Sieber (ca. 1789)] 3 Clarinet quartets [published by Leduc] Carl Stamitz 6 Clarinet quartets, op. 8 (1773) Clarinet quartet in E-flat major, op. 19 no. 1 Clarinet quartet in B-flat major, op. 19 no. 2 Clarinet quartet in E-flat major, op. 19 no. 3 Clarinet quartet in B-flat major Clarinet quartet in C major Paul Struck (ca. 1795) Clarinet quartet in F major, op. 12 (1813) Franz Tausch Clarinet quartet in B-flat major (ca. 1815)[published by André (1820)] Clarinet quartet in B-flat major, op. 30 (ca. 1817) [published by Schott (ca. 1820/1)] Dimitri Terzakis Clarinet quartet (1996) Luigi Vaudano Clarinet quartet in E-flat major Albert Walter 6 Clarinet quartets, op. 27 [published by Pleyel] Johann Baptist Wanhal Clarinet quartet in F Clarinet quartet in B-flat major
3 Clarinet quartets, op. 19 (1805) Peter von Winter Clarinet quartet in E-flat major Franz Xaver Wolf 4 Clarinet quartets Michèl Yost and Johann Vogel (ca. 1789) 6 Clarinet quartets (B-flat major, E-flat major, F major, D major, A major and C major), op. 1 (1798) [published by Decombe] 6 Clarinet quartets (B-flat major, E-flat major, B-flat major, C minor, D major and A major), op. 2 (1790-1791) [published by Decombe] 6 Clarinet quartets (B-flat major, F major, A major, B-flat major, F major and E-flat major), op. 3 (1798) [published by Decombe] 6 Clarinet quartets (B-flat major, A-flat major, A major, B-flat major, F major and C major), op. 4 [published by Decombe] 6 Clarinet quartets (A major, B-flat major, F major, E major, C minor and D major), op. 5 (1798) [published by Decombe] 5 Clarinet quartets [published by Frey and Sieber (ca. 1798)] Clarinet quartet in B-flat major
Arrangements Around 1799, arrangements for clarinet quartet of three of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's chamber works appeared in publication, possibly by Johann Anton André: the violin sonata in B-flat major, K 378, the violin sonata in E-flat major, K 380, and the piano trio in G major, K 496.
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