Clarinet Quartet in E flat, WoO5
Allegro moderato
La Seccatura (Allegro molto)
Andante
Rondo (Allegretto)
The name of Johann Nepomuk Hummel is not well known to us today, but it comes with the highest of recommendations. As a child-virtuoso he studied with Mozart and lived with him in Vienna; later he studied with Haydn, who thought so highly of Hummel that he recommended him to his own employer, Prince Eszterhazy. Hummel had a long, often difficult, personal relationship with Beethoven, but, along with Schubert, was a pallbearer at his funeral and, at Beethoven’s express wish, played at his memorial concert. In later life, as the most famous piano teacher in Europe, Hummel taught the young Mendelssohn, and Robert Schumann considered taking lessons with him but was deterred by the cost. In contrast to many of his contemporaries Hummel was a shrewd businessman and lived a comfortable life from the 1820s onwards, gardening and taking country walks. If his music has been eclipsed by Beethoven’s, there can be no doubt that Hummel was the happier and better liked of the two men during his lifetime.
First published as recently as 1958, Hummel’s Clarinet Quartet was written in September 1808 for the nobleman Friedrich von Sinzendorf. Hummel was, at that time, in the employment of Prince Eszterhazy, but was already well aware of the commercial value of his music and was taking an increasing number of private commissions – much to the Prince’s annoyance. That December, he was dismissed from his post, and re-instated only after Haydn interceded on his behalf. But little of this tension shows in the Clarinet Quartet. It’s only fair to say that for Hummel the clarinet did not have the special personal significance it had for Mozart, and the character of the Quartet is cheerful and extrovert. Hummel does exploit the clarinet’s soft tone and lyrical qualities, but much of the writing, particularly in the spacious sonata-form Allegro moderato, is clearly conceived as soloistic – at times, the Quartet resembles a miniature concerto for clarinet and string trio, and what the accompanying string texture loses in subtlety, it gains in brilliance. The second movement is called "La Seccatura" ("The nuisance"); a witty and high-spirited scherzo in which each of the four performers plays in a different time-signature, while the third, Andante, has a more courtly character – like an extremely slow Minuet and Trio. Towards the end of what would be the Trio section Hummel explores the Quartet’s darkest feelings and richest textures; but the gloom is short-lived. The spirit of Haydn informs the genial, flowing main theme of the final Rondo, but where Haydn would be dramatic, Hummel is playful; a playfulness that bubbles over into sheer exuberance as the Quartet comes to a close.
R. G. Bratby, 2002
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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