Brahms Clarinet Quintet
Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast
Joshua Weilerstein
4.9 • 2.5K Ratings
🗓️ 14 November 2024
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The muses were Ancient Greek goddesses of inspiration. Throughout history, the term muse has been used to describe any number of people, all of whom inspired works of great art and/or literature. In the popular imagination, muses are almost always women, inspiring brilliant men to their greatest artistic achievements. Why am I bringing this up? Because in the case of the piece we are going to talk about today, the Brahms Clarinet Quintet, the muse, and the source of inspiration, was very different. In 1890, Brahms retired from composing. In a way this was very rare. Composers very rarely retired, and most went on composing until their deaths, leaving unfinished works, but Brahms declared that he had nothing left to contribute, and that a younger generation should take over. He was only 57 years old, but he had become embittered both with the world of music and with the world as a whole. His 4th symphony had ended in a kind of apocalyptic destruction of the symphonic genre as a whole; a paroxysm of disillusionment with the direction music was going and with the direction of politics in Europe. But in March of 1891, Brahms heard a clarinetist named Richard Muhlfeld. Muhlfeld quickly became, for lack of a better word, Brahms' muse. His playing directly inspired Brahms to write 4 works for the clarinet, a trio, 2 sonatas, and a quintet, the topic for today's show. The clarinet quintet is practically the definition of the so-called autumnal Brahms. The clarinet quintet is one of Brahms' most expansive chamber works, and it is Brahms at his most wistful, nostalgic, and even tragic. Today on the show I'll take you through this magisterial work, exploring all of the things that make this piece so special, so touching, and so unforgettable. Join us!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes, the Classical Music Podcast. |
| 0:14.3 | My name is Joshua Weilerstein. I'm a conductor, and I'm the music director of the |
| 0:17.7 | Orchestra Nacional de Lille, and the chief conductor of the Allborg Symphony. This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music, works in the field, |
| 0:25.7 | or is just getting ready to dive in to this amazing world of incredible music. |
| 0:30.1 | Before we get started, I want to thank my new Patreon sponsors, Tim, Paul, Joe, and Jerry, |
| 0:35.7 | and all of my other Patreon sponsors for making season 10 possible. |
| 0:39.9 | If you'd like to support the show, please head over to patreon.com slash sticking out's podcast. |
| 0:45.0 | And if you are a fan of the show, please take a moment to give us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. |
| 0:49.7 | It is greatly appreciated. |
| 0:52.5 | I am in Leal this week doing children's concerts with the |
| 0:55.3 | Orchestra Nacional Lille, all based on Dvorzac's New World Symphony, and then next week |
| 1:00.6 | we are going to be doing a more traditional program with Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, |
| 1:05.3 | Beethoven's Leonor Overture No. 3, and Anna Klein's wonderful violin concerto of the seamstress with Diana Tyshenko. |
| 1:13.2 | As always, it's great to be in Leal. |
| 1:15.8 | In terms of the show, we are going back to the every two weeks new show. |
| 1:20.1 | This is just due to time constraints due to having a baby and having the conducting work that I have. |
| 1:26.0 | We are going to have plenty of episodes coming from Patreon sponsors coming soon, |
| 1:30.8 | and also sponsors from the podcast, the fundraiser podcast that I did recently last month. |
| 1:37.6 | Lots of wonderful pieces coming, including today's episode on Brahms' Clarinet Quintet. |
| 1:42.3 | In two weeks, we're going to have an episode on |
| 1:44.3 | how literary works have influenced classical music. And speaking of Patreon, I'm going to be |
| 1:51.0 | revamping the Patreon page a little bit coming in January for my current Patreon |
... |
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