Heinrich Joseph Baermann (also spelled Bärmann; 14 February 1784 – 11 June 1847) was a German clarinet virtuoso of the

Romantic era Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

who is generally considered as being not only an outstanding performer of his time, but highly influential in the creation of several important composers' works for his instrument.

Life

Baermann was born in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream o ...

. In his youth, Baermann took lessons from Joseph Beer (1744–1811) at the military school in Potsdam. After his prowess came to the attention of the Berlin court in 1804, Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia had the 20-year-old musician pursue his training in Berlin under the guidance of

Franz Tausch Franz Tausch (26 December 1762 – 9 February 1817) was a German clarinetist, teacher and composer. He played in the Mannheim orchestra. One of his students was Heinrich Baermann. His compositions include two solo clarinet concerto A clar ...

(1762–1817). He played in the court orchestra of Munich from 1807 until his retirement in 1834, when his son Carl Baermann succeeded him. Parallel to Baermann's rise, the clarinet was undergoing a series of developments in key construction and

embouchure Embouchure () or lipping is the use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument. This includes shaping the lips to the mouthpiece of a woodwind instrument or the mouthpiece of a brass instrument. The word is o ...

that allowed greater agility and flexibility in playing. The growing custom was to play with the reed on the bottom lip, as is done today, as opposed to the top lip as had been the previous prevailing style. Baermann was an exponent of this new style of playing, and possessed a modern instrument made by Griesling & Schlott which allowed him to play chromatic passages with far greater ease than traditional 5-keyed instruments. He is said to have had a great dynamic range. Numerous composers wrote for Baermann, who undoubtedly had a great influence on the Romantic clarinet repertoire thereby. Along with lesser-known composers such as

Franz Danzi Franz Ignaz Danzi (15 June 1763 – 13 April 1826) was a German cellist, composer and conductor, the son of the Italian cellist Innocenz Danzi (1730–1798) and brother of the noted singer Franzeska Danzi. Danzi lived at a significant time in t ...

and Peter von Lindpaintner, Baermann received works from Felix Mendelssohn,

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas, ...

and Giacomo Meyerbeer. Mendelssohn most notably wrote the two ''Konzertstücke'', Opp. 113, 114 (''Concert Pieces'') for Baermann and his son Carl to play together; Meyerbeer wrote a quintet (1812) and concertos, and Weber produced numerous works including two concertos ( Op. 73 and Op. 74), a quintet (Op. 34), the Concertino, Op. 26 and the Sylvana Variations, Op. 33, but not the Grand Duo Concertant (Op. 48). As with many other virtuosi at the time, Baermann tried his hand fairly successfully at composing for his instrument. Among other works, he wrote a Septet in E-flat major, Op. 23, for clarinet, string quartet, and two ad libitum horns. The Adagio movement from his quintet, op. 25 has received several recordings as a stand-alone piece, though it was for many years misattributed to Richard Wagner. Baermann died in Munich, aged 63.

Recordings

*Concertstück in G minor, Concertino in C minor, Concertino in E-flat major,

Dieter Klöcker Dieter Klöcker (13 April 1936, Wuppertal – 21 May 2011, Freiburg im Breisgau) was a German clarinetist known for rediscovering many forgotten composers of the 18th century. Specifically forgotten music of the clarinet. From 1975 to 2002, Kl ...

, Orfeo International *Adagio for clarinet and strings in D-flat,

Academy of St Martin in the Fields The Academy of St Martin in the Fields (ASMF) is an English chamber orchestra, based in London. John Churchill, then Master of Music at the London church of St Martin-in-the-Fields, and Neville Marriner founded the orchestra as "The Academy o ...

Neville Marriner Sir Neville Marriner, (15 April 1924 – 2 October 2016) was an English violinist and "one of the world's greatest conductors". Gramophone lists Marriner as one of the 50 greatest conductors and another compilation ranks Marriner #14 of the ...

– ''The Argo Years'' (2014)

References

Notes Sources *Pamela Weston
"Heinrich Baermann."
in '' Grove Music Online''

External links

* *
Quartet, clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello, op. 18, B major
(from the

Sibley Music Library Sibley Music Library is the library of the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY. It was founded in 1904 by Hiram Watson Sibley in honor of his father Hiram Sibley and is said to be the largest university music library in the US. History The li ...

Digital Score Collection) {{DEFAULTSORT:Baermann, Heinrich German classical clarinetists German Romantic composers 1784 births 1847 deaths Musicians from Munich People from Potsdam 19th-century classical composers German male classical composers 19th-century German composers 19th-century German male musicians