The Clarinet Sonata in

E major E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat maj ...

, Op. 167, was written by

Camille Saint-Saëns Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns (, , 9October 183516 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic music, Romantic era. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Piano ...

in 1921 as one of his last works. This clarinet sonata is the second of the three sonatas that Saint-Saëns composed for

wind instrument A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitch ...

s, the other two being the Oboe Sonata (Op. 166) and the Bassoon Sonata (Op. 168), written the same year. These works were part of Saint-Saëns's efforts to expand the repertoire for instruments for which hardly any solo parts were written, as he confided to his friend Jean Chantavoine in a letter dated to 15 April 1921: "At the moment I am concentrating my last reserves on giving rarely considered instruments the chance to be heard." Saint-Saëns dedicated the work to Auguste Périer, a professor at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

Structure

The work consists of four movements. A performance takes approximately 16 minutes. The theme of the first movement is reprised at the end of the fourth movement.

Reception

For the musical scholar Jean Gallois, the Clarinet Sonata is the most important of the three wind sonatas: he calls it "a masterpiece full of impishness, elegance and discreet lyricism" amounting to "a summary of the rest". The work contrasts a "doleful

threnody A threnody is a wailing ode, song, hymn or poem of mourning composed or performed as a memorial to a dead person. The term originates from the Greek word θρηνῳδία (''threnoidia''), from θρῆνος (''threnos'', "wailing") and ᾠ� ...

" in the slow movement with the finale, which "pirouettes in 4/4 time", in a style reminiscent of the 18th century. Today the sonata is part of the standard repertoire of the clarinet.

References

External links

* * , performed by Stefano Novelli and Akanè Makita {{authority control Chamber music by Camille Saint-Saëns S 1921 compositions Compositions in E-flat major Music with dedications Sonatas by Camille Saint-Saëns Sonata Saint-Saens