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

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'', or ; Late Latin ''virtuosus''; Latin ''virtus''; 'virtue', 'excellence' or 'skill') is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as fine arts, ...

of the Classical and

Romantic era Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The purpose of the movement was to advocate for the importance of subjec ...

s 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 largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. 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 (1762–1817). He played in the court orchestra of Munich from 1807 until his retirement in 1834, when his son

Carl Baermann Carl Baermann (24 October 1810 – 23 May 1885) was a List of clarinetists, clarinetist and composer from Munich, Germany. Life and career He was the son of noted clarinet virtuoso Heinrich Baermann and . As a child he was taught the clarinet and ...

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 (woodwind), mouthpiece of a woodwind or brass instrument. The word is of French lan ...

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 and Peter von Lindpaintner, Baermann received works from

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (5 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and Music criticism, critic in the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Best known for List of operas by Carl Maria von Weber, h ...

and

Giacomo Meyerbeer Giacomo Meyerbeer (born Jakob Liebmann Meyer Beer; 5 September 1791 – 2 May 1864) was a German opera composer, "the most frequently performed opera composer during the nineteenth century, linking Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart and Richard Wa ...

. 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 Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

. Baermann died in Munich, aged 63.

Recordings

*Concertstück in G minor, Concertino in C minor, Concertino in E-flat major, Dieter Klöcker, Orfeo International *Adagio for clarinet and strings in D-flat, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner – ''The Argo Years'' (2014)

References

Notes Sources *Pamela Weston
"Heinrich Baermann."
in ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and t ...

External links

* *
Quartet, clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello, op. 18, B major
(from the Sibley Music Library Digital Score Collection) {{DEFAULTSORT:Baermann, Heinrich German classical clarinetists German Romantic composers 1784 births 1847 deaths Musicians from Munich Musicians from Potsdam 19th-century German classical composers German male classical composers 19th-century German male musicians Composers for clarinet 18th-century German musicians