Johann Georg Heinrich Backofen (6 July 1768 in

Durlach Durlach is a district in Karlsruhe, Germany, with a population of roughly 30,000. The district is further divided into ''Alt-Durlach'', ''Dornwald-Untermühl'', ''Hanggebiet'', ''Bergwald'', ''Aue'', ''Lohn-Lissen'' and ''Killisfeld''. Histor ...

– 10 July 1830? in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

) 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 ...

ist, composer, and painter. In his time, Backofen enjoyed great fame; he was not only known as a composer and virtuoso of the clarinet but also played the

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

, and

basset horn The basset horn (sometimes hyphenated as basset-horn) is a member of the clarinet family of musical instruments. Construction and tone Like the clarinet, the instrument is a wind instrument with a single reed and a cylindrical bore (wind in ...

. His year of death is not known with certainty; the year 1839 is found in some documents.

Selected works

* ''Deux valses et deux allemandes à deux et quatre mains pour le piano'' (2 Waltzes and 2 Allemandes for Piano 2- and 4-Hands), Op. 1 (published 1834) * Concerto in B major for clarinet and orchestra, Op. 3 (Bonn, 1809?) * ''13 Variazioni sull' aria "Ey mein lieber Augustin"'' for harp, Op. 4 (Hamburg, 1801) * Concertante for harp, basset horn and cello ad libitum, Op. 7 (Leipzig, 1800?) * Concertante for harp, viola and cello ad libitum, Op. 8 * Quintet in F major for basset horn and string quartet, Op. 9 * ''Sinfonia concertante'' in A major for 2 clarinets and orchestra, Op. 10 (Leipzig, 1810?) * ''3 Duos concertants'' for 2 clarinets, Op. 13 (Leipzig, 1803) * Quintet for clarinet and string quartet, Op. 15 (Leipzig, 1805?) * Concerto in E major for clarinet and orchestra, Op. 16 (Leipzig, 1809?) * Concerto in E major for clarinet and orchestra, Op. 24 (Leipzig, 1821?) * ''Grand Duo'' for 2 flutes, Op. 37 * Concerto in F major for basset horn and orchestra * Concerto in F major for horn and orchestra (Leipzig, c.1823) * 3 Duets for 2 clarinets (C major, G major, F major) * ''3 Menuette'' for harp * Sonata in F major for violin (or flute) and harp * Sonata for harp (and violin ad libitum) (Leipzig, 1795) * ''Sonata facile'' for violin (or flute) and harp (or piano) * ''Thema mit Variationen'' (Theme and Variations) for harp * ''16 Variations sur l'air "Ah! vous dirai je maman"'' for harp * Variations for bassett horn and orchestra ;Pedigogical * ''Harfenschule mit Bemerkungen über den Bau der Harfe und deren neuere Verbesserungen'' (Harp School) (Leipzig, 1801) * ''Anweisung zur Klarinette (Neue teoretisch-prachtische Klarinett Schule) nebst einer kurzen Abhandlung über das Bassett-Horn'' (Leipzig, 1803) * ''Anweisung zur Klarinette, mit besonderer Hinsicht auf die in neuern Zeiten diesem Instrument beigefügten Klappen'' (completely revised edition of the above) (Leipzig, 1824)

Recordings

Backofen: Clarinet Concertos

External links

* *Recording: Backofen: Clarinet Concerto
Backofen's Second Clarinet Method, 1824 (Facsimile Edition with English Translation)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Backofen, Johann Georg Heinrich 1768 births 1830s deaths German clarinetists German male classical composers German Classical-period composers 18th-century German composers