Sabine Meyer (born 30 March 1959) is a German classical

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.

Biography

Born in

Crailsheim Crailsheim () is a town in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg. Incorporated in 1338, it lies east of Schwäbisch Hall and southwest of Ansbach in the Schwäbisch Hall (district), Schwäbisch Hall district. The city's mai ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

, Meyer began playing the clarinet at an early age. Her first teacher was her father, also a clarinetist. She studied with Otto Hermann in Stuttgart and then with Hans Deinzer at the

Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

, along with her brother, clarinetist

Wolfgang Meyer Wolfgang Meyer (13 August 1954 – 17 March 2019) was a German clarinetist and professor of clarinet at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe. He worked internationally as a soloist, in chamber music ensembles, and in jazz, with a repertoire from early mu ...

, and husband, clarinetist Reiner Wehle, who played later in the

Munich Philharmonic The Munich Philharmonic () is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orche ...

. She began her career as a member of the

Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestras operated under the auspices of Bayerischer Rundf ...

and the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922� ...

, where her appointment as one of the orchestra's first female members caused controversy.

Herbert von Karajan Herbert von Karajan (; born ''Heribert Adolf Ernst Karajan''; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, ...

, the orchestra's music director, hired Meyer in September 1982, but the players voted against her at the conclusion of her probation period by a vote of 73 to 4. The orchestra insisted the reason was that her tone did not blend with the other members of the section, but some observers, including Karajan, believed that the true reason was her gender. In 1983, after nine months, Meyer left the orchestra to become a full-time solo clarinetist. In addition to her work as a soloist, and a band member in general, Sabine Meyer is a committed player of

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

and plays all styles of classical music. She was a member of the Trio di Clarone along with her brother and her husband who have recorded many CDs. Meyer and her wind quintet have worked as members of the

Lucerne Festival Orchestra The Lucerne Festival Orchestra is a European ''ad hoc'' seasonal orchestra based at the annual Lucerne Festival in Switzerland. History The Lucerne Festival had featured a resident orchestra as far back as 1938, with Arturo Toscanini conducting ...

with

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the Berlin Philharm ...

. By the 1990s, Meyer had become a prominent solo clarinetist, recording regularly and exclusively for the

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

label. These EMI recordings include a CD of French music for Clarinet and Piano with Oleg Maisenberg, entitled ''French Recital''. A disc of clarinet concertos by

Ludwig Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, ...

and

Franz Krommer Franz Krommer (; 27 November 1759 – 8 January 1831) was a Czech composer of classical music and violinist. He was one of the most popular composers in 19th-century Vienna alongside Beethoven, whom he knew. Today he is mostly known for his clari ...

was released in July 2007, for which she collaborated with her student Julian Bliss. From 1993 to the winter semester 2019/2020 she shared with her husband a professorship at Musikhochschule Lübeck, in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

, Germany. Her husband's successor is his former student Jens Thoben. She was professor until October 2022. Sabine Meyer will continue her concert and chamber music activities. However, after more than forty years as a soloist and chamber musician, she plans to say goodbye to her audience in the course of 2025. Her clarinet students have also included Shirley Brill, Annelien Van Wauwe, Sebastian Manz, Taira Kaneko and Han Kim. Meyer and her husband have two adult children and live in

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

Instruments

Sabine Meyer plays the clarinet and

basset clarinet The basset clarinet is member of the clarinet family similar to the usual soprano clarinet but longer and with additional keys to enable playing several additional lower notes. Typically a basset clarinet has keywork going to a low (written) C o ...

in B and A, as well as a basset horn in F, all made of grenadilla by Herbert Wurlitzer, and clarinets in B and in A made of

boxwood ''Buxus'' is a genus of about seventy species in the family Buxaceae. Common names include box and boxwood. The boxes are native to western and southern Europe, southwest, southern and eastern Asia, Africa, Madagascar, northernmost So ...

, manufactured by

Schwenk & Seggelke Seggelke Klarinetten (GmbH & Co. KG), is a German clarinet manufacturer based in Bamberg in the Bavarian Upper Franconia. The company manufactures clarinets of a variety of fingering systems. A specialty of the company is the reproduction o ...

(now: Seggelke Klarinetten), which she mainly uses in chamber music. In 1984, Meyer commissioned Wurlitzer to build a basset clarinet (in A) for her, not a historical replica but a modern, hitherto only occasionally, built instrument. Since then, she has been playing the clarinet concerto by Mozart (and his clarinet quintet) in a reconstructed version.

Awards

* 1996 Niedersachsenpreis for culture * 1997 Member of the Free Academy of the Arts Hamburg * 2001 Brahms Prize by the Brahms Society

* 2004 Art Award of the Federal State of Schleswig-Holstein * 2008 French order

Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres The Order of Arts and Letters () is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is the recognition of significant ...

* 2010

Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * H ...

* 2013

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

, Cross of Merit 1st Class * various ECHO Klassik Prize, eight-time winner

Selected recordings

*1983: Mozart:

Clarinet Quintet Traditionally a clarinet quintet is a chamber musical ensemble made up of one clarinet, plus the standard string quartet of two violins, one viola, and one cello. Now the term clarinet quintet can refer to any combination of instruments in the c ...

in A major K.V. 581, with the Philharmonia Quartet Berlin, Denon PSM 38C37-7038 *1985–1986: Weber: Clarinet Concerto No. 1, Clarinet Concerto No. 2, Concertino, with

Herbert Blomstedt Herbert Thorson Blomstedt (; born 11 July 1927) is a Swedish conductor of classical music. At the age of 97 he continues to conduct concerts in Europe and the United States. Biography Herbert Blomstedt was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, t ...

and

Dresden Staatskapelle The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden (), or Saxony, Saxon State Orchestra Dresden, is one of the oldest orchestras in the world, created by order of Maurice, Elector of Saxony in 1548. Under communist East Germany and until 1992 it was called St ...

, and Clarinet Quintet, with Jörg Faerber and Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, EMI Classics 7243 5 67989 2 2. *1988: Mozart:

, with Wiener Streichsextett, EMI Classics 7243 5 67648 2 8. *1990: Mozart:

Clarinet Concerto A clarinet concerto is a concerto for clarinet; that is, a musical composition for solo clarinet together with a large ensemble (such as an orchestra or concert band). Albert Rice has identified a work by Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli as possibly th ...

, Sinfonia concertante in E flat K. 297b, with Hans Vonk and

, EMI Classics 7243 5 66949 2 7. *1995:

Carl Stamitz Carl Philipp Stamitz (; baptized 8 May 17459 November 1801) was a German composer of partial Czech ancestry. He was the most prominent representative of the second generation of the Mannheim School. He was the eldest son of Johann Stamitz, a vio ...

: Clarinet Concerto No. 1, Clarinet Concerto No. 7, Concerto for basset horn, Concerto for Clarinet and Bassoon, with Sergio Azzolini (Bassoon) and

Iona Brown Iona Brown, OBE, (7 January 19415 June 2004) was a British violinist and conductor. Early life and education Elizabeth Iona Brown was born in Salisbury and was educated at Cranborne Chase School, Dorset. Her parents, Antony and Fiona, were bo ...

and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, EMI Classics 7243 5 55511 2 2. *1996: ''A Night at the Opera'', with Franz Welser-Möst and

Orchester der Oper Zürich The Zurich Opera House () is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zurich. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zurich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. It is also home to Ballett Zürich. ...

, EMI Classics 7243 5 56137 2 1. *1999: Mozart:

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

Premiere Rapsodie, Takemitsu Fantasma/Cantos, with

and

Berliner Philharmoniker The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922� ...

, EMI Classics 7243 5 56832 2 9. *1999: Brahms:

, with Alban Berg Quartett, EMI Classics 7243 5 56759 2 7. *2007: Saint-Saëns: Clarinet Sonata, Poulenc: Clarinet Sonata, Devienne: Clarinet Sonata No. 1,

Milhaud Darius Milhaud (, ; 4 September 1892 – 22 June 1974) was a French composer, conductor, and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as ''The Group of Six''—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions ...

: Scaramouche, with Oleg Maisenberg, EMI Classics 0946 3 79787 2 6. *2007:

: Concerto for two clarinets, with Julian Bliss, Spohr: Clarinet Concerto No. 4, (Clarinet) and Kenneth Sillito and Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, EMI Classics 0946 3 79786 2 7. *2007: Nielsen

, Wind Quintet, with

Simon Rattle Sir Simon Denis Rattle (born 19 January 1955) is a British conductor with German citizenship. He rose to international prominence during the 1980s and 1990s, while music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (1980–1998). Rat ...

and

, EMI Classics 0946 3 94421 2 6.

References

External links

* * *
William Osborne, "Art Is Just an Excuse: Gender Bias in International Orchestras"

15 July 1994
Sabine Meyer Biografie
at Salzburger Festspiele * W. A. Mozart, Clarinet Quinte
on YouTube
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Meyer, Sabine 1959 births Living people People from Crailsheim German classical clarinetists German classical musicians 21st-century German clarinetists 20th-century clarinetists 20th-century German musicians 20th-century classical musicians 21st-century German classical musicians 20th-century women musicians 21st-century German women musicians Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover alumni Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg Academic staff of the Lübeck Academy of Music Women clarinetists Players of the Berlin Philharmonic Players of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra