Just as Johannes Brahms had done with his Opus 120, Reger also provided parts for two alternative solo instruments for his Sonata op. 107: "I will also arrange the clarinet part for viola, so that the work can also be played thus" (letter to his publisher). He by no means wanted to leave the arrangement of the viola part to the publisher, as slurs had to be changed here and there as well as octave transpositions had to be made - "only I can do this work!" The viola’s sonorous mid range comes close to that of the clarinet, but lends the work its own timbre. Viola players will also value this Urtext edition on account of the practical fingerings and bowing marks.
Content/Details
- Clarinet Sonata - Version for Viola op. 107
Youtube
Preface
Five years after completing the two Clarinet Sonatas op. 49, Max Reger (1873–1916) returned to this instrumental combination at the end of 1908 with his opus 107. He mentioned the work for the first time in a letter from Leipzig of 23 December 1908 to Lili Wach, the youngest daughter of Felix Mendelssohn – just after the completion of the full score of the Symphonischer … more
Critical Commentary
About the composer
Max Reger
Late-Romantic composer who combines a chromatic tonal language with Baroque and Classical forms, thus anticipating 1920s neoclassicism.
| 1873 | Born in Brand (Upper Palatinate) on March 19, the son of a teacher. First piano lessons from his mother. |
| 1888 | After a visit to Bayreuth (for Meistersinger and Parsifal), decides on a career in music. |
| 1890–93 | Studies with Hugo Riemann at the conservatory in Wiesbaden, composes chamber works. Thereafter he endeavors to publish his own works as a freelance composer, albeit with multiple failures. |
| 1898 | Return to his parents’ home in Weiden. Composition of organ works: choral fantasies, “Fantasy and Fugue on B-A-C-H,” Op. 46 (1900); Symphonic Fantasy and Fugue (“Inferno”), Op. 57. |
| 1901–07 | Living in Munich. |
| 1903 | Publication of his “On the Theory of Modulation,” causing Riemann to feel attacked because Reger espouses a different understanding of the role of chromatics. “Variations and Fugue on an Original Theme,” Op. 73. |
| 1904 | Breakthrough with his first performance for the Allgemeine Deutsche Musikverein (General German Music Association). First volume of his “Simple Songs” for voice and piano, Op. 76; String Quartet in D minor, Op. 74, one of the most significant works in that genre at the beginning of the century. |
| From 1905 | Instructor at Munich’s Academy of Music. “Sinfonietta” in A major, Op. 90. |
| 1907–11 | Music director and professor of composition at the University of Leipzig. Orchestral work “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Hiller,” Op. 100. |
| 1909 | “The 100th Psalm,” Op. 106, his most popular choral work. |
| 1911–14 | Director of the royal court orchestra of Saxe-Meiningen. |
| 1912 | “Concerto in the Old Style,” Op. 123. Orchestral song “An die Hoffnung” (“To Hope”), Op. 124. |
| 1913 | “Four Tone Poems after A. Böcklin” for large orchestra, Op. 128; “A Ballet Suite,” Op. 130. |
| 1914 | “Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart,” Op. 132 |
| 1915 | He resides in Jena. Late compositions. |
| 1916 | Death in Leipzig on May 11. |
About the authors
Michael Kube (Editor)
Dr. Michael Kube, born in 1968 in Kiel, studied musicology (with Friedhelm Krummacher and Heinrich W. Schwab), the history of art and ethnology at the Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel. Since 1998 he has been a research associate at the New Schubert Edition (Tübingen) and since autumn 2002 also a member of the editorial board.
Kube is on the panels of different juries and music prizes, and is also a member of the Committee for work evaluation (Werkprüfungsausschuss) of VG Music Edition. His research interests include music for keyboard instruments around 1700, 19th century chamber music, early 20th century music history, as well as Scandinavian music history.
Michael Kube hat aufgrund der Erstausgabe (...) eine sorgfältige, gut kommentierte Neuausgabe geschaffen. Viele Unklarheiten, in den Bemerkungen detailliert aufgelistet, werden beseitigt.
Here is a felicitous, witty, and inventive work that avoids the somewhat academic tedium of some of Reger's early pieces. The score alternates a fair amount of treble clef with alto clef, however violists will welcome this beautifully crafted sonata. Two alternative viola versions, one pristine and the other edited by Jürgen Weber, are included in a fastidious text that is Henle's hallmark.