"If you dont own any of Krommers music, I cannot think of a better way to make his acquaintance." --Fanfare
Krommer was one of the most successful and influential of the many Czech composers active in Vienna at the turn of the eighteenth century. The extent of his reputation is indicated by the rapid spread of his published compositions in reprints and arrangements, by German, French, Italian, Danish and even American publishers, and by his honorary membership of musical institutions in Vienna, Innsbruck, Paris, Milan, Venice and Ljubljana.
Krommer was one of the most successful and influential of the many Czech composers active in Vienna at the turn of the eighteenth century. The extent of his reputation is indicated by the rapid spread of his published compositions in reprints and arrangements, by German, French, Italian, Danish and even American publishers, and by his honorary membership of musical institutions in Vienna, Innsbruck, Paris, Milan, Venice and Ljubljana.
His three-hundred-odd works include at least nine symphonies, a score of concertos for various instruments, over seventy string quartets and a similar number of pieces for other chamber music combinations. He also left an impressive body of Harmoniemusik – music for wind band. The bulk of these are Partiten for pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons, often with (as in this recording) ad libitum parts for a contrabassoon to strengthen the bass-line, and for a trumpet to impart a dash of martial colour to the music.
The title, ‘Partita’, is misleading. A partita is a suite of dance movements (as in Bach’s), or a set of variations; Krommer’s Partiten (or Harmonien, as he and his publishers also called them) are symphonies for wind instruments, in four movements, only one of them (the third or the second) in dance-form: a Minuet. Krommer’s Op. 45 comprises three Partiten. They were published in Vienna early in 1803 and re-issued in 1826 in Paris.
Krommer’s music for wind ensemble also includes fifteen ten-part Marches, the first six of which (recorded here) were published in Vienna as Op. 31, also in 1803. They are all in two repeated sections of either eight or twelve bars, martial dotted rhythms predominate, and of course the solitary trumpet is treated with special affection.
The title, ‘Partita’, is misleading. A partita is a suite of dance movements (as in Bach’s), or a set of variations; Krommer’s Partiten (or Harmonien, as he and his publishers also called them) are symphonies for wind instruments, in four movements, only one of them (the third or the second) in dance-form: a Minuet. Krommer’s Op. 45 comprises three Partiten. They were published in Vienna early in 1803 and re-issued in 1826 in Paris.
Krommer’s music for wind ensemble also includes fifteen ten-part Marches, the first six of which (recorded here) were published in Vienna as Op. 31, also in 1803. They are all in two repeated sections of either eight or twelve bars, martial dotted rhythms predominate, and of course the solitary trumpet is treated with special affection.
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Krommer Franz
