Mendelssohn cooks up some music

Synopsis

The greatest clarinetist of the early 19th century was Heinrich Baermann, whose son Carl was also a fantastic performer on the basset horn, the lower-voiced member of the clarinet family. Felix Mendelssohn met these two when he was just 20, and, in addition to developing a taste for their playing, developed a fondness for another Baermann Family specialty: the “Dampfnudeln” or sweet dumplings they served him in their home in Munich.

In December of 1832, when the Baermanns were visiting Mendelssohn in Berlin, he asked if they’d whip up a batch. The Baermanns said “Sure—if you’ll whip something up for us, namely a duet for clarinet and basset horn.”

Carl Baermann described what happened next:

“Mendelssohn put a chef's hat on my head, drew an apron around my waist and stuck a cooking spoon into the waistband. He did the same himself, except that instead of a spoon, he stuck a pen behind his ear. Then he led me into the kitchen... He returned to his room where, as he said, he was going to stir and knead tones...

“As the clock struck five, my heart skipped a beat, as I hoped that my dumplings had risen properly. To my great relief, they had. When I brought them in a covered dish to the table at the time agreed upon, Mendelssohn also had his duet in a covered dish. Father and I were delighted with the charming piece—although Mendelssohn kept saying that my creation was more brilliant than his.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847) Concert Piece, Op. 113, no. 1 Sabine and Wolfgang Meyer, clarinet and basset horn; Wurtemberg Chamber Orchestra; Jorg Faerber, cond. EMI 47233

On This Day

Births

• 1689 - French composer Joseph Bodin de Boismorter, in Thionville;

• 1906 - American composer Ross Lee Finney, in Wells, Minn.;

Premieres

• 1785 - Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22 in Eb (K. 482), in Vienna as the entr'acte at a performance of the oratorio "Ester" by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf conducted by Antonio Salieri; Mozart was the soloist in his Concerto, and it is possible that Salieri conducted both the oratorio and Mozart's new concerto;

• 1806 - Beethoven: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61, by the orchestra of Vienna's Theater an der Wien, with its music director and concertmaster, Franz Clement, as the soloist and the composer conducting; The concert also included works by Méhul, Mozart, Cherubini, and Handel;

• 1880 - Dvorák: oratorio "Stabat Mater," in Prague;

• 1887 - Chadwick: “Melpomene” overture, by the Boston Symphony, Wilhelm Gericke conducting;

• 1893 - Humperdinck: opera "Hansel and Gretel," in Weimar at the Hoftheater;

• 1894 - Debussy: Prelude to "The Afternoon of a Faun," at a concert of the Societé Nationale de Musique (not presented in ballet form until 1912);

• 1911 - Wolf-Ferrari: opera "Jewels of the Madonna," in Berlin;

• 1952 - Shostakovich: 24 Preludes and Fugues for piano (part one of a two-part recital), in Leningrad, by pianist Tatyana Nikolayeva; See also Dec. 28th;

Others

• 1989 - Leonard Bernstein leads first of two public performances of Beethoven's Ninth at the Philharmonie in West Berlin, with an international orchestra assembled to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall; The second performance occurred on December 25 at the Schauspielhaus in East Berlin;