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, in addition to being fond of their playing, was fond another Baermann Family specialty: the “Dampfnudeln” or sweet dumplings they served their friends.

In December of 1832, Mendelssohn asked if they’d whip him 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 ... When I brought the dumpling 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 better than his.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847): Concert Piece No. 1; Sabine and Wolfgang Meyer, clarinet and basset horn; Wurtemberg Chamber Orchestra; Jorg Faerber, conductor; EMI 47233

On This Day

Births

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

• 1906 - American composer Ross Lee Finney, in Wells, Minnesota

Premieres

• 1785 - Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 22, 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, 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. 28.

Others

• 1989 - Leonard Bernstein leads first of two public performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the Philharmonie in West Berlin, with an international orchestra assembled to celebrate the fall of the Berlin Wall. The second performance occurred December 25 at the Schauspielhaus in East Berlin.