1817: Müller: Clarinet Quartet No. 2 in E Minor, age 31

Berolina Ensemble

  1. Allegro moderato ma con spirito
  2. Andante, thema und variationen

Instruments:

  • clarinet
  • violin
  • viola
  • cello

Clarinet builder:

Ivan Müller, sometimes spelled Iwan Mueller, was bornr in Reval, Estonia  in 1786. I was unable to find the day and month. I was looking for something interesting written in 1817. He appears to be more famous for what he did for the clarinet than what he wrote for it.

He was a clarinetist, composer and inventor who at the beginning of the 1800s was responsible for a major step forward in the development of the clarinet, the air-tight pad, which you can read about HERE.

He became a chamber musician in Saint Petersburg before he was twenty. At the same time, he was constantly striving to improve the clarinet, with new types of key-work. In 1809, Müller performed to great acclaim on a clarinet made to his own specifications.

In 1812, Müller presented his new 13-key clarinet with air-tight pads to the Paris Conservatoire, but they were not interested. But it appears that the rest of the world was. Nevertheless, Müller’s new clarinet with fully chromatic range became popular and became the standard clarinet for much of the 19th century.

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