Caroline Schleicher-Krähmer (1794-1873) - Sonatina für Klarinette und Klavier (1825)
Performers: Luigi Magistrelli (clarinet); Claudia Bracco (piano)
Further info: Le Repertoire Pour Clarinette De Compositrices
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Swiss composer. The daughter of the professional bassoonist Franz Joseph
Schleicher (1767-1819) and the Swiss musician Josepha Strassburger
(1767-1826). She was the sixth child of 13. All children were given to a
foster family once they were 3 months old. This enabled the Schleicher
couple to go on concert tours together. Only three of the children
survived their infancy. Caroline’s older sister Cordula (1788-1820),
Caroline herself, and a younger sister called Sophie (1796-1825). All
three children received their first lessons in violin and singing from
their mother when they were 5 years old. Josepha herself originated from
a very musical family. Besides singing she also mastered the violin and
the clarinet. Later, at the age of 7, all three daughters were taught
the piano and at the age of 9, the clarinet. While Napoleon covered all
of Europe with wars, Franz Joseph Schleicher was employed as
Regimentskapellmeister in the garrison town of Ellwangen, Germany.
Caroline received her first piano lessons at the age of 7 from the
Chorregent Melchior Dreyer (1747-1824) and about two years later began
the long-desired clarinet classes with her father. In 1804, Franz Joseph
Schleicher sold his house in Stockach and traveled with his family to
Tyrol in 1805. The “Musikalische Kleeblatt”, featuring Franz Joseph,
Cordula and Caroline, traveled to Switzerland instead. There Franz
Joseph and Cordula were employed in both musical societies in Zurich. As
both girls demonstrated undeniable skill at their instruments, their
father soon began taking them on professional tours, and the two girls
were raised as virtuoso performers. Later in her career, Caroline worked
with the Baden orchestra, where she played first violin, solo clarinet,
and often conducted.
After her father’s death, she continued to perform as a successful
clarinet soloist, and enjoyed notoriety and great acclaim during her
lifetime. She dedicated her life to performing, composing, and teaching,
even after marriage and the birth of her own 10 children, of whom only
five survived to adulthood. Caroline Schleicher-Krähmer died in Vienna
in April 1873 at the age of 79. Two of her sons, Ernst and Emil, also
went on to become professional musicians. While Emil had an appointment
as cellist at the Theater Wiesbaden (Germany), Ernst was initially
working as a cellist in Graz (Austria), and later also as a composer and
music director. Eventually, he taught at a high school in Munich
(Germany), where he died in 1913. Caroline Schleicher-Krähmer was
considered an exceptional talent from her early youth. The clarinet was
always her favorite instrument; she made rapid progress and soon
mastered it in an outstanding way. She possessed an excellent technique.
In particular her warm tone and the ability to fade a tone from and to
silence, is highlighted in almost all reviews. She was compared to the
male clarinet players of her time, such as Hermstedt and Baermann.
Furthermore, she also mastered the violin and piano on a professional
level and played the guitar. In those days it was typical for musicians
to play several instruments. It was, however, unusual that a woman
mastered such a multitude of instruments on such a high level. She was a
composer, copyist and music director, went on concert tours against all
social conventions, and performed in public with two instruments that
were considered inappropriate for women. Her older sister Cordula also
played the clarinet on the highest level. But in contrast to her,
Caroline strived for an international career as solo clarinet player.
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