Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775-1838)
- Concertante (B-Dur) f. Clar. Horn, & Fag, Op.3 (1808)
Performers: Stаffаn Mårtеnssοn (clarinet); Erik Rаpp (horn); Andrеаs Frοm (bassoon);
Ostgаtа Blаsаrsymfoniker; Olаf Bomаn (conductor)
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Swedish-Finnish clarinettist, composer and translator. The son of a poor
bookbinder, he received his earliest musical education from a
clarinettist of the Nyland regimental band. In 1788 he became a
volunteer musician in the military band at Sveaborg, outside Helsinki,
and in 1791 he was transferred to Stockholm. From 1793 to 1833 he was a
clarinettist in the court orchestra. In 1798 he studied the clarinet
with Franz Tausch in Berlin and gave concerts there and in Hamburg. In
Sweden he became a distinguished soloist, performing concertos and
chamber music by Peter Winter, L.A. Lebrun, L.-E. Jadin, Krommer,
Beethoven, Mozart and others, as well as his own works. Reviews
emphasize his tone and in particular his pianissimo. About 1800 Crusell
played with the reed turned upwards, and later with the reed turned
downwards, which favours cantabile playing. After c.1810 he used an
11-keyed Grenser clarinet. In Stockholm Crusell studied music theory and
composition with Daniel Böritz and Abbe Vogler, intermittently active
in Stockholm from 1786 to 1799. In 1803 he studied composition with
Berton and Gossec during a six-month stay in Paris. As well as writing
instrumental music for his own use, he also composed works for his
wind-instrument colleagues in the court orchestra. In 1811 he made a
trip to Leipzig to search for a publisher; this marked his first contact
with the Bureau de Musique (A. Kühnel), taken over by C.F. Peters in
1814. Crusell conducted the military bands in Linköping every summer
from 1818 to 1837 and arranged marches and opera overtures by Weber,
Spohr and Rossini for their use; he also composed pieces for male choir.
In the 1820s he composed solo songs, among others to texts from
Frithiof’s Saga by the well-known Swedish poet Esaias Tegnér. His opera
Lilla slavinnan, first performed in 1824, was given 34 times over the
next 14 years. Crusell was also a brilliant linguist who translated the
foremost French, German and Italian operas for the Swedish stage. His
début in 1821 with Le nozze di Figaro contributed to his election to the
Geatish League, the leading literary circle in Sweden at this time. He
was awarded the Swedish Academy’s Gold Medal in 1837, and was inducted
into the Wasa Order. His two manuscript autobiographies are in the Royal
Library, Stockholm.
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