Widerkehr, Jacques
(1759 - 1823)
2 Quartette
(Es-Dur, g-Moll)
Klarinette in B, Violine,
Viola und Violoncello
(Ed.: Emilio Lede)
Score and parts
© 2017
ee 217030
ISMN M-700196-96-7
Jacques-Christian-Michel Widerkehr (1759-1823) was born in Strasbourg. In the Alsatian capital he studied the cello with Dumonchau and composition with Franz Xaver Richter. In Paris he earned his living mainly as a teacher, occasionally as a performer and as a composer of instrumental music. According to Fétis, his symphonies concertantes and those of Devienne “were for many years the best of that genre known in France.”
Many of the chamber pieces by Widerkehr were written for amateurs and allowed the substitution of instruments, as in the case of these two quartets for clarinet and string trio, since the original versions were written for 2 violins, viola and violoncello. This 3rd book of quartets originally consisted of 4 pieces, but both the cover of the clarinet and the violin parts clarify that it is only the 2nd suite (Nos. 3 and 4). It also says that the clarinet part was arranged by Charles Duvernoy (1766-1845), soloist at the Opéra Comique and clarinet teacher at the Paris Conservatory.
