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Camille Saint-Saëns

Clarinet Sonata (Saint-Saëns)

The Clarinet Sonata in E major, Op. 167, was written by Camille Saint-Saëns in 1921 as one of his last works. This clarinet sonata is the second of the three sonatas that Saint-Saëns composed for

Structure#

The work consists of four movements. A performance takes approximately 16 minutes. The theme of the first movement is reprised at the end of the fourth movement.

Reception#

For the musical scholar Jean Gallois, the Clarinet Sonata is the most important of the three wind sonatas: he calls it “a masterpiece full of impishness, elegance and discreet lyricism” amounting to “a summary of the rest”. The work contrasts a “doleful threnody” in the slow movement with the finale, which “pirouettes in time”, in a style reminiscent of the 18th century. Today the sonata is part of the standard repertoire of the clarinet.

    • , performed by Stefano Novelli and Akanè Makita
Composer
Camille Saint-Saëns