Dances for Three (score & parts) - 2CL/BSN

Dances for Three
for two clarinets and bassoon
by Peter Schickele (b. 1935) - American composer Charm is not an overabundant quality in contemporary music. One of the things that make mozart and Schubert two of my favorite composers is that they could write casual, occasional pieces that lose none of their charm on repeated hearings. Until Art got on its high horse later in the 19th century, composers were expected to provide for the whole spectrum of musical use, not just the most rarified end of it; nevertheless, some composers had more affinity for party music than others. Hearing Beethoven's country dances and other occasional pieces usually gives me the feeling that he couldn't wait to get back to the symphony or string quartets or piano sonata that he was really working on, whereas Mozart and Schubert seem to be having a perfectly good time writing dance music and music for social gatherings. Hearing some of Mozart's divertimentos for two clarinets and bassoon got me to thinking about the combination, and all of a sudden ideas were flowing into my sketchbook. Ironically (since it was inspired by music written for definite social events) the resulting work was not composed for any specific performers or occasion. 
-Peter Schickele
Duration: 14:00