Werner Reinhart's musicality and skill were the inspiration for the first important work of structurally complex chamber music: Schoeck's Sonate, op. 41, in the German-romantic tradition of Brahms for the bass clarinet. Reinhart's to whom the Sonata was dedicated, was a close friend, as well as patron, of Schoeck (1886-1956). The Sonata was, according to Schoeck's biographer, Hans Corrodi, the first result of a period of deep study by the composer of the works of J. S. Bach.¹

Cast in three movements totaling 386 measures in length, the Sonata is in the key of D minor, though its harmonic language is richly inflected and highly modulatory. The range extends three octaves and a minor third, from D to f'', and makes particularly frequent use of the lowest chalumeau tones. Use of the compass is distributed in the first movement as follow:

This is the first solo work written for a modern-type bass clarinet to use the low extension note D, although this had been used in orchestral parts as early as 1889, when Richard Strauss called for it in his tone-poem Tod un Verklärung.

The first movement, Gemessen (♩= 92), is lyric and pastoral, flowing smoothly with a few rapid passages. A brief, sharply articulated passage foreshadows the mood of the final movement. The second movement, Bewegt (♩= 96), has a neo-baroque flavor, with much contrapuntal interplay between the bass clarinet and piano. Two recitative passages for the bass clarinet interrupt the general mood of a scherzo fugato. The use of an invention-like subject, as well as the mordents and trills which occur through the Sonata, also gives the last movement, Bewegt (♩= 112), a neo-baroque feeling, but this time with a humorous handling which incorporates the syncopations and contours of popular dance hall music of the 1920s. Velocity is an important element in this movement. Indications of staccato and accented staccato articulations occur frequently in contrast to legato passages. The importance of humor in the Sonata distinguishes it from all earlier works for the bass clarinet, except the Suite by Adolf Busch, and shows a more generous assessment of the instrument's versatility that had been common in those earlier works.

Although not intended as a means of virtuoso display, the Sonata does require rapid finger-technique throughout the instrument's range, often in harmonically convoluted passages. Clear and varied styles of articulation are required. The work's greatest requirement, however, is for musical understanding and ensemble playing, as coordination with the densely complex piano part requires alignment of interlocking hemiole, contrasting subdivisions of the beat, and frequent rubati. The pianist and the bass clarinetist are equal partners in the performance of this Sonata.

¹ Hans Corrodi, Othmar Schoeck (Frauenfeld: Verlag Huber, 1956), 175