Active as performer and author between circa 1897 and 1904

A. Pierre Sainte-Marie was one of the earliest bass clarinetists whose name is preserved in historical records. He is also the first musician who is remembered exclusively as a bass clarinetist. His Mèthode pour la Clarinette-basse was published by Evette et Schaeffer in 1898. Between 1897 and 1904 six works intended for him as soloist or member of a chamber ensemble were published, also by Evette et Schaeffer.

The only biographic data we have about Sainte-Marie can be garnered from the title page of his Mèthode and from the dedications of pieces written for him. He performed with the orchestra of the Grands Concerts Colonne in Paris for an unknown number of years before 1898. The title page to his Mèthode, published in that year, lists him as the bass clarinetist of the Concerts Classiques de Monte Carlo and as the former bass clarinetist of the Concerts Colonne. In 1904, when Paul Jeanjean dedicated his Duo de Concert to the clarinetist Henri Paradis and Sainte-Marie, Sainte-Marie was performing with the orchestra in Monte Carlo. Lyric concert pieces by A. S, Petit, C. Franchi, and Daniel Bontoux were dedicated to him. These pieces, published with piano accompaniment, appear, because of cues referring to specific orchestral instruments in the solo part, to have originally been intended for performance with orchestra, implying a high regard for Sainte-Marie’s musicianship.

Sainte-Marie intended his Mèthode to be used by accomplished clarinetists in order to gain skill with the specific technical characteristics of the bass clarinet in use during his time, such as two vent keys for the upper register and a need for alternate fingerings for the altissimo register. It is, therefore, of less relevance today than at the time of its publication, when for a small number of interested musicians it was a ground-breaking work. The music composed for him remains expressively charming and deserves a place on the concert stage.

© Thomas Aber