See/Hear

Written in 1947, the Duett-Concertino was Strauss’ last purely instrumental work, scored for solo clarinet and bassoon over string orchestra with harp. Each of the string sections are divided into soli (one player) and tutti (all players) passages – an idea that is reminiscent of a Baroque concerto grosso. Strauss dedicated the work to his friend Hugo Burghauser, the retired principal bassoon player of the Vienna Philharmonic. In a letter to Burghauser, Strauss wrote, “I am very busy with an idea for a double concerto for clarinet and bassoon thinking especially of your beautiful tone – nevertheless, apart from a few sketched-out themes it still remains no more than an intention. Perhaps it would interest you.” Upon completing the work, Strauss wrote in a subsequent letter that “a dancing princess is alarmed by the grotesque cavorting of a bear in imitation of her. At last she is won over to the creature and dances with it, upon which it turns into a prince. So in the end, you too will turn into a prince and live happily ever after.” In this scenario, the dancing princess is portrayed by the clarinet and the bear, unsurprisingly, is represented by the bassoon. To his friend Clemens Kraus, Strauss suggested that the piece was inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Swineherd, in which an impoverished prince courts his bride-to­-be by tending to her family’s pigs. Some musicologists suggest that this work should be included among Strauss’ tone poems, which would reinforce the fairy-tale scenario that Strauss initially described in his letters. Fairy-tale or not, the Duett-Concertino is full of warmth, nostalgia, charm, and hints of Strauss’ tongue-in-cheek humor.