Abstract
The composer Ruth Schonthal (1924-2006) taught at New York University since the late 1970s. Schonthal, born in Germany just before the rise of the Third Reich, was of Jewish descent, greatly impacting her education in the 1930s and 40s and leading her to study music in Stockholm and Mexico City as her family immigrated to safer locations during World War II. Schonthal graduated from Yale University, studying composition under Paul Hindemith. She composed seven works for clarinet, including professional level works with high technical and musical demands (written for Esther Lamneck on the NYU faculty) as well as educational pieces for advanced high school or early college students. Schonthal’s harmonic language is neo-Romantic and her compositions are accessible to performers and audiences. This treatise discusses the context of her clarinet compositions, an analysis of the works, and the performance considerations. The seven works included are Sonata Concertante (clarinet and piano), Love Letters (clarinet and cello), Bells of Sarajevo (clarinet and prepared piano), Two Short Divertimenti (clarinet duet), Little Suite (clarinet duet), Tango for 2 (clarinet and cello), and Duo (clarinet and cello). Her clarinet compositions are valuable additions to the clarinet repertoire, both for performance and educational purposes, and are all currently published by Arsis Press and Furore Verlag.
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