The most popular works for clarinet undoubtedlly include several pieces by Carl Maria Von Weber.He was born a year before the Prague premiere of Mozart's Don Giavnni in Schleswing-Holstein as the son of a child played one of the three boys in

Mozart's The Magic Flute.After a hectic and roaming existence he diedin London as world-famous composer,just one year before

the sixteen years older Beethoven.Stravinsky called Weber"the king of composer,"while others refrewed to him as the composer of the German forest in view of his masterly opera Ber Freischutz.His works for the clarinet were almost all inspired by his friendship with the German clarinet virtuoso

Heinrich Baermann.This explains the generally brilliant chara-

cter of the pieces, in which the clarinet dominates almost 

continuously,as in the Grand Duo Concertante OP.48.Only the

Andantecon moto resembles a calm ariasn sung by Max in Der

Freischutz,as if Weber has omitted the words.