Although initially considered as circumstantial, many pieces specially ordered for the end term competition of the Conservatoire in Paris are now part of the repertoire and have become almost inescapable. The demanding talent that is required has obliged the artists to technically evolve, hence setting the foundations of the French school of clarinet.


1 André Messager (1853 ? 1929) in his « Solo de Concours » positively invites us to operetta!
Even though it is fully respectful of the requirements for an examination piece ? the Allegro with detachment, the expressive slow movement, the redoubtable cadenza followed by the exuberant Final - this instrumental piece is a resume of the entire talent of the Operetta master (let us mention ?L?amour masque?, ?Véronique? etc); in it, one finds all ?the elegance, the charm and the grace?, qualities praised by Widor to illustrate his music. Intimate friend of Saint Saens and Faure, he conducts in 1902, the Première of ?Pelléas et Mélisandre? from Debussy (for which he is the dedicatee), then he defended the Groupe des Six with the same relentless youthfulness spirit.

?Prestigious orchestra conductor and wise theatre director, demonstrating a particularly prolific eclecticism, Messager helped to diffuse in France the music of important although ignored composers belonging to very diverse schools of music either by rehabilitating them through their rediscovery, or by strongly dissipating the grotesque prejudices that were raised against them. The composer of so many ?chiselled? musical pieces found himself defending solemn and serious composers whose music was imposing and strong, which were poles apart from the ethereal partitions that are associated with the name of Messager. Eclecticism therefore, but also modernism, but overall and always a perfect taste. Gervase Hugues, an English musicologist who was known to lose rather quickly and permanently his sense of objectivity and impartiality when it was to judge a French composer, wrote about Messager a sentence which, considering its author, is very surprising since it combines both clear-sightedness and enthusiasm: ?He combined melodic richness and limited means with Jules Massenet?s flowing grace, Camille Saint-Saens?s aristocratic elegance and Gabriel Fauré?s refined subtlety?. Such a combination may only seem strange for those simple minded persons who persist stubbornly to distinguish a light from a serious music forgetting that the opposite of ?light? is ?heavy?. It could be that art should not be measured by the amount of decibels that are produced, - even though this should not be excluded ? but overall by the truth, the emotion, the perfection of the form, the expression and the expressiveness.

Abstract from an article that appeared in ?Operette? N°119 under the signature of Robert Pourvoyeur.

2 Charles Marie Widor (1844 ? 1937) as Messager, will play as an organist in Saint Sulpice. Born in a family of organists, Charles Marie Widor will start very early to practice to play the organ. As soon as the age of 12, he will replace his father in the church of Saint François in Lyon. Upon the advice of Cavaillé-Coll, a famous organ maker, he went to Bruxelles where he will study composition with Fétis, at that time director of the Conservatoire, and the organ with Lemmens whose teaching is in direct line coming from Jean Sébastian Bach. ?No one who has eared Lemmens, wrote Widor, will ever forget the brightness, the strength, the splendour of the way he played, the slightest detail highlighted, this value always in proportion with the entire work?. In 1869, with the support of Saint-Saens and Gounod, Widor is nominated on trial for a period of one year at Saint Sulpice where he will stay for sixty four years. Enjoying to have at his disposal the five keyboards and the hundred keys of the famous Cavaillé-Coll?s organ, he wrote his first four symphonies for organ in a completely new spirit while remaining faithful to the essential tradition of the organ.
In 1878, during the Universal Exhibition, Cavaillé-Coll asks Widor to try the new organs at the Trocadero in the presence of Liszt who, as a reciprocal thank, will play for him, a few days later, some pieces from Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann and Mendelsohn.
Widor will succeed to Cesar Franck as professor of organ at the Conservatoire in Paris ? from 1891 to 1896 ? then he became professor in composition from 1896 to 1905. Among his students one can found Tournemire, Vierne and Dupré who will be his successor in Saint Sulpice. In 1910, he becomes an elected member of the Académie des Beaux Arts before being elected Permanent Secretary in 1914. In his functions, he will always pay attention to balance the right artistic requirements with the difficulties of the day to day life. He is at the origin of the Casa Velasquez in Madrid. His cheerful character and his broad-minded spirit, linked to an exquisite refinement and an extreme simplicity are the characteristics of this invaluable artist.

Biography realized by the Department of Radio-France.

3 Henri Rabaud (1873 ? 1949) was only 28 year old when he was asked to write this ?Solo de concours?. It is dedicated to his old friend Cyrille Rose who was in his last year as professor of clarinet at the Conservatoire in 1900. When Rabaud ends this Solo, it was realized that the difficulty of the introductory cadenza was such that it was called, at the time, ?the clarinettist?s grave?.
Rabaud does not care to keep in fashion and remains keen of classical purity. He studied composition with Massenet and Gedalge and is awarded, as his first trial, the Grand Prix de Rome in 1894 for his Cantata Daphné. It is with a piece tinted by a fairy orientalism, entitled Mârouf, shoemaker in Cairo and based on the Contes des Mille et une nuits that he makes a triumph. Rabaud has declared that the work by Wagner, Franck and Debussy had no interest for him but, paradoxically, his music has been considered as being Wagner-type, ?although being French with no possible doubts?. Once back from Rome, he makes a career as an orchestra conductor, he is the director of the Opera and the Opera-Comique during the period 1914-18. In 1918, Rabaud is selected as the Boston Symphony Orchestra conductor and will conduct it for one season before handing it to Pierre Monteux. Back in Paris, he succeeds to Fauré as director of the Concervatoire from 1920 to 1941.

4 Raymond Gallois-Montbrun (1918 ? 1994) was born in Saigon (Vietnam) and studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris where he was awarded numerous prizes: violin, musical writing and composition. He obtained In 1944, he obtained the Premier Grand Prix de Rome and, in 1952, the Grand Prix de la Ville de Paris. Renowned violinist, he performed with the pianist Pierre Sancan (Europe, Africa, Japan etc). He managed to drive in parallel both a career of concert soloist and of composer until 1962 when he became Director of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris, position that he occupied until 1983. His production as a composer consists mostly in symphonic pieces: violin concerto, Japanese symphony, an opera for the radio: the emperor?s nightingale, two symphonic poems: the Delft Harbour, the Menines, a string quartet and a large number of pieces for piano solo, for violin and piano and for a variety of other instruments. The Concertstück for clarinet and piano (1946 competition) is dedicated to Auguste Périer who was professor at the Conservatoire from 1919 to 1947.

5 Jeanine Rueff (1922 ? 1999) was the student of Henri Busser at the Concervatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris where she obtained, in 1945, the prizes for harmony, fugue and conterpoint, composition and music history. Will follow the Prize Favareille-Chailley-Richez for her string quintet and the third prize from Monte Carlo for her ballet ?Gargouille?. In 1948, she obtained the Second Grand Prix de Rome in composition. She was a harmony professor at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Paris and accompanist in the class for clarinet of Ulysse Delécluse to whom was dedicated the Concertino Op. 15 (1950) and she also was accompanist in the class for saxophone of Marcel Mule.

6 to 8 Henri Tomasi (1901 ? 1971)
The importance of Henri Tomasi?s work is attested by the comments made by the most prestigious composers, performers, critics and various personalities from the cultural word of the XX century.
Henri Tomasi is, if anything a Mediterranean, born in Provence, Corsican by lineage: his own Mediterranean sea extends from Marseille to Laos through Spain and the Hoggar. Henri Tomasi, pantheist, mystic, sometimes visionary, is also a man involved in his time, rebellious, a tormented soul. He is also a composer aware of all the styles ranging from Gregorian music to jazz, from oriental monotonous chant to serial music and, at the same time, also very personal. One should also not forget that his work for the lyrical theatre is as important as his symphonic work.
His credo, as a composer, is illustrated in the following statements: ?While I never restrained myself from using often the most modern styles of expression, I, nevertheless, remained a melodist?, ?I hate all systems and sectarianism?, ?I write for everybody?, ?music that does not originate from the heart is not music!?

Gabriel Vialle, music critic.

Concerto for clarinet, indications by Henri Tomasi.
1st movement: Allegro giocoso
With a fantasy and burlesque mood, the main theme must be played as if improvised, with some discrete lyricism and dark tone. A major cadenza with a formidable difficulty will bring us back to a first tempo more articulated and finally to an extremely brilliant and voluble final giocoso.

2nd movement: Nocturne
Mysterious memories of the main theme from the first movement will be replaced by a romantic dreaming. The dialogue between the soloist and the orchestra will become more and more oppressive so as to end towards a passionate and lyric exaltation. The conclusion should become melancholic.

3rd movement: Final ? Scherzo
Furious sounds will alter this calm. All the sudden there will be a fantastic and romantic breaking out: horse raids through dreamy landscapes, chases, etc. Then, an extremely melodious song, recalling the mood of the Nocturne, will emerge from this fury and will create an idyllic atmosphere. The furious sounds from the beginning will bring back to reality the soloist and the orchestra to a final conclusion more and more reckless.

H.T. (1957)