About the Music

We thank Lara Díaz for sharing these words about her arrangement:

Auguste-Joseph Franchomme (1808 –1884) was a French Romantic-era virtuoso cellist and composer. For his contributions to music, he was decorated with the Légion d'honneur in 1884. Franchomme was the most celebrated cellist of his time and contributed to the refinement of the bowing technique (elegant, sweet, and light). His left hand was renowned for its deft, precise, and expressive powers of execution.

As a composer, Franchomme published more than fifty works for cello. This piece, Caprice sur des thèmes de la Preciosa de Weber, is the second of the Three Caprices for Cello and Piano, Op. 24. The Three Caprices are based in Opera themes, 1 and 3 in Bellini’s operas. This one, number two, is based in themes from Preciosa by Weber, a comic opera in one act. Preciosa is the name of the protagonist of the first of the Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes’ Novelas Ejemplares, La gitanilla.

I have always liked the works of Miguel de Cervantes and it is part of my culture. When I found this Caprice I realized that it is suitable to the bass clarinet, because the unique expressive qualities of this instrument, as well as its very extensive tessitura and the wide range of sound possibilities it offers. The work combines lyrical and virtuosic passages.

It could be an excellent piece for contest, audition, or recital and a great approximation to the Romantic repertoire for the bass clarinet player. An extended-range instrument can be utilized for the very final note, but this can easily be transposed up one octave for an instrument to low E-flat.

Piano score: 12 pages, spiral bound; bass clarinet part: 4 pages, booklet. Edited by Skyler Hedblom.

Listen to the work in its original instrumentation:

Hard Copy Edition

Add this item to your cart if you wish to have the hard-copy music shipped to you. We also offer this piece via PDF download: click here to choose that option.

About the Arranger

Lara Díaz is a Spanish active Clarinetist and Bass Clarinetist soloist and freelancer. Ms. Díaz has performed at major festivals in Europe, USA, Canada, South America and Asia. With Trio Contrastes she works disseminating contemporary music, having premiered several works specially composed for this chamber music group and for her.

In her new project, The Formica’s Age Duo (bass clarinet and violin), they perform completely new works written specifically for the group, and for that reason the acquisition of this repertoire is a dynamic process, not a compilation work, but a work of commission the pieces to the composers, creation and immediate interpretation, as it was in past times of the History of Music. The aim is to expand the repertoire and possibilities of an instrument (the bass clarinet) that has become essential in contemporary music, and to be involved in the creation of new music by collaborating actively with composers from very different backgrounds and compositional tendencies, the result of our openness to novelties, both in instrumentation and in style.

She takes part in the international bass clarinet quartet Four New Brothers, too, helping to create and disseminate the repertoire for the instrument.

Lara is often invited to teach masterclass, and to performance at international clarinet festivals Lara is often invited to teach masterclass, and to performance at international clarinet festivals (ICA ClarinetFest 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, 5th ,6th ,7th 9th, 10th and 11th European Clarinet Festival; Dream Clarinet Academy, Baoding- China 2017, International Festival “Il mondo d’il clarinetto” by Accademia Italiana del Clarinetto, 2nd Symposium for Clarinetists – UNESP 2015 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, ClarMeet Porto ’16 ’17 and’18 , 18th Encontro Internacional de Clarinete, Lisboa 2017, Clariperu’s VII Taller para Jóvenes Clarinetistas and IV Congreso Latinoamericano de Clarinetistas 2018 and 2019, Xacobeo Clarinet Fest 2021, Tenerife Clarinetfest 2021; Gran Canaria International Clarinet Festival 2022…). She acts as a jury at international clarinet and bass clarinet competitions.

Lara Díaz is the Spanish Board Member of the International Clarinet Association (I. C. A.) and Board Member of the European Clarinet Association (ECA), and the Spanish Board Member of International Bass Clarinet Association (I.B.C.A.).

She teaches in Salamanca clarinet, chamber music and history of music (Conservatorio Profesional de Música), leading “Antonio Romero” clarinet master classes since 2003 and also leading the “Salamanca’s Clarinet Ensemble”. Wind section leader of the “City of Salamanca” Symphony Orchestra, with which she has performed as a soloist on several occasions. She collaborates regularly with other orchestras, also as a soloist. She has played with renowned clarinet players as a soloist or in chamber music recitals.

She has published in Manuel de Falla Editions the transcription of the Suite popular española for bass clarinet and piano by the same author.

She studied at the Conservatorio Superior de Música de Salamanca, where he later studied postgraduate studies, and in Italy, Switzerland and Belgium with clarinetists such as Antony Pay, W. Boeykens, Sabine Meyer or C. Riera. Lara Diaz is a Royal Clarinets Performing Artist (Soloist model), and Silverstein Ligatures performing artist, and she is endorser of Silverstein bass clarinet Alta reeds.

Ms. Díaz has also received a Ph.D. in Spanish and Latin American literature at the University of Salamanca.

She has been recognized with the 2021 Salamanca’s Woman award in the category of culture by the Tierno Galván Association.