
This site is home to Alea Publishing & Recording, specializing in music for the bass clarinet.
We offer a growing catalog of creative, artistic transcriptions and new works for bass clarinet solo & ensemble.
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847) composed the first of his lovely Songs Without Words in 1830. While the entire volume of works for solo piano presents possibilities for transcription, we have chosen to arrange just one of the pieces, Op.19 No.1 in E Major.
This publication is available in two quite different versions, arranged for either clarinet and piano or bass clarinet and piano. The clarinet version takes the beautiful piano melody into a quite comfortable range. The bass clarinet version takes advantage of the larger range of the instrument, the bass clarinet and piano sharing both melody and bass line of the original. The key of the original work is maintained, offering the young player challenges of reading in a difficult key, but otherwise the arrangements are quite accessible for a student of either instrument.
Thanks to a suggestion from a clarinet teacher and regular customer, we now make the clarinet version of this transcription available with two parts, giving the performer the option of using either B-flat or A clarinet. We assume that many players do not have access to an A clarinet, but for those who do, they will find the key easier, and the rich tone of the instrument well-suited to this piece. No need to choose - we'll throw in both parts when you order!
Extended-range instrument NOT required. Piano score: 5 pages; Part: 1 page.
Listen to the work in its original instrumentation:
PDF Edition
Purchasing this item will give you access to download the music as a PDF. Both versions (clarinet and bass clarinet) are included with the download. If you would prefer to purchase a hard copy, please click here.
Kim Davenport
President
Duo Alea, the father-daughter duo of Michael and Kimberly Davenport, began performing music for bass clarinet and piano in 1996. As performers searching for new repertoire and teachers working with students eager to develop as performers, it quickly became clear that there was a need for more repertoire featuring the bass clarinet. Filling this need became the mission of Alea Publishing & Recording.
Since our first publication in 1997, the Alea catalog has now grown to include over 300 titles. We pride ourselves on the accuracy and quality of our sheet music, as well as our ability to ship directly to customers around the world.
We are proud of the diversity of our catalog in terms of the inclusion of works by composers and arrangers from around the world. We are interested in continuing to expand this diversity, representing musical ideas from around the world.
Following Michael's passing in 2019, Kim has taken over solo management of Alea Publishing. In 2020, Alea established the Dolphy Prize, an annual composition award for new works for bass clarinet by black composers.
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