Clarinet Concerto no. 2 in E-flat major, op. 74

The Second Clarinet Concerto followed the first by a few months in 1811, written like it for Heinrich Baermann and to a royal commission from Maximilian I of Bavaria; Baermann gave the premiere in Munich on 25 November. Where the F minor concerto is dramatic, the E flat is a display piece: the finale is a polacca, and the writing runs to leaps, wide arpeggios and effects that only Baermann's instrument and technique made possible. The two concertos and the concertino remain the core of the clarinet's Romantic repertoire.