Adolph von Lauer
Quintet for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn and Bassoon
Adolph Baron Lauer von Münchofen , born on 23 May 1796 - died on 4 January 1874, comes from an old aristocratic family. His professional career was in the Prussian army, which he left in 1856 as major general in retirement. He was an excellent amateur in the best sense. He began learning at the pianist and composer William Schneider. As a composer Adolph von Lauer was honored in his time, on 16 April 1820 his opera "Rose, the miller's wife" premiered at the royal theater in Berlin. The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung wrote in 1820 about this: ... The music of a noble Diletantten create much hope for the future, lovely melodies and not overloaded instrumentation, intimate and with a refined sense of taste...
He was equally successful in the chamber music and church music. On 17 February 1852 in the royal theater in Berlin, his Requiem for soloists, chorus and orchestra was performed.
This first edition, the Quintet for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon in F-Major has its time of origin between 1820 – 1830. The composition shows clearly the development of instrument making. The horn part is still composed for the valveless invention horn, the piano part contains often additional bass notes, as it could not be expected in general to have instruments of such a large range of tones.
