Theodore Verhey (1848-1929) studied music at Rotterdam and the Royal Music School in The Hague. He studied piano and composition. His accomplishments inlcude several solo concertos and two symphonies. His three opera attracted the most attention. But this productivity over a long life can be compared to Mozart whom I discuss below. Verhey never married and given his modest musical contributions it is not surprising he made his living by giving lessons in piano and musical theory.
This clarinet solo is somber and reflective. I found it moderately challenging but relaxing to play.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) composed over 800 works during his short 35 years of life. This clarinet concerto was completed just a few weeks before his death and was his last fully completed piece of music. The concerto consists of three movements: allegro, adagio, and rondo. Adagio means slow and with great expression. The music lends itself to great expression whether or not I have done this justice is another question.
It was originally written for a basset clarinet which is little used today. After Mozart's death the score was revised for the more common Bb clarinet (which I am using). Unfortunately the original score was eventually lost.
George Gershwin (1898-1937) was also a short lived musical genius, sharing this trait with Mozart. My research in aging makes me a little anal about lifespans as you can see. In any case Rhapsody in Blue was one of Gershwin's great accomplishments and the opening clarinet solo is brilliant when played correctly. There is an opening run from low A to a high C which is unusual since it requires the clarinet to do this as a "smear". This means that once in the upper register you slowly slide your fingers off the open holes letting air partly out and it makes an odd sound. This requires alot of air and I am afraid my smear sounds more like a normal scale. I will keep working on it and if I perfect it I will post the improved version.