6 Duos, op. 5 Nos. 1–3

Michel Yost, more commonly known simply as Michel, was born in Paris in 1754 and died there in 1786. Originally an oboist, he abandoned that instrument to study clarinet with Joseph Beer. Michel’s activity as a performer (especially his appearances at the Concert Spirituel) and as a composer did much to popularize the clarinet in France. His melodic gifts evidently were not matched by his theoretical knowledge. According to Fétis (Biographie Universelle des Musiciens) – “he had the facility of finding agreeable melodies and brilliant passages; he put these on paper in a very informal manner, and his friend [Johann Christoph] Vogel [1754-1788] used these ideas to write out his concertos and instrumentate them”. As a result, the compositions were published under various names, including Michel, Michel et Vogel, Mic et Vogel. Among his works are 14 clarinet concerti, 30 quartets for clarinet and strings, 8 books of duos, a number of other chamber works, and a clarinet method. The three duets presented here are from a set of six, opus 5, published by Imbault (Paris), ca. 1783. Himie Voxman, Iowa City, Iowa, January, 1979