Harry Sparnaay is a noted Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 bass clarinet

Bass clarinet

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B , but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet...

ist, composer, and teacher. He is the most well-known player of new music for the bass clarinet and has won the following: First Prize Gaudeamus Contest (1972), Swedish Record Prize (1985), Bulgarian Composers Union Award (1987), Inaugural Sounds Australian Award (1988), Edison Award (1995), and Jan van Gilse Prize (1996).

Sparnaay specializes in new music, and over 650 compositions have been written for him, by composers including Claudio Ambronsini, Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio

Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...

, Gerard Brophy

Gerard Brophy

Gerard Louis Brophy is a first-class cricketer, presently contracted to Yorkshire. He has also played for Ireland, Free State, Northamptonshire and Transvaal in a well travelled career....

, Philip Czaplowski

Philip Czaplowski

Philip Czaplowski is an Australian composer.Czaplowski was born in London in 1958, and emigrated to Australia with his family in 1969. He lives in Melbourne, where he completed a PhD in music composition at Monash University under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Reiner...

, Paul-Heinz Dittrich, Franco Donatoni

Franco Donatoni

Franco Donatoni was an Italian composer.Born in Verona, he started studying violin at the age of seven, and frequented the local Music Academy...

, Morton Feldman

Morton Feldman

Morton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...

, Brian Ferneyhough

Brian Ferneyhough

Brian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...

, Gérard Grisey

Gérard Grisey

Gérard Grisey was a French composer of contemporary music.-Biography:Gérard Grisey was born in Belfort, France on 17 June 1946. He studied at the Trossingen Conservatory in Germany from 1963 to 1965 before entering the Conservatoire de Paris...

, Mary Finsterer

Mary Finsterer

-Life:Mary Finsterer was born in Canberra, Australia, and graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Melbourne. A recipient of the Royal Netherlands Government Award in 1993, she continued her studies in Amsterdam with Louis Andriessen, then returned to Australia and...

, Andrew Ford

Andrew Ford

Andrew Ford is an English and Australian composer, writer and radio presenter.He was Composer-in-residence with the Australian Chamber Orchestra , held the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship from 1998 to 2000 and was awarded a two-year fellowship by the Music Board of the Australia Council...

, Jonathan Harvey

Jonathan Harvey

Jonathan Harvey is the name of:*Jonathan Harvey , British composer*Jonathan Harvey , U.S. Representative from New Hampshire*Jonathan Harvey , British playwright...

, Hans-Joachim Hespos

Hans-Joachim Hespos

Hans-Joachim Hespos is a German composer of avant-garde music.Since für Cello solo , he has composed in all genres, including many pieces for unaccompanied solo instruments and theatre works...

, Maki Ishii

Maki Ishii

was a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music, and brother of composer Kan Ishii.-Biography:Born in Tokyo, Ishii studied composition privately and conducting with Watanabe from 1952 to 1958 in Tokyo, then moved to Berlin, where he continued his studies under Boris Blacher and Josef Rufer...

, Mauricio Kagel

Mauricio Kagel

Mauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...

, Helmut Lachenmann

Helmut Lachenmann

Helmut Lachenmann is a German composer associated with musique concrète instrumentale.-Life and works:...

, Ton de Leeuw

Ton De Leeuw

Antonius Wilhelmus Adrianus de Leeuw was a Dutch composer. He was known for his experiments with microtonality....

 Roderick de Man, Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis

Iannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...

, and Isang Yun

Isang Yun

Isang Yun was a Korean-German composer originally from Korea. According to his official publisher's Boosey & Hawkes biography of him, he was granted political asylum by West Germany, eventually becoming a naturalised German citizen, following his abduction and torture in 1967 by the South Korean...

.

Sparnaay's notable students include Michael Lowenstern

Michael Lowenstern

Michael Lowenstern in the Hyde Park neighborhood, is an American bass clarinetist and composer specializing in new music....

and Lori Freedman.

Sources

• Diederichs-Lafite, Marion. 1976. "Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik". Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 31 (July–August): 382–84.
• Heim, Norman. 1979. "Music for the Bass Clarinet". The Clarinet 6, no. 3 (Spring): 18–21.
• Heim, Norman. 1979. "Music for the Bass Clarinet Part II". The Clarinet 7, no. 1 (Fall): 22–23, 26.
• Heim, Norman. 1980. "Music for the Bass Clarinet Part III: A Sparnaay Collage". The Clarinet 7, no. 3 (Spring): 22–24.
• Heim, Norman. 1980. "Music for the Bass Clarinet Part IV: An Interview with Harry Sparnaay". The Clarinet 7, no. 4 (Summer): 14–18.
• Schwartz, Elliott. 1972. "Current Chronicle: The Netherlands". The Musical Quarterly 58, no. 4 (October): 653–58.
• Slonimsky, Nicolas, Laura Kuhn, and Dennis McIntire. 2001. "Sparnaay, Harry". Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, centennial edition, 6 vols., Nicolas Slonimsky, editor emeritus; Laura Kuhn, Baker's series advisory editor, 5:3416. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0028655257. [In the online edition as "Spamaay, Hany", New York: Schirmer Reference, 2001. Gale Virtual Reference Library. (Subscription access)]
• Sparnaay, Harry. "The Bass Clarinet: a Personal History". Trans. A. de Man, P. Roe, Barcelona: Periferia Sheet Music, 2011, CD with over 100 audio examples.
• Tra, Gijs. 1978. "Bass Clarinet Identity (Interview with H. Sparnaay)". Key Notes 7, no. 1:36–37.
• Werker, Gerard. 1972. "Vrijpostig musiceren: het Gaudeamus-Concours 1972". Mens en Melodie, Tijdschrift voor muziek 27 (June): 171–74.
• Werker, Gerard. 1974. "Harry Sparnaay, basklarinettist—de emancipatie van de basklarinet". Mens en Melodie, Tijdschrift voor muziek 29 (December): 370–73.

External links

• Harry Sparnaay official site