For Clarinet Choir-There???s a Boat Dat???s Leavin??? Soon for New York/It Ain???t Necessarily So/Summertime/I Got Plenty o' Nuttin??? is a song from the American opera Porgy and Bess composed in 1935 by George Gershwin (1898-1937) to a libretto by DuBose Heyward and his brother Ira Gershwin after Heyward???s novel Porgy - a story about the love between the crippled negro beggar Porgy and the girl Bess in the city of Charleston in South Carolina. The premi?re - not a huge success - took place on 10 October 1935 in New York.With his opera Gershwin wanted to gain recognition as a composer of classical music. Incidentally he demanded that all parts were sung by black performers; only a few unimportant parts without sung lyrics were allowed to be performed by white actors. This rule still applies: Gershwin has stated in the terms of his will that only black people were allowed stage the opera.Porgy and Bess has become popular only after Gershwin???s death. In 1959 a wonderful film was made; the soundtrack won a Grammy Award. The work is not very often performed possibly because of the difficulty of finding a whole cast of black opera singers. However various pieces from the opera are still regularly performed in numerous arrangements.

Sonatina by Eugène Bozza is a piece for four unequal Clarinets (an E flat Clarinet two B flat and a Bb Bass Clarinet). Strongly lyrical this piece which lasts approximatively 7'50 minutes is very interesting and quite challenging to play. It explores the full high and low of the instruments and requires some good ability of breathing and strong agility. It is divided into three main parts which are: I. Allegro vivo II. Calme (Quiet) and III. Allegro Vivo. While the first and third sections are very cheerful and energetic the second part is slower and more reflective. Eugène Bozza won differentprizes at the Conservatoire de Paris such as the First Prizes for the Violin conducting and composition as well as the Grand Prix de Rome. He composed several operas chamber works and ballets among others.