Elliot Weisgarber composed his Sonata in Two Movements for Clarinet and Piano in 1945 as a Christmas gift for his teacher and mentor Gustave Langenus. On its receipt, Langenus wrote to Elliot in some surprise saying, “…..for a fellow …..brought up on Mozart and Brahms, your atonal writing got me puzzled. I have to watch every note; there is nothing tangible to hang onto.” According to the dictionary definition of atonality (not adhering to any key) these pieces are, indeed, atonal, yet the music clearly centres around certain pitches which hold reasonably expected relationships to the pitches around them. They do not support in any way the idea that atonal music is unpleasant and disorganized – they are tuneful and delightful.
In 1991, Weisgarber attended a meeting of the International Clarinet Society in Flagstaff, Arizona where he met another former Langenus student who recalled the Sonata. Inspired to take his old score off the shelf, Weisgarber put it through a revision, greatly simplifying the texture, reversing the order of the two movements, and renaming the work Two Early Pieces.
