416 Progressive Studies for Clarinet, Books 1-4 & 5 Duets

This edition consists of all 416 Progressive Studies in a single spiral-bound volume, edited by Ben Andrew Garcia and Celeste Markey.  Also included are Kroepsch's Five Clarinet Duets. 

Compare different editions of the 416 Progressive Studies

Very little is known about Fritz Kroepsch (Kröpsch); Pamela Weston notes in her book More Clarinet Virtuosi of the Past that he studied at the Vienna Conservatory from 1824 to 1826. 

Books 1 and 2 (#1–350) of the 416 Progressive Studies contain 350 "micro-études" which are organized by key.  Each key is given 2 pages of around one dozen short exercises; each exercise is about 3 measures long, is phrased with a simple harmonic progression, and is varied with dynamics, articulation, and chromaticism.  Because of their short length, they are suitable for technique study or warm-up material; one can choose a whole page, or focus on just a few.  The organization by increasing sharps/flats in the key signature is solely what gives this work an increasing difficulty progression.  The first 2 books each conclude with some "extra" exercises: Book 1's last two pages (exercises #159-167) feature winding scalar sextuplets "to be executed in quick tempo," and Book 2's last page (exercise #350) comprises descending arpeggios with chromatic neighbors in all twelve major/minor keys. 

Book 3 (#351–390) contains 3 different exercises, each written in all 12 major keys (plus a 13th enharmonic equivalent of G♭). The first (#351–363) is 16 measures of scales which pass through a harmonic progression (I–vi–IV–I) with varying articulation and, in a few instances, chromaticism and small intervallic breaks. The second (#364–376) is 18 measures of ascending scales with descending broken arpeggios which pass through a harmonic progression (I–vi–IV–ii–I) with varying articulation, scales in thirds, larger intervallic jumps, and chromaticism. The third (#377–389) is 24 measures of modulating broken arpeggios. Book 3 concludes with extra exercise (#390) of arpeggios modulating through all keys.

Book 4 (#391–416) contains 26 unique "technique études" which are almost entirely mechanical patterns without melodic content. Each is 1–2 pages in length and written in a particular key, including all 12 major and minor keys (plus a 13th enharmonic equivalent pair of G♭ Major/E♭ Minor). Although they're essentially constructed from scales and arpeggios in widely varied configurations, each is made distinguishable by differences in mixed articulation, harmonic progression, large intervallic jumps, and sometimes ornaments.

The Five Duets are notated in duet-score format (they are also available in separate, individual parts format from a different publisher as a stand-alone product).  The approximate durations of the duets are as follows:
No. 1: 4 min.
No. 2: 4.75 min.
No. 3: 2.75 min.
No. 4: 3 min.
No. 5: 3.75 min.