The German composer Carl Maria von Weber is remembered in music history as one of the first influential figures of the Romantic era of the 1800s. He is perhaps best known for his contributions to the German opera repertoire, as he was one of the first composers to write operas that had uniquely German stories. His operas would go on to later inspire the work of Richard Wagner who would go on to revolutionize German opera forever. Yet opera was not the only sort of music that Weber would become known for. Weber also composed several very important pieces for clarinet. The Clarinet Concerto in F Minor was the first of his notable clarinet works. Broken into three movements, this virtuosic concerto showcases the skills of any talented clarinetist in its fast, technical passages. But in its slower moments, beautiful lines of music from the soloist showcase Weber's operatic style crossing from vocal music into instrumental, as the lines sing sweetly like a smooth, legato vocal line in an aria. This concerto is an excellent work for a skilled clarinettist and is a highly regarded work in the clarinet repertoire that commonly appears on college and orchestral audition lists.