Strauss had written to him in 1946: I am very busy with an idea for a double concerto for clarinet and bassoon thinking especially of your beautiful tone – nevertheless, apart from a few sketched out themes it still remains no more than an intention.
So in the end, you too will turn into a prince and live happily ever after...[2]However, Juergen May argues that the program is more plausibly based on Homer: Odysseus lands on the island of Scheria and subsequently meets the princess Nausicaa.
On 4 April 1948, the world premiere was broadcast on Radio Lugano, with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana conducted by [1]Otmar Nussio [Wikidata], with Armando Basile on clarinet and Bruno Bergamaschi on bassoon.
The British premiere was given at Manchester by the Halle Orchestra on 4 May 1949 with John Barbirolli conducting and the clarinet played by Pat Ryan and bassoon by Charles Cracknell.
[6] The work was also performed later that year on 29 July at the BBC Proms with Malcolm Sargent conducting the London Symphony Orchestra with Frederick Thurston on the clarinet and Archie Camden on bassoon.