The Final Resting Places of Famous Clarinetists

Happy Friday the 13th!

To get into the Halloween spirit, I’ve been visiting cemeteries and researching the gravesites of famous clarinetists. This morbid fascination has led me to visit many of these graves during my travels. Visiting these musicians’ graves allows me to pay my respects to the people who have influenced so much of the clarinet’s history. History books only tell us so much, and it’s an amazing experience to visit the final resting places of people who had previously existed only on paper or in music.

Here are some of the cemeteries in which famous clarinetists are buried. This will be an ongoing project which I will update as I find more locations. If you know of any final resting places of historical clarinetists, please leave a comment below!

(All photos are my own)

Montparnasse Cemetery

• Johann Christoph Denner (1655-1707) – Cemetery unknown. Nuremberg, Germany
• Anton Stadler (1753-1812) – the old Catholic cemetery in Matzleinsdorf (which was transformed into Waldmüllerpark in 1923). Vienna, Austria. It’s interesting to note that Beethoven’s brother, Nikolaus Johann van Beethoven, was also buried here.
• Bernhard Henrik Crusell (1775-1838) – Solna Cemetery. Solna, Sweden
• Johann Simon Hermstedt (1778–1846) -Hauptfriedhof Sondershausen. Sondershausen, Germany
• Heinrich Baermann (1784-1847) – Alter Südlicher Friedhof (Old South Cemetery). Munich, Germany
• Ernesto Cavallini (1807-1874) – Cimitero Monumentale di Milano. Milan, Italy
• Hyacinthe Eléonore Klosé (1808-1880) – Cimetière de Montmartre. Paris, France
• Carl Baermann (1810-1885) – Alter Südlicher Friedhof (Old South Cemetery). Munich, Germany
• Adolphe Sax (1814-1894) – Cimetière de Montmartre. Paris, France
• Henry Lazarus (1815-1895) – Brompton Cemetery. London, United Kingdom
• Richard Mühlfeld (1856 – 1907) – Parkfriedhof Meiningen. Thüringen,  Germany
• Louis Cahuzac (1880-1960) – Cimetière Bagnères-de-Luchon. Bagnères-de-Luchon, France
• Jean Gustave Langenus (1883-1957) – Washington Memorial Park. Mount Sinai, New York, USA
• Benny Goodman (1909-1986) – Long Ridge Union Cemetery. Stamford, Connecticut, USA
• Artie Shaw (1910-2004) – Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park. Westlake Village, Los Angeles County, California, USA
• Leon Russianoff (1916-1990) – Mount Ararat Cemetery. East Farmingdale, New York, USA
• Jacques Lancelot (1920-2009) – Montparnasse Cemetery. Paris, France

Crusell’s Grave

Jacques Lancelot’s grave

Adolphe Sax’s grave

Hyacinthe Klose’s grave

Cemetery in Mayfield Village, United Kingdom

Cemetery in Luzarches, France

Le Cimetière des Chiens in Asnières-sur-Seine, France (where Camille Saint-Saëns’ dog Dalila is buried)

A mysterious light in this unedited photo in front of the graves of Beethoven and Schubert at the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria

Are you nearby any of these famous clarinetists? Pay your respects – you could even leave a reed in lieu of flowers!