 The precise circumstances under which the sonata was composed are not known, but it is known that it is related to the rejection of the composer's 1942 oboe sonata by its intended dedicatee, Léon Goossens.Fabian Huss, writing on the relationship between the two compositions, speculates that the clarinet sonata grew out of the process of revising the oboe sonata.He noted that in 1947 Howells wrote in a review of Ralph Vaughan Williams Oboe Concerto that he considered the oboe best suited for short musical spans, much shorter than the ones he had included in the oboe sonata.