Klarinet Archive - Posting 000117.txt from 1993/12

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: Cary Karp's comments on A/B-flat combination
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1993 13:08:05 -0500

Cary, it seems to me that I remember seeing a clarinet that
functioned either as an A or a B-flat. It had some wierd
mechanism that I never understood but, depeding on whether
that mechanism was engaged or disengaged, the instrument was
in one key or another. I think I may have seen one in the
late 1940s but it is all haze.

The general belief about clarinets of the 18th century being
of multiple pitch because they were limited technically (or
perhaps intonationally) is one that has never been a very
satisfying hypothesis.

In the Mozart quintet, for example, almost all of the 11 tones
of the chromatic scale are heard somewhere even though the player
executes in very simple keys. Clearly, the 18th century players
could execute all the notes of a chromatic scale or else they would
not be present in Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert's music (though I
never really looked hard at Beethoven's clarinet music to see if all
11 tones of the chromatic scale are required in, for example, the
Septet).

While execution and intonation had to have something to do with
the existence of multiply pitched instruments, I think it is more
subtle than that. Character of sound may have also been a deciding
factor in having many clarinets.

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Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
(leeson@-----.edu)
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