Klarinet Archive - Posting 000257.txt from 1993/12

From: Jay Heiser <jayh@-----.COM>
Subj: More questions on key issues
Date: Thu, 23 Dec 1993 10:39:04 -0500

-->Anyway -- this might be a good time to discuss the sorts of things that
-->the Ithaca people really find irritating. How's about D clarinets? We've
-->already discussed C, B, Bb, A, basset horns, Bb basses, A basses and Bb
-->contrabasses (anything overlooked?). I remember someone speculating on the
-->choice of Bb as the standard size having been determined by practice with
-->trumpets. In fact, the original clarinets were in D precisely because the
-->trumpets of that day were in G. (The upper registers of the two
-->instruments match -- remember the origin of the term "clarinet".)
It was me. That's an interesting twist that I wouldn't have suspected.
Assuming
that you are correct, then my idea about the clarinet following the military
band convention doesn't work unless they were trying to match something in Eb
(which I doubt).

Were these original clarinets considered transposing instruments? Did the
music assume that they were in D or G or C?

When did the Bb clarinet become established?

-->
-->One way or the other, the D is the "authentic" instrument for most of the
-->real early clarinet literature. Anybody use one?

Which 'D'? You mean the 'D' that was standard for that time, correct? Not
what we consider concert 'D'. An 'original' clarinet in the key of D would
be quite a bit different from a contemporary clarinet in D, correct?
======================================
The trick is to get just the right balance.
I find the D'addario 85/15s work out just
right for me.

   
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