Klarinet Archive - Posting 000018.txt from 1994/07

From: Timothy Tikker <tjt@-----.ORG>
Subj: Re: Hungarian Tarogato
Date: Fri, 1 Jul 1994 16:17:40 -0400

I just re-read your message and saw that you wanted to know more about
the instrument.

Originally the Tarogato was a double-reed, a shawm much like the
middle-eastern zurna. It was symbolically considered a Hungarian
national instrument at the time of the Racoczy rebellion against the
Hapsburgs, which led to the latter banning the instrument.

Wenzel Jozsef Schunda decided to revive the tarogato c. 1895. He
basically invented a new instrument, as it had a single-reed and a key
system. Apparently he went to Paris for ideas and was strongly
infulenced by the saxophone. The keywork is normally "simple system,"
whose equivalent on the clarinet (a little different, since the tarogato
overblows the octave, not the twelfth) we call "Albert system." Schunda
was also the instrument-maker who developed the modern cimbalom from the
old folk hammered-dulcimer.

The tarogato became quite popular in Hungary, and there were even
tarogato clubs which would play music for tarogato bands. The basic size
was the B-flat, corresponding in range to the soprano saxophone, but they
were also made in C above and A-flat below that, and even in E-flat below
(thus a wooden, straight alto sax!). I saw a photo or Dr. Moore from Univ.
of OR playing one of the latter - what an instrument! It had a slightly
crooked metal neck like an alto clarinet, then turned into a large,
wooden, straight conical bore.

Based on his research and his visit to Hungary, Dr. Moore concluded that
the tarogato is falling into obscurity, though at least two or three
makers in Hungary still produce them. There is not a great body of
literature for them. However, the instrument still enjoys some
popularity in Roumania. I love the thing myself, and would love to have
one!

Keep and eye out for recordings of Hungarian - or especially Roumanian -
folk music, as some will feature the tarogato. It's usually played with
a strong, "heart-on-the-sleeve" vibrato, and some outrageous vituosity as
well!