Klarinet Archive - Posting 000264.txt from 1994/10

From: Dan Leeson
Subj: STADLER - PART 6
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 1994 10:52:24 -0400

It is clear from reports of the time (entires in lexicons and encyclopedias,
newspapers, clarinet tutors, etc.) that basset clarinets were in fact
available. The 2 April 1803 edition of the "Kaiserlich Wiener Zeitung" carried
the following report of "improved and newly invented wind instruments" by Franz
Scholl, who unsuccessfully applied to take Lotz's place as Royal Instrument
Maker in 1794. Scholl advertized for sale "clarinets in B-flat and C, going
down two tones lower, namely to C, with which one can take the lowest
fundamental tone at a cadence, which always makes a good effect. His clarinets
are well-constructed, have good intonation and the keys open through a new
way."

The important instrument collection of the Brussels Conservatoire royale de
Musique recently acquired a clarinet made by Viennese instrument maker Joseph
Ziegler (ca. 1792 - 1852) which curator Ignace De Keyser has identified as a
basset clarinet. The instrument has 8 keys, tow of which are for the "basset"
notes of most likely d and c. The other six keys are: the speaker key, throat
tone a' and g'-sharp, f (c''), f-sharp (c''-sharp) and e (b'). The instrument
has all of its five original pieces (each stamped Joseph Ziegler, Wien, with an
Imperieal Eagle below); a bent barrel to bring the clarinet closer to the
player, upper, middle, and lower joints plus a small threaded joint above the
bell. It does not have the original mouthpiece, which is not unusual with
early clarinets. It has square, brass keys and is made of boxwood with horn
ferrules. It is in very good condition, and is scheduled to be restored to
playing condition soon so that its true pitch may be accurately determined.
Although length and bore dimensions are helpful in pitch determination, these
are not definitive.

In ca. 1803, a clarinet method was published by Johann Georg Heinrich Backofen
(1768 - 1839), a clarinettist in the service of the Grand Duke of
Hessen-Darmstadt. In his method, Backofen reports: "Another more recent and
excellent invention is this, that clarinets with low d and c are now being made
in Vienna. This makes the clarinet so much better, because it now, besides the
great advantage it gets through low c, which until now it [the clarinet] missed
so much in its favorite key of C, has three full octaves, which every
clarinettist can play very easily ... For now, I will skip the great advantages
of the precding and of this new invention in order to talk about these
clarinets in more detail when they come into normal use". (footnote 21)
Sometime soon thereafter, a clarinet in B-flat with four basset keys was
ordered and made by Johann Gottlieb Bischoff for the Darmstadt Court. Happily,
this clarinet survives today in Darmstadt at the "Hessisches Landesmuseum". In
addition to the four basset keys of e-flat, d, d-flat and c, it has 11 keys,
which are domed and made of brass. The clarinet itself is of boxwood with
ivory ferrules and was restored to perfect playing condition in 1981 by Rainer
Weber at Baierbach. The author has examined this instrument as well as the
Ziegler's. In addition to its original ivory mouthpiece, it has a bulging
barrel, an upper and lower joint, and a bell. The basset keys are minipulated
by the right thumb (as on the Ziegler's). There is a roller mechanism for each
which may have been added later. One may wonder, aside from the keen interest
of Court-Clarinettist Backhofenin these unusual clarinets, why in particular
one in B-flat was ordered, why not A. It turns out that prior to World War II,
the Theatre Bibliothek owned the score and parts to a B-flat version of the
Mozart Clarinet Concerto, K. 622 as well as a piano rehearsal reduction.
Furthermore, the opening of the Hoftheater on 26 October 1810 was marked by the
first performance in Darmstad of Mozart's "La clemenza di Tito", for which a
basset clarinet would be needed (the Theatre Bibliothek owned the 1809
Breitfkopf & Hartel edition of "La clemenza di Tito", which included basset
notes).

At to the tour itself, as already noted, it is not known exactly when it
eneded, but considering the music performed and in some cases introduced, the
musicians who took part and the novelty of the basset clarinet, what a tour it
must have been!

Footnote 21: Johann Georg Heinrich Backhofen, Answeisung zur Klarinette, nebst
einer Kurzen Abhandlung uber das Basset Horn, Leipzig [ca.] 1803, p. 35.
Backofen published another clarinet method in 1824, but does not mention the
basset clarinet again, perhaps indicating that it did not come into general
use.