Klarinet Archive - Posting 000534.txt from 1995/05

From: "<Rachel Park>" <Rachel.Park@-----.NZ>
Subj: basset horn in G/cor anglais connection
Date: Fri, 19 May 1995 06:41:17 -0400

In answer to further messages from Daniel Leeson and Roger Shilcock:

The Rendall book is actually stating that the instrument itself was pitched
in G (ie. written C on the instrument sounded a concert G), it doesn't
refer to the key the basset horn most commonly played in. I've found the
book in the university library again, the actual quote being:
'At first, for the first ten or twenty years of its existence, the
basset horn was pitched more often in G than in F' (p.126)
Nothing else is added to this statement, and he doesn't mention what he
bases this supposition on. If you would like a copy of the chapter and/or
bibliography, please e-mail me privately and I will forward it to you (in
New Zealand we have many more English publications than American but I'm
not sure how available the book would be in America).

Roger, the 'cor anglais' nomenclature is certainly related to 'basset horn'
- precisely because the end result of both instruments construction in
their early period made them look like horns (which now leads to problems
for both instruments in their modern form as neither of them bears any
relation to the horn shape). I am not sure though whether the basset horn
was named because it looked like a horn, or because it looked like the
contemporary cor anglais, and so got it's name that way. I guess this is a
minor issue, but the two instruments are definately related by name because
of their early construction.

Hope this helps (and makes sense!)
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Rachel Park
c/o School of Music
Victoria University of Wellington
P.O Box 600
WELLINGTON
New Zealand
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