Klarinet Archive - Posting 000119.txt from 1995/10

From: Timothy Tikker and Julia Harlow <tjt@-----.ORG>
Subj: OCTO-Contra Alto Clarinet by Leblanc
Date: Fri, 6 Oct 1995 12:54:43 -0400

Summary of account from _Woodwind Magazine_, Sept 1971 (p. 6):

Marking the 25th anniversary of the American branch of the Leblanc firm
and Leon Leblanc's visit to the USA on the occasion, Leblanc announced a
new instrument, the OCTO-Contra Alto Clarinet in E-flat, pitched an
octave below E-flat Contra Alto or two octaves below the E-flat Alto.

It has more than 12 feet of metal tubing; the photo of Leon Leblanc
playing one, seated in a chair, shows an instrument virtually as tall as
Vito Pastucci, president of Leblanc USA, standing nearby. It goes down to
the floor, curves back up, goes down again, and back up to the bell at the
top, which is curved slightly outwards.

The description says that this clarinet "goes down to low C of the 32
feet pedal of the organ with 38 vibrations". Actually, 38 Hz would be
low E-flat of the 32' octave (32' C is 32 Hz - I know, as I'm an organist
as well as clarinetist), so this clarinet obviously has an extension to
written low C, sounding concert E-flat.

The retail price in 1971 was announced as $3,700, "making it the most
expensive wind instrument ever made."

Mention is made of the wish that composers would write for this new
instrument, but that obviously hadn't happened yet.

- Tim Tikker

   
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