Klarinet Archive - Posting 000775.txt from 1996/04

From: Dave Yee <DQY@-----.COM>
Subj: Re: Denner D Clarinet
Date: Fri, 26 Apr 1996 12:27:47 -0400

This is a response to James Instone's query about music for the D clarinet.

In addition to the 6 concerti by Johann Melchior Molter mentioned by
Jacqueline Eastwood, Ed Lowry, and Richard Faria, there is an overture or
suite in D (HWV 424) by George Frideric Handel for 2 clarinets in D and a
French horn (corno da caccia) in D. Mercury Music Corporation published a
performance score in 1950, and Schott & Sons published another one in 1952.
An "Urtext" appears in the Hallische Handel-Ausgabe, Series IV, Volume 15.
All these scores are in concert pitch, but the introduction in the HHA
explains that the piece was "probably" meant for D clarinets.

Speaking of early music for the clarinet, I note that an apparently
inordinate number of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's works that call for
clarinets are in the key of D. I wonder whether he had D clarinets in mind.

If I may ask a tangential question, can anyone explain to me the difference
between a two-keyed clarinet and a chalumeau?

Dave Yee