Klarinet Archive - Posting 000209.txt from 1996/06

From: Arthur Ness <71162.751@-----.COM>
Subj: Dan's comments on Low Eb clarinets
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 1996 17:35:27 -0400

From: Arthur Ness, 71162,751
TO: Nick Shackleton, INTERNET:njs5%cam.ac.uk@-----.BITNET
DATE: 6/14/96 9:16 AM

RE: Copy of: Dan's comments on Low Eb clarinets

I haven't followed all of the messages on this thread, but I do find the subject
fascinating. My first clarinet teacher, in the late 40s, was (Henry?) Moore,
retired solo clarinetist with the Long Beach Municipal Band, and before that a
bandsman in the Ringling Bros. Circus (what tales he could tell an
11-year-old!).

He had three metal clarinets (Cundy-Beethony???), a sopranino E flat, B flat and
A. I know that the B flat had an extra lever for the low E flat. Whether the A
did, or not, I don't recall. Of course, the A clarinet can come in handy in
band work (I have sometimes used A clarinet when the B flat part has lots of
sharps).

My question is whether anyone has studied the original manuscript and sketches
for the Nielsen Clarinet Concerto. Could that work have been originally intended
for a B flat clarinet equipped with a low E flat? It seems to fall better under
the fingers on the B flat instrument. Nielsen was a cornetist, but didn't he
play clarinet as well?

Arthur Ness (Boston).