Klarinet Archive - Posting 001276.txt from 1997/08

From: "Dan Leeson: LEESON@-----.edu>
Subj: RE: basset clarinet
Date: Fri, 29 Aug 1997 14:21:57 -0400

> From: MX%"klarinet@-----.40
> Subj: basset clarinet

> Dan Leeson wrote:
>
> >Mozart did write begin a concerto for basset horn in G, but
> >abandoned it, deciding to write for a clarinet in A. It was
> >a clarinet of extended compass and the name of "basset
> >clarinet" was given to the instrument by Jiri Kratchovil only
> >30 or so years ago, maybe even more recent than that. When
> >Stadler did it, he played it on what he called "a clarinet."
>
> While my friend Dan Leeson is probably correct in crediting
> Kratchovil with bringing the term "basset clarinet" into modern
> usage, I should like to record that in 1796 (within Stadler's lifetime),
> a rather obscure write named Johann Ferdinand von Schoenfeld
> published a book titled "Jahrbuch der Tonkunst von Wien und Prag."
> In this there is an entry on the Stadler brothers, where it is noted
> that the brothers are "not only excellent artists on the usual clarinet,
> but also on the basset clarinet" (p. 58). Clearly Schoenfeld got some of
> his facts wrong (only Anton played basset clarinet), and may have
> even got confused with instrument names. But the term "basset
> clarinet" is clearly there--to my knowledge the singular occurrence
> of this term for the next 150 years.
>
>
> David Ross
> dross@-----.edu

David is quite right. I used the information found in the article
in Groves' on the clarinet as the source of my information, and
he is not the only one to point out that my source was flawed.

Thank you David.

=======================================
Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
Rosanne Leeson, Los Altos, California
leeson@-----.edu
=======================================