Klarinet Archive - Posting 000729.txt from 1998/03

From: Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.Net>
Subj: Why are there clarinets in A, Bb and C?
Date: Wed, 11 Mar 1998 22:41:33 -0500

H. Klose, who with Auguste Buffet Jr., adapted the Boehm flute mechanism
for clarinets, explained why there were clarinets in various keys so close
together. I cannot vouch for Klose's explanation, but he was present at the
creation, so he deserves attention even if what he said might need
discounting a little, because he was such an apostle for his new mechanism.
Anyway, this is quoted from the preface he wrote to his Celebrated Method
for Clarinet:

"The clarinet was invented at Nuremberg about the year 1690 by a maker of
stringed instruments named John Christopher Benner. It was in its design
the most imperfect of wind instruments .... Possessing only a single key
and wanting in regularity in the succession of different registers, the
clarinet obtained at first but little attention. Some artists, however,
attracted by the beauty of its sounds, endeavored to improve it. .... At
length Ivan Mueller brought the instrument to a high state of perfection,
and produced the clarinet armed with 13 keys.

" .... The instrument was, however, far from having attained all the
perfection of which it was capable, for since its invention the clarinet
had been pierced according to the natural separation of the fingers. This
resulted in a faulty tone, the notes being frequently dull, feeble or too
shrill .... The mechanism of the keys caused insurmountable difficulties of
fingering, making it impossible to play the clarinet in all the different
keys; and hence arose the necessity, as onerous as it was troublesom, for
three clarinets, C, Bb and A."

So there you are, for what it's worth. Was it more common to score for A
and C clarinets before the general adoption of the Boehm, or Klose system?

Klose'sCelebrated Method for Clarinet was in use for more than a hundred
years, although nowadays it seems to have been mostly supplanted by
Langenus. I still use parts of it in teaching, particularly the five pages
of technical exercises that he wrote to demonstrate that his new system
made it possible to execute passages smoothly and quickly which were
difficult to play at all on the older clarinets. There are also some great
duets, and some solo material including a very showy Staats Fantasia on a
theme from I Puritani, and a movement from Carl Spohr's Third Concerto for
Clarinet, a charming example of the 19th century virtuoso style, all flashy
arpeggios and chromatic runs through the whole gamut of the instrument. Not
great music, but a lot of fun. A revision and enlargement of the Celebrated
Method by the virtuoso C.L. Staats was published in the United States in
1899, and is still in print, I believe.

It is interesting that we call the Klose-Buffet system the Boehm system.
Klose himself seemed to be reluctant to give Boehm much credit, and never
mentioned the Swiss flutemaker's name in his introduction. It's poetic
justice, perhaps, that his name is so seldom mentioned any more.

Also in the introduction to the Celebrated Method is a quaint little
section headed Of the Advantage of Playing with the Reed Underneath. I
think someone asked about that on the list a week or two ago.

"The three following advantages result from playing with the reed below.
1. A much softer and more agreeable tone is obtained.
2. The tongue, being naturally placed under the reed, possesses a much
greater facility of articulation.
3. This manner of playing appears more graceful, gives greater powers of
execution, and is much less fatiguing."

Lee Hickling <hickling@-----.net>