Klarinet Archive - Posting 000803.txt from 1998/03

From: ROBERT HOWE <arehow@-----.net>
Subj: Re: A bass clarinet
Date: Sat, 14 Mar 1998 11:43:51 -0500

Mr Hanson, your note opens a veritable can of worms.

Matt Hanson wrote:

> Not only does the low Eb enable the Bb bass to reach the A Bass' low E, but
> is also allows a "true" E/B to speak...
True enough

> I have found that Selmer's old low E Rosewood Eb contras are even worse
> about intonation and timbre than the basses.
????? While I don't disbelieve you, the (earlier) Selmer grenadilla low
E Eb contra, with double register touch, that I am now selling, has an
impeccable scale. Perhaps your mpc and reed are not well matched to the
instrument in question?

> As I recall, low Bb english horns mainly exist due to clumbsy score writing
> where some composers actually assumed the english horn had the oboe's Bb...
You recall half wrong. Bad low Bb English horns are made, but so are
good ones.

Name some compsers who wrote for low Bb on the English horn. I will
name two. Gustav Mahler, who in the Song of the Earth notes that the Bb
may not be available, and who directs the player to play low B instead,
and who in the first symphony writes the low Bbs in (). Maurice Ravel,
who makes no such allowances. Were these "clumsy" orchestrators? Or
can we show by studying old catalogs and specimens that such instruments
existed and could be expected to be available? In fact, the latter is
true. Ziegler in Vienna made low A oboes in the late 19th century
(hence the low A's in the oboes in Mahler), many makers made flutes down
to B or Bb or even A, and many clarient makers included low Ebs (cf
Mahler 5th sym, movt 1, clar 2). Not on all models, but they were
available!!

The organology literature is rich, cheap and easily available and can be
the source of much enjoyment.

Robert Howe