Klarinet Archive - Posting 000044.txt from 2002/11

From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: reverse Mozart
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 13:59:14 -0500

WILLIAM SEMPLE wrote:
> Thank you. A learned response, and very informative.
> Your answer suggests a corollary question: why did the Bb clarinet emerge as
> the dominant instrument, especially since so many instruments in an
> orchestra are pitched to concert C.

It is a difficult question to answer and one for which there is probably
no 100% accurate response, but it appears that the B-flat clarinet
emerged as the dominant instrument becauce it was effective in the most
used of the common keys, namely concert B-flat, concert E-flat, and
concert A-flat. I'm talking here about the period of from around 1780 to
1850. After that, it became a scramble and there is no clear cut rule
about which clarinet to use for which key. Sometimes one finds a
composer using a particular complicated key when a different instrument
would have eliminated the complication. For example, Mahler calls for
an A bass in the key of 5 sharps when there was lots of time for a
change both to and from a B-flat bass which would have made the part
less complex.

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**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
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