Klarinet Archive - Posting 000065.txt from 2002/11

From: Bill Hausmann <bhausmann1@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: reverse Mozart
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 18:00:57 -0500

At 10:33 AM 11/1/2002 -0800, Dan Leeson wrote:
>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.

Although I have no documentary evidence to support this theory, I would
suggest that the Bb clarinet probably found a very comfortable home in the
military BAND, with it's other Bb pitched instruments such as
trumpets/cornets. The relatively larger number of clarinets per band vs.
clarinets per orchestra and the popularity of town bands could have had
considerable effect on the eventual dominance of the Bb clarinet over those
in other keys.

Bill Hausmann

If you have to mic a saxophone, the rest of the band is TOO LOUD!

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