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Klarinet Archive - Posting 000073.txt from 2002/11
From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: reverse Mozart
Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2002 19:51:24 -0500
Bill Hausmann wrote:
> 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
Bill, I believe that the military bands of the late 18th and early 19th
centuries (which is the time that the B-flat clarinet evolved as the
most popular member of the family) were mostly brass groups. I suspect
that there may be a few works for military band but that was not the
guiding consideration in their development. It was the classical
orchestra of 1760 to 1820 that was the more important consideration.
Today, of course, the clarinet is very much a band instrument but I
think we are mixing metaphors here.
Dan
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**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
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