Klarinet Archive - Posting 001115.txt from 2003/03

From: Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] Re: C clarinet
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2003 13:34:09 -0500

Within the space of just one day (and it's only 9 am here in
California), there have been five messages about the use of C clarinets.
It certainly is not necessary to convince me of the value of the use
of this particular pitched instrument. I've insisted on using it
professionally for 30 years and even influenced other professional
players to use it.

The messages from Robert Howe, Matthew Lloyd, Joseph Fasel, Forest
Alten, and Samantha McDaniel are all interesting. But I suspect that
even these articulate people are not necessarily really familiar with
why such an instrument is part of the clarinet's history. There have
been some proposals suggesting that it was the primitive nature of the
clarinet that caused their presence, but now that the clarinet is far
from primitive, additional and differently pitched instruments may no
longer be needed. Alternatively, the view is expressed that composers
wanted the C clarinet's distinctive sound. Others make no comments on
its origin or history.

I think that before this discussion gets off on the wrong foot (or else
dropped completely with no realization of what is fact and what is
fancy), it's worth pointing out how the C, B-flat, and A clarinets -- a
situation without parallel in the other wind instrument choirs (though
there was an oboe in B-flat) -- came about. And it is interesting to
discuss at this moment since the idea of a clarinet overblowing a 12th
and not an octave has been part of a lively discussion over the past few
weeks.

It is this very phenomenon (i.e., the overblowing of a 12th) that causes
the variety of clarinet pitches with which we all are familiar.

Until perhaps 1830, there was a strict rule spoken of in all books on
writing for the clarinet as well as clarinet tutors for beginning and
even advanced players. The rule was this: clarinets should be used only
in the written keys of C, F, and less frequently G. The main reason for
the rule was that the clarinet of that period didn't do well when it was
required to execute in other keys. There were fingering problems and
intonation difficulties. And all of these problems arose because of the
fact that instrument overblew a 12th.

Any instrument of that time (and to a much less degree even today) that
overblows a 12th is going to present problems of pitch for some notes.
And those problems were that the same fingering in the two different
registers did not always produce notes in tune in both registers for
certain pitches. In effect, its a lot easier to make an instrument that
overblows an octave to be in tune for notes of the two registers than it
is for an instrument that overblows a 12th.

The solution to the problem of allowing clarinets to play in a variety
of pitches was retrogressive; that is, instead of solving the problem by
improving the clarinet itself (and which may have been beyond the
technology of that era), it was suggested that there be multiple
clarinets, each of which could execute effectively in written C, F, and
G. So if one had three clarinets (in C, in B-flat, and in A), each of
which could play in written C, F, and G, one pretty much covered the
gamut of concert pitches.

So a clarinet player would toodle along in C or F or G until a
transposition occurred that would force them into an "illegal" key.
When that happened, they simply changed clarinets and continued in a
"legal" keys on the transposed clarinet. When that did not work (i.e.,
even switching clarinet did not allow for retention of written C, F, or
G), the clarinets simply didn't play for that movement. This is true in
at least one Mozart piano concerto and in one of the Beethoven piano
concerti..

It is this problem that is the source of the multiple clarinets which
some players solve by having only one clarinet and transposing
everything else. But doing so produces sound characters different from
that of the instrument type written for.

By that I mean that all the evidence shows that Mozart chose a C
clarinet (and, of course, the other pitched instruments as well) for a
technical not a sonic reason. But once chosen, the character of the
instrument's sound was exploited by him and using any other clarinet
type results in a sound character different from that which was in
Mozart's head at the time of composition, at least theoretically.

Even when clarinets matured technically, the presence of the three kinds
of instruments (and even more kinds that became obsolete, such as the
clarinet in B-natural) remained and were used by composers, even
contemporary ones.

The bottom line (and which I have argued for years) is that the use of a
C clarinet, for example, is mandated even today, though the technical
reasons for it has disappeared; i.e., the sound character in Mozart's
(and Beethoven's, and Schubert's, and Mendelssohn's, etc. etc.) head is
retained even though the technical requirement for the instrument no
longer exists (except in original instrument orchestras).

The main reasons why the C clarinet disappeared almost entirely from the
face of clarinet playing was (1) the wish on the part of players to
carry less instruments, (2) the quality of C clarinets produced by
manufacturers, and (3) the assumption that only pitch of note was
important and not sound character.
--
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**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
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