Klarinet Archive - Posting 001162.txt from 2003/03

From: Roger Shilcock <roger.shilcock@-----.uk>
Subj: Re: [kl] Re: C clarinet
Date: Fri, 28 Mar 2003 03:37:10 -0500

An obvious (to me)comment on this is that the sounds of C clarinets have clearly
changed over the years - centuries, in fact.... If a composer in the mid-nineteenth century hebuinely wanted the sound of a typicalk C clarinet of his day, it doesn't follow that he woiuyld want the sound of a present-day instrument with a larger bore and a mouthpiece and reed as used on a B flat instrument.
Roger S.

n message <3E834421.6040505@-----.org writes:
> 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.
> --
> ***************************
> **Dan Leeson **
> **leeson0@-----.net **
> ***************************
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--
Cet animal est méchant. Quand on l'attaque, il se défend.
---- Alleged sign in French zoo.

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