Klarinet Archive - Posting 000078.txt from 2004/09

From: =?koi8-r?Q?ferengiz=D7de_dani=CBl_shawqy?= <rab@-----.de>
Subj: [kl] B clarinets/ High pitch Bb (Re: [kl] A bass clarinet)
Date: Sat, 4 Sep 2004 06:29:50 -0400

I own a couple of historic (second half of the 19th c.) high pitch Bb
clarinets: a J. Albert that is
quite exactly in modern B 440 Hz; a Stecher, Vienna in something like 452 Hz
(old philharmonic pitch) and most notably a Stengel, Bayreuth that plays
above 465 Hz, probably made for some military Band (it could serve as a C on
425 Hz, but alas, that would not be a authentic mid 19th c. pitch, the horn
is very good though). The Bore of all those
instruments is between 15mm and 15,2mm, i.e. more like a Bb than a C
instrument, yet they sound very bright and, I must say, they are not my
favourites in terms of timbre, not to mention the lack of repertoire. The
move back to 435 Hz in 1885 was probably a very good idea.
Best wishes.
danyel

----- Original Message -----
From: dnleeson
To: klarinet@-----.org
Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 8:04 PM
Subject: RE: [kl] A bass clarinet

Interesting that you should mention the clarinet in H. I did
speak about Mozart's two uses of the clarinet in B-natural and
pointed out that a high-pitched clarinet in B-flat would probably
work for. I remind the list that in the 1920s, when one got a
gig, the first question asked was "Is it for low pitch or high
pitch?" And when you bought a clarinet, you had to specify
which of the two pitches you had in mind. Well, the high pitched
clarinet in B-flat is very close to a clarinet in B-natural,
though I never made a technical examination of the pitch to any
serious degree.

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