Klarinet Archive - Posting 000056.txt from 2009/08

From: Joseph Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Clarinets in F
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:52:33 -0400

Dan Leeson wrote:
> For quite some time, Le Blanc sold a clarinet in F. It was in their
> catalog. It was just like a basset horn but it did not go lower than the
> low written e. I am uncertain about what purpose it served, but I saw
> and played one.

There's info on these instruments in the Cambridge Companion to the
Clarinet. If I recall right they originate with Iwan Müller who, as
well as developing his 'clarinette omnitonique', also made improved
versions of the bass clarinet and basset horn.

The trouble with the latter was that it removed the 'basset' aspect,
leaving an instrument that went only down to low E. This was I think
the first alto clarinet to be described as such.

Apparently alto clarinets in F were a staple of German wind bands for a
long period of time. There's a photo of a 19th-century instrument in
the Cambridge Companion and its bore is much narrower than the modern
instrument -- I think 15.4mm, so comparable to a narrow-bore basset horn.

Isn't the Stravinsky work the original Firebird?

Best wishes,

-- Joe

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