Klarinet Archive - Posting 000058.txt from 2009/08

From: "Keith Bowen" <bowenk@-----.com>
Subj: RE: [kl] Clarinets in F
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2009 08:20:07 -0400

M=C3=BCller only described his instrument as an alto clarinet, with no =
reference to basset horn. It appears to have been designed for band =
work.

I don't believe he made any contribution personally to the bass =
clarinet, though his system was fairly soon adopted on the bass. The =
main innovations on the bass were by Buffet (making the first =
modern-type bass, as opposed to bassoon forms) and Adolphe Sax, who made =
major improvements in the acoustics.

Keith Bowen

-----Original Message-----
From: Joseph Wakeling [mailto:joseph.wakeling@-----.net]=20
Sent: 12 August 2009 13:53
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: Re: [kl] Clarinets in F

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 M=C3=BCller 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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