Klarinet Archive - Posting 000202.txt from 2009/10

From: Michael Nichols <mrn.clarinet@-----.com>
Subj: Re: [kl] Coolest
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:07:47 -0400

On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 5:28 PM, Dan Leeson <dnleeson@-----.net> wrote:

> Multiply pitched clarinets were invented so that clarinets could be used AT
> ALL in the most common keys of C and F.

I have a question you might know the answer to. What sort of clarinet
did Rossini write for when he wrote the Barber of Seville Overture?

The reason why I ask is that I found it puzzling that it starts in E
Major on the C clarinet, then switches to E minor (so it goes from
four sharps to one sharp in the key signature). Seeing that the piece
was written in 1813 (the overture, anyway--the opera came later), it's
pre-Baermann system (and almost pre-Mueller). Seems like this would
have "broken the rule," so to speak, unless Rossini was writing for a
more technically advanced instrument than Mozart did. I didn't think
he was--I thought both would have written for basically the same sort
of 5-key clarinet (Stadler's, of course, having extra keys for low
notes)--but I am really just beginning to learn about the ins and outs
of 18th-century and early 19th-century clarinets, so I really don't
know.

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