 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: TerpUMD
Date: 2003-12-02 19:49
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Well, I got this one a lot cheaper, but I was hoping you all could help me out on its history.
The lady who I bought this from is selling for a "a widow of retired doctor / amateur clarinet player, who was a student of Anthony Gigilottti, former principal clarinetist of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 30 years." Now, I'm too young to know who this is, but would like to be able to attach some sort of history to the mouthpiece. Who was this clarinettist?
Anyway, not to advertise a particular auction site, but she's put up a total of 12 Cheds, Kaspars, and Lelandais blanks. Attached are the pics to the Ched I picked up. Looks like it may need some refacing--thoughts?
Thank you, as always.
Rob
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2003-12-02 21:51
Rob -
It's stenciled "Martin Freres," which will reduce the value even if it's a genuine Chedeville. Also, while it's difficult to tell from a photo, it looks like there's been a good bit of work on the baffle. This is bad for resale value, but not necessarily bad for the mouthpiece, since many Chedevilles had the baffle too high. As always, everything depends on how it plays.
Anthony Gigliotti was the principal player in Philadelphia for nearly 50 years. He was one of the great players, with unbelieveable power, which he had to have playing in the orchestra with the richest string sound of all, and in one of the deadest halls in existence. He had the sweetest temperament of anyone I've ever met. He taught at Curtis for many years.
He was known to have a very large collection of Chedevilles, but preferred that his students play Kaspars, probably because, for the greater part of his career, both Kaspars were still active and making excellent new mouthpieces, while Chedevilles were available only used.
Let us know how the mouthpiece works out.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: Synonymous Botch
Date: 2003-12-02 22:13
Beware the path paved with unobtanium...
You'll be dollars ahead, and closer to your goal, if you patronize the living.
Chris Hill/Clark Fobes/Greg Smith/Ralph Morgan/Dave Spiegelthal/Danny J...
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Author: Wicked Good ★2017
Date: 2003-12-02 22:18
...David Hite/Bill Street/Theo Wanne... 
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There are only 10 kinds of people in the world:
Those who understand binary math, and those who don't.
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Author: RM
Date: 2003-12-02 23:10
Im amazed that people will pay big bucks for these old mouthpieces on ebay, when the vast majority are poor, and out of those the good candidates rarely turn out very good at all with refacing. True, the old mouthpieces do have a very refined sound when set up right, but they do not have the ease of playing, reed friendliness and tuning that modern mouthpieces offer. I have played Kaspars, both Cicero and Ann Arbor, and Chedevilles, Henri and Charles; they brought me nothing but grief, very reed picky, out of tune, and hard to control. But, with the right reed they sparkled! Is it worth it, as a working professional I think not.
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Author: TerpUMD
Date: 2003-12-03 00:06
>I have played Kaspars, both Cicero and Ann
> Arbor, and Chedevilles, Henri and Charles; they brought me
> nothing but grief, very reed picky, out of tune, and hard to
> control. But, with the right reed they sparkled! Is it worth
> it, as a working professional I think not.
As a working professional, you've had your chance to play on all of these mouthpieces (paid for or not). I am most likely MUCH younger than you, and have not had such chance.
It is my belief that to get the chance to experiment with such equipment is all a part of the learning process, thus truly being "worth it". You did it yourself--so why can't I?
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2003-12-03 00:20
Terp,
if you have the money, then why not? If I had the money I'd be ordering Greg Smiths, Hites, Fobes, Grabner personal facing, all over the place for testing. I don't have it though.
Let us know how it plays when it gets in.
I like to refer to Anthony Gigliotti as "The Man". There are a few others out there that also get this title for their accomplishments, like Stanley Drucker who still blows me away knowing that he had achieved principle clarinetist at such a young age, and I'm sure that Julian Bliss, or "The Kid" as I like to call him will be accomplishing such feats in the future as well. All I have to do is wait a few more years to see what becomes of him.
Also, Gigliotti has his name on some very fine products. Gigliotti reeds are good, I like their mouthpiece, I like their ligature, haven't tried his barrels but my instructor plays on them (however he's a former student of the late Gigliotti so he has an entire Gigliotti setup including ALL of the the above plus his clarinet swab).
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: Ed
Date: 2003-12-03 03:22
"There are a few others out there that also get this title for their accomplishments, like Stanley Drucker who still blows me away knowing that he had achieved principle clarinetist at such a young age"
I think what he has accomplished over his long career and what he continues to accomplish is FAR more impressive. That track record is amazing!
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