 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Susan Eileen
Date: 2003-07-15 05:55
Has anyone heard of a B clarinet? Not a B flat but a B. I compared this clarinet w/ my B flat and my C clarinet. The pitch makes it a B clarinet AND in size it is definately smaller than my B flat and larger than my C. There is no doubt that it is by size, in between the B flat and C. Not just the barrell, but the joints.
If you have heard of such an instrument, where or why would it be used? Did some one write for B clarinet?
thanks
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Author: David Oakley
Date: 2003-07-15 12:45
Susan,
I've asked questions about the B natural clarinet before on the Klarinet list. Dan Leeson has written a couple of lengthy articles on the subject, and they would be an excellent start for reading on the subject. I think the title of one of the articles was >>Give me an A<<. As I understand it, yes, there was a B natural clarinet back in Mozart's day, and he used it to a limited extent.
I don't think the B-natural has been made in recent times, however. Again, Dan Leeson would be the best one to ask abotu this. I have a faint memory that someone said that one of the old high pitch instruments from the early 20th century would sound like a B-natural instrument by modern pitch standards, but my memory may be faulty about this.
David Oakley
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Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017
Date: 2003-07-15 14:05
Are you sure it's not an old "high-pitch" (HP) Bb clarinet? You've probably already considered the possibility, but an HP (A=455Hz) clarinet in Bb would probably play close to the key of B natural at the modern A=440 Hz standard.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-07-15 15:47
I agree with Dave, IMHO, its likely you have a High Pitch Bb clarinet, if its of the era of ~1875 to 1925. In my Chem/Phy Handbook, based on a 440=A, A# would be [equal-tempered] 466 cps [Hertz], thus about 25- 26 [cycles per second] per half-tone in the orchestral-band tuning range. It is similar for the older A=435 pitch. Thus, a 455 HP clarinet would be a very sharp Bb or a somewhat flat B natural horn. Using quite short or very long barrels to put the "tuning note" in tune as a B nat OR Bb clarinet [respectively] would probably render it unusable since the fixed tone-hole spacing will cause octaves etc to be badly out-of-tune with themselves. I find this difficult to put into words, SO, Others Please Help, TKS, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2003-07-15 21:02
I have the experience of having performed "Cosi fan tutte" and "Idomeneo" using b natural clarinet back in 1985 and 1987. In practically all "autentic" productions in Europe of those pieces people are using them today.
In our production I used a "corp de change" with the c clarinet. It was recorded for Decca.
Alphie
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2003-07-15 21:30
Very interesting/unique, Alphie! How can we identify these recordings, please! I have a good friend who has [or thinks he has] a Buffet B natural cl!!. TKS, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: diz
Date: 2003-07-16 01:36
David Oakley wrote:
...
there was a B natural clarinet back in Mozart's day, and he used it to a limited extent.
...
There was? - which pieces of his did he use it in, I'm intrigued.
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Author: Burt
Date: 2003-07-16 12:51
To add to the confusion, there are German works which specify clarinet in B, but they mean Bb. What we call "B natural", they call "H".
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Author: David Oakley
Date: 2003-07-16 15:50
diz--
My information came from some of Dan Leeson's articles, including those referenced above by Ken Shaw. Here's a quote where he mentions a work in which Mozart called for the b-natural clarinet:
>>I may buy a pair of high pitched B-flat clarinets to use if and when
I ever play Cosi Fan Tutte with a conductor who would appreciate
the presence of the B-natural clarinets in the ensemble as called for
in Mozart's autograph.
From
http://www.woodwind.org/Databases/Logs/1993/12/000218.txt
and in another post, Dan Leeson stated that
>>I know of no such effort, though the high-pitched clarinet in B-flat
that was in use in the first half of the 20th century came very close to
being a clarinet in B-natural. Mozart used the instrumnent only twice
and its theoretical purpose was to permit facilitation for concert keys
in more than 3 sharps.
The thread that quote came from may be found at
http://www.woodwind.org/Databases/Logs/2002/11/000043.txt
So the instrument was called for _very_ rarely by Mozart.
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2003-07-16 15:55
Don, it was in the days of LP records but the CD is Decca 414 316-2
Alphie
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2003-07-16 16:16
Yep. I have a high pitch Albert E-flat that plays in <almost> E-natural.
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