The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: northwinds
Date: 2005-03-08 20:07
i have come into possession to a waterloo academy wooden made in france alto clarinet.the body is in 2 pieces all parts are there .i cannot find any information on this paticular instrument ...does anyone know?
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-03-09 13:23
Out of an "abundance" of curiousity, believing that Waterloo Academy was likely a Fr "stencil" name of a clarinet [alto !!], I made a quickie search of Waterloo France, and sure enough its main claim to any fame was Napolean's defeat and battle history. There was a reference to an educational institution, the Tour De France went thru there, and possibly something about a ski area, SO, ? perhaps its a small mountain town somewhere in Fr. A map might help !! Anyone ever been there ?? Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-03-09 14:14
You'd have a hard time placing Napoleon I'ers defeat at a town in France, Don. Waterloo is a small crossroads town in Belgium, a nation created shortly after the Emperor abdicated for the first time.
Other than wonderful chocolates (very good, much better than French or Viennese in my experience), Belgium also gave us A. Sax, along with all of his many families of 'phones and 'horns and (most importantly) the modern bass clarinet. It must have been something in the water...
As the Tour makes it through the Waterloo you found, it's probably somewhere in the eastern half of La Belle France.
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-03-09 14:29
TKS for the info, Terry, I knew I'd stir up some "trubble", but wasn't Nap's defeat in France-Gaul AT that TIME, or was it Germany or Netherlands, need old maps ! Yes to Sax AND Albert "quorum Belgae incolunt" ?Caesar?. If, N W might give us some descript of his horn, we could do more guessing. Great FUN, Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-03-09 15:41
The Walloons and Flemings gained their independence at the end of the First Empire, and the nation state of Belgium was formed while Napoleon Ier was in exile on Elba. By the time he moved north during The Hundred Days, they even were able (in conjunction with the Dutch, also formerly incorporated in metro France) to field an army (of admitted mixed quality).
As for the provenance of the alto clarinet shaped object in question, it's probably part of some former Communist plot to further undermine the West by the introduction of the accursed things to innocent school children...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2005-03-09 16:17
Gosh and Gee Whiz, Terry, what a lesson in French history you have turned up, many TKS. I'll be working in our city's Library [bookstore] in an hour or so and will see what our map collection [period?] may show,also a book or so on Nap B's efforts. Interesting, prob only to a limited few of us !! Don
Thanx, Mark, Don
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2005-03-09 17:07
More irrelevant Waterloo facts:
The 2004 Tour de France went through Waterloo in Belgium. Nothing strange about that - the Tour often strays outside France.
The University of Waterloo is in Ontario, Canada.
The London terminal of passenger trains through the tunnel to Paris and Brussels is part of Waterloo station. It has been commented that this is a nice way to remind the French of their glorious defeat by the hated English.
Not sure about the skiing, but there are definitely no mountains at Waterloo in Belgium. The French writer Victor Hugo famously described it as a "morne plaine" - a desolate plain.
I would be surprised to find the French naming anything after Waterloo. It'd be a bit like the Americans making a Pearl Harbor flute, or naming a convenience store Nine-Eleven. Though admittedly Waterloo was a lot longer ago.
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If there are so many people on this board unwilling or unable to have a civil and balanced discussion about important issues, then I shan't bother to post here any more.
To the great relief of many of you, no doubt.
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Author: Terry Stibal
Date: 2005-03-09 17:19
"Not sure about the skiing, but there are definitely no mountains at Waterloo in Belgium. The French writer Victor Hugo famously described it as a "morne plaine" - a desolate plain."
Well, that was originally true. However, the royals of Belgium raised a monument to a dead prince of their "royal house" (all of what, one year old?) on the battlefield, and that little terrain feature has changed it in perpetuity.
It's often called the Lion Mound, and it rises some hundred and something feet above the rolling terrain that characterizes the rest of the field. Quite ugly when viewed in person, and one [phrase deleted - GBK ] full of stairs to climb to get to the top...
leader of Houston's Sounds Of The South Dance Orchestra
info@sotsdo.com
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Author: GBK
Date: 2005-03-09 17:34
[ Let's steer the thread back to the original question. Thanks - GBK ]
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Author: northwinds
Date: 2005-03-09 20:37
although i thank all of you specially for the history i am getting convinced that this is an older model ,the wood doesnt seem like grenadilla lighter texture more of a grain ...i am guessing a maker had this made ie stencil and had thier scool name printed on it plays well wasnt sure of the value wouldnt mind value comments...........
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