 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Chris P
Date: 2012-04-29 12:39
Are there any reports on how well received the then new Klose-Buffet "Boehm system" clarinet was when it was first launched? Was it popular from the word go or was it treated with suspicion or prejudice by prominent players and music schools of the day?
Nowadays it's the most popular system played almost throughout the world, but did it take a lot of publicity and endorsements to make it popular back then?
Did other makers refuse to acknowledge it until they realised the benefits and began to make it themselves or did they take to it immediately? Was it an option from most makers and made to special order only until it became the industry standard?
Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.
Post Edited (2012-04-29 14:11)
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Author: Loliver
Date: 2012-04-29 14:04
I'm not sure about the Klose-Buffet 'Boehm System', but I did read about the previously developed system by Iwan Muller, which was developed into the Ohler/Oehler system. He demonstrated to the Paris Conservatoire that having modern-ish style 'fat' pads, rather than 'spatula' pads was much better at stopping leakages, so one was no longer limited to 4 or 5 keys, and could now obtain the whole chromatic scale. (Also explains how the Clarinet in C became redundent).
However, his ideas were rejected, wheter it be because he was a relative unknown from the Russian Empire, or because the Conservatoire was very...conservative. One could see similarities with later developments in the oboe key systems, such as 3rd octave and high-D facilitator and what not, both of which, arguably, are very practical, but were initially rejected by the Paris Conservatoire as too modern.
One reason that Klose-Boehm's system was accepted was because they were well known in the Parisian musical circles at the time, the new key system being presented after Klose, a Corfiote, had been working as a clarinetist in Paris for some years, whereas Muller had just arrived when he presented his, and subsequently his clarinet was only recognised as an improvement after he had proved himself in concert.
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Author: chris moffatt
Date: 2012-04-30 13:11
Rendall mentions that the Boehm system rapidly became popular in France, being required at the conservatories - although french manufacturers continued to make sundry other clarinet systems e.g the clarinet omnitonique (by Buffet-Crampon I believe). Apparently acceptance was much slower in other countries e.g not accepted at the Brussels conservatory until after 1890. French makers continued to produce many Albert clarinets throughout the century - many of which are still to be found on eBay. And, as you know, simple system horns were widely used in Britain until WWII and are still preferred for middle-eastern music. Of course, in german-speaking countries, at least until very recently, it has had little acceptance.
Again, per Rendall, the Boehm clarinet was in Rudall, Carte's 1854 catalog. He states that "no London professional is known to have adopted it and no London maker turned to its manufacture".
In 'New and modern method" by Lazarus, he does recommend the Boehm system as more convenient although he never adopted it himself.
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