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Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

Author: jdbassplayer
Date: 2023-10-27 16:38

There is no doubt that there were B natural clarinets in the classical era, but by the late romantic/modern era Mozart's operas were transposed for A clarinet.

This 1881 version of Idomeneo utilizes A clarinets in place of the 2 B clarinets.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Idomeneo,_K.366_(Mozart,_Wolfgang_Amadeus)

Likewise this 1881 version of Così fan tutte also uses only Bb, A and C clarinets.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Cos%C3%AC_fan_tutte%2C_K.588_(Mozart%2C_Wolfgang_Amadeus)

Now if someone could find an original part in B natural ("H") from the late 1800s or early 1900s that would be good proof, but as far as we can tell these parts were played on the more common sizes of clarinet at the time.

Regarding A=452 being the maximum pitch that Buffet produced, This Buffet publication lists A=455, so that much be incorrect (page 30):

https://www.saxophone.org/museum/publications/id/920

And we do know Buffet built instruments MUCH higher. Baritone saxophone specialist Andrew Hardo has a Buffet bari that plays almost exactly a semitone sharp:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxVmT7rObFY&t=15s

Also worth noting that in Austria, high pitch was A=461.5 until the 1960s! This shows that higher pitches than A=452hz not only existed in Europe but also stayed around for a long time.

https://rjmartz.com/horns/austrian-high-tuning/

It's entirely possible that some clarinet specialist from the late Romantic era or Modern era commissioned a B natural clarinet to play Mozart as originally intended, but we just don't have any evidence for it. I'm happy to be proven wrong but I find it hard to believe that there are a dozen or so B natural clarinets out there with a few more popping up every year without any documentation. Surely if they were that popular some company would have listed them in a catalog. Selmer listed C bass clarinets in several of their catalogs and according to Douglas Pipher they sold a grand total of.. 3...

-JDbassplayer

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Date

newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

ericzang

2003-05-23 02:16

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

Corey

2003-05-23 02:29

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

ron b

2003-05-23 04:38

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

chuck

2003-05-23 05:32

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

msroboto

2003-05-23 11:20

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

chuck

2003-05-23 15:47

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

Tom A

2003-05-24 11:35

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

Tom A

2003-05-24 13:01

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

ericzang

2003-05-24 23:08

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

Dee

2003-05-25 00:50

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

ericzang

2003-05-25 09:42

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-26 11:12

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

Dee

2003-05-25 16:46

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

Vytas

2003-05-25 21:08

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-10 10:13

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

ebonite

2023-10-10 14:26

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

lydian

2023-10-10 15:20

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

jdbassplayer

2023-10-10 19:25

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

oian

2023-10-12 02:16

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

Johnny Galaga

2023-10-27 03:37

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-27 13:08

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

jdbassplayer

2023-10-27 16:38

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-29 14:42

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-29 14:48

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-29 15:26

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-29 15:50

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-29 16:19

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

jdbassplayer

2023-10-29 21:57

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-30 02:49

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

ebonite

2023-10-30 13:25

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-31 02:59

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-11-01 07:20

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-11-06 12:43

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

donald

2023-10-30 05:03

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-30 05:35

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

donald

2023-10-30 11:38

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

donald

2023-10-30 11:59

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-31 02:30

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-10-31 02:38

Re: newbie question: do I have a B clarinet?

crazyclari

2023-11-15 10:25

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