Author: ALARIC
Date: 2002-10-04 06:16
There were many more clarinet makers than are remembered, and many attempts at making clarinets with the results being destroyed so long ago that there is no record of the experiments. Even Conn in the 1800s made models in which less than a dozen were made. A unique item with a rugged and artistic design like this might have survived even if the clarinet was not functional in any key by modern standards.
A huge number of individually handcrafted instruments were made in the 1800s that were also destroyed in the 1800s. Some of them were absolutely gorgeous to look at, but an embarrassment to try to play. What would be extremely valuable as a masterpiece in artistic craftsmanship today wasn't appreciated when more functional popular instruments became available back then. Somewhere in the world there is a very ornate clarinet inlaid with gold and ivory, but I've never seen it, and people didn't make lamps back then, so such things had no use despite their beauty.
It is not so precise (e.g. Albert or Mueller). Of course you can call it a clarinet, and I'd guess made around 1870, but there were thousands of craftsmen back then, and they didn't necessarily abide by an established 'system' other than their perception of what would make a musical instrument, and an expression of their craftsmanship. Albert and Mueller may have been lucky because they were remembered, and others tried to replicate their examples. There are people who can make a rifle in a machine shop from scrath--That doesn't make them Winchesters.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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