 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: spf
Date: 2002-10-26 03:12
Since someone pointed out in another thread that basset clarinets are available in both Bb and A pitch, I have been wondering just what makes a basset a basset? (OK, OK..., BESIDES floppy ears!)Will anyone shed some light on this for me? Thanks.
spf
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-10-26 04:45
I must have missed that one, as I had no idea anyone would want a basset Clarinet in Bb. spf, "Basset Clarinet" is a name dreamed up by somebody around the 1950s to identify a clarinet with a range similar to the one Anton Stadler used when he was the first to play the Mozart Clarinet Concerto, K622. The instrument is quite long and has a very extended low range. (C'mon, Stadler fans, tell 'im just how low can it go.)
Regards,
John
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Author: Kat
Date: 2002-10-26 05:26
It goes down to written low C, as far as I know, since that's what's required by the "original" version of the Mozart...
Katrina
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Author: Morrigan
Date: 2002-10-26 06:35
...So, it's like a Soprano bass clarinet! The Selmer I am playing at the moment has the full low C extension... I loooove it so much!
Just imagine this, but as a Bb Clarinet.
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-10-26 18:51
I've never seen a Basset [extended {low} range] Bb cl, just the "Mozart etc" A " B. clar.. The Basset of the Alto cl is called B. Horn [also in a diff. key, F!], of the bass cl just "extended-range to low C" {why not also Basset??}, dont know about the lower [or higher] cls! Other than for special purpose [the B. cl] music, and slight diffs. in tonality, the rather complex additional keying and longer lower joints [quite costly], IMHO just allow a higher-pitched horn to "invade" the next-lower's, "compass-range" for transposition OR, more beneficially, to allow a clarinet to cover the range of a string inst [viola-cello], or bassoon, again for transposition. Just my observations, Don
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Author: Alphie
Date: 2002-10-26 23:00
A Basset Clarinet in Bb is only required in Mozart: "La Climenza di Tito" #9: "Parto, parto" and in an aria in "Cosi fan tutte". "Cosi" also include a piece for B-clarinet.
Alphie
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Author: Bill
Date: 2002-10-27 00:41
Go to the LeBlanc website. I think it's gleblanc.com. You'll find various brochures in pdf format that you can download. Pretty cool stuff. If I have the site wrong, just do a search for LeBlanc clarinets.
Enjoy,
Bill
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-10-27 00:49
TKS also, Alphie, its good to know. A cl friend has an antique B [nat] clar, I've never played nor even heard it, for tonal comparison, if any diff.. How do the operatic cl'ists solve these problems? Are there any current makers of a Basset Bb? TKS, Don
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Author: spf
Date: 2002-10-27 04:27
The post I referred to was started back on 10 Oct. "recital music."
Thanks for your patient responses.
And for the boys and girls that are paying attention;
spelling actually does matter sometimes...
In this case a search on "bassett" gets a much better search than does "basset". I should have thought of the old "alternative spelling" trick...
spf
((smacks forehead))
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Author: spf
Date: 2002-10-27 04:31
or is that
bass...ette?
Would the pronunciation be different then too?
spf
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Author: Arnold the basset hornist
Date: 2002-10-28 06:03
Hello,
Don Berger asked: "Why is a bass clarinet with low C extension not called basset?"
At first I'm going to list the different spelling for the basset horn:
English: basset horn
French: cor de basset
German: Bassetthorn
Italian: corno di bassetto
The italian spelling gives the best imagination of the origin: basset / bassett / bassetto = <b>little bass<b>.
Hence, calling a bass clarinet with low C extension a 'little-bass bass clarinet' would not be logical.
Arnold (the basset hornist)
P.S. Do you know the translations of 'basset horn' into other languages?
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Author: Jean
Date: 2002-10-29 12:46
As the proud owner of a basset hound I can tell you basset simply means "low".
Jean
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Author: Stéphane
Date: 2002-10-29 14:31
I think it is important to distinguish the basset horn (the one generally keyed in F, called cor de basset in French) that looks more or less like an alto clarinet, and the basset clarinet (called La de basset in French, which is in fact a soprano clarinet in A that goes down to written low C and looks like an extended clarinet in A (I am talking about the modern one). This latter one is indeed used to play reconstructed versions of the K622.
I believe "basset" is an old French word meaning low. For info, a "basset" in French is also that very low hunting dog!
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Author: Don Berger
Date: 2002-10-29 15:48
TKS, all, for your well-explained contributions to a "dog-gone" question! May I suggest, to hit two dogs with one stone!, renaming our low C bass clarinet, to "Basset tenor clarinet". Thots?? Don
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Author: javier garcia
Date: 2002-10-29 17:08
in italian is "corno di bassetto" (basseto?)
in spanish, at least in Chile, we say as the italian nomination.
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