The Clarinet BBoard

Re: Basset clarinet with low-B?

Author: aero145  Date:   2009-06-12 08:02 RS: Well that’s nice, but is that of real use when playing Mozart’s concerto? Why basset horn? Maybe because it’s in F and goes to low C. It is of course an alto clarinet to low C like you say. But is this the same instrument that was called ”basset horn” at the time of Mozart? I don’t think so. You’re still correct; the clarinets of the time of Mozart aren’t like nowadays, so one (I for that matter :þ) could fight about the current namings and the inconsistency with no success! I knew I couldn’t be able to change the names, I just wanted other people’s opinions. Talking about basset clarinets: Do you guys think that one could be able to make a French-bore basset clarinet to low-B only with holes (except for the twelfth key and low keys) which would be in tune and work out like the old Bassklarinette from Stadler?

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Re: Basset clarinet with low-B?

Author: aero145  Date:   2009-06-12 10:09 Well, the current basset horn sounds a bit similar to the alto to my ears. And you may call the alto a poor man’s bh, but I think the alto is underestimated and quite nice when played well on.

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Re: Basset clarinet with low-B?

Author: David Spiegelthal ★2017 Date:   2009-06-12 13:55 Tradition, not logic, rules the musical instrument world. Logically, a bass clarinet should be called a tenor clarinet, and the EEb contra-alto should be the one referred to as a "bass clarinet". A basset horn, as DAE points out, could be better-named an "extended-range alto clarinet". In the end, what difference does it make, as long as people are willing to listen to us play?

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Re: Basset clarinet with low-B?

Author: oliver sudden  Date:   2009-06-12 17:24 "Basset" is often used just to refer to the bits below E of a clarinet (any size) possessing a low written C (or B!): at least clarinettists I know often talk about the 'basset notes' or 'basset keys'. (e.g.: "I've just bought a new contrabass clarinet" - "how are the basset keys set up?") I remember seeing Stadler's instrument referred to in contemporary sources as either an Inventions-Klarinette or Baßklarinette. Neither of those names are really much use to us for the instrument nowadays. 'Basset clarinet' seems a nicely inventive coinage under the circumstances. And it certainly makes more sense than 'english horn', no? (Speaking of nomenclature: we're doing a concert with a shakuhachi player on Sunday. The name shakuhachi just means 1.8 feet... very practical. Except, er, some of them are longer.) Chris Hill: for a long time people thought Stadler's clarinet went to low C (indeed press reports from the time mention the C but don't mention a B) - but there's one bit in the finale of the Mozart concerto that seems to need a low B. A few years ago a drawing of Stadler's clarinet turned up and that pointed historical instrument makers in the direction of some surviving basset horns and basset clarinets that hadn't been considered as likely to resemble Stadler's instrument. http://www.woodwind.org/clarinet/Misc/Stadlers_clarinet.gif The picture shows a little hole near the 'knee' of the bell and on such an instrument if you play a low C while closing off that hole with some convenient part of your anatomy a low B comes out. A Mozart mystery solved! Post Edited (2009-06-12 23:05)

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Re: Basset clarinet with low-B?

Author: aero145  Date:   2009-06-13 07:12 Interesting hearing about the low keys called ”basset keys”. I see the contemporary sources used the Alte Schreibweise. Yes, basset clarinet makes more sense than English horn, and it also sounds better than the English horn when played on. In Lorenzo’s recording, he playes a bit of low B’s. I didn’t pay attention to how he held the clarinet, did anyone notice him using some convenient part of his anatomy to fill the hole?

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