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Re: First Low C Bass Clarinet/Low C Extension?

Author: ebonite
Date: 2015-03-03 16:29

There were also bassoon-shaped bass clarinets that had an extended range to low c. These were used in the 19th century but fell out of use. If Keith Bowen is reading this forum, he would be able to give more information. You can see some if you type "bassoon-shaped bass clarinet" into google images.

It's interesting to see that when Rimsky Korsakov wrote his "Principles of Orchestration" (1912), he seemed to be assuming that the bass clarinet goes to low c.

Look at Table B on page 12 of the pdf document (p17 of the actual text) :
http://tinyurl.com/kgsjeto

BTW, in the orchestral repertoire, there are earlier examples of extended range than the Shostakovich symphonies. Rachmaninov's "Isle of the dead" (1908) has a low c in the bass clarinet part. Strauss's "Death and Transfiguration" (1889) has a low D, and there is also a low D in at least one of the Liszt symphonic poems.

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