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The Clarinet Family
The clarinet was invented about the year 1700, probably by Johann Denner of Nürnberg, from an earlier instrument called the chalameau, which was like a recorder, but had a mouthpiece with a single reed. It was named "clarinet," which means "iittle clarion," because it was thought to sound like a trumpet in the high "clarino" register. The clarinet was the first woodwind instrument to have a cylindrical (rather than a conical) bore
The clarinet is distinguished from the other woodwinds (flutes, oboes, and bassoons) because it produces only the even-numbered overtones. Therefore, when a player "overblows" (blows harder to produce the next tone up from the fundamental using the same length of air column), the tone produced is not the octave, but a fifth above it. Early clarinets had holes for fingering the first octave plus a whole tone, but bridging the gap between the highest fingered note and the first overblown note has always been a problem, leading to additional holes and keys in varying combinations. From the time of Vienna classicism, clarinets have been tuned to B-flat for playing in flat keys, and to A for playing sharp keys.
German (Müller) and French (Boehme) Key Systems
The earliest clarinets were pitched in C, and had six fingerholes and two keys. During the eighteenth century, because of the need for versatile instruments, the number of keys on the instrument increased, and the bell developed its now-familiar outcurve.
About 10 years into the nineteenth century, Iwan Müller came up with a clarinet developed as the result of extensive testing with the boring of the pipe, the placement and form of the tone-holes, and the keys and how they were sealed against the holes. After further refinements by other makers (most notably, Oehler, after whom it is sometimes referred), this "German-style" clarinet acquired over 20 keys, and even today is often preferred by players in Germany, Austria, and other Eastern European countries.
A different system was developed in France. The most successful was originally developed in the 1840s by Auguste Buffet, in collaboration with Hyacinthe Klosé (although it is sometimes referred to as the Boehme system, Boehme never actually participated in its design). This system is extremely popular now all over the world. It usually consists of 24 holes and 17 keys.
The Inverted Mouthpiece
The earliest clarinets had the reed attached to the upper side of the moouthpiece. However, it was soon discovered that a very beautiful tone could be produced with the reed resting against the lower lip, and so ever since the middle of the eighteenth century, that is how clarinet mouthpieces have been made. Reeds of the French-style clarinets are fastened by a metal ligature with two tension screws, whereas the reeds of the German-style instruments are tied on.
Construction
From the earliest times through the present, clarinets have consisted of four or five parts: the mouthpiece, the barrel or socket, the upper (left-hand) joint, the lower (right-hand) joint, and the bell. Clarinets were originally made of boxwood, but gradually, harder woods like grenadillo and ebony were used. Mouthpieces were made of wood for a long time, but in the late twentieth century came to be made of ebonite or glass.
Tone and Register
The clarinet has a full tonal range of nearly four octaves. The lower register (called the "chalameau" register after the instrument from which it was developed) has been described as "gloomy" and "mysterious." The overblown register (called the "clarinet" register) is described as bright, clear, sharp, and even penetrating. One of the hardest things for clarinettists to do is to learn how to hide the break between these two registers; it can take years of training to do so properly.
Sizes of Clarinets
As mentioned before, clarinets are "usually" tuned to the keys of A and B-flat. Smaller, higher-pitched clarinets also occur, especially the higher-pitched little E-flat clarinet, and the slightly lower, less-sharp clarinets in D and C.
Lower-pitched clarinets have also been around for a long time. The bass clarinet (pitched an octave lower in B-flat) is standard in orchestras today; it was invented in the 1770s, and modernized by Adolph Sax in 1838. The contrabass clarinet, pitched an octave lower than that, is also used in twentieth century music. These lower-pitched clarinets have a straight sound tube, a mouthpiece angled toward the player, and an obliquely upturned bell made of metal.
The Basset Horn
Around 1770 in Germany, the basset horn was developed. This instrument extended the range of the clarinet downward by a perfect fourth, by adding more keys. Although originally several shapes were used (zig-zag, crescent, an angle, or a U-shape) to make the keys accessible, today's bassett horns resemble a small version of the bass clarinet, with an obliquely upturned bell. The tone of the basset horn is deeper and more "neutral" than that of the clarinet. Mozart, especially loved it.
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Firth E-flat (Sopranino) Clarinet (19th century)
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B-flat Clarinet
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Selmer Alto Clarinet |
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Selmer Bassett Horn |
Eltham Bass Clarinet
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Selmer BBb Contra-Bass Clarinet |
Information Sources
Information on this page was derived from the following sources:
Kruckenberg, Sven (1993): The Symphony Orchestra and its Instruments. Gothenburg, Sweden: AB Nordbok (Crescent Books edition distributed by Random House).
Wade-Matthews, Max (2000): The World Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments. London, UK and New York, NY: Lorenz Books.
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