New Grove "Clarinet" Info Flashcards
The current three main clarinet fingering systems
Boehm Oehler (Oscar Oehler) Reform-Boehm (adapted Boehm fingering system with Oehler bore and tone hole sizes developed by Fritz Wurlitzer)
First documented appearance of the clarinet
Germany 1710
First documented appearance of the clarinet in America
British military bands as early as 1758
Earliest advertisement for clarinets in America
New York Gazette 1761
First documented American clarinet maker
Jacob Anthony Sr. Philadelphia 1772 Two surviving boxwood clarinets with 5 keys
Earliest published sheet music for clarinet
1793 Includes parts for home use
The first clarinet tutor
A New and Complete Preceptor for the Clarinet published by George Blake around 1803
Early clarinets construction
Boxwood, rosewood, ebony, ivory, metal, wood ferrules Mouthpieces- boxwood, Blackwood Ridges below and around table for tying read with cord.
Approximate year clarinet mouthpiece was played with lower lip against reed.
1840
Keys in which clarinets have been made
F, Eb, D, C, Bb, A Altos in F, Eb Bass in C, Bb
Most important American clarinet makers active during the first half of the 19th century
Asa Hopkins (Litchfield, CT) William Whiteley (Utica, NY) Samuel Graves (Winchester, NH) Firth, Hall, & Pond (NYC). Mostly English style clarinets with some German.
Who made bassoon shaped bass and alto clarinets (called “Clarion”)?
George Catlin Hartford, CT Around 1810
Pewter mouthpieces
Graves Company 1838 Cheap pewter has lots of lead
Eugéne Albert
Belgian clarinet patent 1866 New fingering system popular in Europe
Which American companies copied the Albert clarinets?
Theodore Berteling (NYC) Conn family and Buescher (Elkhart) Penzel & Müller (Long Island City)
Skeletal-model brass clarinets with silver alloy for outdoor use were made by?
Conn, Bettoney (New York City) H.N. White (Cleveland)
Double-walled brass body
C.G. Conn 1895
Thermoclarinet
Double-walled warmable clarinet 1926 Haynes, Boston
Pupo Pupeschi
Italian 1892 fingering system Adopted by Penzel & Müller (NYC c1900), Conn (c1910), W. Meinl (NYC c1910)
Improved Bb Mechanism
Automatic Bb Mechanism Leon Leblanc Kenosha, Wisconsin 1933 S-K Mechanism William Stubbins, Leblanc Frank Kaspar, Kenosha 1952 Rosario Mazzeo’s Mechanism Selmer, Elkhart 1959, 1962, 1965 Thomas McIntyre’s System Thibouville Fréres, Ivry-la-Bataille Assembled in Naugatuck, CT 1962
Earliest known American soloist
Charles Hoffman Philadelphia 1769
First female clarinetist to appear in America
Margaret Knittel From Switzerland Traveled with her husband and performed in Philadelphia, New York and other East coast cities 1816-1820 Played basset horn in 1817 in Philadelphia (first documented basset horn performance in America)
James Kendall
Active soloist in Boston 1820s Director of Boston Brigade Band
Rhodolph Hall
Beginning in 1844 played clarinet in New Haven, NYC, and Boston
Thomas Ryan
Founding member of Mendelssohn Quintette Club of Boston in 1849 Toured Europe and Australia until 1895
Alexandre Selmer
French clarinetist Came to US in 1898 to become the first clarinetist in the Boston Symphony. Later imported and sold his brother Henri’s clarinets from Paris (leading to Selmer firm in US).
Gustavo Langenus
New York Symphony 1910-23 Taught at Juilliard Promoted Boehm-system clarinets
Stanley Drucker
New York Philharmonic 1949-2009 Inspired challenging concerto by John Corigliano.
Robert Lindemann
Chicago Symhony 1913-17
Daniel Bonade
Philadelphia Orchestra 1917-30
Simeon Bellison
NY Philharmonic 1921-48
Kalman Bloch
Los Angeles Philharmonic 1937-81
Ralph McLane
Philadelphia Orchestra 1943-1951
Mitchell Lurie
Pittsburgh Symphony 1947-49 Chicago Symphony 1949-50
Anthony Gigliotti
Philadelphia Orchestra 1949-96)
Gino Cioffi
Boston Symphony 1950-70
Harold Wright
Boston Symphony 1970-93
Richard Stoltzman
B. 1942 Recorded lots of stuff Plays jazz and classical Student of Kalmen Opperman
Larry Combs
Chicago Symphony 1974-2008 Plays jazz a bit Now teaches at DePaul University Studied with Leon Russianoff in New York Went to Eastman and studied with Stanley Hasty
David Shifrin
Went to Curtis Played principal in Cleveland Studied with Anthony Gigliotti Commissioned basset clarinet extension to record the Mozart Teaches at Yale
John Bruce Yeh
Chicago assistant principal and E-flat clarinetist 1985 Best New Classical Artist Grammy Went to Juilliard
Contemporary Technique Specialists
William O. Smith Phillip Rehfeldt F. Gerard Errante Charles Neidich Eric Mandat
Rhapsody in Blue
1924 Low trill and glissando
El Salon Mexico
Copland 1933-36 Includes Eb clarinet solo
William Schuman’s Symphony No. 3
1941 Bass clarinet solo
Two types of ancient cylindrical single reed instruments
idioglot (reed is part of tube) heteroglot (separate reed)
Year, name, place of possible first inventor of clarinet:
C. 1700 Nürnberg Johann Christoph Denner (1655-1707)
History of German Clarinet
Didn’t adopt French Boehm system (1840s) even though it was easier. Wanted to preserve indigenous sound tradition and playing style. Kept clumsier key system and more cylindrical lower half of clarinet (French was slightly more conical) Added more keys instead of totally redoing the instrument. Carl Baermann clarinets 1850s Ottensteiner clarinets Oskar Oehler clarinets 1858- Reform Oehler
Chalumeau
Ancient word from Greek “kalamos” which means “reed pipe”. Early bagpipe chanters were sometimes called “chalumeau”s. Some Eastern European bagpipes even had single reeds. Later there was the chalumeau in G which was like a clarinet but 8.5 inches long and 0.6 inches in diameter. It had 7 holes (1 for thumb).
Organ pipes
Organ makers used heteroglot reed instruments, and made them in metal as pipes for organ.
Wildruf- und Horndreher
Johann Christoff Denner (1655-1707) was one of these. A wildruf was an instrument that imitated animals and included devices meant to lure prey. A common duck call used a single reed like a clarinet.
Mock trumpet
Idioglot instrument meant to imitate the trumpet. Methods published around 1700 Like Chalumeau it had limited range
Baroque clarinets
Earliest clarinets around 1700 and just prior are referred to as baroque clarinets. They only had two keys but could overblow the 12th.
