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CLARINET, or CLARIONET (Fr. clarinett...

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 441 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CLARINET, or CLARIONET (Fr. clarinette; Ger. Clarinette, Klarinett; Ital. clarinetto, chiarinetto)  , a See also:wood-See also:wind See also:instrument having a cylindrical See also:bore and played by means of a single-See also:reed See also:mouthpiece . The word " See also:clarinet " is said to be derived from clarinetto, a diminutive of clarino, the See also:Italian for (1) the See also:soprano See also:trumpet, (2) the highest See also:register of the instrument, (3) the trumpet played musically without the blare of the See also:martial instrument . The word " clarionet " is similarly derived from " clarion," the See also:English See also:equivalent of clarino . It is suggested that the name clarinet or clarinetto was bestowed on See also:account of the resemblance in timbre between the high registers of the clarino and clarinet . By adding the See also:speaker-hole to the old chalumeau, J . C . Denner gave it an additional See also:compass based on the over-blowing of the See also:harmonic twelfth, and consisting of an See also:octave and a See also:half of harmonics, which received the name of clarino, while the See also:lower register tetained the name of chalumeau . There is something to be said also in favour of another suggested derivation from the Italian chiarina, the name for reed See also:instruments and the equivalent for See also:tibia and See also:aulos . At the beginning of the 18th See also:century in See also:Italy clarinetto, the diminutive of clarino, would be masculine, whereas chiarinetta or clarinetta would be feminine,' as in Doppelmayr's account of the invention written in 1730 . The word " clarinet " is sometimes used in a generic sense to denote the whole See also:family, which consists of the clarinet, or discant corresponding to the See also:violin, See also:oboe, &c.; the See also:alto clarinet in E; the See also:basset See also:horn in F (q.v.); the See also:bass clarinet (q.v.), and the pedal clarinet (q.v.) . The See also:modern clarinet consists of five (or four) See also:separate pieces: (1) the mouthpiece; (2) the bulb; (3) the upper See also:middle See also:joint, or See also:left-See also:hand joint; (4) the lower middle joint, or right-hand joint 2 ; (5) the See also:bell; which (the bell excepted) when joined together, See also:form a See also:tube with a continuous cylindrical bore, 2 ft. or more in length, according to the See also:pitch of the instrument . The mouthpiece, including the beating or single-reed See also:common to the whole clarinet family, has the See also:appearance of a See also:beak with the point bevelled off and thinned at the edge to correspond with the end of 'See Gottfried See also:Weber's objection to this derivation in "~Jber Clarinette and Basset-horn," See also:Caecilia (See also:Mainz, 1829), vol. xi. pp .

36 and 37, See also:

note . 2 Nos . 3 and 4 are sometimes made in one, as for instance in Messrs Rudall, See also:Carte & See also:Company's modification, the Klussmann patent.the reed shaped like a spatula . The under See also:part of the mouthpiece (fig . 2) is flattened in See also:order to form a table for the support of the reed which is adjusted thereon with See also:great nicety, allowing just the amount of See also:play requisite to set in vibration the See also:column of See also:air within the tube . The mouthpiece, which is subject to continual fluctuations of dampness and dryness, and to changes of temperature, requires to be made of a material having great See also:powers of resistance, such as cocus wood, See also:ivory or vulcanite, which are mostly used for the purpose in See also:England . A See also:longitudinal See also:aperture r in. See also:long and z in. wide, communicating with the bore, is cut in the table and covered by the reed . The aperture is thus closed except towards the point, where, for the distance of a to in., the reed is thinned and the table curves backwards towards the point, leaving a See also:gap between the ends of the mouthpiece and of the reed of r mm. or about the thickness of a sixpence for the B See also:flat clarinet . The See also:curve of the table and the See also:size of the gap are there-fore of considerable importance . The reed is cut from a joint of the Arundo donax or saliva, which grows See also:wild in the regions bordering on the Mediterranean . A flat slip of the reed is cut, flattened on one See also:side and thinned to a very delicate edge on the other . At first the reed was fastened to the table by means of many turns of a See also:fine waxed See also:cord .

The See also:

metal See also:band adjusted by means of two screws, known as the " ligature," was introduced about 1817 by See also:Ivan See also:Muller . The reed is set in vibration by the breath of the performer, and being flexible it beats against the table, opening and closing the gap at a See also:rate depending on the rate of the vibrations it sets up in the air column, this rate varying according to the length of the column as determined by opening the lateral holes and keys . A cylindrical tube played by means of a reed has the acoustic properties of a stopped See also:pipe, i.e. the fundamental See also:tone produced by the tube is an octave lower than the corresponding tone of (See also:Albert See also:Model). an open pipe of the same length, and over- blows a twelfth; whereas tubes having a conical bore like the oboe, and played by means of a reed, speak as open pipes and overblow an octave . This forms the fundamental difference between the instruments of the oboe and clarinet families . Wind instruments de-pending upon lateral holes for the See also:production of their See also:scale must either have as many holes pierced in the bore as they require notes, or make use of the See also:property possessed by the air-column of dividing into harmonics or partials of the fundamental tones . Twenty to twenty-two holes is the number generally accepted as the See also:practical limit for the clarinet; beyond that number the fingering and mechanism become too complicated . The compass of the clarinet is therefore extended through the See also:medium of the harmonic overtones . In stopped pipes a See also:node is formed near the mouthpiece, and they are therefore only able to produce the uneven harmonics, such as the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, &c., correspond- See also:ing to the fundamental, and the diatonic intervals of the 5th one octave above, and of the 3rd and 7th two octaves above the fundamental . By pressing the reed with the See also:lip near the See also:base where it is thicker and stiffer, and increasing the pressure of the breath, the air-column is forced to See also:divide and to See also:sound the I 'I r 4 ! harmonics, a principle well understood by the See also:ancient Greeks and See also:Romans in playing upon the aulos and tibia.' This is easier to accomplish with the See also:double reed than with the beating reed; in fact with a tube of wide See also:diameter, such as that of the modern clarinet, it would not be possible by this means alone to do See also:justice to the tone of the instrument or to the See also:music now written for it . The bore of the aulos was very much narrower than that of the clarinet . In order to facilitate the production of the harmonic notes on the clarinet, a small hole, closed by means of a See also:key and called the " speaker," is bored near the mouthpiece .

By means of this small hole the air-column is placed in communication with the See also:

external See also:atmosphere, a ventral segment is formed, and the air-column divides into three equal parts, producing a triple number of vibrations resulting in the third note of the harmonic See also:series, at an See also:interval of a twelfth above the fundamental.' In a wind instrument with lateral holes the fundamental note corresponding to any particular hole is produced when all the holes below that hole are open and it itself and all above it are closed, the effective length of the resonating tube being shortened as each of the closed holes is successively uncovered . In order to obtain a See also:complete See also:chromatic scale on the clarinet at least eighteen holes are required . This series produces with the bell-note a See also:succession of nineteen semitones, giving the range of a twelfth and known as the fundamental scale or chalumeau register, so called, no doubt, because it was the compass (without chromatic semitones) of the more See also:primitive predecessor of the clarinet, known as the chalumeau, which must not be confounded with the See also:shawm or schalmey of the middle ages . The fundamental scale of the modern clarinet in C extends from -to 1 The next octave and a half is obtained by opening -ar the speaker key, whereby each of the fundamental notes is reproduced a twelfth higher; the bell-note thus jumps from E to B#, the first key gives instead of F its twelfth C$$, and so on, extending the compass to --. which ends the natural compass of the instrument, although a skilful performer may obtain another octave by See also:cross-fingering . The names of the holes and keys on the clarinet are derived not from the notes of the fundamental scale, but from the name of the twelfth produced by overblowing with the speaker key open; for instance, the first key near the bell is known not as the E key but as the B . The use of the speaker key forms the greatest technical difficulty in learning to play the clarinet, on account of the thumb having to do double See also:duty, closing one hole and raising the See also:lever of the speaker key simultaneously . In a clarinet designed by See also:Richard Carte this difficulty was ingeniously overcome by placing the left thumb-hole towards the front, and closing it by a thumb-lever or with a See also:ring See also:action by the first or second See also:finger of the left hand, thus leaving the thumb See also:free to See also:work the speaker key alone . There is See also:good See also:reason to think that the ancient Greeks understood the See also:advantage of a speaker-hole, which they called See also:Syrinx, for facilitating the production of harmonics on the aulos . The See also:credit of the See also:discovery of this interesting fact is due to A . A . See also:Howard,' of Harvard University; it explains many passages in the See also:classics which before were obscure (see Autos) . See also:Plutarch relates' that Telephanes of See also:Megara was so incensed with the syrinx that he never allowed his instrument-makers to See also:place one on any of his auloi; he even went so far as to absent himself, principally on account of the syrinx, from the Pythian See also:games .

Telephanes was a great virtuoso who scorned the use of a speaker-hole, being able to obtain his harmonics on the aulos by the See also:

mere See also:control of lips and See also:teeth . The modern clarinet has from thirteen to nineteen keys, some being normally open and others closed . In order to understand why, when once the See also:idea of adding keys to the chalumeau had been conceived, the number See also:rose so slowly, keys being added one or two at a See also:time by makers of various nationalities at long intervals, it is r See also:Aristotle (de Audib . 802 b 18, and 804 a) and See also:Porphyry (ed . See also:Wallis, pp . 249 and 252) mention that if the performer presses the zeuge (mouthpiece) or the glottai (reeds) of the pipes, a sharper tone is produced . 2 Cf . V . C . Mahillon, Elements d'acoustique musicale et instrumentale (See also:Brussels, 1894), p . 161; and Fr . Zamminer, See also:Die Musik and die musikalischen Instrumente in ihrer Beziehung zu den Gesetzen der Akustik .

. . (See also:

Giessen, 1855), pp . 297 and 298 . S " The Aulos or Tibia," Harvard Studies, iv . (See also:Boston, 1893) . 4 De Musica, 1138 . necessary to consider the effect of See also:boring holes in the side of a cylindrical tube . If it were possible to proceed from an See also:absolute theoretical basis, there would be but little difficulty; there are, how-ever, practical reasons which make this a See also:matter of great difficulty . According to V . Mahillon,' the theoretical length of a Bb clarinet (See also:French pitch See also:diapason normal A=435 vibrations), is 39 cm. when the See also:internal diameter of the bore See also:measures exactly 1.4 cm . Any increase in the diameter of the cylindrical bore for a given length of tube raises the pitch proportionally and in the same way a decrease lowers it . A bore narrow in proportion to the length facilitates the production of the harmonics, which is no doubt the reason why the aulos was made with a very narrow diameter, and produced such deep notes in proportion to Its length .

In determining the position of the holes along the tube, the thickness of the wood to be pierced must be taken into See also:

consideration, for the length of the passage from the See also:main bore to the See also:outer air adds to the length of the resonating column; as, however, the clarinet tube is reckoned as a closed one, only half the extra length must be taken into account . When placed in Its correct theoretical position, a hole should have its diameter equal to the diameter of the main bore, which is the ideal See also:condition for obtaining a full, See also:rich tone; it is, however, feasible to give the hole a smaller diameter, altering its position by placing it nearer the mouthpiece . These See also:laws, which were likewise known to the Greeks and Romans,' had to be rediscovered by experience in the 18th and 19th centuries, during which the mechanism of the key See also:system was repeatedly improved . Due consideration having been given to these points, it will also be necessary to remember that the stopping of the seven open holes leaves only the two little fingers (the thumb of the right hand being in the See also:ordinary clarinet engaged in supporting the instrument) free at all times for key service, the other fingers doing duty when momentarily disengaged . The fingering of the clarinet is the most difficult of any instrument in the See also:orchestra, for it differs in all four octaves of its compass . Once mastered, however, it is the same for all clarinets, the music being always written in the key of C . The actual tonality of the clarinet is determined by the diatonic scale produced when, starting with keys untouched and finger and thumb-holes closed, the fingers are raised one by one from the holes . In the Bb clarinet, the real sounds thus produced are being part of the scale of Bb See also:major . By the closing of two open keys, the lower Eb and D are added . The following are the various sizes of clarinets with the key proper to each: Eb, a See also:minor third above the C clarinet . Bb, a tone below The high F, 4 tones above „ „ The D, 1 tone above „ The See also:low G, a See also:fourth below „ The A, a minor third below The B# 1 semitone below The alto clarinet in Eb, a fifth below the Bb clarinet . The See also:tenor or basset horn, in F, a fifth below the C clarinet .

The bass clarinet in Bb, an 8Ve below that in Bb . The pedal clarinet in Bb, an 800 below the bass clarinet . The clarinets in Bb and A are used in the orchestra; those in C and Eb in military bands . See also:

History.—Although the single beating-reed associated with the instruments of the clarinet family has been traced in ancient See also:Egypt, the double reed, characteristic of the oboe family, being of simpler construction, was probably of still greater antiquity . An ancient See also:Egyptian pipe found in a See also:mummy-See also:case and now preserved in the museum at See also:Turin was found to contain a beating-reed sunk 3 in. below the end of the pipe, which is the principle of the See also:drone . It would appear that the double chalumeau, called See also:arghoul (q.v.) by the modern Egyptians, was known in ancient Egypt, although it was not perhaps in common use . The Musee See also:Guimet possesses a copy of a See also:fresco from the tombs at Saggarah (executed under the direction of See also:Mariette See also:Bey) as-signed to the 4th or 5th See also:dynasty, on which is shown a See also:concert with dancing; the instruments used are two harps, the long oblique See also:flute " See also:nay,” blown from the end without any mouthpiece or embouchure, arid an instrument identified as an arghoul Op. cit. pp . 16o et seq . ; and Wilhelm See also:Altenburg, Die Klarinette (See also:Heilbronn, 1904), p . 9, who refers to Mahillon . See See also:Macrobius, See also:Comm. in somnium Scipionis, ii . 4 .

5 " nee secus probamus in tibiis de quarum foraminibus vicinis inflantis on sonus acutus emittitur, de longinquis autem et termino proximis, gravior: See also:

item acutior per patentiora foramina, gravior per angusta.” See See also:Victor Loret, L'Egypte au temps See also:des Pharaons—la See also:vie, le See also:science, et l'See also:art (See also:Paris, 1889), See also:illustration p . 139 and p . 143 . The author gives no See also:information about this fresco except that it Is in the from its resemblance to the modern instrument of the same name . This is believed to be the only illustration of the ancient double chalumeau yet found in Egypt, with the single exception of a hieroglyph occurring also once only, i.e. the sign read As-it, consisting of a cylindrical pipe with a beak mouthpiece See also:bound See also:round with a cord tied in a See also:bow . The bow is taken to indicate the double parallel pipes bound together; the same sign without the bow occurs frequently and is read Ma-it,' and is considered to he the generic name for reed wind instruments . The beating-reed was probably introduced into classic See also:Greece from Egypt or See also:Asia Minor . A few ancient See also:Greek instruments are extant, five of which are in the See also:British Museum . They are as nearly cylindrical as would be the natural growing reed itself . The See also:probability is that both single and double reeds were at times used with the Greek aulos and the See also:Roman tibia . V . Mahillon and A .

A . Howard of Harvard have both obtained facsimiles of actual instruments, some found at See also:

Pompeii and now deposited in the museum at See also:Naples, and others in the British Museum . Experiments made with these instruments, whose See also:original mouthpieces have perished, show that with pipes of such narrow diameter the fundamental scale and pitch are the same whether sounded by means of a single or of a double reed, but the modern See also:combination of single reed and cylindrical tube alone gives the full pure tone quality . The subject is more fully discussed in the See also:article AuLOS ? The Roman tibia, if monuments can be trusted, sometimes had a beak-shaped mouthpiece, as for instance that attached to a pipe discovered at Pompeii, or that shown in a See also:scene on See also:Trajan's column.3 It is probable that when, at the decline of the Roman See also:empire, instrumental music was placed by the See also:church under a See also:ban—and the tibia more especially from its association with every form of See also:licence and moral depravity—this instrument, sharing the common See also:fate, survived chiefly among itinerant musicians who carried it into western See also:Europe, where it was preserved from complete extinction . An instrument of difficult technique requiring an advanced knowledge of See also:acoustics was not, however, likely to flouri4h or even to be understood among nations whose culture was as yet in its See also:infancy . The See also:tide of culture from the See also:Byzantine empire filtered through to the See also:south and See also:west, leaving many traces; a fresh impetus was received from the See also:east through the See also:Arabs; and later, as a result of the See also:Crusades, the prototype of the clarinet, together with the practical knowledge necessary for making the instrument and playing upon it, may have been re-introduced through any one or all of these See also:sources . However this may be, the instrument was during the Carolingian See also:period identified with the tibia of the Romans until such time as the new western See also:civilization ceased to be content to go back to classical See also:Rome for its See also:models, and began to See also:express itself, at first naively and awkwardly, as the 11th century dawned . The name then changed to the derivatives of the Greek kalamos, assuming an almost bewildering variety of forms, of which the commonest are chalemie, chalumeau, schalmey, scalmeye, shawm, calemel, kalemele.4 The derivation of the name seems to point to a Byzantine rather than an Arab source for the revival of the instruments which formed the prototype of both oboe and clarinet, but it must not be forgotten that the instruments with a conical bore—more especially those played by a reed—are primarily of See also:Asiatic origin . At the beginning of the 13th century Musee Guimet . It is probably identical with the second of the mural paintings described on p . 190 of See also:Petit See also:guide illustre an Musee Guimet, See also:par L. de Milloue .

' See Victor Loret, " See also:

Les fl6tes egyptiennes antiques," See also:Journal asiatique (Paris, 1889), [81, xiv. pp . 129, 130, 132 . 2 See also A . A . Howard, " Study on the Aulos or Tibia," Harvard Studies, vol. iv . (Boston, 1893) ; F . C . Gevaert, Musique de l'antiquite; Carl von See also:Jan, article " Floete " in See also:August Baumeister's Denkmetler des klassischen Alterthums (See also:Leipzig, 1884-1888), vol. i.; Dr See also:Hugo See also:Riemann, Handbuch der Musikgesch. vol. i. p . 90, &c . (Leipzig, 1904) ; all of whom have not come to the same conclusions . 3 Wilhelm Froehner, La Colonize trajane (Paris, '872), t. ii. pl . 76 .

I " Aveuc aus ert vestus Guis Ki leur cante et Kalemele, En la muse au See also:

grant See also:bourdon." J . A . U . See also:Scheler's Trouveres beiges.in See also:France, where the instrument remained a See also:special favourite until it was displaced by the clarinet, the chalumeau is mentioned in some of the See also:early romances:—" Tabars et chalemiaux et estrumens sonner " (Aye d'See also:Avignon, v . 4137); " Grelles et chelimiaus et buisines bruians " (Gui de Bourgogne, v . 1374), &c . By the end of the 13th century, the See also:German equivalent Schalmey appears in the literature of that See also:country,—" Pusflnen and Schalmeyen schal moht niemen da gehoeren wal " (Frauendienst, 492, fol . 5, See also:Ulrich von Lichtenstein) . The schalmey or shawm is frequently represented in miniatures from the 13th century, but it must have been known long before, since it was at that period in use as the chaunter of the bag-pipe (q.v.), a fully-See also:developed complex instrument which presupposes a separate previous existence for its component parts . We have no reason to suppose that any distinction was See also:drawn between the single and double reed instruments during the early middle ages—if indeed the single reed was then known at all—for the derivatives of kalamos were applied to a variety of pipes . The first clear and unmistakable See also:drawing yet found of the single reed occurs in See also:Mersenne's Harmonic universelle (p . 282), where the primitive reed pipe is shown with the beating-reed detached from the tube of the instrument itself, by making a lateral slit and then splitting back a little See also:tongue of reed towards a See also:knot .

Phoenix-squares

Mersenne calls this the simplest form of chalumeau or See also:

wheat-stalk (tuyau de ble) . It is evident that no significance was then attached to the form of the vibrating reed, whether single or double, for Mersenne and other writers of his time See also:call the chaunters of the musette and cornemuse chalumeaux whether they are of cylindrical or of conical bore . The difference in timbre produced by the two kinds of reeds was, however, understood, for Mersenne states that a special See also:kind of cornemuse was used in concert with the hautbois de See also:Poitou (an oboe whose double reed was enclosed in an air chamber) and was distinguished from the shepherd's cornemuse by having double reeds through-out, whereas the drones of the latter instrument were furnished with beating reeds . It is therefore evident that as See also:late as 1636 (the date at which Mersenne wrote) in France the word " chalumeau " was not applied to the instrument transformed some sixty years later into the clarinet, nor was it applied exclusively to any one kind of pipe except when acting as the chaunter of the bagpipe, and that independently of any structural characteristics . The chaunter was still called chalumeau in 1737.6 Of the instrument which has been looked upon as the chalumeau, there is but little trace in See also:Germany or in France at the beginning of the 77th century . A chalumeau with beak mouthpiece and characteristic See also:short cylindrical tube pierced with six holes figures among the musical instruments used far the triumphal procession of the See also:emperor See also:Maximilian I., commemorated by a fine series of plates,6 engraved on wood by Hans See also:Burgkmair, the friend and colleague of A . See also:Durer . On the same See also:plate (No . 79) are five schalmeys with double reeds and five chalumeaux with single-reed beak mouthpieces: the latter instruments were in all probability made in the See also:Netherlands, which excelled from the 12th century in the manufacture of all musical instruments . No single-reed instrument, with the exception of the See also:regal (q.v.), is figured by S . Virdung,7 M . Agricola3 or M .

See also:

Praetorius.9 A good idea of the primitive chalumeau may be gained from a See also:reproduction of one of the few specimens from the 16th or 17th century still extant, which belonged to Cesare Snoeck and was exhibited at the Royal Military See also:Exhibition in See also:London in 1890.10 The tube is stopped at the mouthpiece end by a natural joint of 6 See Ernest Thoinan, Les Hotteterre et les Chedeville, celebres facteurs de ,/lutes, hautbois, bassons et musettes (Paris, 1894), p . 15 et seq., and Methode pour la musette, &c., par Hotteterre le Romain (Paris, 1737) . 6 The whole series of 135 plates has been reproduced in Jahrb. d . Samml. des Allerh . Kaiserhauses (See also:Vienna, 1883-1884) . Musica getutscht and auszgezogen (See also:Basel, 1511) . 3 Musica Instrumentalis Deudsch (See also:Nuremberg, 1528 and 1545) . 9 Syntagma Musicum (Wolfenbiittel, 1618) . This work and those mentioned in the two previous notes have been reprinted by the Ges. f . Musikforschung in vols. xi., xx. and xiii. of Publikationen (See also:Berlin) . 19 See Descriptive See also:Catalogue, by Capt . C .

R . See also:

Day (London, 1891), pl. iv . A and p. no, No . 221 . the reed, and a tongue has been detached just under the joint; there are six finger-holes and one for the thumb . An instrument almost identical with the above, but with a rudimentary bell, and showing plainly the detached tongue, is figured by See also:Jost See also:Amman in 1589.1 A plate in See also:Diderot and d'See also:Alembert's Encyclopedie' shows a less primitive instrument, outwardly cylindrical and having a separate mouthpiece joint and a clarinet reed but no keys . A chalumeau without keys, but consisting apparently of three See also:joints—mouthpiece, main tube and bell,—is figured on the See also:title-See also:page of a musical work3 dated 169o; it is very similar to the one represented in fig . 3, except that only six holes are visible . In his See also:biographical See also:notice of J . See also:Christian Denner (1655-1707), J . G . Doppelmayr' states that at the beginning of the 18th century " Denner invented a new kind of pipe, the so- called clarinet, which greatly delighted lovers of music; he also made great improvements in the stock or rackett-fagottos, known in the olden time and finally also in the chalumeaux." It is probable that the improvements in the chalumeau to which Doppelmayr alludes with- (b) out understanding them consisted (a) in giving the mouthpiece the shape of a beak and adding a separate reed tongue as in that of the modern clarinet, unless this See also:change had already taken place in the Netherlands, the country which the unremitting labours of E. See also:van der Straeten 5 have revealed as taking the See also:lead in Europe from the 14th to the 16th century in the construc- tion of musical instruments of all kinds; (b) in the boring of two additional holes for A and B near the mouthpiece and covering them with two keys; (c) in replacing the long cylindrical mouthpiece joint by a bulb, thus restoring one of the characteristic features of the tibia, 9 known as the SAµos .

There are a few of these improved chalumeaux in existence, two being in the Bavarian See also:

national museum at See also:Munich, the one in high A, in a See also:bad See also:state of preservation, the second in C, marked J . C . Denner, of which V . Mahillon has made a facsimile' for the museum of the Brussels See also:Conservatoire . There are two keys and eight holes; the first consists of two small holes on the same level giving a semitone if only one be closed . If the thumb-key be left open, the sounds of the fundamental scale (shown in the See also:black notes below) rise a twelfth to form the second register (the See also:white notes) a- m >$ 42- - 4'2 t o s^r^ 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 K . x This early clarinet or improved chalumeau has a clarinet mouth-piece, but no bulb; it measures 5o cm . (20 in.), whereas the one in A mentioned above is only 28 cm. in length, the long cylindrical tube between mouthpiece and key-joint, afterwards turned into the bulb, being absent . Mahillon was probably the first to point out that the so-called invention of the clarinet by J . C . Denner consisted in providing a See also:device—the speaker-key—to facilitate the production of the harmonics of the fundamental . Can we be sure that the same result was not obtained on the old chalumeau ' Wappenbuch, p .

111, " Musica." 2 Paris, 1767, vol. v . " Planches," pl. ix . 2o, 21, 22 . 3 Dr Theofilo Muffat, " Componimenti musicali per it cembalo," in Denkmaler d . Tonkunst in Osterreich, Bd. in . ° Historische Nachricht von den Nurnbergischen Mathematicis u . Kdnstlern, &c . (Nuremberg, 1730), p . 305 . 5 Histoire de la musique aux Pays Bas avant le XIX, siecle . 6 For a facsimile of one of the Pompeii tibiae, see Capt . C .

R . Day, op. cit. pl. iv . C. and p . 109 . ' Catalogue descriptif (See also:

Ghent, 1896), vol. ii. p . 211, No . 911, where an illustration is given . See also Capt . C . R . Day, op. cit. pl. iv . B and Errata where the description is printed .

before keys were added, by partially uncovering the hole for the thumb ? The Berlin museum possesses an early clarinet with two keys, marked J . B . Oberlender, derived from the Snoeck collection . See also:

Paul de Wit's collection has a similar specimen by Enkelmer . The Brussels Conservatoire possesses clarinets with two keys by Flemish makers, G . A . Rottenburgh and J . B . See also:Willems'; the latter, with a small bulb and bell, is in G a fifth above the C clarinet . The next improvements in the clarinet, made in 1720, are due to J . Denner, probably a son of J .

C . Denner . They consisted in the addition of a bell and in the removal of the speaker-hole and key nearer the mouthpiece, involving the reduction of the diameter of the hole . The effect of this change of position was to turn the Bq into Bb, for J.Denner introduced into the hole, nearly as far as the See also:

axis of the bore, a small metal drainage tube9 for the moisture of the breath . In the modern clarinet, the same result is attained by raising this little tube slightly above the See also:surface of the main tube, placing a key on the See also:top of it, and bending the lever . In order to produce the missing BtI, J . Denner lengthened the tube and pierced another hole, the low E, covered by an open key with a long lever which, when closed, gives the desired B as its twelfth, thus forming a connexion between the two registers . A clarinet with three keys, of similar construction (about 175o), marked J . W . Kenigsperger, is pre-served in the Bavarian national museum, at Munich . Another in Bb marked Lindner 1° belongs to the collection at Brussels . About the middle of the r8th century, the number of keys was raised to five, some say" by Barthold Fritz of See also:Brunswick 1$: 0 According toAltenburg12 the Eb or D# key is due to the virtuoso See also:Joseph See also:Beer (1744-1811) .

The See also:

sixth key was added about 1790 by the celebrated French virtuoso See also:Xavier Lefebure (or Lefevre), and produced G# . Anton Stadler and his See also:brother, both clarinettists in the Vienna See also:court orchestra and instrument-makers, are said to have lengthened the tube of the Bb clarinet, extending the compass down to C (real sound Bb) . It was for the Stadler See also:brothers that See also:Mozart wrote his quintet for strings, with a fine See also:obbligato for the clarinet in A (1789), and the clarinet See also:concerto with orchestra in 1791 . This, then, was the state of the clarinet in 1810 when Ivan Muller, then living in Paris, carried the number of keys up to thirteen, and made several structural improvements already mentioned, which gave us the modern instrument and inaugurated a new era in the construction and technique of the clarinet . 1VItiller's system is still adopted in principle by most clarinet makers . The instrument was successively improved during the 19th century by the Belgian makers Bachmann, the See also:elder See also:Sax, Albert and C . Mahillon, whose invention in 1862 of the C# key with double action is now generally adopted . In Paris the labours of Lefebure, See also:Buffet-Crampon, and Goumas are pre-eminent . In 1842 H . E . Klose conceived the idea of adapting to the clarinet the ingenious mechanism of movable rings, invented by See also:Boehm for the flute, and he entrusted the See also:execution of this innovation to Buffet-Crampon; this is the type of clarinet generally adopted in French orchestras . From this See also:adaptation has sprung the erroneous notion that Klose's clarinet was constructed according to the Boehm system; Klose's lateral divisions of the tube do not follow those applied by Boehm to the flute .

In England the clarinet has also passed through several progressive stages since its introduction about 1770, and first of 8 For a description with illustration see V . Mahillon's Catalogue descriptif (Ghent, 1896), vol. ii. p . 215, No . 916 . 9 See Wilhelm Altenburg, op. cit. p . 6 . 19 See V . Mahillon, Catal. descript . (1896), p . 213, No . 913 . 11 H .

See also:

Welcker von Gontershausen, Die musikalischen Tonwerkzeuge (See also:Frankfort-on-Main, 1855), p . 141 . " Op. cit. p . 6 . (a) (From Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclo pedie.) Chalumeau, 1767 . (a) Front, (b) Back view . (1697-1766), who added keys for C# and D# . all at the hands of See also:Cornelius See also:Ward . The See also:principal improvements were due to Richard Carte, who took out a patent in 1858 for an improved Boehm clarinet which possessed some claim to the name, since Boehm's principle of boring the holes at theoretically correct intervals and of venting the holes by means of open holes below was carried out . Carte made several modifications of his original patent, his See also:chief endeavour being to so dispose the key-work as to reduce the difficulties in fingering . By the See also:extension of the principle of the ring' action, the work of the third and little fingers of the left hand was simplified and the fingering of certain difficult notes and shakes greatly facilitated . Messrs Rudall, Carte & Company have made further improvements in the clarinet, which are embodied in Klussmann's patent (fig .

4) ; these consist in the introduction of the duplicate G# key, a note which has hitherto formed a serious obstacle to perfect execution . The duplicate key, operated by the third or second finger of the right hand, releases the fourth finger of the left hand . The old G# is still retained and may be used in the usual way if desired . The See also:

body of the instrument is now made in one joint, and the position of the G# hole is mathematically correct, whereby perfect intonation for C#, G# and Pi is secured . Other improvements were made in Paris by Messrs Evette & Schaeffer and by M . Paradis,' a clarinet-player in the band of the Garde Republicaine, and very great improvements in boring and in key mechanism were effected by Albert of Brussels (see fig . I) . The clarinet appears to have received appreciation in the Netherlands earlier than in its own native See also:land . According to W . Altenburg (op. cit. p . II),2 a MS. is preserved in the See also:cathedral at See also:Antwerp of a See also:mass written by A . J .

See also:

Faber in 1720, which is scored for a clarinet . Johann Mattheson,' Kapellmeister at See also:Hamburg, mentions clarinet music in 1713, although See also:Handel, whose See also:rival he was, does not appear to have known the instrument . Joh . See also:Christ . See also:Bach scored for the clarinet in 1763 in his See also:opera Orione performed in London, and See also:Rameau had already employed the instrument in 1751 in a See also:theatre for his See also:pastoral entitled Acante et Cephise.' The clarinet was formally introduced into the orchestra in Vienna in 1767,5 See also:Gluck having contented himself with the use of the chalumeau in Orfeo (1762) and in Alceste (1767).6 The clarinet had already been adopted in military bands in France in 1755, where it very speedily completely replaced the oboe . One of See also:Napoleon See also:Bonaparte's bands is said to have had no less than twenty clarinets . For further information on the clarinet at the beginning of the 19th century, consult the Methods by Ivan Muller and Xavier Lef6bure, and Joseph Froehlich's admirable work on the instruments of the orchestra; and Gottfried Weber's articles in See also:Ersch and See also:Gruber's See also:Encyclopaedia . See also BASSET HORN; BASS CLARINET and PEDAL CLARINET . (K .

End of Article: CLARINET, or CLARIONET (Fr. clarinette; Ger. Clarinette, Klarinett; Ital. clarinetto, chiarinetto)
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FRANCIS EDWARD CLARK (1851- )

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