The Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument from the woodwind family. It is one of the four main woodwinds in the orchestra, but is equally at home in a jazz or marching band. The clarinet has a lovely deep, mournful tone in its lower notes, but can also produce very bright cheerful sounds, particularly in its higher notes. The instrument has a huge range of almost four octaves; only the bassoon has a bigger range in the woodwind family. It is also among the most agile of instruments, as players are able to produce very rapid sequences of notes and can easily jump from low to high and back again. Despite this, the clarinet is reasonably easy to pick up as a beginner's instrument.
How It Works
The clarinet is basically a cylindrical tube that is closed at one end. There is a slot in the side at the closed end, to which is strapped a flat, thin piece of wood called a 'reed'. The end of the clarinet is placed in the player's mouth with the reed pressed against the player's lower lip. By blowing, the reed is made to vibrate and the air in the clarinet resonates, producing a note.
The pitch of the note is determined by the length of the tube, which can effectively be varied by opening tone holes along the length of the tube. Some of these are closed directly by the player's fingers, but most are controlled by a daunting-looking mechanism of keys, pads and levers.
The combination of cylindrical tube and closed end gives the clarinet an unusual property: it produces a much deeper tone than would be expected for its size. A clarinet will play an octave lower than a flute or oboe of the same length. It also gives it its distinctive sound, variously described as dark, mellow, mysterious and warm.
The basic range of the clarinet is about one and a half octaves. These low notes are collectively known as the 'low' or 'chalumeau' register. By increasing breath pressure and opening a small hole high up on the tube using a special 'register key', the clarinet can be caused to 'overblow'. The air in the tube switches to a different type of resonance and all the notes go up in pitch by an octave and a half. These new notes are collectively known as the 'middle' or 'clarino' register. By complicated fingering and a further increase in breath pressure, another shift can be produced into the 'high' or 'altissimo' register.
What It's Made Of
Most professional clarinets are made of a hard, black wood called Grenadilla. Beginner instruments are usually made of plastic, and plastic clarinets are also favoured in marching bands, because the sun and rain are not kind to wood. In the early 20th century, many metal clarinets were made for the same reason, but most were of poor quality and they are no longer made.
There is an eternal debate as to whether the material of construction affects the sound or not. There is no doubt that cheap plastic instruments sound worse than expensive wooden ones, but the difference may be due to the care and attention lavished on the making of the wooden instruments. Scientific evidence seems to show that a well-made plastic clarinet will sound just as good as a wooden one, but this has not yet been accepted by the players, so manufacturers will continue to make the good clarinets from wood for some time to come. Hardened Rubber is another wood substitute which seems to have a density that is closer to Grenadilla wood.
Some great clarinet works include:
Mozart's Clarinet Concerto (K626). This work was one of the last that Mozart wrote. Written for his friend, the clarinettist Anton Stadler, it contains some of the most sublime music ever written. The beautiful slow movement was played by Robert Redford on a wind-up gramophone in the film Out of Africa.
Mozart's Clarinet Quintet, for clarinet and string quartet.
Weber's two Clarinet Concertos.
Brahms' Clarinet Quintet for clarinet and string quartet.
Brahms' Clarinet Sonatas Op 120 - Two sonatas for clarinet and piano.
Outside of the classical world, the clarinet still plays an important role in marching bands and in Dixieland jazz. Another place it can be heard is in klezmer music, the music of the Jewish ghettos of Eastern Europe.
The Clarinet History: Key System Evolution: The Romantic Era
The invention of the clarinet dates back to the 1700's to a well-known flute-maker by the name of Johan Christoph Denner. Before his invention, single reeds were used only in organs and folk instruments. The clarinet's immediate predecessor was the small mock trumpet, or chalumateu (or zampogna to the Italians). The word chalumeau is of French origin and is a generic name for any small reed-blown pipe. The chalumeau (pronounced 'shall-oo-mo') was the first true single reed instrument. It appeared in the late 1600's and wasn't very flexible and had a range of about 1.5 octaves.
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Modern Reproduction
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Johann Christoph Denner (Nuremburg) and his son, Jacob are attributed to innovating the speaker key which gave the clarinet a larger register. The clarinet overblows at the 12th, the other woodwind instruments overblow at the octave. So, when you play with the thumb and first three fingers of the left hand without the speaker key, you sound the note C. When you add the speaker key, you do not get a C an octave higher, you sound a G, which is the interval of a twelfth. Because of his improvements of the chalumeau J C Denner is said to be the inventor of the clarinet.
The clarinet is individual in the shape of its bore, as well. While every other woodwind instrument has a conical bore (yes, even the flute!) the clarinet has a cylindrical bore--it doesn't flare, even though the bell of the clarinet gives that impression. This is why the clarinet overblows at the twelfth and is so laden with overtones, which contributes to its unique sound.
In the late 1700's, many improvements were made to the clarinet--more keys were added and the tone holes were experimented with--different cuts and such. Iwan Muller (German) developed a thirteen keyed model. This clarinet remained in favor until the late 1800's.
Klose and Buffet adapted the Boehm (flute) fingering system to the clarinet ca. 1839-1843. This system is the one most common today, although there are other fingering systems in use such as the Albert and Auler (mostly in Germany.)
The basset horn is a type of clarinet usually pitched in F. This was the instrument which Mozart composed his Clarinet Concerto and Quintet. His friend, Anton Stadler was a virtuosic basset hornist and Mozart fell in love with the mellow, dark tone of the clarinet.
Some of the more notable works for the clarinet are Mozart's Concerto and the Quintet, Brahms' Two Sonatas Op. 120 and his Quintet. The clarinet's tone is really very complimentary to strings and vice-versa.
Some noted performers are Anton Stadler (late 1700's), Richard Muhlfield (mid-to-late 1800's) and more recently Stanley Drucker (principle of the NY Phil) Richard Stoltzman (freelance soloist) Larry Combs (principle of Chicago Sym.) James Pyne (noted pedagogue at Ohio State Univ.) Anthony Gigliotti (principle of Philadelphia and pedagogue at Temple Univ.) and Jon Manasse, young soloist, faculty at Eastman and recording artist.
Eddie Daniels, Pete Fountain, Benny Goodman and Woody Herman are probably the most famous of the jazz players.
Key System Evolution
The standard Boehm system evolved from the flute Boehm (Theobald Bohm--umlaut over the O) ca. 1830. Basic idea is to place the holes more acoustically than for comfort--this was how the earlier system was set up--to fit the average hand. With an intricate system of keys and springs, Boehm was able to produce a more in tune and stable instrument, even though the tonal quality suffered from the pure sound of the earlier key systems.
This system has been used on the clarinet, saxophone, oboe and a hybrid is used on the bassoon.
The Albert system of fingering on the clarinet is still in use by some (very few) in the US and some in Europe. The problem with the Albert system is that of cross-fingerings--the very thing that the Boehm system eliminated. These are very complex and pose major technical problems in difficult passages.
The Auler (pronounced oiler) system is the preferred system in Germany. It is altogether different than the Boehm and requires cross-fingerings as well. The Auler clarinet also has roller keys--like those found on a sax.
The Romantic Era
The Romantic Era can be viewed as the period when the clarinet came into its own. With technical developments in keywork, improvements in the possible range of the instrument and innovations in sound production and intonation, the clarinet was bound to become a staple in romantic music. Composers began to favor its voice-like cantabile, it remarkable range and its ability to blend with strings, horns and the other members of the woodwind family. It is no wonder that the clarinet became a prominent instrument in the genres of symphonic literature, opera, band music, chamber music and solo literature.
Prior to the 19th century, the clarinet had found a place in the works of Mozart and other classical composers. There is not substantial literature for the clarinet prior to the classical era. The clarinet was still in very infant stages in the Baroque and Rococo eras. There is evidence that the chalumeau, the precursor to the clarinet, appeared in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Johann Denner, “invented” an improved chalumeau with seven tone holes and two keys around 1690. The instrument had a range of a twelfth and had a low sound for its relatively small 8 1/4 inch size. This “improved chalumeau” was used by composers such as Telemann in Carillion for Two Chalumeaux and by Gluck in Orfeo.(Brymer 1976, 20)
In 1700, Johann Denner placed the two keys in such a way that one was capable of overblowing the instrument at the twelfth, giving it a range of almost three octaves. Around 1710, Jacob Denner, son of Johann, experimented more with the placement of the keys and discovered positions that allowed for a clearer upper register which was slightly easier to tune. This innovation is said to have excited Baroque and Pre-classic composers, as now the richness of the clarinet’s ‘clarion’ register, where it is most known for its cantabile and voice-like timbre could be played with greater ease. The third key, enabling the clarinet to play the third line b-natural was added around 1740.(Brymer 1976, 22, 27)
By 1740, Vivaldi had written three concerti grossi for two clarinets and two oboes and Handel wrote an overture for two clarinets and corno di caccia in the same decade. Karl Stamitz and Georg Fuchs wrote concertos for the members of the Mannheim Orchestra in the decade of 1780 and it is during this time that there was significant experimentation with the bore and the cut of the tone holes. The concertos by Stamitz and Fuchs demonstrate the ease with which players could now pass from the low register to the high register. Tuning and chromatic playing were still great obstacles, but the clarinet was built in various keys to circumvent this problem.(Brymer, 1976, 31)
The players in the Mannheim Orchestra were more than likely oboe players and doubled on the three keyed clarinet. By 1778 the five keyed clarinet had appeared and most orchestral clarinet players were indeed clarinet players, although the doubling of oboists on the clarinet continued for some time after.(Brymer, 1976, 33)
It was for the five keyed clarinet that Mozart wrote his Concerto and Quintet. It is amazing to imagine one playing the music of Mozart with all of his notes and modulations on an instrument that had only five keys. The writing is extremely idiomatic in that the technical challenges and virtuosic displays sit well within the limits of the instrument. The concerto and quintet were inspired by Mozart’s friend and fellow Freemason, Anton Stadler. Stadler’s low register is what attracted Mozart most. Mozart often referred to the beauty of the sound of the clarinet with its similarity to the human voice, and once wrote to his father during a trip to Italy that he longed for clarinets in their orchestras.
The five keyed clarinet remained the main clarinet in use in orchestras and solo literature until Ivan Muller’s innovations came about in the early 19th century. Beethoven’s symphonies were probably played on 5 keyed clarinets until a decade after he died. There were players in the early part of the 19th century that used multi-keyed instruments, but five keyed instruments were still very standard.
Ludwig von Beethoven’s (1770-1827) early symphonies were often written for clarinet in C, a higher instrument with a tone more like that of the modern E-flat clarinet than of the B-flat clarinet. The parts written for the clarinet in these symphonies are much like that of Haydn’s. The clarinet has no major solos or truly idiomatic writing, they are used for harmonic support and do not feature many chromatic passages. It is in the fourth symphony (1806) that the clarinet becomes a prominent color in Beethoven’s music. There has been speculation that because the clarinet is written in C, that it should be played in modern times either on a C clarinet or an E-flat clarinet because the tone color was what Beethoven had wanted. (Leeson, 1971, 806)
Beethoven befriended the Viennese clarinetist Joseph Friedlowsky and often asked for technical guidance on writing for the instrument. Though this friendship resulted in no solo works for the clarinet, the clarinet did acquire a more important role in Beethoven’s symphonies. Beethoven is known to have written very creative and technically demanding solos and solis for the clarinet, requiring extremes in range, tonal control, technique and dynamics. (Kroll, 1965, 67)
Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony is laden with solos for many wind instruments. Near the end of the first movement, the clarinet has a solo passage that requires great control of range, articulation and dynamics.
The andante movement provides the clarinet with the opportunity to sing in cantabile style with great arpeggios spanning most of the practical range of the instrument. In the Allegro movement, fear is struck into the hearts of players with a passage of a downward D7 arpeggio in eighth notes requiring rapid, crisp tonguing. The allegretto is noted for its ‘cuckoo’ motive.
Carl Maria von Weber contributed a great deal to the clarinet literature. There are two concerti, one concertino and the well known solo in the overture to Der Freichutz. Concerto No. 1 in f minor, Concerto No. 2 in E-flat and the Concertino in E-flat were all written in 1811. The works were written for the German virtuoso, Heinrich Baermann (1784-1847). The works all contain highly difficult and technical passages. There are arpeggios throughout demanding great control of range. Some start at the absolute lowest note possible on the clarinet and stretch to the highest notes that one could reach even today. Few compositions written since match Weber’s technical demands. Whereas Mozart favored the low ‘chalumeau’ range of the instrument, Weber preferred the clarion (fourth line D to ledger line C) register. He also seemed entertained by the fact that the clarinet could play a range of almost four octaves. The third movement of the Second Concerto is particularly notorious for its demand of technical facility.
With extended sections of sixteenth note triplets at a bright tempo to be played with virtuosic lightness, Heinrich Baermann must have had incredible technique to play these compositions on an instrument that had only five keys. Ivan Muller may be considered the father of the modern clarinet. Born in Russia, he moved to Paris in 1809 where many of the premiere woodwind makers of the day were located. He began his innovations on the clarinet in 1806, three years after Beethoven wrote his Eroica Symphony, but did not submit his “new” clarinet to the Paris Conservatory committee until 1815. (Kroll, 1965, 25-26)
Possibly the most important contributions that Muller made were not in his 13 key system, but in his cut of the tone holes and the composition of the pads. The tone holes were undercut, meaning that they were not holes like a recorder would have, but were raised and then cut so as to facilitate easier fingering. By placing certain holes higher or lower, the intonation and/or sound could be improved. The obstacle was that by putting certain keys higher or lower, the player could not reach them. Muller’s key system also allowed for extra openings, further improving tone and pitch. This provided a series of extra keys that could open and close in conjunction with the use of other keys and without the need for six extra fingers. The pads on a clarinet to this point had been made of felt. Muller’s pads were made of wool and covered with gut or leather. They did not fall off as easily and were more waterproof (an important factor to wind players) than felt.
The next major development in the history of clarinet was the invention of the modern pad. Early clarinets covered the tone holes with felt pads. Because these leaked air, the number of pads had to be kept to a minimum, so the clarinet was severely restricted in what notes could be played with a good tone. In 1812, Iwan Mueller, another German instrument maker, developed a new type of pad, which was covered in leather or fish bladder. This was completely airtight, so the number of keys could be increased enormously. He designed a new type of clarinet with seven finger holes and 13 keys, which allowed the clarinet to play in any key with equal ease.
Muller presented his instrument of thirteen keys and gut pads to the Paris Conservatory in 1815. They rejected it without debate. It was not that Muller had invented something radical with too many keys; the problem that the elders had was that it would eliminate the need for clarinets in various keys. Muller’s clarinet boasted a fine tone, was in a convenient size pitched in B-flat and could comfortably play chromatically and in all keys. (Brymer, 1976, 26) The elders preferred the difference in tone colors of the clarinets in various keys and claimed that it would be almost blasphemous to eliminate them. Over the course of the 19th Century, many enhancements were made to Mueller's clarinet, such as the Albert system and the Baermann system, all keeping the same basic design. The Mueller clarinet and its derivatives were popular throughout the world.
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) composed his Symphonie Fantastique in 1830. Almost certainly the clarinetist in the orchestra was solely a clarinet player and not a doubler, and undoubtedly played upon at least a thirteen keyed clarinet. The clarinet was in a heavy state of transition in the middle of the 19th century and players would often have extra keys put on their instruments. There is no true standard than to say that most players used at least a thirteen keyed clarinet and this is what most composers were writing for. Berlioz’ Symphony Fantastique is most noted for its amazing D clarinet part in the fifth movement. The section is now played commonly on an E-flat clarinet as the D clarinet is practically obsolete.
Berlioz is noted for his innovative orchestration and use of orchestral timbre. His use of the clarinet and its newly extended technical possibilities opened the door for much more use of the clarinet in future compositions. Berlioz understood the variations in tone color, articulation, dynamics and range, not only throughout the instrument but throughout the entire family of instruments. The clarinet’s versatility was now in full bloom.
If we now look at clarinets of about 1800, we find that they have five or six keys and a separate mouthpiece. This means that the mouthpiece can now be made in a much harder and more stable wood - usually ebony. It also has become slightly larger and is about the size of a modern Eb clarinet mouthpiece. These clarinets were probably still played with the reed on the top, as name stamps are usually found on the reed side (i.e., on the top). The English mouthpieces had long tenons which went right through the barrel joint and butted against the tenon of the upper finger joint. They were mostly standardized, which makes it easier when it comes to replacing them (mouthpieces are only rarely usable on early clarinets, as they are usually broken or too short). A lot of mouthpieces are stamped "J.Wood", and he seems to have made most of the mouthpieces for English makers. They had cylindrical bores of about 14.3mm. on the Bb and 14.1mm. on the C. On the continent things were very different, and many different conical bore sizes were used. The continental mouthpieces had short tenons and a raised ring to hold on the ligature cord. They were also slightly larger than the English pattern, although they were often very narrow at the tip and the slot was smaller.
The bodies were still made in boxwood and the keys brass (they were mostly sand castings). The springs were riveted onto the keys and were also made of brass and burnished to harden them. The supporting rings around the sockets were now usually ivory, whereas they were once part of the wooden body. The pitch by this time was A-440. Most of the baroque ornamentation had disappeared with only the ivory rings being slightly ornamentally turned.
The keys on a standard five keyed classical clarinet are speaker, A, G#/Eb, F/C, E/B (which is now operated by the left hand little finger). A sixth key is very common, and on continental instruments this is a C#/G# key, while English makers preferred a long key on the side of the top joint to give a B and C over the break, which is actually very useful for quick passages that ascend to B or C and back down again.
It is interesting to note that on all these early instruments the G#/Eb hole is below the G/D hole. This is necessary in order that the little finger on the right hand can cover the G/D hole, and consequently the Eb hole is enormous and usually still flat in pitch, while the D hole is small and drilled obliquely downwards into the bore. This problem was not solved until later, when Muller provided a key instead of the finger-hole for this note.
The collaboration of Hyacinthe Klose and Auguste Buffet was an important one to the world of the modern clarinetist. Klose and Buffet selected ideas of T. Boehm and his flute key system and applied them to the clarinet. Because there are fundamental acoustic differences between the flute and the clarinet (the flute overblows at the octave and the clarinet at the twelfth) one could not put a strict Boehm system on the clarinet. Klose and Buffet applied the ring-key system. The rings are placed over the open tone holes and attached to a series of springs and keys that one could not reach with the fingers. The additional keys cover or open holes that bring certain problematic notes better in tune and give other problematic notes a better tone. The patent for this instrument was granted to Buffet in 1844. The French model clarinet has changed little since then. The so called “Boehm” clarinet has 17 keys and 6 rings to this day.
The German clarinet maker Oskar Oehler of Berlin used a key system based very much on Muller’s clarinet. The sound of German clarinets differ profoundly from French clarinets. It is a darker, denser sound with a very cylindrical quality. The difference is in the bore, though the key system probably has some influence over the difference in sound quality. Oehler’s clarinet has 22 keys, five rings and finger plate. With these additional keys and mechanisms, the tone and pitch of certain notes is dramatically improved. The drawback is that the technique required is far more complex. Quite often French, British or American compositions are more difficult or simply do not work on the German (Oehler) system with the same being true of the opposite. It is perhaps more pronounced in the method and technical studies books of each individual school of playing.
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) is possibly the most important figure in chamber music for the clarinet in the 19th century. Brahms wrote two sonatas, a trio and a quintet for the clarinet. Brahms was exposed to the lyrical capabilities of the clarinet by the playing of Richard Muhlfield, an extraordinary Viennese clarinetist with the Meiningen Orchestra. The technical possibilities of the clarinet had been written well for by the likes of Weber and Rossini in his Introduction, Theme and Variations for Clarinet and Orchestra. It was the lyrical, singing quality that had been overlooked for so long.
Although the Brahms’ Op. 120, no. 2 is the more popular of his two sonatas for clarinet, Op. 120 no. 1 will be examined. It makes outstanding use of the technique of a player; the performer is required to play in all the registers of the instrument, as though playing a stringed instrument. The works are in fact also regularly performed on the viola. Grand sweeping lines begin with the piano in the opening four measures of the work. The clarinet then takes the line with very melodic intervals in tenths over two different breaks in the instrument’s range. The work becomes increasingly chromatic and stays for a good deal of the development in the key of B-flat minor, a key that might have been unthinkable sixty years prior and most unpracticed thirty years before. The second movement, Andante, is clearly a tribute to the fine singing quality of the clarinet. It sounds as a lullaby and one could easily imagine it vocalized. The third movement is a quasi-minuet and trio. The tune is reminiscent of folk music and songs Brahms might have heard in biergartens of the time. Brahms, having spent a good deal of his early life in Hamburg in brothels and drinking establishments, must have heard very folksy clarinet playing throughout his lifetime. The third movement does not lack class or mock the clarinet, rather it is a polished and complex dance movement. The fourth movement is finale in the most complete use of the term. It requires the player to again display his range and control of it, but also explores in detail the differing types and qualities of articulation.
Brahms wrote his clarinet sonatas in 1894, three years before his death. The works stand not only as sonata writing in its greatest light, with masterly control form and development, but remains some of the most beautiful and personal music that Brahms composed.
There is much literature for the clarinet written during the Romantic period. For instruments such as the flute, oboe or violin, there has been literature; solo, chamber and orchestral, from all classified periods of Western music. The clarinet, still in its infant stages through the Baroque and much of the Classic periods, did not come to the fore in literature until the early 19th century. There were many improvements to be made on the clarinet before it could perform the demands that players and composers alike desired.
Inventors and players including Ivan Muller, Hyacinthe Klose and Auguste Buffet set new standards for clarinet playing. This laid the path for composers to write more creatively and brilliantly for the clarinet.
The largest body of work for the clarinet was still to come in the twentieth century. Clarinetists and historians do not argue that the most important technical development and increase in importance of the clarinet occurred in the Romantic Period.
Big to Small Size
Throughout its history the clarinet has been made in different sizes. There are also a number of related single reed instruments of which the basset horn is the most important. The name clarinet is plainly a diminutive of clario, the Italian word for trumpet, and particularly for the high register of the instrument. The word clarinetto is the standard Italian name from which other languages derived their names for the instrument. The clarinet has been built from the beginning as a transposing instrument in many different pitches and dimensions. The compass is in theory the same for all, from written e to c'''', three octaves and a sixth in all.
The family of clarinets is a large one, ranging from the high A-flat, a little more than 14 inches in length, to the contra bass, which measures about 9 feet. The most commonly encountered are those pitched in A and Bb.
As a rule, the clarinet consists of five parts- mouthpieces with reed, barrel, upper or left-hand joint, lower or right-hand joint, and bell. The present size of the mouthpiece was fixed more than a century ago. The reed and mouthpiece of the earliest clarinets were almost of modern dimensions. Mouthpieces have been made of many materials, of wood to begin with, of ivory, of metal, of glass, of ebonite, and of plastics.
The reed was first attached to the mouthpiece by means of waxed thread of a silken cord, while Ivan Muller introduced the present metal ligature in the early 1800's.
The barrel is often considered the least important of the clarinet. However the barrel must be made properly to guide the vibration generated by the reed and mouthpiece to the main body of the instrument.
The upper and lower joints of the clarinet are in modern practice normally made in two pieces. In early clarinets upper and lower joints were frequently made in one. The division of the tube came around the middle of the 18th century. This division was due primarily to allow the introduction of joints of varying lengths to vary the pitch. To secure an absolutely airtight connection, cork lining is preferred to cover the tenon. The bell, like the barrel, has not always received the attention it merits. It is an essential part of the instrument's acoustical system and not just an ornamental addition.
Many varieties of the clarinet exist. They include:
(1) Clarinet in C, Bb, or A
(2) Bass Clarinet
(3) High Eb Clarinet
(4) High D Clarinet
(5) Alto Clarinet - in Eb and F
(6) Contrabass Clarinet
(7) 3 obscure modern instruments related to the clarinet family by possessing a single reed are the Clarina, the Heckelclarina or Heckelclarinette, and the Holztrompete.
The Clarinet That Made History
Some notes on Metal Clarinets & Jazz
Eberhard Kraut’s PEDLER metal Albert clarinet, which is identical to the one George Lewis (see black & white photo) played during Bill Russell’s CLIMAX / AMERICAN MUSIC recording sessions in 1943/44
When George Lewis recorded Burgundy Street Blues in New Orleans, Louisiana for Bill Russell’s AMERICAN MUSIC label he made history by using an American German silver Albert system clarinet that was made by Harry PEDLER of Elkhart, Indiana in the early 1930s.
With this world famous blues and other recordings done in 1943-44 with his trio and bands led by himself and veteran trumpeter Bunk Johnson, George Lewis demonstrated very well that a metal clarinet doesn’t sound worse than a wooden one but as good or even better.
The use of metal for clarinet bodies goes back to 1817 when the French instrument maker HALARI built a brass “clarinet metallique”. In the 1840s and 1850s Austrian and Russian army bands were equipped with metal clarinets because they were very robust and survived considerable wear and tear. But at the end of the 19th century the American selling agents of the high-class European manufacturers of clarinets still said in their catalogues: “Metal clarinets – such instruments must be considered as experiments of the past. The metallic sound and extreme harshness of tone produced by such an instrument has eliminated them from practical use in Europe and elsewhere… Metal clarinets cannot be recommended”. The few metal clarinets exported by a Bohemian company (V. KOHLERT’s Sons of Graslitz, CSR) to their agents in New York in the early years of the 20th century didn’t find the way to players. The first manufacturer who changed all this and made history this way was the American Harry BETTONEY Co. of Boston, Massachusetts. With the appearance of the “Silva-Bet” in 1925 the first successful metal clarinet was produced. People began to change their minds about metal clarinets, and in an unparalleled short time the entire clarinet industry changed from wood to metal. In America in particular the demand for metal clarinets was very high at the time; these instruments were sought after not only by military bands but also by high school bands, and by jazz musicians. Beside BETTONEY and the above mentioned PEDLER Co., other well known American musical instrument factories like BUESCHER and CONN (both of Elkhart, Indiana), KING (Cleveland, Ohio), HAYNES (Boston, Massachusetts), PENZEL-MUELLER (New York) or HOLTON (Elkhorn, Wisconsin) built superb metal clarinets then. In Europe, too, the wood-wind instrument makers responded to the heightened interest in metal clarinets, and so, e.g. HUELLER and MOENNIG (Schoeneck resp. Markneukirchen, Vogtland, Germany), ORSI and RAMPONE (both of Milan, Italy), NOBLET, BUFFET and SELMER (all of Paris, France) made like the Americans metal clarinets mainly with German silver (“white metal”) bodies. And, of course KOHLERT continued to make metal clarinets as BOOSEY & HAWKES of London (Around 1900 HAWKES created their “XX th Century” clarinet with a brass body which was still made in 1930 after the merger with BOOSEY).
High grade metal clarinets possess a specific mellowness and retain the true clarinet tone, their principal characteristic is clarity. The overtones are exceptionally well defined, the high notes are perfectly in tune and especially easy to play. In a leaflet of 1927 BETTONEY pointed out that it is a very important feature of a “Silva-Bet” that no brass (“yellow metal”) is used because they favoured German silver as the best “clarinet metal” which is productive of the true clarinet tone – indistinguishable from that of the finest grenadilla wood clarinet. A true clarinet tone, however, is not entirely due to the acoustic properties of metal (and the kind of metal used), but in part because with metal the instrument maker can work more accurately. The more essential requisites in the production of the perfect clarinet are dimensions and workmanship; skilled craftmen can work in metal with more definite adherence to specifi-cations than any wood suitable for musical instruments.
The main rationale for building metal clarinets was to create a clarinet that was very robust and resistant to variations in temperature and the influence of the weather for open-air playing. The metal body was seen as a good solution for a sensitive woodwind instrument, as long as the characteristic tone was not lost (for this reason there were metal oboes and metal bassoons as well). The metal clarinet was lightheartedly described as a “tropical clarinet”, alluding to the particularly harsh climatic conditions ruling in the tropics. By its very nature wood reacts markedly to external influences, above all temperature and humidity, even if it is good, slow-dried (South African grenadilla) wood. Frequently the result is tearing or splitting of the body of the instrument, which cannot happen with the metal clarinet. By the way, the “tropical clarinet” was of course resistant to the termites, which are very destructive to timber.
Because of its robustness George Lewis obtained a metal clarinet. When he saw the PEDLER metal Albert clarinet at Werlein’s Music Shop in Canal Street, New Orleans about 1936 he decided on the purchase. The heavy metal body of this clarinet had clearly appealed to him so much that he was sure he had acquired an instrument that would last him for the rest of his life. Nevertheless George stopped playing his metal clarinet in the late 1940s as it was a one-piece clarinet and couldn’t be dismantled like a wooden one and a wooden clarinet was lighter in weight, so that it could be transported more easily and was not so heavy on the right thumb when being played. Later George Lewis gave the only metal clarinet he owned to the New Orleans Jazz Museum, where it can be viewed (without its mouthpiece) in the former US Mint Building at 400 Esplanade Avenue.
The metal clarinet completely lost its particular significance as a robust woodwind instrument with the advent of stable synthetic clarinets made of Luraton/ABS plastic. These instruments do not differ in appearance from wooden clarinets but have certain advantages over wooden clarinets in maintenance and playing in extremes of weather and temperature, and they are cheaper to make than metal clarinets. The metal clarinet was therefore unable to survive in the age of plastic. Thus the prediction printed in a 1930s KOHLERT catalogue that it would be – like metal or silver flutes - the instrument of the future did not come true. The only remaining company that still makes metal clarinet is ORSI, an Italian musical instrument manufacturer who also made metal clarinets for different French brands like SELMER during the metal clarinet “boom” in the 1930s started by BETTONEY. It’s pleasing that thanks to Ryoichi Kawai of Japan, Nick Polites and Jack McLaughlin of Australia, Dr. Jim Searson, Penn Pengelly, Gordon Hunt and Brian Carrick of England, Paul Harrison and Kjeld Brandt of Denmark, Juergen Vieregge and Fraenzis Stuhler of Germany, Dr. Fabio Palchetti of Italy, Louis Siankope of Zimbabwe/Africa, Dick Bell of USA and some other players the metal clarinet has not been completely forgotten. With their old metal clarinets they recall a former jazz age, and so does the author of these notes when he plays his rare PEDLER metal Albert clarinet. Will further clarinetists follow their example so that some time a metal clarinet revival will be triggered off…?
THE SELMER (PARIS) LEGACY
The Selmer family traces its origins back to the rural Lorraine region of France with Johannes Jacobus Zelmer. Enlisting in the French army provided a means of moving families from the country to the city. For three generations Zelmer men served in the same regiment, while the boys, too young to be soldiers, played in the band. Jean-Jaques Selmer (son of Johannes Jacobus), in addition to changing the spelling of the family name, ascended to the rank of drum major. The military afforded great opportunities for education and travel.
When Charles-Frederic Selmer (son of Jean-Jaques) died in 1878 he left sixteen children, five surviving to adulthood. Of these Henri and Alexandre graduated from the Paris Conservatory as accomplished clarinetists. Henri went on to perform in the famed Garde Republicaine band and the Opera Comique. By the early 1900s Henri had opened shop at Place Dancourt in Paris to meet the demand for his handmade reeds mouthpieces. Soon repair work and customizing led to the manufacturing of clarinets.
From 1895 to 1910, Alexandre Selmer served as principle clarinetist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. At the turn of the century, a small retail store was opened in New York City for selling the family wares. Selmer Clarinets prospered after winning a gold medal at the Saint Louis exposition of the 1904 World's Fair. In 1918 Alexandre returned to Paris to assist Henri in their growing family business, leaving an employee, George Bundy, the rights to distribute Selmer products in the United States of America.
During the period 1910-1920 Selmer France increased production to include the complete family of clarinets, oboes, and bassoons. A new workshop in Meru and a steam factory in Gaillon were opened. Henri Lefevre, one of several family members now working for Selmer, had been perfecting an improved saxophone design (Adolphe Sax had patented the instrument in 1846) before being called to war in 1914. Although the saxophone had declined in popularity since the death of Adolphe Sax in 1894, Selmer's commitment to the instrument never waned. In 1919 the factory was moved to larger premises in Mantes. Henri Selmer's son, Maurice, soon entered the business, overseeing commercial and artistic affairs as well as learning the art of adjusting instruments.
Through the efforts of Maurice and Henri Lefevre (now sons-in-law of Henri Selmer) in developing new production methods and machinery, Selmer introduced its first saxophone, the model 22, in 1921. With the acquisition of the Adolphe Sax operations in 1928, Selmer's line now included trumpets and trombones. In the 1930s Selmer formed a working relationship with the great guitar maker Mario Maccaferri. Selmer-Maccaferri guitars, though limited in production, were embraced by such famous artists as Django Reinhardt.
With the death of Henri Selmer in 1941, Maurice succeeded his father as President. The war years were extremely difficult for Selmer, with the plant eventually converting to the manufacture of bicycle pumps. After the war Maurice restored the complete line of musical instruments. The combined popularity of jazz and development of the saxophone as a classical instrument contributed to Selmer's rising success. Continuous refinements and improvements in the saxophone led to to the introduction of the legendary Mark VI in 1954.
H. Selmer & Cie. remains a family-owned company. The factory in Mantes has been modernized to include state-of-the-art computerized machinery. Jinyin's first instrument made was a clarinet based on the Selmer clarinet way back in 1979.
Bibliography
Antique
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