Much has been done to graft Boehm's system
of fingering upon the clarinet, but the thirteen key system, invented
early in this century by Iwan Muller, is still most employed. The
increased complication of mechanism is against a change, and there is
even a stronger reason, which I cannot do better than translate, in
the appropriate words of M. Lavoix fils, the author of a well-known
and admirable work upon instrumentation:
"Many things have still to be done, but inventors must not lose
the point in view, that no tone quality is more necessary to the
composer than that of the clarinet in its full extent; that it
is very necessary especially to avoid melting together the two
registers of chalumeau and clarinet, so distinct from each
other. If absolute justness for these instruments is to be
acquired at the price of those inestimable qualities, it would
be better a hundred times to leave it to virtuosi, thanks to
their ability, to palliate the defects of their instrument,
rather than sacrifice one of the most beautiful and intensely
colored voices of our orchestra."
There are several clarinets of various pitches, and formerly more than
are used now, owing to the difficulty of playing except in handy keys.
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