In the modern orchestra the A and B flat clarinets are the most used;
in the military band, B flat and E flat. The C clarinet is not much
used now. All differ in tone and quality; the A one is softer than the
B flat; the C is shrill. The B flat is the virtuoso instrument. In
military bands the clarinet takes the place which would be that of the
violin in the orchestra, but the tone of it is always characteristically
different. Although introduced in the time of Handel and Bach those
composers made no use of it. With Mozart it first became a leading
orchestral instrument.
The Basset horn, which has become the sensuously beautiful alto
clarinet in E flat, is related to the clarinet in the same way that
the cor Anglais is to the oboe. Basset is equivalent to Baryton (there
is a Basset flute figured in Praetorius), and this instrument appears
to have been invented by one Horn, living at Passau, in Bavaria, about
1770. His name given to the instrument has been mistranslated into
Italian as Corno di Bassetto. There is a bass clarinet employed with
effect by Meyerbeer in the "Huguenots," but the characteristic
clarinet tone is less noticeable; it is, however, largely used in
military bands.
Pages:
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50