User:Gisbert K/sandbox5

History
The clarinet has its roots in early single-reed instruments used in Ancient Greece and Ancient Egypt. The modern clarinet developed from a Baroque instrument called the chalumeau. This instrument was similar to a recorder, but with a single-reed mouthpiece and a cylindrical bore. Lacking a register key, it was played mainly in its fundamental register, with a limited range of about one and a half octaves. It had eight finger holes, like a recorder, and a written pitch range from F3 to G4. At this time, contrary to modern practice, the reed was placed in contact with the upper lip.



The clarinet arose at the beginning of the 18th century when the German instrument maker Johann Christoph Denner (or possibly his son Jacob Denner) equipped a chalumeau in the alto register with two keys, one of which enabled access to a higher register. This second register did not begin an octave above the first, as with other woodwind instruments, but started an octave and a perfect fifth higher than the first. A second key, at the top, extended the range of the first register to A4 and, together with the register key, to B♭4. Later, Denner lengthened the bell and provided it with a third key to extend the pitch range down to E3. . The resulting range has remained the standard for clarinets. The lower register from E3 to B♭4 was called the chalumeau register and the second register from B4 to C6 the clarion register.

A third register, the altissimo, developed as unknown clarinetists used special fingerings to play notes up to G6, and later up to D7.



After Denner's innovations, other makers added keys to improve tuning and facilitate fingerings and the chalumeau fell into disuse. The clarinet of the Classical period, as used by Mozart, typically had five keys. Mozart suggested extending the clarinet downwards by four semitones to C$3$, which resulted in the basset clarinet that was about 18 cm longer, made first by Theodor Lotz. In 1789 Mozart composed the Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet, the first clarinet quintet of its kind. In 1792 he composed the Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra in A major for this instrument, with passages ranging down to C3. Clarinets were soon accepted into orchestras, and by the time of Beethoven (c. 1780–1820), the clarinet was a fixed member in the orchestra.

The functionality and therefore the potential number of keys with felt pads was limited because they did not seal tightly. German clarinetist and master clarinet maker Iwan Müller remedied this by countersinking the tone holes for the keys and covering the pads with soft leather. This made it possible to equip the instrument with considerably more keys. In 1812 Müller presented a clarinet with seven finger holes and thirteen keys, which he called "clarinet omnitonic" since it was capable of playing in all keys. It was no longer necessary to use differently tuned clarinets for a different keys. This clarinet become gradually the worldwide standard.

Müller is also considered the inventor of the metal ligature and the thumb rest. With the added stability of the thumb rest, clarinetists began to orient the mouthpiece with the reed resting on the lower lip. As can be seen from the above drawing, Stadler already used this type of embrochure.

Müller's inventions also revolutionised the design of other woodwind instruments. In the late 1830s, German flute maker Theobald Böhm invented a ring and axle key system, which he first employed on the transverse flute, but which was then adopted by other woodwind instrument makers. In this system, when a finger covers a tone hole it also pushes down a metal ring flush with the top of the hole. The ring sits on an axle on which other rings and pads are mounted, causing them to close.

This key system was first used on the clarinet between 1839 and 1843 by the French clarinetist Hyacinthe Klosé, in collaboration with instrument maker Louis Auguste Buffet. They made other changes to the clarinet, resulting in a new instrument with different fingerings and a different inner bore, which produced a different sound. One significant change was the addition of new keys for the two little fingers on the lower joint, providing redundant fingerings for certain notes. The inventors called this the Boehm clarinet, although Böhm was not involved in its development. The standard Boehm clarinet has 17 keys and 6 rings.

End of the 1840s, the Belgian Eugène Albert transferred the Boehm ring key system to the Müller clarinet, with some changes to keywork. The Albert clarinet, known as the "simple system", got 16 keys, 5 rings, and rollers on the keys intended for the little fingers. It's sound is similar to the Boehm clarinet. . The most important improvement of the Simple System is the "spectacle key" patented by Adolphe Sax, another improvment a "patent C sharp" key developed by Joseph Tyler which was also added to other clarinet models. Improved versions of Albert clarinets were built in Belgium and France for export to the UK and the US. From 1920 to 1940 Selmer Paris built an improved Albert clarinet, also called "Full-Albert" versus "Plain-Albert", with very good intonation and extended mechanics with 6 rings, 4 side trill keys, E-flat-lever and F-sharp/G-sharp-trill, which was played by many jazz clarinetists.

Around 1860, clarinettist Carl Baermann and instrument maker Georg Ottensteiner developed the patented Baermann/Ottensteiner clarinet, a clarinet with 16 keys, four rings and four rollers, but in the tradition of the historic sound. This instrument had new connecting levers, which made it possible to press many keys from several places. It was used from 1860 until about 1910.

The famous Brahms clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld used this clarinet, and the American clarinet soloist Charles Neidich has used a Baermann-Ottensteiner instrument for playing compositions by Brahms.

In 1905, the German clarinettist and clarinet maker Oskar Oehler presented a clarinet with 22 keys, four rollers, five rings and a blind cover for the right index finger, under which there is no tone hole, but through which two keys on the right side of the lower joint are operated. The new clarinet was called the Oehler clarinet or German clarinet, while the Böhm clarinet has since been called the French clarinet. Since the 1950s, most top German clarinets are still equipped with a cup mechanism to improve the intonation of low E and F and are sometimes called "Full-Oehler" clarinets, even though this mechanism was not developed by Oehler.

The French clarinet differs from the German not only in fingering but also in sound. The characteristic sound of the clarinet that had fascinated Mozart was lost. After conducting in France, Richard Strauss spoke of the nasal French clarinets. At the end of the 1940s, German clarinet maker Fritz Wurlitzer, father of Herbert Wurlitzer, built a clarinet which involved the use of Boehm-system keywork in combination with a German mouthpiece and bore and with a sound approximating the German ideal. The result was the Reform Boehm clarinet, which is still in production.

Changes in manufacturers' drilling techniques and changes in playing technique have changed the "nasal" sound of the Boehm clarinet. Its sound has been described as sharper, richer in overtones and more flexible than the German clarinet sound, which has been called pure, sonorous and warm.

Other modifications to the basic Boehm system, the Full Boehm, Mazzeo, McIntyre, and Benade NX System, did not become common.

Outside of Germany and Austria, clarinets with the Boehm system are used almost exclusively today. In Eastern Europe the Oehler system was widespread until the middle of the 20th century, but was largely replaced by the Boehm system. In the Netherlands, the Reform Boehm system was important for a long time but has gradually been replaced by the classic Boehm system. For reasons of sound and intonation, the use of Oehler clarinets has continued in German and Austrian orchestras, including the Vienna Philharmonic and the Berlin Philharmonic), while no German clarinets are used in French symphony orchestras.

The Albert clarinet has been in common use in Britain since the second half of the 19th century. These dominated jazz in its early days, is still used in folk music in the Balkans and Turkey.