User:Gisbert K/sandbox
Clarinet family and ranges
[edit]Clarinets have the largest pitch range of common woodwinds.[1] The range of a clarinet is usually divided into three registers. The low chalumeau register extends from the notated E3 (C3 if available) to the notated B♭4. The middle clarion register covers a little more than an octave (from the written B4 to C5). The high altissimo register consists of the notes above it.[2] The three registers have characteristically different sounds: the chalumeau is full and dark, the clarion register is brighter and sweet, like a high trumpet from a distance, and the altissimo can be piercing and sometimes shrill.[3][4]
Initially only C clarinets were available, but soon clarinets in B♭ and A and the basset horn in F and G were developed. From the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, an extensive family of clarinets developed, from high A♭ to subcontrabass. Apart from the clarinets tuned in C (C soprano clarinet and basset clarinet in C), all clarinets are transposing instruments. The instruments above the C clarinet sound higher than notated, such as the aforementioned A♭ clarinet a sixth higher, the longer instruments sound lower, such as the B♭ clarinet by one tone and the B♭ contrabass clarinet by two octaves and one tone.
| Name | Key | Commentary | Range (written) | Range (sounding) |
Sound examples played by Richard Haynes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A♭ clarinet (Piccolo clarinet in A♭) | A♭ | The A-flat (A♭) clarinet is the highest-pitched clarinet still manufactured.[5] Due to its small size it is usually constructed with a one-piece body that combines the separate upper and lower joints and the barrel found on larger clarinets.[6] It first appeared in the early 19th century and was mainly adopted by European wind bands, particularly in Spain and Italy, though it is now rare.[5] It found some use in the on-stage banda of 19th-century Italian opera, and is occasionally called for in 20th-century and contemporary orchestral and chamber works.[7][5] |  E3 - G6 |
 a minor sixth higer: C4 - E7 -flat7 |
|
| E♭ clarinet (Sopranino or piccolo clarinet in E♭) | E♭ | The E-flat (E♭) clarinet is smaller than the more common B♭ clarinet. It has a characteristic "hard and biting" tone and is used in the orchestra when a brighter, or sometimes more comical, sound is called for.[5] It is used in orchestras, concert bands, and marching bands, and plays a central role in clarinet choirs, carrying melodies that would be uncomfortably high for the B♭ clarinet.[citation needed] Solo repertoire is limited, but composers from Berlioz to Mahler have used it extensively as a solo instrument in orchestral contexts.[5] |  E3 - A6 |
 a minor third higer: G3 - C7 |
|
| D clarinet | D | This type of clarinet was largely replaced by the E♭ clarinet. It was used in concerti by Johann Melchior Molter, in operas by Richard Wagner, and in Till Eulenspiegel by Richard Strauss.[8] Stravinsky used both the D and E♭ clarinets in Le Sacre du Printemps.[5] | E3 - A6 |
 one note higher: Fis3 bis B6 | |
| C clarinet (Soprano clarinet in C) | C | This clarinet was very common in the instrument's earliest period but its use dwindled, and by the end of the 1920s it had become practically obsolete. From the time of Mozart, many composers began to prefer the mellower lower-pitched instruments, and the timbre of the C instrument may have been considered too bright.[9] To avoid having to carry an extra instrument that required another reed and mouthpiece, orchestral players preferred to play parts for this instrument on B♭ clarinets, transposing up a tone.[10] |  E3 - B6 |
E3 - B6 |
|
| B♭ clarinet (Soprano clarinet in B♭) | B♭ | The B♭ clarinet is the most common type.[11] Usually, the term "clarinet" on its own refers to this instrument.[12] |  E3 - C7 |
 D3 - B6 |
|
| A clarinet (Soprano clarinet in A) | A | The A clarinet is frequently used in orchestral and chamber music, especially of the nineteenth century.[13] |  E3 - D7 |
 Cis3 - B6 |
|
| Basset clarinet | A, C, G or B♭ | The basset clarinet is typically tuned in A, though basset clarinets in C, G and B♭ also exist.[14][15] It is used primarily to play Classical-era music.[16] Mozart's Clarinet Concerto was written for this instrument, though the autograph was lost and the work was rewritten by publishers for the standard clarinet.[14][17] Basset clarinets with modern keywork have been built beginning in 1951, initially for the performance of the Mozart concerto.[18] Today, both the edited version for A clarinet and reconstructions of the lost autograph for basset clarinet are performed.[19] A well known[citation needed] composition for B♭ basset clarinet is Mozart's opera La Clemenza di Tito No. 9, aria from Sesto, "Parto, parto, ma tu ben mio". |  C3 - D7 (instrument in A) |
 A2 - B6 (instrument in A) |
|
| Basset horn | F or G | Similar in appearance to the alto, the basset horn is typically pitched in F, with a narrower bore on most models. Mozart's Clarinet Concerto was originally sketched out as a concerto for basset horn in G (K. 584b/621b); his Requiem is "a cornerstone of the basset horn repertoire", and he also wrote numerous opera parts and chamber pieces for the instrument. Little other material for basset horn has been published.[20][21] |  C3 - D7 (instrument in F) |
 F2 - G6 (instrument in F) |
|
| Alto clarinet | E♭ or F | Sometimes referred to as the tenor clarinet in Europe, the alto clarinet is used in military and concert bands and occasionally, if rarely, in orchestras.[22][23][24] The alto clarinet in F was used in military bands during the early 19th century and was a favorite instrument of Iwan Müller. It later fell out of use.[25] If called for, it is commonly substituted with the basset horn.[25] The alto clarinet usually reaches down to low E,[26] but can be extended lower.[27] |  E3 - D7 (extended range) |
 A2 - F6 (extended range) | |
| Bass clarinet | B♭ | Developed in the late 18th century, the bass clarinet began featuring in orchestral music in the 1830s after its redesign by Adolphe Sax.[28] It has since become a mainstay of the modern orchestra.[29] It is also used in concert bands and enjoys (along with the B♭ clarinet) a considerable role in jazz, especially through jazz musician Eric Dolphy.[30][31] The bass clarinet in A, which had a vogue among certain composers from the mid-19th to the mid-20th centuries, is now so rare as to usually be considered obsolete.[23] The bass clarinet is also available in a version reaching down to low E flat instead of low C.[32] |  C3 - E7 (standard) |
 B♭1 - D6 (standard) |
|
| Contra-alto clarinet (also contralto or E♭ contrabass clarinet) | EE♭ | The first contra-alto clarinets were made in the first half of the 18th century.[33] Modern instruments (Boehm and Oehler) have developed since the 1950s.[34] The contra-alto clarinet is used in wind ensembles and occasionally in cinematic scores.[29] |  E♭3 - A6[35] |
 G♭1 - C5 |
|
| Contrabass clarinet (also double-bass clarinet) | BB♭ | The BB♭ contrabass is used in clarinet ensembles, concert bands, and sometimes in orchestras.[29] Arnold Schoenberg calls for a contrabass clarinet in A in his Five Pieces for Orchestra, but no such instrument ever existed.[36]
|
 C3 - A6[35] |
 B♭0 - G4 |
|
| Subcontrabass clarinet (also called octocontralto clarinet or octocontrabass clarinet) | EEE♭ or BBB♭ | The subcontrabass clarinet is a largely experimental instrument with little repertoire. Three versions in EEE♭ (an octave below the contra-alto clarinet) were made, and a version in BBB♭ (an octave below the contrabass clarinet) was built by Leblanc in 1939.[38][39] |  E♭3 - G7 |
 Des0 - F4 |
- ^ Reed, Alfred (September 1961). "The composer and the college band". Music Educators Journal. 48 (1): 51–53. doi:10.2307/3389717. JSTOR 3389717.
- ^ Pino 1998, p. 29.
- ^ Pino 1998, p. 200.
- ^ Miller 2015, p. 176.
- ^ a b c d e f Tschaikov 1995.
- ^ Rendall & Bate 1971, p. 120.
- ^ Hoeprich 2008, pp. 285–286.
- ^ Koechlin 1954, p. 322.
- ^ Lawson 1995c.
- ^ Pino 1998, p. 218.
- ^ Lawson 1995b.
- ^ Raasakka 2010, p. 53.
- ^ Page et al. 2015.
- ^ a b Shackleton & Rice 2015c.
- ^ Dearling 2001.
- ^ Shackleton 1995.
- ^ Poulin, Pamela (1982). "The basset clarinet of Anton Stadler". College Music Symposium. 22 (2): 67–82.
- ^ Shackleton, Nicholas (2001). "Basset clarinet". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.40001.
- ^ Koons, Keith (1998). "Comparing Published Editions of Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, K. 622" (PDF). ClarinetFest.
- ^ Dobrée 1995.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
hackerwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Baines 1991, p. 129.
- ^ a b Pino 1998, p. 219.
- ^ Shackleton & Rice 2015a.
- ^ a b Rice 2009, p. 84.
- ^ Rice 2009b, p. 10.
- ^ Rehfeldt 1994, p. 3.
- ^ Shackleton & Rice 2015b.
- ^ a b c Harris 1995a.
- ^ Miller 2015, p. 385.
- ^ Brown 1995.
- ^ "Privilege Bass". Selmer. Retrieved 14 April 2025.
- ^ Rice 2009b, p. 324.
- ^ Rice 2009b, p. 338.
- ^ a b Blatter 1997, pp. 106–107.
- ^ Raasakka 2010, p. 82.
- ^ "Orchestration Symphony No. 9". Mahler Foundation. Retrieved 5 April 2025.
- ^ Ellsworth 2015, p. 79.
- ^ Baines 1991, p. 131.
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