"The Clarinette d'Amour and Basset Horn," Galpin Society Journal 39 (1986): 97-111.

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The Clarinette d'Amour and Basset Horn Author(s): Albert R. Rice Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 39 (Sep., 1986), pp. 97-111Published by: Galpin SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/842136Accessed: 24-05-2015 21:57 UTC

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ALBERT R. RICE

The Clarinette d'Amour and Basset Horn

R ICHARD Maunder recently has suggested (GSJ XXXVII) that J. C. Bach's 'Clarinetti d'amore' - in his opera, Temistocle (1772) -

were actually basset horns pitched in low D. His arguments were convincingly shown by comparing musical examples to establish the pitch, as well as the extended range of these instruments. The unique description of basset horns pitched in g3, f3, e3, eb3, and d3 by the theorist, Albrechtsberger, in 1790, also helped to confirm Maunder's thesis.' His article, therefore, prompts us to re-evaluate the relationship between the clarinette d'amour and basset horn. This discussion presents evidence concerning several names which were applied to both instruments, their use during the 18th and 19th centuries, and additional music written for the clarinette d'amour. A few of the earliest extant instruments and some aspects of their design are also noted.

CLARINETTE D'AMOUR The most obvious characteristic of the clarinette d'amour is its globular or pear-shaped bell, which Curt Sachs named 'LiebefuV', probably deriving it from the French, 'pavilion d'amour'.2 Sachs' 'Liebes- klarinette' is not found in 18th or 19th-century sources, which only make use of the French, Italian, and Flemish names. The 'd'amour' designation may refer to the instrument's soft quality of tone, which is not caused by the shape of the bell. This was mainly for appearance, as its effect on the sound could only operate with fully or nearly closed finger holes.3 A predecessor which may have inspired this shape was the 'hautbois d'amour', which appeared about 1720 according to Walther, Majer, and Eisel.4 Instruments have been recorded in the catalogues of Brussels and Berlin, as being pitched in c4, a3, al 3, g3 and f3.5 Unlike the soprano clarinet, these instruments include a bent, metal crook or a curved wooden barrel for a more convenient placement of the mouthpiece.6 A few other low-pitched clarinets in a3 or ab3 include a metal crook, but have a normal clarinet bell, or a flared bell with a bulbous interior, and for the purposes of this discussion are described as clarinettes d'amour.7 There are at least forty extant clarinettes d'amour which have from three to twelve keys, and date from c. 1750 to c. 1820.

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Shackleton observed that a fair proportion of surviving examples appear to be originally three-key instruments that have been modernised by the addition of an extra key or two.8 The early clarinettes d'amour constructed with three and four keys - none have been recorded with two keys - include one key for the speaker, and others for the notes a4, e3/b4 and ak3/ebs. On two separate wooden rings of the upperjoint, the speaker and a4 keys were mounted, while the e3/b4 key was positioned on the back of the instrument and mounted to a ring on the lowerjoint, to be operated by the right or left thumb. An alternative little-finger hole is very often found on three-key instruments, to accommodate right or left-handed players. The extra hole was stopped by wax or a wooden spindle. Four-key instruments include an ak3/eb4 key mounted on the lower joint, sometimes with a touchplate in a 'double wing' shape, for the benefit of right or left-handed players. Two four-key clarinettes d'amour by Gehring (c. 1788, Berlin, nos. 84, 85) have double holes in place of the third and seventh tone holes (see Pl. VII).

The German writer, composer, and musician, Valentin Roeser (c. 1735 - c. 1782) is the earliest to mention the low-pitched clarinet in g3 in his instrumentation manual of 1764.10 Here he describes the quality of its sound:

The clarinet in G is the sweetest type, but is rarely found, because it is not really necessary in view of the fact that the player can play in the key of G on the other clarinets, as we shall see below."

Louis-Joseph Francoeur added to this description in his treatise of 1772, by stating that 'the sound of the g clarinet is sad and lugubrious, suitable for sombre effects and funeral pieces'.2 An identification of the G clarinet with the clarinette d'amour is supported by an advertisement of an instrument for sale, by the music dealer, Johann Carl Friedrich Rellstab of Berlin, in the Journal fur Literatur, Kunst, Luxus und Mode of 1793:

Eine Clarinette d'Amour oder G Clarinet von Grundmann. 2 L'dor [Louis d'or]'3 Further proof of this identification appeared inJ. G. H. Backofen's tutor for the clarinet and basset horn of c. 1803. In a section regarding the required transposition for clarinets tuned in various keys, he excludes the basset horn and states that the clarinet in g3 is 'known under the name: Douce-Klarinette'.'4

During 1772 and 1773, Jeremias Schlogl, a maker from Basle, supplied the Munich court orchestra with four 'tiefe douce Clarinet' and four dozen reeds.5 These 'low sweet clarinets' or clarinettes d'amour are easily associated by their name, to the descriptions of the

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'sweet' G clarinet by Roeser and Francoeur. Probably the earliest definition of the word, 'clarinette d'amour' appeared in 1781 in the Deutsche Encyclopidie (the first German encyclopaedia to be modelled on Diderot's Encyclopedie):16 Clarinette d'amour are those clarinets newly introduced by 3 clarinetists of the Nassau-Weilburg court. They are deeper than the ordinary clarinet and are in fact pitched in G. The third is like a bassoon, and creats a splendid effect. It snarls like a metal gamba stop in an old organ."7 Neither the inclusion of a French name in a German dictionary, nor the use of this instrument at a small German court should be surprising. From the late 17th century, the German nobility slavishly copied their French contemporaries, adopting their language and. any new fashionable addition for their courts.18 These instruments in the key of G seem to correspond to Grundmann's clarinette d'amour, but may have been basset horns in g3. The Deutsche Encyclopddie does not include an entry for 'Basset Horn', a term which was just coming into wide use in Germany. Furthermore, the description of the third 'bassoon-like' instrument implies that it was notated in the bass clef like the third 'clarinetto d'amore' [basset horn] part in J. C. Bach's Temistocle (1772), produced at Mannheim (see Maunder, GS] XXXVII).19 It therefore seems likely that in Germany, during the 1770s and the beginning of the 1780s, the names 'clarinetto d'amore' and 'clarinette d'amour' signified the basset horn.

Another maker, the Belgian, Jean-Arnold-Antoine Tuerlinckx is recorded as making a 'clarinet d'amoer' in 1784, and others in 1787 and 1789, pitched in F with G 'stukken' (corps de rechange) to enable a whole tone change in pitch.20 In England, the composer and writer, Thomas Busby (c. 1801), mentioned a G clarinet, probably a clarinette d'amour, 'which is scarcely ever used, at least in this country'.21 The German teacher and writer, Joseph Froehlich, in 1811, observed that '. .. the low G clarinets are especially suitable for soft Harmonie Musik, and often take the place of the basset horn, which is only one tone lower'.22 These wind bands or Harmonien usually comprised pairs of musicians playing horns and bassoons, with either oboes or clarinets or both.23 As late as 1816, Louis Spohr heard a performer 'upon a clarinet in G, in tone and form similar to the bassethorn, with much skill and beauty of tone'.24 Finally, the theoretician, A. E. Choron, in the sixth volume on instrumentation, of his Nouveau Manuel de Musique (1836- 1838), stated that the 'clarinette en sol' was no longer in use and replaced by the 'cor de basset' or basset horn?s

The earliest work known to include the clarinette d'amour is

99



Frangois-Joseph Gossec's Missa pro defunctis (also known as the Messe des Morts), first performed in Paris during the month of May 1760, according to a note on the title page of the holograph score.26 'Clarinetti G' are found in only the first number, 'Jntroduzione' (see the Fig. 1), as shown on the first page of the full score published in 1780 by Henry of Paris.27 These technically undemanding parts do not descend below c4 and were probably not intended for the basset horn in g3, since they do

J NTROD UZIOlNE F

O 1. I.

e eo

uc_ 01.0

- .

-..

.. .. . .

f P

FIG. 1. The beginning of the earliest work including the clarinette d'amour, F.J. Gossec's Missa pro defunctis (1760, published in Paris by Henry in 1780

as the Messe des Morts), courtesy of the Newberry Library, Chicago.

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not use that instrument's lowest range below written e3. Aside from a few isolated solos in thirds they double the violins. Gossec was well- known as an orchestrator and for the startling effect he achieved by combining four clarinets, four trumpets, four horns and eight bassoons in the Tuba Mirum of his Requiem.28 In 1772, L. J. Francoeur called for the clarinette d'amour in his instrumentation manual. One transposition example marked 'Adagio' is scored for two 'Clarinette en G', two horns in C and one bassoon.29

Three double concertos which specify two 'clarinetti in G' are in the collection of the Thurn und Taxis archive at Regensburg. The bassoonist and composer, Wenzel Knischek (1743-1806) wrote two of these concertos for the Regensburg court, catalogued as Knischek 7 and 8. According to Robert Titus, a relatively narrow range is employed in both works, only in the third movement Rondeau of Knischek 7 is e3 written, for the second clarinet, and there it appears only twice. In most movements the second clarinet descends no lower than d4, so that much of the second part lies in the middle of the clarinet's compass, the upper chalumeau (or throat) register and the lower clarion notes. The part for the first clarinet is written only slightly higher, seldom reaching d6, and for the most part both instruments move through a similar range.30 Both works are especially limited in technical demands although there are moments of mild virtuosity in Knischek 8 with the use of triplet semiquavers in the clarion register.31 Knischek's change of instrumentation is also of interest. Number 7 is scored for the standard complement of two oboes, two horns, and strings. In the second double concerto the oboes and horns are replaced by flutes and bassoons. Perhaps these instruments with slightly less penetrating tones were substituted because they would correspond more closely to the timbre of the sweet clarinette d'amour.32 The third concerto in Regensburg is an anonymous work for two 'clarinetti in g', two oboes, two horns and strings.33 Its technical demands are simple and very similar to Knischek's two double concertos. The range of these parts are also restricted, the first part being from b4 to c6, the second, e4 to c6. Only on the last page of the Rondeau is the second player required to play for several measures in the chalumeau register, where many notes on e3 are written.

A final set of works are three trios for 'clarinetto d'amour in B', violin and basso continuo, attributed to Haydn, and found in the Oberschule of Zittau. The use of the clarinette d'amour for these parts is questionable, since they were listed in Breitkopf's catalogue of 1781 as: 'III. Trii da Haydn. a Clarinetto, violino e B.', without the 'd'amour' designation.34 We also do not have any other evidence for a clarinette d'amour pitched in Bb. According to the Haydn scholar, Georg Feder,

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these works were probably not written by Haydn."3 In conclusion, the evidence presented above suggests that the clarinette d'amour was used in the orchestra, as a concerto instrument, and in chamber music, much of its music presumably taken from the existing literature for the soprano clarinet.

BASSET HORN

The names which have been applied to the basset horn were usually related to the sound it produced, such as, the Italian, 'corno di bassetto'. Corno is derived from the Latin, cornu, a horn, and bassetto, the diminutive of bassus, or bass.36 Its apparent meaning, 'small bass-horn', remains the same with or without the preposition, 'di', as in the form, 'corno bassetto'. The German name, 'Bassetthorn', is derived as the diminutive of the French, basse or Italian, basso, and the old high German, Horn,37 also meaning 'small bass-horn'. A shape-related name, 'Krummhorn', was associated with the basset horn as early as 1790, by Albrechtsberger, and probably was suggested by the curved or angled form of the eighteenth-century instrument. Both the German name, 'Bassetthorn' and French, 'cor de basset', are thought by some linguists to have been adopted from the Italian name, 'corno di bassetto'.38 The German origin of the instrument, however, suggests that the Italian and French names were originally translations of 'Bassetthom'.

Basset horns are usually pitched in f3, less often in g3, e3, d3 or eb3. The many varieties of curved and angled forms of this instrument are noteworthy.39 There are at least fourteen surviving basset horns of German workmanship, which include five to seven keys, made during the 1760s and 1770s.4O A seven-key instrument signed by 'I1W' (Johann Stefan Walch?) includes the following keys: c3, e3/b4, f3/c5, two ab3/eb5, a4 and the speaker. Aside from those keys for c3 and f3/cs, they correspond to the keys found on the four-key clarinette d'amour. This basset horn also includes two ab3/ebs keys mounted on either side of an f3/c5 key for right or left-handed players. The f3/c5 key was essential on basset horns, because the length of the lowerjoint prohibited the right- hand little finger from covering this tone hole. It is often found with a 'double wing' touchplate,41 while on many basset horns the e3/b4 key is placed on the back of the instrument in a similar manner to the clarinette d'amour. Another key which was subsequently added to the basset horn was for f #3/c#5 found on soprano clarinets.

The earliest recorded name is 'Como di BaBetto', found in Leopold Mozart's manuscript catalogue of his twelve-year-old son's musical works, compiled in 1768.42 In 1774, the Mercure de France announced that M. Valentin will play 'sur le corno-basseto ou contra-clarinette'.43 If this

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performer was Valentin Roeser, as Rendall suggested,44 it is quite likely that he brought a 'corno-basseto' to Paris from Germany. The usual German name, 'Bassetthorn' appeared by 1781, in ajoint letter from the Viennese musicians, Anton and Johann Stadler, to Ignatz von Beecki, seeking permanent employment in the court orchestra at Wallerstein.45 The earliest appearance of the French name, 'Cor de Bassette', known to me, is in the advertisements of two works by Breitkopf and Hartel in 1803: Mozart's Pieces pour 2 Cors de Bassette [K 493b] and J. G. H. Backofen's, Quintetto pour Cor de Bassette, 2 Violins, Alto, and Violoncelle, Oeuv. 9.46 During the 18th century, composers and writers used both the Italian and German names. For instance, Mozart, in the catalogue of his works compiled from 1784 to 1791, listed one 'Bassethorn' in the Maurerische Trauermusik for orchestra K 479a (1785); and two 'Corni di Bassetto' in the Rondo for soprano, Al desio, di chi t'adora K 577 (1789).47 In 1785, the writer, J. F. Schink, introduced the unusual combination, 'Basset-Corni'.48 Subsequent writers, such as, Wilke (1786),49 Albrechts- berger (1790), and Wolf (1792)50o began using both the Italian and German names in their descriptions.

C. F. Cramer first brought this instrument to the attention of the German public in his Magazin der Musik (1783). He cited a performance at Ludwiglust in 1782, by Anton David and Vincent Springer 'on largely unknown instruments, which they call basset horns'." In a later issue of his journal, Cramer described a seven-key basset horn in G, improved by Theodor Lotz of Pressburg.52 By coincidence, the writer J. G. Meusel, in 1783, criticized J. N. Forkel for not including, in his Musikalischer Almanach fu'r Deutschland auf

das.Jahr 1783, an article about

the 'well-known Corno Bassetto, which should be praised because of its tone and range'." The beginning of Forkel's subsequent article concerning the basset horn in his Almanach for 1784 is quite complimentary: This instrument is still largely unknown, it is said to be a kind of bass clarinet. Its range of four and a half octaves includes very beautifully equal tones from top to bottom, and plays in a very singable manner.54 The remainder of the article speaks of the concerts and abilities of the virtuosi, David and Springer. Forkel may have been referring to an early type of bass clarinet, but it is more likely that this is a rather loose usage of this name. For instance, some German organ makers of the late 18th century employed a four-foot pedal stop called 'Klarinettbass'. Perhaps the earliest example of this stop (dated c. 1775 by the organ scholar, Williams), is in the organ of the abbey church in Amorbach, built from 1774 to 1782, by the brothers, Johann Philipp and Johann Heinrich Stumm.55 Furthermore, Heinrich Grenser's bassoon-shaped bass clarinet

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stamped 1793 is the earliest dated example, but a similar instrument may have been made by 1791.56 Forkel's basset horn range of four and a half octaves was probably a printing error for three and a half octaves.

During the late 18th-century several makers were actively developing the mechanism of the basset horn. Both Wilke (1787) and Wolf (1792) knew only a six-key instrument, while Albrechtsberger (1790) wrote of an exceptional basset horn in G or F, with a chromatic extension downwards (including d#3, d3, c#3 and c3) developed by the Stadler brothers of Vienna. In contrast, the Englishman, Mahon (c. 1803) wrote a fingering chart for an eight-key instrument; at the same time Backofen (c. 1803) included some fingerings for a nine-key basset horn in his tutor."7 In 1796, the writer von Sch6nfeld noted that in addition to the ordinary clarinet, the Stadlers played an instrument called the 'basset clarinet': The Stadler brothers, with the Imperial court orchestra, are excellently skilful artists, both on the ordinary clarinet and the basset clarinet. The latter instrument is difficult to handle in its production of tone, the delicacy of expression, and the facility to have it perfectly under control." Anton Stadler also performed on extended-range soprano clarinets in

Bb and A from 1788, which were called in one newspaper report, 'Bass Klarinett'.59 The range of these clarinets encompassed the 'basset' notes, d#3, d3, c#3, and c3, and these clarinets were given in 1956, the descriptive name, 'Bassettklarinette' in a study by the Czech musicologist, Jiri Kratochvilo0 On 12 September 1795, Anton Stadler played both his basset clarinet and basset horn at a concert in Hannover.6 Von Sch6nfeld's careful distinction between the Stadlers two instruments suggests that the basset clarinet, in this case, was a basset horn, which, because of its narrow bore, is slightly more difficult to handle in its production of tone than the ordinary clarinet.

In 1808, Ivan Muller, a German maker and player, constructed an alto clarinet, by having the maker, J. H. Grenser, apply a new system of keys to a basset horn which omitted the keys for the supplementary 'basset' pitches (d#n3, d3, c#3, and C3).62 Mller's 'clarinette alto' and thirteen- key 'nouvelle clarinette' were the subject of a report, dated 12 May 1812, by eight members of the Conservatoire Imperiale de Musique et de Declamation of Paris. This commission did not accept Miiller's clarinet, but approved his alto clarinet. Part of their discussion included a description of the basset horn, introducing probably for the first time, its mythical inventor 'Horn': The first instrument of this type was invented at Passau in Germany, about 1777, by a maker named Horn. The name of the inventor was kept and joined to the word basset, forming the name basset horn. Later, this instrument was

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named corno di bassetto, as is seen with different musical compositions, such as, the obligato aria in the opera, Clemenza di Tito by Mozart, and in the Requiem by the same composer.63

In conclusion, the basset horn appears to have followed the clarinette d'amour by a few years and may have been developed from

it.64 During the 18th and 19th centuries, a very large number of basset horns were constructed, bringing the instrument into general availability. Mozart wrote many works for two or three basset horns because the Stadlers and other players were in Vienna. The tone character of the instrument also seems particularly appropriate in the Magic Flute, where it expresses the solemn gravity of Sarastro, and for the sombre colouring of the Requiem and in works written for various Masonic lodges.65 It was further popularised by the performances of numerous virtuosi who played from the 1770s, at various courts and on concert tours throughout Europe and the

Netherlands.6 As a result, the music written for the basset horn is

very extensive and quite varied in instrumental combinations, and continues to occupy a unique voice in compositions of the twentieth

century.67

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank Nicholas Shackleton, Graham Melville-Mason and John Newhill for several valuable comments and suggestions concerning this article.

NOTES 1J. G. Albrechtsberger, Gruindliche Anweisung zur Composition ... und mit

einem Anhange: von der Beschaffenheit und Anwendung aller jetzt ublichen Musikalischen Instrumente (Leipzig: J. G. I. Breitkopf, 1790), p. 427. In each instance the fingering of the written c4 of the instruments mentioned produces the pitches or tonalities of each instrument.

2 Real-Lexikon der Musikinstrumente (Berlin: M. Hesse, 1913, reprint ed., Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1962), col. 241b. Cf. also, P. Bate, The Oboe (New York: W. W. Norton, 1975), p. 102.

3 Compare Reine Dahlqvist's opinion concerning the 'bulb' bell of the oboe da caccia in 'Taille, Oboe da Caccia and Corno Inglese', GSJ, vol. XXVII (1973): 59, 68.

4 J. G. Walther, Musicalisches Lexicon oder Musicalische Bibliothek (Leipzig: W. Deer, 1732, reprint ed., Kassel: Birenreiter, 1953), p. 304; J. F. B. C. Majer, Museum Musicum (Schwib. Hall: G. M. Majer, 1732, reprint ed., Kassel: Biren- reiter, 1954), p. 54; J. P. Eisel, Musicus Autodidaktos (Erfurt: J. M. Funcken, 1738, reprint ed., Leipzig: Zentralantiquariat der DDR, 1976), pp. 99-100. See also, 0. Kroll, The Clarinet (New York: Taplinger, 1968), p. 111.

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5 V. C. Mahillon, Catalogue Descriptif et Analytique du Musee Instrumental du Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles (Ghent: A. Hoste, 1909, reprint ed., Brussels: Les Amis de la Musique, 1978), vol. II, p. 214, no. 931; vol. IV (1912), pp. 355-56, nos. 2595-2598. C. Sachs, Sammlung alter Musikinstrumente bei der Staatlichen Hochschule fir Musik zu Berlin (Berlin: J. Bard, 1922), cols. 295-6.

6 Cf. A. Baines, European and American Musical Instruments (New York: Viking Press, 1966), p. 114. A closely related instrument to the clarinette d'amour is an anonymous three-key alto chalumeau d'amour (Munich 134), which may have been made about 1750. See K. Birsak, 'Das Dreiklappen- Chalumeau im Bayerischen National-museum in Miinchen', Die Musik- forschung, vol. 26 (1973): 493-6, and C. Lawson, The Chalumeau in Eighteenth- century Music (Ann Arbor: UMI Press, 1981), pp. 13-15.

7 Three examples include instruments made by 'ISW', see K. Birsak, Die Holzblasinstrumente im Salzburger Museum Carolino Augusteum (Salzburg: Salzburger Museum Carolino Augusteum, 1973), p. 46, nos. 5-7, p. 64; P. T. Young, Twenty-Five Hundred Historical Woodwind Instruments (New York: Pendragon, 1982), p. 138, clarinets, Nos. 4-6. Examples with flared and bulbous bell are illustrated by N. Shackleton in 'Clarinette d'amour', The New Grove Dictionary ofMusical Instruments (London: Macmillan, 1984), vol. I, p. 404, ill. 1(a) and (b). Birsak also describes an anonymous clarinet in g3 without a metal crook or bulb bell, i.e. in a straight form with a 'very long barrel', Birsak, pp. 46-47, no. 18/8.

8 Shackleton, 'Clarinette d'amour', p. 404. 9 See Birsak, p. 112. An early four-key instrument signed 'I.ST.W.' (Munich

115) is pictured in P. T. Young, The Look of Music: rare musical instruments 1500-1900 (Vancouver: Vancouver Museums & Planetarium Association, 1980), p. 97, no. 102. Only one example of a clarinette d'amour with an f#3/c5s key instead of the ab3/ebs key has been recorded. It was exhibited in London in 1890 and described as being pitched in a3, made by 'Deginan', and owned by the Flemish Collector, Cesare Snoeck in A Descriptive Catalogue of the Musical Instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890, ed. C. R. Day (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1891), p. 112, no. 225. Mahillon reported a four-key clarinette d'amour in g3 by Schlegel with an ab3/eb4 key positioned for the thumb of the right hand. See Catalogue..., vol. 2, p. 214, no. 93.

1O Essai d'lInstruction a l'usage de ceux qui Composent pour la Clarinette et le Cor (Paris: Le Menu, 1764, a later printing, Paris: Mercier, 1794-96, reprint ed., Geneva: Minkoff, 1972), p. 2, ?1.

l" 'Celle en G, re, sol est la plus douce espece, Mais on en trouve rarement, parce qu'elle n'est pas absolument necessaire, attendu, que pourjouer en G, re, sol, on peut se servir d'autres, comme nous le verrons par la suite.' Roeser, p. 2, ?2.

12 'La grande Clarinette en G-re-sol, . .. le Son en est triste et lugubre c'est pourquoy on n'en fait usage que dans les effets sombres et les morceaux funebres . .

.' See Diapason gen&ral de tous les instrumens a vent (Paris: Le

Marchand, 1772, a later printing, Paris: Des Lauriers, 1781, reprint ed., Geneva:

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Minkoff, 1972), p. 23. The G clarinet is also briefly mentioned by J. B. de La Borde in his Essai sur la musique ancienne et moderne (Paris: Ph.D. Pierres, 1780), vol. I, p. 250.

3 (Weimar, 1793), pp. CXXIII-CXXIV. About 1801, the clarinette d'amour was totally obsolete in Berlin, according to J. C. W. Kiihnau in his 'Beschreibung aller alten und neuen musikalischen Instrumente' (a manuscript in the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, East Berlin), reported by C. Sachs in Handbuch der Musikinstrumentenkunde, 2nd ed. (Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hirtel, 1930), p. 347, note 3.

14 'Bekannter unter dem Namen: Douce-Klarinette.' See Backofen, Anweisung zur Klarinette nebst einer kurzen Abhandlung uber das Basset-Horn (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, c. 1803), p. 35, note *.

15 'fiir gelieferte 2 Baar tiefe douce Clarinet und 4 Duzend Clarinet Zungen', as quoted by H. J. N6sselt, Ein altest Orchester 1530-1980, 450 Jahre Bayerisches Hof- und Staatsorchester (Munich: Bruckmann, 1980), p. 95. J. Saam also quotes a payment given to Schlogl for'l Baar douce Clarinet' in 1773 from the 'Hofzahlamtsrechnungen fir Miinchen im Archive

ftir Oberbayern', in Das Bassetthorn, seine Erfindung und Weiterbildung (Mainz: B. Schott's SOhne, 1971), pp. 47-48.

16 See R. Collinson, Encyclopaedias: Their History Throughout the Ages, 2nd ed. (New York: Hafner, 1966), p. 110.

17 'Clarinettes d'amour, sind jene von 3 Clarinetisten am Nassau= Weilburgischen Hofe neuerfundene Clarinetten, die tiefer als die gew6hn- lichen und eigentlich aus dem G gehen.

Das dritte gleicht einem Fagotte, und in einem laufenden BaB macht es die herrlichste Wirkung: es schnauzt wie eine in den alten Orgeln von gutem Metall gemachte Gamba.' See, Deutsche Encyclopddie oder Allgemeines Real= Worterbuch aller Kunste und Wissenschaft, ed. H. M. G. Kbster, 23 vols. [A-Ky], 1778-1807 (Frankfurt: Varrentrapp Sohn und Wenner, 1781), vol. V, p. 685.

is See A. Fauchier-Magnan, The Small German Courts in the Eighteenth Century, trans. M. Savill (London: Methuen & Co., 1980), pp. 26-29.

19 E. Warburton, 'Bach, ? III: (12) Johann Christian', The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. I, p. 866. I. J. Holzbauer wrote three 'clarinetti d'amore' parts pitched in D, as J. C. Bach had done in Temistocle (1772) and Lucio Silla (1774), in his oratorio, La Betulia liberata, produced in Mannheim in 1774. Cf. Hans Oskar Koch, 'Sonderformen der Blasinstrumente in der deutschen Musik vom spaten 17. bis zur Mitte des 18. Jahrhunderts' (Ph.D. diss., Ruprecht-Karl-Universitit zu Heidelberg, 1980), pp. 125-6, and Ursula Lehmann, 'Holzbauer, Ignaz Jacob', Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, vol. 6 (1957): col. 660.

2o See the 'Extraits du Registre des Comptes de la maison, J. A. A. et C. J. J. Tuerlinckx' as quoted in Flemish by R. van Aerde in Les Tuerlinckx, Luthiers i Malines (Mechlin: L. & A. Godenne, 1914), pp. 162, 166-7.

21 A Complete Dictionary of Music (London: R. Phelps, [c. 1801]), s.v. clarinet. 22. . . die tiefen G Clarinetten eignen sich vorziiglich zur sanftern

Harmonie Musik, und vertreten hier oft die Stelle der Basset-Horn, welche nur

107



um einen Ton liefer sind.' See Vollstandige Theoretisch=pracktische Musikschule (Bonn: N. Simrock, [1810-11]), p. 25.

23 Clifford Bevan, 'Band (i), ? II, 2: 1600-1830', The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (London: Macmillan, 1984), vol. I, p. 126.

24 'auf einer G-Klarinette, die in Ton und Gestalt dem Bassetthorn ahnlich ist ... mit schonem Ton und vieler Fertigkeit.' Lebenserinnerungen, ed. F. G6thel (Tutzing: H. Schneider, 1968), p. 237; compare the English trans. in Louis Spohr's Autobiography, 2nd ed. (London: W. Reeves, 1878), p. 250. According to Picken, the clarinette d'amour was particularly useful in Istanbul for the Turkish tunes played in the palace band of Mahmud II. This band was under the direction of Giuseppe Donizetti (brother of the composer, Gaetano Donizetti) from 1828 to 1839. See L. Picken, Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey (London: Oxford University Press, 1975), p. 511.

25 A. E. Choron [with J. A. de La Fage], Nouveau Manuel de musique, ou Encyclopedie musicale (Paris: Roret, 1836-38), part 2, vol. III, p. 36, note 1.

26 R. J. Macdonald, 'Frangois-Joseph Gossec and French Instrumental Music in the Second Half of the Eighteenth-Century' (Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1968), vol. I, pp. 448-9, note 210.

27 Macdonald, vol. I, p. 511. Soprano clarinets are called for in only four subsequent numbers. They are in Bb for three sections and in C for one.

28 According to a note attached to the autograph score, a performance of the Messe de Morts was given with 200 musicians on 18 December 1784. See Alfred Wotquenne, Conservatoire Royal de Musique de Bruxelles, Catalogue de la Bibliotheque (Brussels: Coosemans, 1898), vol. I, p. 127, no. 140.

29 Diapason general de tous les instrumens i vent, p. 58. This example by 'Signor [Johann] Stamitz' had previously appeared in V. Roeser's Essai d'instruction (1764), p. 20, without bassoon.

30 R. A. Titus, 'The Solo Music for the Clarinet in the Eighteenth Century' (Ph.D. diss., State University of Iowa, 1962), p. 453.

31 Titus, pp. 453-4, ex. 154. 32 Cf. Titus, pp. 445-46. 33 Catalogue number Inc. II c, 3. Thanks are given to Graham Melville-

Mason for a photocopy of the clarinet parts of this work. 34 See the reprint ed. published as The Breitkopf Thematic Catalogue. The Six

Parts and Sixteen Supplements 1762-1787, ed., B. S. Brook (New York: Dover, 1966), p. 731 and 0. Kroll, The Clarinet, p. 112.

3 Georg Feder, 'Haydn, Joseph', The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 8, p. 385 (worklist).

36 C. Battisti and G. Alessio, Dizionario Etimologico Italiano (Florence: G. Barbera, 1975), vol. I, p. 452; vol. II, p. 1116.

3' Duden. Das grofle Worterbuch der deutschen Sprache, eds. R. K6ster, W. Miiller and C. Schrupp (Mannheim: Bibliographisches Institut, 1977), vol. I, p. 306; vol. III, p. 1285. See also, W. Altenburg, 'Eine "Wiederein- fiihrung des Bassethorns"

' Zeitschrift fur Instrumentenbau, vol. XXVIII (1908): 555.

38 The Random House Dictionary of the English Language, ed. in chief, J. Stein (New York: Random House, 1981), p. 125; Webster's New International

108



Dictionary of the English Language, 2nd ed., Unabridged, eds., W. A. Neilson, T. A. Knott and P. W. Carhart (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1957), p. 228.

3 See F. Geoffrey Rendall, The Clarinet, 3rd ed. (New York: W. W. Norton, 1971), pp. 126-130 and A. Baines, European and American Musical Instruments, p. 115 and ills. 641-646, for a discussion of the construction, and illustrations of various basset horns.

40 Examples include the instruments byJ. P. Pleidinger (five-key), A. and M. Mayrhofer (six- and seven-key), and 'ITW' (seven-key, sometimes mistakenly attributed to F. Schofftlmayr who made the bell of this instrument). See K. Birsak, 'Zu Josef Saams Buch iiber das Bassetthorn Ein Diskussionsbeitrag', Die Musikforschung, vol. 27 (1974): 336-338.

41 Cf. Birsak, Die Holzblasinstrumente . . ., p. 114 and 'Zu Josef Saams ... p. 338.

42 'Verzeichnis alles desjenigen was dieser 12jahrige Knab seit seinem 7ten

Jahre componiert und in originale kan aufgezeiget werden', in Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, ed. Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, collected and explained in W. A. Bauer and 0. E. Deutsch (Kassel: Barenreiter, 1962), vol. I, p. 289.

43 'Vacance des spectacles', vol. II (April 1774), p. 164, quoted in C. Pierre, Histoire du concert spirituel 1725-1790 (Paris: Heugel et Cie, 1975), pp. 302-3.

44 F. G. Rendall, 'Clarinet', The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: Macmillan, 1954), vol. II, p. 326, note 5. Roeser was in Paris some time during 1754 and 1755 where he exchanged ideas concerning composition withJohann Stamitz. See his Essai d'instruction, p. 19 and Elaine Keillor in 'Com- munications', ournal oftheAmerican Musicological Society, vol. XXVIII (1975): 567.

45 The original letter in the Schlosse Marburg is quoted byJ. Saam, p. 63 and reproduced with an English translation in Pamela L. Poulin, 'The Basset Clarinet of Anton Stadler', College Music Symposium, vol. 22 (Fall 1982): 69-71, note 13.

46 Mozart's pieces are advertised in the 'Intelligenz-Blatt IV (Nov. 1803)', col. 15 in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, vol. VI (1803); Backofen's quintet was reviewed in the samejournal, vol. VI (9 Nov. 1803): cols. 91-3. The title of Mozart's work was misprinted and should read: 'Pieces pour 2 cors de Bassete et Basson'. See L. R. von K6chel, Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis saimtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadi Mozart, 6th ed. eds. F. Giegling, A. Weinmann and G. Sievers (Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Hirtel, 1964), p. 474.

47 'Verzeichnuess aller meiner Werke von Monath Febrario 1784 bis Monath 1', pp. 6, 22; reprinted with the booklet by O. E. Deutsch, Mozart's Catalogue of his Works 1784-1791 (New York: H. Reichner, [1956]), pp. 17, 27.

48 J. F. Schink, Litterarische Fragmente (Graz: Widmanstattenschen Schriften, 1785), vol. I, p. 286.

49 [J. G. L. von Wilke], Musikalisches Hand-WWirterbuch,

oder kurzgefj/3tes Anleitung (Weimar: C. R. Hofmanns seel. Wittwe und Erben, 1786), p. 36.

50 G. F. Wolf, Kurzgef4/3tes Musikalisches Lexikon, 2nd ed. (Halle: J. C. Hendel, 1792), pp. 42-43.

109



51 'auf noch ganz unbekannten Instrumenter, die sie Basseth6mrer nennen'. Magazin der Musik, ed. C. F. Cramer (Hamburg: Musicalischen Niederlage, 1783-1786, reprint ed., Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1971), 1st year, 1st half, pp. 179-180.

52 Magazin der Musik, 1st year 1st half (1783?), p. 654. 53 'bekannte Corno Bassetto, welches wegen seines Tones und Umfanges zu

loben ist'. J. G. Meusel, 'Zusitze und Berichtigungen zu Herrn Forkels musikalische almanach von Jahr 1783', Miscellaneen artistischen Innhalts, part 17 (1783): 296-97.

54 'Dieses Instrument ist bey und noch ganz unbekannt; es soil aber eine Art von Bq4clarinette seyn, einen Umfang von viertehalb octaven, sehr sch6nen egalen Ton von oben bis unten haben, und sich sehr singbar spielen lassen'. [J. N. Forkel], Musikalischer Almanach ... 1784 (Leipzig: Schwickertschen Verlag, [1783], reprint ed., Hildesheim: G. Olms, 1974), p. 150.

55 Hans Klotz, 'Stumm', The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, vol. 3, p. 468; P. Williams, 'Organ Stops', ibid, vol. 3, p. 920; Williams, The European Organ 1450-1850 (London: B. T. Batsford, 1978), p. 272; and E. F. Schmid, Die Orgeln von Amorbach, Eine Musikgeschichte des Klosters, 2nd ed., ed. F. Bosken (Mainz: B. Schott's S6hne, 1963), p. 103.

56 Stockholm, Musikmuseet 1957-58/28; see N. Shackleton, 'Bass clarinet', The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, vol. 1, p. 169, fig. 1(a). In an article of 1791, H. Bossler criticized Forkel's Musikalischer Almanach for its mistakes and ommissions. Here he stated that'die sogenannten BaBclarinetten' are an effective replacement in many cases for the bassoon. See, 'Berichtigungen und Zusatze zum den Musikalischen Alamanachen auf die Jahre 1782. 1783. 1784.', Musikalische Korrespondenz der Teutschen Filarmonischen Gesellschaft firJahr 1791, eds. H. P. C. BoBler and J. F. Christmann, no. 6 (9 Feb. 1791), cols. 41-2.

5' Albrechtsberger, p. 426. SeeJ. Mahon, A New and Complete Preceptorfor the Clarinet (London: Goulding, Phipps & D'Almaine, [c. 1803]), p. 61 (only six keys are drawn in his fingering chart, see GSJ XXX, pl. IX). Mahon's unusual name for the basset horn, 'Corno Bassetta', was corrected to 'Corno Bassetto' in a reprint of his tutor by Goulding, D'Almaine, Potter & Co., [1811-1816]. See J. G. H. Backofen, Anweisung zur Klarinette nebst einer kurzen Abhandlung iiber das Basset-Horn (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel,, c. 1803), p. 37.

58 'Stadler, Hrn. Gebriider, bei der kais. Hofmusik, sind ausgezeichnett geschickte Kiinstler sowohl auf dem gewohnlichen Klarinet, als auch auf dem Baiettklarinet, als welche schwer zu traktirende Instrumente sie von Seite des Tons, der Delikatesse, des Ausdrucks und der Leichtigkeit vollkommen in ihrer Gewalt haben'. J. F. von Sch6nfeld, Jahrbuch der Tonkunst von Wien und Prag (Vienna: Sch6nfeldischen Verlag, 1796, reprint ed., Munich: E. Katzbichler, 1976), p. 58.

59 Cited from a report in the Wienerblattchen by C. F. Pohl, Joseph Haydn (Lepizig: Breitkopf & Hirtel, 1882), vol. II, pp. 142-43.

60 'Betrachtungen iiber die Urfassung des Konzerts flir Klarinette und des Quintetts ftir Streicher von W. A. Mozart', Internationale Konferenz uber das

110



Leben und Werk W. A. Mozarts Praha 27.-31. Mai 1956, ed. Verband Tschecho- slowakischer Komponisten (Prague, c.1958), p. 262. On the basis of a description of Anton Stadler's basset clarinet in the Musikalisches Wochenblatt (January 1792), Poulin has suggested that Stadler's instrument had a greater number of keys than the five-key clarinet, in addition to the four basset keys. See 'The Basset Clarinet of Anton Stadler', pp. 76-77. Recently (May 1985), Eric Hoeprich gave a beautiful performance of Mozart's clarinet concerto in Amsterdam, on a ten-key basset clarinet of his own design.

61 Reported in the Hannoverischen Anzeigen and quoted in H. Sievers, Hannoversche Musikgeschichte: Dokumente, Kritiken, und Meinungen (Tutzing: H. Schneider, 1979), p. 318.

62 See 'Nachrichten', in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, vol. XI (9 November 1808): cols. 89-91. This instrument was described as the 'Miillersche Bassethorn' in 'Miscellen', Ibid., vol. XI (13 September 1809): cols. 798-99.

63 'Le premier instrument de ce genre a ete invente ~ Passau en Allemagne, vers l'annee 1777, par en luthier nomme Horn; le nom de l'inventeur lui a ete converve, en y ajoutant le mot basset; ce qui a forme le nom de basset horn: depuis, cet instrument a ete nomme corno di bassetto, comme on le voit dans diff6rentes compositions musicales, telles que l'air oblige dans l'opera della Clemenza di Tito, par Mozart, et dans le Requiem du meme auteur.' See, 'Rapport fait par la commission chargee d'examiner la nouvelle clarinette proposee par M. Muller, et la clarinette alto perfectionnee par le meme artiste', in Gazette Nationale, ou Le Moniteur Universel, no. 152 (31 May 1812), pp. 593-94. The commission members were: X. Lefevre, Eler, Duvernoy, Mehul, Cherubini, Gossec, Catel, and Sarrette.

64 F. G. Rendall, The Clarinet, p. 125. Another possible precursor of the basset horn is the bass chalumeau, as suggested by Shackleton in 'Basset-horn', The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, vol. I, pp. 172-3.

65 See O. Kroll, The Clarinet, p. 108. 66 During the 1770s and 1780s these players included: K. Czerny,

J. Matauschek, and F. Oliva, at Vienna (at the court of Princess Poniatowsky); A. David, V. Springer, and K. F. Dworschack on tours throughout Germany, the Netherlands and Russia; and Kirrstein, Czerny and Matuaschek at Freiburg (at the court of Princess Elizabeth of Baden-Baden). See P. Weston, More Clarinet Virtuosi of the Past (London: The Author, 1977).

67 For a catalogue and an annotated listing of basset horn music, see J. P. Newhill, The Basset-Horn & its Music (Sale: The Author, 1983). An extensive catalogue of basset horn music has been compiled as part of Graham Melville-Mason's work entitled, 'A Study of the Music for the Basset Horn 1770-c. 1820 . . .'. It contains over twelve hundred works and should be available in 1986.

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xa"M"M 'Miiiiiii •i~i•!iiii~i~iiiiA U

•iiiiiiii~iiii~iii~ii•!i!!iii!?iiii.Awi

PLATE VII

Two four-key clarinettes d'amour by Gehring (c.1788, nos. 85, 84) in the Staatliches Institut fir Musikforschung, PreuJ3ischer Kulturbesitz, West Berlin.

Photograph by Dr. Stockmann.



"The Clarinette d'Amour and Basset Horn," Galpin Society Journal 39 (1986): 97-111.

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Transcript of "The Clarinette d'Amour and Basset Horn," Galpin Society Journal 39 (1986): 97-111.