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A Short Account of the Clarinet in England during the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Author(s): F. Geoffrey RendallSource: Proceedings of the Musical Association, 68th Sess. (1941 - 1942), pp. 55-86Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/765807 .
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23
APRIL,
1942.
SIR PERCY
BUCK,
D.Mus.,
IN THE
CHAIR.
A
SHORT
ACCOUNT OF
THE CLARINET
IN
ENGLAND DURING THE
EIGHTEENTH
AND
NINETEENTH
CENTURIES.
BY F.
GEOFFREY RENDALL.
(Read
by
CECIL
OLDMAN)
THE
present paper
is
mainly
biographical
in
purpose.
It
is an
attempt,
possibly
a
pioneer
attempt,
to
present
in
some sort of
chronological
sequence
the
story
of
clarinet
playing
in
these
islands. Much
of its
purpose
will
be
achieved
if it
serves
to
rescue
from
possible
oblivion
the
names
and
doings
of some
of
the
earlier
players,
and
more,
if listeners
or readers are
stimulated to
fill
up
some of
the
many gaps in the story.
The
development
of the
mechanism of the instrument
itself
demands a
separate
paper,
and will
only
be dealt
with
here in
so far
as
Englishmen
contributed
to
it
or
availed
themselves
of
successive
improvements
in
its
construction.
A
few
words about
its
development,
however,
are
a
necessary
preliminary.
The
clarinet
was
invented about
the turn
of
the seventeenth
century by
Denner of
Nuremberg.
The
first rude instruments
had
only
two
keys;
by 1750
the
number had been increased
to three or
four, by
Mozart's
time to five or
six,
by
I8o0
to
eight
or
ten,
by
I815
to
thirteen,
and
in
1843
to
seventeen,
with six
ring keys
in
addition. This
very
brief resume will
show
that
for the
first
I20
years
of its
existence,
the
clarinet was
a
very
primitive
instrument
indeed,
capable
of
performance
only
in the
simpler
keys
and
generally
speaking
inferior
to the
contemporary
flute
and
oboe.
The
first
known
part
for
clarinet
occurs
early
in
the
I720's
in
a
five-part
mass
by
J.
A.
J.
Faber,
the MS. of
which
was formerly preserved in Antwerp cathedral. It is a real
clarinet
part
for
clarinet in
C,
supporting
the
contralto
voice
in
Qui
tollis
with
accompaniment
of two
flauti traversi
and
cembalo.
In
England,
Handel
presents
the first
problem.
Did he
use
the clarinet
?
It is
often
said that he
was
a
pioneer
in
orchestration. In
the
operas
he
makes
occasional
use of
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The Clarinet
in
England
such
uncommon
instruments
as the bass
flute,
bass
recorder,
flauto piccolo and comet, with an eye to some special effect.
Whether the
presence
of itinerant virtuosi
suggested
their
use to
him,
or
whether
members
of his
orchestra were
expected
to
provide
and
play
them,
cannot
now be ascer-
tained,
but
it
is at
any
rate
to
be
presumed
that
Handel was
keenly
alive to novel
orchestral
effects,
and
would have
used
clarinets without
hesitation,
if
he
had
known about them.
Here
are two
pieces
of evidence
that he did
use
them.
I.
Among
the
Handel
MSS.
in
the
Fitzwilliam Museum
is an Overture in D, in five movements, for two clarinets
in
C,
and
a
Corno di
Caccia.
2. The
song
Par
che
mi
nasca
in Tamerlano
appears
in
the
H.G.
edition
in two
versions,
version A
having
an
accompaniment
of
violins
and
transverse
flute,
version
B of
violins
and two
cornetti.
In
the Granville
MS., however,
the
cornetti
are
replaced
by
Clar.
I?
and
2?.
The
pensive
nature of
this
Larghetta puts
clarini-trumpets-out
of
court,
and there
can be little doubt
that clarinets
were
intended.
Here,
of
course,
the
crucial
question
is the
date
of the MS., and a date is the last thing that you will get
out
of
an
expert.
Balance
of
opinion,
however,
favours
a
date
between
I740
and
I750.
This
squares
with
the
date
1740
suggested
by
Dr.
Mann for
the Fitzwilliam Overture.
The
clarinet
parts,
moreover,
in
the
latter
lie
mainly
in the
middle
register,
and,
the work
being
in
D,
the middle
C#
is
of
frequent
occurrence.
It is doubtful whether
the
special key
for
producing
this
note was
invented
before
I740.
Whether
he used
it
or
not,
Handel had
an
oppor-
tunity of hearing the clarinet during his sojourn in Dublin
in the
spring
of
1742,
since
a
week
or
two
after
the first
performance
of
Messiah
Mr.
Charles,
the
Hungarian,
played
solos
on
the
clarinet
and
Shalamo
'
at
a
public
concert. Mr. Charles
was also
a horn
player
and
played
a
concerto with his
Second
at
one
of
Arne's
concerts
in
Dublin
in the
following year.
He
published
twelve
duettos
for 'French
Horns,
and
appeared
with
his
second
some
years
later in
Edinburgh
as
a
clarinet
player.
More
Shalamo:
plainly
an
anglicisation
of
Chalumeau.
It
is far
from
clear what
instrument
is intended
in
this
instance. Chalumeaux
often
appear
in
Gluck's
scores,
and are
in
his
case
usually
assumed
to
be
clarinets. Handel
writes for
two
Chaloumeaux in
the
song
Quando
non
vedi
in
Riccardo
Primo.
Is
this
another
example
of
his use
of
clarinet
?
Mr.
Charles
may
possibly
be
identified
with
the
composer
of
5
livres
d'Airs
d
chanter
published by
Baillard
of
Paris,
1717-I734.
56
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The Clarinet in
England
information
about this
pioneer
of
the clarinet would
be
welcome, since he has not been traced in any musical
dictionary.
The scene shifts
to London. Between
1740
and
I750
the
clarinet
had been
making
its
presence
felt both
in
and
outside
Germany.
There
were two clarinets
at
Frankfurt
in
1739;
two at
the
Abbey
of Kremsmiinster
in
I747;
and
at Paris in
I749
clarinets
were
used in Rameau's
Zoroastre,
and
again
in
I751
in Acante and
Cdphise.
In December
of
the same
year,
1751,
the clarinet
appears
in London, a clarinette concerto figuring in a grand
concert
of vocal and instrumental
music
by gentlemen
at
the
New Theatre in the
Haymarket.
This
may
not be
its
first
appearance
in
London;
a
diligent
search of
news-
papers
might
well
provide
earlier
examples
of
its
use,
but
it is
at
present
the
first
I
have
noticed.
The
players
in
Paris were
apparently
mainly
Germans,
so
it will
occasion
no
surprise
to hear
of a
German
advertising
in the
mid
1750's
great
concerts
with
clarinets,
French
horns
and
kettledrums
at
the Little
Theatre in
the
Haymarket.
This was Carl Barbandt, a Southern German, who came to
London about
I750,
and was
apparently
an
oboist,
as well
as
composer
and
organist.
He
is
a
shadowy
figure,
but
it
is
often
assumed that
like
other
oboists of the
period
he
played
the
clarinet as
well.
Or,
if
he did
not
play
himself,
he
could no
doubt
avail
himself
of
the
services of
the
Messieurs
Charles.
During
its
struggle
to obtain
a
footing
in the
concert
room,
the
clarinet was
constantly
associated
with
the horn.
Handel's Overture to which allusion has already been
made
is
probably
the earliest
example
of
a
partnership
which was
apparently
popular
both in
concert room and
pleasure garden.
Both
instruments were at
this
date
essentially
imperfect-the
clarinet
could
hardly
play
a
diatonic
scale m
the
simplest key
in
tune-but both
were
essentially
romantic,
and
even if
their
music
were
limited to
the
simplest
hunting
calls
and
echo
effects
the
blend of tones
was
found to
be
charming,
more
especially
in
the
open
air.
The
researches
of Mr.
Carse
have
recently
revealed
the
names of some of these early clarinettists and cornists.
Thus
in
I766
at
Marylebone
Gardens Choice
pieces
on
the
Clarinets and
French
Horns
were
played
by
Messrs.
Frickler,
Henniz,
Seipts
and
Rathyen.
The
two instruments
were
no
less
popular
at
Ranelagh
during
the
I760's
and
'70's
and
are
constantly
advertised to
play
favourite
pieces
in
the
Chinese
Temple.
57
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58
The
Clarinet in
England
In
November,
I760,
the
combination of horns
and
clarinets made its appearance at Covent Garden in Arne's
Thomas
and
Sally,
providing
the
opening
symphony
and
accompaniment
for
the chorus of
huntsmen.
Clarinets
appear
again
in Arne's
Artaxerxes,
first
produced
in
I762,
occasionally
replacing
flutes and
oboes,
and
being
selected
to
accompany
Miss Brent and later
Tenducci in the
famous
Water
parted
from
the
Sea.
The
parts
for
clarinet
in
C
are written
mainly
in
the clarinet
register;
the
dull
and
rather
toneless chalumeau
notes of the
primitive
instrument
being
avoided
as
far
as
possible.
The
performance
must
have been
fairly
adequate
in tone and tune or
these
famous
singers
would
hardly
have tolerated
such
an
accompani-
ment.
In
the same
year J.
C.
Bach
used
D
and
Bb
clarinets
in
his
Orione,
and
from now
on
clarinets
may
be
assumed
to have
been
available
in London when
wanted.
Mozart
may
have
heard
them for the
first time when
he
came
to
London in
1764.
In
1763
clarinets
were introduced into
the
festival
orchestra
at
Gloucester. The
principal
was
Carl
Weichsel,
a Saxon, who seems to have been at first an oboist, but
later a
convert
to
the
clarinet,
and
possibly
the
first
specialist
in
this
instrument.
He
played
in the orchestra
of the
King's
Theatre,
Haymarket,
and
was
apparently
in
addition
a
musician
in one
of the
regiments
of
Footguards.
He
played
again
at
Gloucester
in
I769.
After
this
date
we
hear
little of him.
Parke,
himself an
outstanding
oboist,
describes
him
as
a
clarinet
player
of eminence.
His
wife,
a
pupil
of
J.
C.
Bach,
was
a
well-known
public
singer
at
Vauxhall and elsewhere, and his daughter, Mrs. Billington,
the
most
accomplished
singer
ever
produced
by
this
country.
It
has
been
suggested
that
Bach
may
have
written
his
clarinet
parts
especially
for
his friend's benefit.
A
word or
two
must be
said
about
military
bands,
which
played
an
important
part
in
popularising
the
clarinet
during
the
last
decades of
the
eighteenth
century.
These
assumed
a
definite form
only
after
the
Peace of
1763.
The
norm
adopted
by
Frederick
the
Great
was
usually
followed,
i.e.,
two
oboes,
two
clarinets,
two
horns,
two
bassoons,
an
enlarge-
ment in fact of the old clarinet and French horn alliance.
The
players
were at
first
invariably
foreigners-civilians-
and
only
rather
later
attested
soldiers.
In
the
I780's
the
numbers
were
increased
by
the
addition
of
trumpets,
serpents,
flutes,
and
percussion.
Occasionally
oboes
gave
way
to
additional
clarinets.
Thus
in
1783
the
H.A.C.
band
consisted of
four
clarinets,
two
horns,
two
bassoons,
one
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The
Clarinet
in
England
trumpet.
At
first
carinets
were
mainly
pitched
in
C,
or
very occasionally in D, but towards the turn of the century
the
clarinet
in
Bb
becomes
the normal
military
instrument
as
it
is of
course
to-day;
in
fact,
Dr.
Busby
whose
military
music
was
issued
as
a
supplement
to the
British
Military
Library
of
I798-9
writes for
no
other.
His
simpler
scores
are
written
for
clarinets,
horns and
bassoons,
the
more
elaborate
demand the
addition
of
flutes,
trumpet
and
serpent.
At
first
only
the
footguards,
Royal
Artillery,
and
some
other
corps
d'dlite
appear
to have
possessed
bands,
but
in
the last
years
of
the
century
the
numbers
were
very
largely
increased. This is shown
by
the number of extant
instruments.
To
the best of
my knowledge
no
clarinet
of
English
manufacture exists
which
can
be dated
before
I775;
there are
very
few
belonging
to the
period
I775-85,
but
after
this
date
numbers of
five
and
six-keyed
instru-
ments
survive.
In
addition
to
popularising
the
clarinet,
military
bands
discharged
two
other
important
functions.
They
provided
a
valuable
training
school for
players
and a reservoir of
trained performers. The Footguards, in particular the
Coldstreams,
Eley's
East
India
Company's
Volunteer
Band,
as
well
as the
numerous militia
bands,
were
pre-eminent
in
this
respect,
and
many
of
the
clarinettists
with
whom
we
shall
presently
deal received
their
training
as
military
musicians.
So
far
our
clarinettists have
been
Germans,
double-
handed
performers,
or
at
best
converted
oboists.
We now
have
to
deal
with two British
born
musicians,
professional
clarinettists in the moder sense of the word. They are
John
and
William
Mahon,
members of
a
remarkably gifted
family,
resident
in
Oxford
in
the latter
half
of the
eighteenth
century.
The
parents
must
have
had
some
close
connection
with
the
Music
Room,
as
the
whole
family
seems
to have
taken
part
in
the
performances
held
therein. In
addition
to
John
and
William
(born
in
1746
and
1750)
there
were
five
daughters,
all
gifted
with
exceptional
voices.
At
least
two
of
them,
Mrs.
Ambrose
and
Mrs.
Second,
attained
considerable
eminence
as
public
singers,
and a
niece,
Mrs.
Munday, afterwards Mrs. Salmon, won enormous success
as a
festival
and
oratorio
singer
in
the
first
quarter
of
the
nineteenth
century.
From
November,
I772,
down
to
the
summer
of
1784
clarinet
concertos
figured
frequently
in
Oxford
programmes,
and in
1774
we
hear
of
a
symphony
with
clarinets
by
Gossec. It
is
unfortunately
quite
impossible
to
disentangle
the
activities
of the
brothers.
59
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The Clarinet in
England
From
1773
to I81I or
later a Mr.
Mahon
took
part
in
the Three Choirs Festival; from I778 to I823 in the
Birmingham
and
other
provincial
festivals.
William Mahon
died
in
i816,
aged
65.
The Gentleman's
Magazine
speaks
of
him
as an
ornament
to the musical
profession,
as
leader of
the
concerts
in
Salisbury
for
thirty
years,
and esteemed
the
first
performer
on
the
clarinet
in
England.
He
played
at
the
Opera
House
and,
apparently,
in
the Philharmonic
Orchestra
for
the
first
three
years
of
its
existence.
He
was
also
a
fine
violinist. His
brother
John
survived
till
I834,
his last years being spent in Dublin. He was no doubt a
fine
player
and
a
good
musician,
a
composer
too,
for
a
song
Hope,
Thou
Cheerful
Ray
of
Light
was
introduced
by
him
into Shield's
opera
The
Woodman
at
Covent Garden
in
I796
and
sung by
Mrs.
Second,
his
sister. The feature
of
it
was
a
clarinet
obbligato
and no doubt he was
the
Mr.
Mahon
who,
according
to
Parke,
played
it
so
finely.
In
1803
he
compiled
a
New and
Complete Preceptor
for
the
Clarinet.2 This
was
not
the first
English
tutor,
for
several
had
appeared
during
the
last
twenty years
of
the
previous
century. These were, however, jejune, anonymous affairs,
collections
of
easy
tunes,
only
redeemed
from
insignificance
by
their
engraved frontispieces.
Mahon's
was
a
more
ambitious
work,
a
quarto
of
more
than
sixty
pages.
In
it
he
gives
tables
of
fingerings
for
the
five-keyed
clarinet,
which
presumably
he
played
himself,
and for
a
seven-keyed
Clara Voce
or Corno Bassetta.
The basset horn
is
of
the double-curved
variety,
which
was
in
vogue
both here
and on
the
continent
till
the
nineteenth
century
was well
advanced. He gives, too, transposition tables for clarinets
in
D,
which he
describes
as
good
for
noisy
music,
C,
B
, Bb,
and
A.
Longman
&
Broderip's
Clarinet
Instructor
of circa
I780
and Bland
& Weller's
New and
Compleat
Instructions
of
I798 give
tables
for
C and
Bb
clarinets
only.
The
opening
years
of
the
nineteenth
century
call
for
little comment.
The
clarinet
was
strengthening
its
position
2
This tutor
only
came
to the
notice of
the writer
after
this
paper
had been read; its existence was entirely unknown. The publishers
were
Goulding,
Phipps
and
D'Almaine.
The
basset
horn
was,
like
the
early
cor
anglais,
bent
in the middle for convenience
in
playing.
A
good specimen
of this
model
by
Cramer of
London
may
be seen in the
Victoria
and Albert
Museum.
A
later
specimen
by
Key
in the
writer's
possession,
made
between
I825-40,
is
entirely
straight
except
for
a
slightly
bent
crook
to
carry
the
mouthpiece.
Mahon's corno
bassetta
descended
to
low C
sounding
F,
but
lacked
the two
lowest
semitones
Eb
and
Db.
6o
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The
Clarinet in
England
as
a member
of
the
orchestra,
and more
players
were
becoming available. The leading professionals were still
the
Mahons,
John
and
William.
Both
were connected
with
Covent
Garden,
and William
was
occasionally
called
on
for
a
concerto
between
the acts
of a Lenten
oratorio.
A
Mahon
too,
as
we
have
seen,
was
usually
found as
principal
in
the
orchestras
at
provincial
festivals,
the number
of
which
was
increasing.
A
curious
feature
of
the
orchestra
at
Covent
Garden
in
I8oI
was
the
presence
of two corni
di
bassetto.
They
appeared
not
only
in
the first
performance
of
Mozart's
Requiem,
but
also
in
Acis
and
Galatea,
Messiah
and the Creation.
They
were
played
by
Munro and Leffler
junior.
It was
not
the
first
appearance
of the
basset
horn
in
London,
for in
I789
Messrs.
David and
Springer,
two
well-known
itinerant
virtuosi had
given
most
finished
performances
upon
them.
They
were then described
as
novel
instruments to
this
country.
The
programme
of
the
Salomon
concert of
April
ist,
I791,
also contained a
concerto for corno
di
bassetto. The
player
of
it
is unknown.
The
clarinettists
at
Covent
Garden
during
the
early
I8oo's were Leffler and Gwillam. Subsequently Edward
Hopkins
became
principal.
Hopkins (I778-1869)
was
bandmaster
of the
Scots
Guards and
went
with
them
to
Paris in
I8I
5.
He
was
one
of the
greatest
players
of the
day,
and,
in
addition
to other
duties,
was
musical
director
of
Vauxhall.
Like
many
early
clarinettists he excelled
in
obbligati
and
accompanied
Catalani in
Guglielmi's
Gratias
Agimus
and
Braham
in
Mozart's
Parto. He was
the father
of
three
musicians
and
grandfather
of Edward
Lloyd,
the
famous tenor.
For
the
purpose
of our
chronicle
the nineteenth
century
divides
itself
very
roughly
into
two
periods,
fifty
years
of
progress,
fifty
years
of
comparative
stagnation,
with
a
brief
revival
of
interest
in the
clarinet in
the
'go's.
The
years
I
8oo
to
I850
were
the
golden
age
of wind
instrument
playing.
A
concert,
whether
metropolitan
or
provincial,
was
not
con-
sidered
complete
without
some
form
of
wind
music;
if
not
a
concerto,
then
an
obbligato
to
support
a
fashionable
soprano,
preferably
with
a
double
cadenza.
It
was
also
an
age of itinerant virtuosi; Europe seemed to provide an
unlimited
supply
of
flautists,
oboists,
fagottists,
basset
hornists
and
clarinettists,
and
these
musicians were
listened
to
as
attentively
and
criticised
as
thoroughly
as
contemporary
singers,
pianists
and
violinists.
In
the
'fifties
the interest
seems
already
on
the
wane;
wind
concertos vanish from
programmes;
obbligati
get
fewer
and
fewer
and
eventually
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The Clarinet
in
England
disappear,
and
the
wind
player
is
relegated
to the
position
of inferiority in public estimation he has occupied till quite
recently.
And
now
a
few
words about
the
clarinet
itself
to fill
out
the
very
brief
account
already
given.
In
80ooit
was still
a
very
primitive
instrument
in
spite
of
the
eight
or ten
keys
it
had
acquired.
This was
due to
the
clumsiness
and
unreliability
of
the
mechanism.
In
I8I2
Iwan
Miiller
an
itinerant
Russian
virtuoso,
entirely
remodelled
the instru-
ment with
the
help
of
the
Paris
maker, Gentellet,
raising
the number of keys to thirteen. Theoretically, the clarinet
was
now
much
improved,
even
omnitonique,
but
practically
the
mechanism
was
still
defective,
and
some
thirty
years
or
more
had still
to
elapse
before
it
could be considered
reliable.
This
reliability
coupled
with
general
excellence
of
workmanship
was contributed
by
E.
Albert of
Brussels,
and
his instruments
were those
specially
favoured
by
English
players
during
the
second
half
of
the
century.
During
the
first
half-century
London makers3
supplied
the
English
market,
thirteen-keyed
clarinets
for
soloists,
six to
ten-keyed instruments for the bulk of regimental and
militia
bands,
and
church musicians.
They
were
small-
bored,
slender
instruments of
yellow
boxwood,
with
thin
tapering
mouthpieces.
The
reed,
attached
by
twine,
was
little
more than
half
the
size of
the
modern
reed
and
rested
against
the
upper
lip
in
playing.4
The tone
in the
bottom
register
was
weak
and
unresonant,
but not
unpleasing
in
the
upper
from treble C
up.
Till the time of
Albert the
intonation
was
very
defective,
but
again
better
in the
upper
than in the lower register. The general appearance of the
early
instrument
is
shown
fairly clearly
in
Zoffany's
picture
of
the
Sharp family.
It
is
regrettable
to have
to
add
that
English
makers
contributed little
or
nothing
to
the
3The
best-known London makers
were:
I775-I8oo,
Collier,
Miller,
Cahusac;
i800-5o,
Key,
Cramer,
James
and
George
Wood,
Bilton,
Monzani,
Clementi,
Prowse,
Ward.
Mahillon
f Brussels
lso
supplied
many
instrumentso the
English
market.
His instruments
wereconsidered
ittle
inferior o
these
of
Albert,
and weremuch
used
by militarymusicians.
4
It
is
difficult
o
say
when
the
practice
f
resting
he
reed
against
the
upper ip
was discontinued
n
England.
John
Hopkinson
n his
New and
Complete receptoror
the
Clarinet,
ublished
n the
I840's,
states:
Foreigners
lay
with
it
[the
reed]
downwards,
he
contrary
is
practised
n
England.
Fetis
ascribedhe
superiority
n
tone of the
German chool
over
the
French
o
the German
ractice
f
playing
with
the reed
downwards. Berr
introduced
he
German
method nto the
Paris
Conservatoire n
I831.
62
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The
Clarinet
in
England
amelioration
of the clarinet.
One
Gutteridge,5
a
retired
bandmaster
of
Cork,
contrived
an
ingenious system
in
the
1820's,
but it came to nothing, being too advanced for the
makers and
players
of
the
day.
I843
is
an
important
date
in clarinet
history.
In
this
year
some of
Boehm's
ideas,
already
applied
to the
flute,
were
applied
to the
clarinet
by
the
French
virtuoso
Klose,
and
the
Paris
maker,
Buffet.
The
mechanism
of the
new
instrument
was
so
ingeniously
contrived
that it has
survived
without
any
major
alteration
to
the
present day. To-day
it
is
used
by
the
majority
of
players,
and its use
is
all
but
obligatory
in
colleges
of
music.
It
is
satisfactory to be able to record that British makers after a
long period
of
somnolence at
last awoke to its
advantages,
and
at
the
present
time
make
this
model
better
than
any-
body
else.
It
was,
however,
not
till the
I890's
that
the
advantages
of the
Boehm
system
began
to
be
recognised
in
this
country.
This was
due in
no
small
measure
to
the
excellence of
Albert's
Belgian
instruments,
although
the
innate
conservatism of
wind
players
must also
be taken
into
account.
Tonally
there
has been
less
change
than
might
have been
expected. A general widening of the bore and an increase
in
the
dimensions of
the reed
and
mouthpiece
have
made
the tone
of the
chalumeau
fuller
and
freer,
but
have effected
the
upper
registers
considerably
less.
The
foundation of
the
Philharmonic
Society
in
I8I3
may
be
taken to mark
roughly
the
end
of
the
primitive
and
beginning
of
the
middle
period
in
British
clarinet
playing.
It
marks, too,
the
beginning
of
a
higher
standard
of
music
performed.
The
concertos
performed
by
the
Mahons
were no doubt of their own composing, but soon the works
of
Mozart, Weber,
and
Spohr
were
to
have
a
hearing.
The
clarinettists
of
the new
Society
were
Mahon,
Oliver
and
Kramer.
Histories
and
programmes
of
the
Society supply
no
christian
name for
Mahon,
but as
he did
not
play
after
the
I815
season,
it
may
have
been
William,
who died
as we
know
in I816.
Christian
Kramer
was
a
well-known
player,
more
celebrated
possibly
as
master
of
George
IV's
private
band
than as
a
soloist.
He
was
capable
of
playing
all
the
instruments
himself
and
brought
his team
of
forty-two
to
5
William
Gutteridge
was
bandmaster
of
the
Wiltshire
Regiment.
He
proposed
his
modifications as
early
as I
813,
but the
execution
of
them
was
delayed
by
the
ordering
of
his
regiment
to
Spain.
He
wrote
a
tutor
for
his
patent
clarinet
in
1824.
His
improved
instruments
were
made
by
Clementi. A
specimen
is
preserved
at
the
Royal
College
of
Music.
6
Vol. 68
63
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The
Clarinet in
England
a
state cf
the
greatest
perfection.6
Why
the other Mahon
was not brought in we cannot say. Possibly he was already
too old. The wind
players
got
quickly
off the
mark,
per-
forming
in the first
season
alone
a
serenade,
a
notturno,
and
a
full
piece
of
Mozart,
and
Beethoven's
Septet.
In
the
latter
Kramer
took
the
clarinet
part.
In
I8I6
the
name
of Iwan
Muller
appears, playing
in
Beethoven's
Septet,
an
octet
by
Ries,
and
a
quartet
of his
own
composition.
This
was the Russian
virtuoso
already
alluded to
as
an
improver
of
the
clarinet,
who
spent
half his
life
touring
Europe.
He
was a fine player no doubt, but probably inferior in taste
and
style
to
Barmann who
followed
him
some two
years
later.
To-day
he
is
remembered
only
for his reformation
of the clarinet.
Whether
the Philharmonic
engaged
him
for
the
season while
searching
for
a
permanent
player
is not
clear. In
I819
came
Heinrich
Barmann of
Munich,
the
close friend of
Weber,
who
described
him
a
truly
great
artist
and
a
glorious
man,
of
Meyerbeer
and
of
Mendelssohn.
He
played
a
fantasia of his own
composing
and
took
part
in
a
septet
also
of his own for
clarinet,
strings
and
horns.
He played, too, at the Lenten oratorios at Covent Garden.
But
evidently
his
reception
in
London
was less cordial
than
in
Paris
and his
influence
correspondingly
less. His com-
positions,
like
Muller's,
have more
educative value than
interest,
and
no doubt some
Weber7
would
have
pleased
his
audiences better.
Evidently
Willman did not
shrink
from
comparison
with
him,
since
we find him
some
weeks
later
at the
Philharmonic
playing
in
Beethoven's
Septet
and wind
Quintet.
It
is time to
say something
about
this
great English player.
To
say
Willman
was
the first
great English
clarinettist
is
possibly
unfair
to
the
Mahons,
but
of his
remarkable
talents
there
is no
doubt.
Obscurity
surrounds
the date
and
place
of
his birth.
He was
according
to Grove
the
son of
a
German
who settled
in
England
in
the second half of the
eighteenth
century
and
became
a
bandmaster.
Possibly
the father
is
to be
identified
with
the
John
Willman
who
composed
songs
6
The band numbered forty-two musicians; two corni di bassetto,
two
serpents
and
four bass trombones
were
included.
Eisert was
a
brilliant first clarinet.
7
Stohwasser
played
Weber's Concertino at
the
Reading
Festival in
this
year.
It
was
written
for
Barmann
in
I8I1
.
A
Stohwasser
preceded
Willman
as
professor
of the
clarinet
at the
Royal
Academy.
The
Concertino
is
still
one of the
most effective items
in the
clarinettist's
repertoire,
and has been
brilliantly
recorded
by
Charles
Draper,
Reginald
Kell,
and several
others.
64
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The
Clarinet
in
England
for Irish Volunteers
in the
I780's
and described
himself as
of
the 4th Horse. The son, Thomas Lindsay, was probably
born
early
in the
I780's,
and no doubt studied at
first
under
his father.
Subsequently
he became a
pupil
of
the
famous
Christopher
Eley,
who came
to
England
about
1783
in
charge
of
a
regularly
attested band of
twelve
musicians,
recruited
in Hanover
for the Coldstream Guards.
Eley
was also bandmaster
of
the East
India
Company's
Volunteer
Band
and
it was
probably
in
this once
famous
organisation
that
Willman,
together
with
Harper
the
trumpeter, gained
his
experience.
In
1817
he
became
principal
in the
Philharmonic,
holding
the
post
till
I839,
and
dying
in
the
following
year.
He
was also bandmaster
of
the
Coldstreams,
resigning, possibly
owing
to
pressure
of
work,
in
1825.
He was
principal
clarinet
at the
King's
Theatre
and at
every
provincial
musical
festival
large
or
small
ranging
from
Edinburgh
and
Dublin to Bristol.
He
was,
with Robert
Lindley,
the
cellist,
Dragonetti,
the
bassist,
and
Harper
the
trumpeter,
one
of the
draws of
the
festivals,
and
bitter
complaints
were
expressed
in the
musical press when local patriotism displaced him one
year
at
Hereford and
parsimony
another
at
Norwich.
He
excelled in concerto
and
obbligato
playing.
During
his
twenty-three
years
with the
Philharmonic he
appeared
ten
times as
soloist,
twenty-two
times
in
obbligati
and
thirty
times
in
chamber
music,
then
permitted
at
these concerts.
He
played
in
addition
to
some
humdrum
compositions
by
Barmann,
concertos
by
Weber,
Spohr
(No.
i)
and Mozart.
The
latter,
played
in
I838,
it
is
interesting
to
note,
was
regarded
as
a
trivial
work, possibly spurious,
and
a
product
of
the
laboratory
of Mr.
Andre. The
obbligati
played
were those
to
Parto and Non
piu
di
fiori
by
Mozart,
both
sung
many
times,
and to
works
by
Paer and
Sacchini.
The
chamber
music included
the
Septet
of
Beethoven,
the
Octet
and Nonet of
Spohr,
the
Mozart wind and
clarinet
quintets.
At
provincial
musical
festivals the standard
of
music
was
lower,
and
here
Willman did
not
disdain to
play
down to
his
audience
in
such items
as
Bochsa's
Variations on
Cease
your
Funning
for basset
horn,
and
in
the
celebrated
accom-
paniment to Guglielmi's Gratias Agimus. No festival for
some
thirty
or
forty
years
was
complete
without
this
piece
of
bravura. And what
sort of
player
was
he
we
may
ask.
A
very
fine
one,
if we
may
trust the
critics
of the
Harmonicon,
Musical
World
and
Atheneum,
who are
invariably
almost
fulsome
in
their
praise.
His
special
virtues would
seem
to
have been
charm
of
style,
a
fine
tone,
65
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See
p.
65,
et
seq.
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66
The
Clarinet
in
England
and
great
expressiveness,
especially
in
obbligati.
Not
infrequently the singer-and singers could sing in those
days-is
condemned
in
no measured
terms,
while
the
accompanist,
in
contrast,
is
handsomely
complimented.
No
doubt Willman
was
a
popular
idol,
and
we
might
suspect
the
critics of
partiality
or
insular
prejudice
were
it not
for
the
testimony
of two
foreign
musicians,
Fetis
and Mendels-
sohn.
Fetis
spent
three
months
in
England
in
I828
and
criticised
English
musicians
with
considerable
severity.
Of
the wind
players
Willman
almost alone is
praised
unreservedly by Fetis who admitted he had never heard an
equivocal
sound issue
from
his clarinet.
Then
Mendelssohn
in
a
letter
to
his
old
friend Heinrich
Barmann,
possibly
contemplating
another visit
to
England,
warns
him
of the
popularity
of
Willman,
who is all
in
all to
his
English
audiences.
Again,
would
singers
of
the eminence
of
Catalani,
Sontag,
Malibran, Grisi,
Mrs. Salmon
and
the
rest
have tolerated
anything
but
a
highly
skilled
and
artistic
accompaniment
to
their roulades
?
His
associa-
tion with Mrs.
Salmon8 was
specially
successful.
This
lady
was the leading English soprano of the period. According
to
the
singer
Henry
Phillips
her voice
was
rich
and
full
like
the
clarinet,
and when
Willman
accompanied
her
it was
difficult
at times to
distinguish
the voice from
the
instru-
ment.
Is it fanciful to
suppose
that
the
quality
of
her
voice
was
influenced
by
the
clarinets
of
her
two
uncles,
the
Mahons
?
Another successful
association
was
with
Malibran
whom
he
accompanied
many
times
in her
favourite
Non
piu
di
fiori.
In addition to the clarinet and basset horn, Willman also
played
the bass
clarinet,
and was
possibly
the
first
English-
man
to do
so.
George
Wood,
one of the cleverer
London
makers,
had
produced
such an instrument in
I833.
He
accompanied
Mrs. Shaw
in a
solo
specially
written
by
the
Chevalier
Neukomm
for her and for
his
bass
clarone,
as
the
instrument
was
then
called,
several
times
in
1836.
I
have
stressed
the
popularity
of clarinet
obbligati
to
draw
attention
to their entire
neglect
in the
present day.
How often does a present day audience hear those two fine
arias
Parto
or Non
piu
di
fiori,
or
Schubert's
Der
Hirt
auf
dem
8
Eliza Salmon,
nde
Munday
(1784?-I849)
made her
debut
in
I803
and
retired
in
i825.
One of her aunts,
Mrs.
Second,
according
to
Parke,
sang
up
to
F
in alt with ease,
and was considered
inferior
only
to
Mrs.
Billington.
Another,
Mrs. Ambrose,
sang
at the Three
Choirs
and
other
festivals.
Three others
also had
fine
voices.
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The
Clarinet
in
England
Felsen
?
The clarinet
never
shows to
better
advantage
than
in accompanying a first rate singer.9 It is not suggested
that the
modern
composer
should
turn
to
obbligato writing,
but the occasional
performance
of
some
of
the old
favourites
might
not
come
amiss;
and
for
students,
both
singers
and
clarinettists,
I
cannot
imagine
a
better
or
more
salutary
discipline.
Of Willman
as an orchestral
player
we
have
less informa-
tion.
He
shone
especially,
as
might
be
expected,
in
Mozart's
EF
Symphony,
where he
introduced the
practice
of
playing
the
first
time of the
trio of the minuet forte, the repeat
double
piano.
As
a
bandmaster
his influence was
very
great.
An
anonymous
writer
some
forty
or
more
years
ago
asserted
that clarinet
tone
was in
general goosey
-an
ominous
word-at
this
period,
but
that
the
tone
of
the
Coldstreams
was
true and
refined. A modern
historian of
this band
writes:
With
the
appointment
of
the latter
[Willman]
the
Coldstreams
began
to
lay
the foundation of
their
fame
.
.
.
Under
him
the band
became
a
veritable
school
for clarinet
playing.
Out of
it came
Henry
Lazarus,
the famous clarinet virtuoso. Even to-day this band is
noted
for its fine
clarinet
playing;
indeed
it
would
seem
that
the
hand of Willman
is
still
upon
it.
Eminent
per-
formers
like
Pollard,
Maycock,
Burton
and
Thomas
were
all
Coldstreamers. Of the
players
mentioned we
shall
.notice
Lazarus
and
Maycock
presently.
A tribute is
due,
I
think,
to
the
toughness
of these
early
wind
instrumentalists.
To
play
a
concerto on the
clarinet
is
even
to-day
a
ticklish
job,
as so
many
small
mechanical
troubles may supervene. To play it on the primitive instru-
ment
then available after a
fatiguing
and
occasionally
dangerous
coach
journey
of
many
hours
must
have
required
nerve and
courage
of
a
high
order.
During
the
festival
season in the autumn
of
each
year
the
leading
London
pro-
fessionals
formed
a
sort of
travelling
circus,
travelling
from
city
to
city, staying
four
days
in
each,
and
giving
seven
lengthy
concerts
in
cathedral
and shire
hall.
Mrs.
Salmon
sometimes travelled
300
to
400
miles
in
a
week
giving
a
concert
every evening.
And
accidents were
not
unknown.
9
GeorgeHogarthwriting
n the
MusicalWorld
bout
Willman,
ays
He
peculiarly
xcels
in
playing
obligato
accompaniments
.
.
and
those who
have listened with
delight
to
Gratias
agimus,
Parto,
Non
piu
di
fiori sung
by
one
of
our
first
vocalists,
and
accompanied
y
him,
cannotbut have remarked
he
exquisite
skill
withwhich
he
develops
the beauties
f
hisown
nstrument,
hile,
at
the
same
ime,
he
strengthens
instead
of
impairing,
he
expression
nd
effectof the
voice.
67
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The
Clarinet
in
England
Lindley
was
once
at
least
thrown out of
his
coach,
cello
and
all. Harper, the trumpeter, was severely injured in the leg
when
the
express
coach
Mazeppa
overturned
when
taking
him
to the Gloucester
Festival. He was
not,
how-
ever,
to be
deterred
from
playing
his famous
obbligato
to
Let
the
bright
Seraphim
with
his usual brilliance.
In
the
concert
hall itself
things
were
not
always
what
they
should
have
been.
Readers of
Spohr's
Autobiography
will
no
doubt
remember
the concert hall at
Glogau,
the basement
a
shambles,
and the first floor
a
theatre;
they
will
remember,
too, the showers of dust, cherry stones, and apple peelings
which
descended
on the musicians and audience
beneath,
when
a
trap
door
in the
ceiling
of the
concert
hall
was
inadvertently
opened.
They may
remember,
too,
his
account
of
a
nightmare
concert near
Hamburg.
Here
is
an
excerpt
from
it,
describing
a
mishap
to
a
clarinet
concerto,
only
one
of several
untoward
incidents,
and not made
the
less
vivid
by
the
naive
language
of
the
German translator:
Hermstedtlo
now followed
with a
difficult
composition
of
mine.
He,
emboldened
now to
rashness
by
the fumes
of
the champaign [sic] had screwed on a new and untried
plate
[reed]
to
the
mouthpiece
of
his
clarinet,
and
even
spoke
vauntingly
of
it
to
me
as
I
mounted
the
platform.
I
immediately anticipated
no
good
from
it. The solo of
my
composition
began
with a
long
sustained
note,
which
Hermstedt
pitched
almost
inaudibly
and
by degrees
increased
to enormous
power.
This
time he
began
also
in
the
same
way,
but
just
as he
was about
to increase
to
the
highest power,
the
plate
twisted
and
gave
out
a
mis-tone,
resembling the shrill cry of a goose. The public laughed,
and
the now
suddenly
sobered virtuoso
turned
deadly
pale
with horror. He nevertheless soon
recovered
himself,
and
executed
the
remainder
with his
accustomed
brilliancy.
And
then
there is
Berlioz's
story
of
la
grande
clarinette,
W.
and his
unfinished
concerto.
I will
not
bore
you
by quoting
from
it,
but
would
recommend
those unfamiliar with
the
story
to
read it in the
racy
original
of
Les
Grotesques
de
la
Musique.
So much
by way
of
interlude.
Far
be it from
me to
suggest that such incidents were of frequent occurrence,
but
curious
things
could
happen
in
concert halls even
in
this
country.
At
one Norwich Festival
Lindley played
a
cello
o?Johann
Simon
Hermstedt
(I778-I846)
was
Kapellmeister
of
the
Ducal
Orchestra
at
Sondershausen. He was
a
personal
friend
of
Spohr
who wrote four
concertos
for him.
68
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The
Clarinet
in
England
concerto
with
an
umbrella
held
over
his
head to
protect
him from the rain pouring through the roof of St. Andrew's
Hall. But the
extravagant
fees
demanded
by
foreign
singers,
their
vanity,
their
greed
for
applause,
their
unpunctuality
in
fulfilling
engagements,
their
fondness
for
unmeaning
cadenzas
and
ornaments,
are
among
the
chief
subjects
of criticism. The
instrumentalist as
a
rule
gets
away
with
it.
Willman,
as we have
seen,
was
acquitted
by
Fetis of
emitting
sons
douteux,
equivocal
sounds
as
his
translator
euphemistically
renders
it,
and
only
his
execution
comes in
for
occasional
criticism.
Thus
he
appears
to
have
found
Spohr's
first concerto
heavy
going,
and the
high
Ab
in the
Romanza
of
Weber's
second
a
definite
poser,
but
here
his
kindly
critic
finds
an excuse
in
the
heat
of
the
concert room.
Again,
this
is what
he
says
of
Willman's
playing
of
Beer's
Fantasia
at
the Norwich
Festival
of
1836:
The
performance
could not fail to
captivate
the
least
cultivated
admirer of
the
art;
and
such
are
the
languishing
and
voluptuous
tones which
this
fine
player
produces
that
we
can
readily
give
credence to the
observation
attributed
to Spohr-that he devoutly wished he had studied the
clarinet
in
preference
to the violin.
The
concerto
was,
however,
better
played
at the
rehearsal;
so
much
depends
upon
the
reed,
the
temperature
of
the
room,
and
the
ease
and
repose
of the
performer,
that
this
is
a
circumstance,
which,
with
us,
excited no
surprise.
An
unusually
kindly
critic
for
the
period.
Willman
died late in
I840,
his end
accelerated
by
his
exertions
at the numerous
autumn
festivals.
In
preparing
its readers for
the inevitable
demise of their favourite the
Musical World
points
out that
there are
now
other
talented
performers
available,
among
them
the
Messrs.
Williams,
Bowley,
Dean,
and Lazarus. Of
these
Williams,
and
Lazarus
in
particular,
merit
more
extended
notice.
Before
passing
on, however,
it
may
be as well
to
glance
very
briefly
at
the
provinces.
Oxford,
as
we have
seen,
was
a
centre of
clarinet
playing
in
the last
quarter
of
the
eighteenth
century,
and not an
isolated
centre,
since
we
find
a Mr.
Wright
playing
a
clarinet
concerto
at
Durham
in I792, and at Cambridge Pieter Hellendaal made fairly
frequent
appearances
as
a
clarinet
virtuoso
just
before
and
just
after
the
turn of
the
century.
An
intensive
search
of
local
newspapers
might
reveal other
such
examples.
The
general
tendency
was, however,
for
provincial players
of
real
talent to
migrate
to
London.
This was the
case
with
the
Mahons
of
Oxford and
with
Joseph
Williams
of
69
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The Clarinet
in
England
Hereford,
whom
we
shall
presently
consider.
As a
general
rule London provided the principals for local festivals.
For
the first
forty
years
of
the
nineteenth
century
these
were
the
Mahons,
John
and
William,
Willman and
Powell,
occasionally
Williams
and
Egerton
Senior,
to
be
followed
later
by
Lazarus,
Maycock
and
Julian
Egerton.
The
principals
were
on
occasion
supplemented
to
the
number
of
four
or six
at
big
festivals
by
local
talent.
Thus
at
Derby
in
I83I
Willman
and Powell had
Irving
and
Woodward
as
colleagues,
and
at Dublin
in the
same
year
Willman
was
supported by
three
Dubliners in
Halliday,
Norton
and
Tighe.
Occasionally
the
great
men are
dispensed
with
entirely.
Thus
at
Reading
in
I819
the
clarinets
were
Stohwasser,
who
played
the
Weber
Concertino,
and
Pickworth.
A
year
or
two
later
Willman
was called in
as
principal,
but
is
replaced
by
Middleton,
a
local
player,
at
a
later
festival.
This, however,
is
exceptional,
and
may
have been
done
to save
money.
Other
well-known
local
players
were
Hervey
of
Bath and
Bristol
and Leonard
of
Liverpool,
both
considered
little inferior
to
Willman.
Manchester seems to have been self-supporting from about
I850.
At
the
festival of
I836
Willman
and-Powell have two
local
players
in
Blomiley
and
Glover
to
support
them.
Rather
later
H. P.
Sorge
takes
his
place
as
a
prominent player
and
soloist;
he
in turn
yields
to a
German,
F.
W.
Grosse,
who
settled
in
Manchester
in
the
early
I850's, becoming
principal
in
the
Halle orchestra
in
1858,
a
position
he held
till
his
death
in
1887.
In
i855
there
was
a
contest for
clarionet
bands
at Belle
Vue,
when
eight
bands
com-
peted.
The test
pieces
were
Semiramide
Overture and
the
finale of Beethoven's C minor
Symphony.
The
experiment
was
not
apparently
repeated,
and,
although
the
North has
produced
some
fine
clarinettists,
interest
has
for
long
been
mainly
centred
in
brass bands.
Joseph
Williams was
a
younger
contemporary
of
Willman.
A
native
of
Hereford,
he
was born in
I795
and
died
in
I875.
He was
a violinist
and
pianist,
as
well
as
clarinettist and
composer.
In
1837
he
was
appointed
leader
of the
Queen's
Private
Band,
with
the
veteran
Eisert as
second,
and
became subsequently a director of the Philharmonic. His
earlier
career
appears
to
have
been
rather
overshadowed
by
the
superior
popularity
of
Willman,
whom he
occasionally
replaced
at festivals
much to the
indignation
of
the
critics,
his later
career
by
the brilliance of
Lazarus and
of
various
foreign
virtuosi.
He succeeded
Willman as
principal
at
the
Philharmonic
in
I840,
and
appeared
fairly frequently
when
70
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The Clarinet
in
England
basset
horn
and clarinet
obbligati
were
needed,
also in
wind
chamber music. The critic of the Musical World comparing
a Paris
performance
of the Mozart
Eb
Symphony
in
I852
with
that
of
the Philharmonic
speaks
of the
exquisite
playing
of Williams and
Lazarus. He was
not
without
merit
as
a
composer.
He
played
a
concerto of
his own
at
the Hereford
festival
in
I819,
and
was the
compiler
of
the
first
satisfactory
tutor
for
his instrument
to
be
published
in
this
country.
According
to
the
Musical World
he
had
the
parts
of
the
Mozart
clarinet concerto
in
his
possession
for
twenty years
before Willman
played
it in
I838.Before
passing
on to Lazarus it
may
be as well to notice
some of
the
foreign
virtuosi
who
visited
England
between
I836
and
1850.
Here
are
some
of
them.
Liverani,
Itjen,
Blaes,
Beerhalter,
Cavallini,
Meyer,
Belletti.
The
number
of them
indicates the
popularity
of
the clarinet
at
this
period.
Only
two
of
them,
Blaes and
Cavallini,
merit attention.
Joseph
Blaes
paid
two
visits,
in
I841
and
I845.
He was
a
pupil
of
Bachmann
at the
Brussels conservatoire
and from
all
accounts
a
most
finished and
artistic
player.
Whether
he had any influence cannot now be determined, but any
influence
he
exerted would
have been for
good,
since his
principal
characteristic was
delicacy
of
style.
He
played
a
concerto
by
Hanssens at the
Philharmonic,
poor
stuff
according
to the
critics.
Cavallini
was
a
player
of
an
entirely
different
type,
bold,
impetuous
and
dashing.
His
volubility
was
such that he
was
at
once known
as the
Paganini
of
the
clarinet. But
he had
few
gifts
apart
from
prodigious
execution. He
played
on
an
instrument
primitive
even
for
those
days,
and
was
in
consequence vastly
inferior
in tone
and intonation to the best
English
players.
He
played
twice at
the
Philharmonic
in
I842
and
I845,
choosing
fantasias
of
his
own
composition.
Objections
were
raised
by
the
Directors to
his
choice,
but
he declined
with
spirit
to
play
anything
else and
in
the
end
won the
day.
The
probability
is
that
the
bulk
of these
foreign
artists
were in
no
respect
superior
to
their
English contemporaries,
certainly
not
to Lazarus.
That
is
if we are to believe
the
critics;
for
the
curious
English
habit
of self
depreciation
had not yet come into vogue. To most music lovers,
certainly
to those
of
a
past
generation,
Henry
Lazarus
was
the
clarinettist
par
excellence.
His
special importance
lies,
Written
before
Mahon's
tutor
came to
the writer's
notice.
Williams's
work
is
of
a
more
substantial
and
modern
nature and
incor-
porates
many
exercises
from
Klose's
Boehm
clarinet
tutor
of
I844.
Williams
used
a
thirteen-keyed
instrument.
7I
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The Clarinet
in
England
I
think,
in
forming
a
link
between the older
and the
modern
schools, between Willman and Charles Draper. His
career was
extraordinarily long,
all
but
sixty years,
from
1835
to
I892.
He
was
coming
to
the
front
just
when
the
clarinet
had
reached
its
height
of
popularity;
he saw this
popularity
decline
and
saw the
wind
instrumentalist
finally
relegated
to
the
position
of
inferiority
from
which
he has
only
lately
emerged.
It is
a
tribute to
his
great
abilities
that he
kept
some interest
in his instrument
alive
in
a
period
of dullness
and
depression.
He was
born in
I815,
the son
of
a
private
soldier, was trained under Blizzard
at
the
Duke of
York's,
and
under the elder
Godfrey
in
the Coldstreams.
His earliest
instrument seems
to
have
been
the now
forgotten
Alto
Fagotto,12
in all essentials
a
wooden
saxophone,
but he soon
devoted himself
to
the clarinet.
He
made
his concert debut
in
I835
and
gave
his official
farewell concert
in
1892,
but he
con-
tined
playing
in
charity
concerts
almost
up
to his death
in
I895.
It would be
tedious
to enumerate
all
the
positions
he
held,
but
here
are some of
them.
Starting
his career
as
second to
Willman
at
the
Sacred
Harmonic,
he
succeeded
him as principal at the Opera in
I840.
For more than thirty
years
he was
in
the
Philharmonic;
he
was
engaged
at the
Birmingham
Festival
from
I840
to
I885,
and
appeared
at
most
of
the
other
provincial
meetings.
For
many years
he
was
professor
at
the
Royal
Academy,
and
from
I858
at
Kneller
Hall.
These
were
his more
important
public
engagements,
but
his services
to chamber
music
were
equally
important.
He
was
frequently
engaged
to
play
at
Ella's Musical Union
concerts,
which
began
in
I845,
and
later at the Popular Concerts in St. James's Hall. In I855
he
founded the
Anemoic
Society
for
the
performance
of
wind
chamber music. It
was in
music
of
this
intimate
nature
that
his
qualities
were
most
clearly
shown.
These
were fine
tone,
good
style,
and
masterly
phrasing.
Friends
of an older
generation
have often
told
me of his classic
performance
in his
especial
favourites,
Mozart's
clarinet
Quintet
and
the
Beethoven
Septet.
In
his earlier
days
he
12Alto Fagotto. This was the invention of a Scot, William Meikle,
and
was made
by
George
Wood,
who
published
a
tutor
for it
about
1830.
In
appearance
it
resembled
a
tenoroon,
and has often
been mis-
taken for this instrument.
It
was
blown with
a
small clarinet
mouth-
piece,
was
made
in three
pitches,
and had
a
compass
of three octaves.
It
was
in effect
a
wooden
saxophone,
anticipating
Sax's
invention
by
at
least ten
years.
A
description
of this instrument
and
a discussion of
its
nomenclature
will
be
found
in
an
article
by
the
present
writer in
the
Musical Times
for
December,
1932.
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The
Clarinet in
England
had
been one
of
Jullien's
solo
clarinets,
and in
I85I
per-
formed a concerto by Molique'3 at a Philharmonic concert.
He
also
carried
on the old tradition of
obbligato playing.
Details
are
fortunately
available of
the instruments he
used.
Till
I855
these were
of
the
primitive English
type,
made
by
Key
of
Charing
Cross,
a
twelve-keyed
Bb
and a
ten-keyed
A,
of
boxwood,
with the
addition
of
a
ring
key
on the
lower
joints,
an
invention of
the
'forties. In
I855
he
changed
to
a
much
more
complicated
pair
of
instruments
made
by
Fieldhouse
which
incorporated
some
features of
the
Boehm
system,
and
were
calculated to
give greatly
increased
free-dom of
execution. The
keys
were
of more
practical
design
and
mounted
on modem
pillars,
a
great improvement
on
the
older
mechanism. In
I860 he
changed again
to
instru-
ments
made
by
E.
Albert
of Brussels. This
was in
a
way
a
retrograde
step,
as
the
Belgian
instruments
were
merely
much
improved
versions
of
Miller's
thirteen-keyed system
and
much
less
advanced
than those
designed by
Fieldhouse.
The
outstanding
virtues
of these
instruments
were
good
tone
and
intonation
obtained
by
a
larger
interior
bore
and
an improved mouthpiece. Tonally they have never been
excelled
and
rarely
equalled.
They
had
been
introduced to
England
by
another
of
Jullien's
soloists,
Wuille,
a
Belgian
and
a
brilliant
performer.
Critics
immediately
noticed
the
massive
richness of
his
tone,
especially
in the
chalumeau
register,
where
the
earlier
instruments were
specially
defective.
The
influence of
these
Belgian
instruments
on
English
clarinet
playing
was
very great,
in
two
directions
especially.
Firstly
they
fixed
a
definite standard
of fine
tone,
secondly their all round excellence diverted attention from
the
Boehm
system.
This
latter
influence
was
important
since it
retarded
development
of fluent
technique
till
the
turn
of
the
century.
Lazarus knew
the Boehm
system
sufficiently
well
to
recognise
its
merits. He had
a
basset
horn
of
this
system,'4
though
whether he used
it we
do
not
know,
and
he
certainly
prophesied
the
eventual
adoption
of
this
clarinet
by
the
majority
of
players.
We
can
only
assume
that
he
found the
Albert
clarinet
adequate
to
his
own
needs
and
was content
to
teach the
system
he
knew
best.
'3
This
concerto
as
never
been
printed.
The
next
clarinet oncerto
to
be
heard
at the
Philharmonic
as
Stanford's,
layed by
Charles
Draper
in
I904.
14
Date
about
x860.
Lazarus
occasionally
played
basset
hom
obbligati
in
his
earlier
days.
The
instrument
s
stamped
with
the
name
of
Pask,
a
London
maker,
but is
probably
of
French
manufacture.
Fieldhouse
was
a
London
maker.
73
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The Clarinet in
England
A
well-known
contemporary
of Lazarus was
J.
H.
Maycock who died in 1907, aged 89. Like several other
famous
players
he came from the
Coldstreams,
where
Willman's
influence,
as we have
seen,
was
very
strong.
His
fine
playing
at the
opera
soon
attracted
the notice
of
Balfe
who wrote
many
obbligati
to
display
his skill.
The
best
known of them
are the
corno
di
bassetto
introduction
to
the Heart bowed down and the
bass
clarinet solo
in
The
Daughter
of
St. Mark. He
made
a
speciality
of the
basset
horn and bass
clarinet,
and
seems
to have
been
the
first
regular performer
on
the latter. He was
second
only
to
Lazarus in
popularity,
especially
at
provincial
festivals,
and
resembled him in
possessing
dignity
of
style
and
a fine tone.
Like Lazarus
too,
he
excelled
in
chamber
music
and
for
some time
ran
his own
combination
of
players.
He
took
the
first basset horn
in
Mozart's
Serenade
for
thirteen
wind
instruments
(K. 361)
played
for
the
first
time on
April
Ist,
I857.
This
fine work
is
seldom
played
to-day
for
lack
of
basset
horns,
and
rarely
in
its
entirety.
Two
very
well-known artists
must
now
be mentioned
who form an important link between the later years of
Lazarus
and
the moderns.
They
are
George
Clinton
and
Julian
Egerton.
Clinton
was born
at
Newcastle-on-Tyne
in
1850,
and
studied
under his
father,
a well-known
band-
master
and
clarinettist. When
only
seventeen
he
was
appointed
principal
in
Queen
Victoria's
private
band,
a
position
he
held till
I900.
In
I873
he
was
principal
in
the
Philharmonic,
appearing
five
times
as
soloist.
In
I874
he
succeeded
Pape,
a
German,
at
the
Crystal
Palace,
where
he
remained
twenty-four years, appearing frequently
as a
soloist in
the
Mozart, Weber,
and
Spohr
concertos. It was
here that
he
established
his
great reputation.
He
had
great
influence
as a
teacher,
holding
professorships
at
the
Royal
Academy,
Kneller
Hall,
and
Trinity
College.
He
adhered
throughout
his
life to
the old
Albert
system,
so his influence
in
this
respect
was
possibly
reactionary.
He was
an
ardent
chamber
musician and
formed
a
society
which
gave
frequent
concerts
in
the
early
'nineties
for
wind
instruments,
alone
or with
strings.
Not
only
were
many
old works
performed-
most of them now forgotten-but a stimulus was given to
the
production
of
new
compositions.
In execution
he
was
extremely
brilliant
and in
his earlier life far
in
advance of
his
contemporaries;
he was
also,
in
spite
of
a
certain
downrightness,
a
most conscientious
and
thorough
musician.
He
was,
too,
of
an
inventive
turn
of
mind
and
made
some
important
contributions
to
the
improvement
of
the
clarinet,
74
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The Clarinet in
England
giving
thereby
an
important
stimulus
to
English
clarinet
manufacture.'5 His final model was a mixture of the
Albert
and
Boehm
systems,
elaborate
in
mechanism
but
not
unpractical,
and
worthy
of
adoption by players
of
the
Albert model
who
have
not the time
or
opportunity
to
make
a
complete
change
of
fingering.
His
brother,
James,
was
also
an excellent
player,
and had
as
well
considerable
inventive abilities.
He
dissipated
these
in
contriving
a
combined
A and
Bb
clarinet.
The idea
is attractive
in
theory
and on
paper,
but,
however well
the
intricate
mechanism
is
contrived,
it is
a
failure in
practice.
It
is
usually
found that
the
instrument
is
faulty
in
intonation
at
both
pitches,
and
that
the resonance
of
the
tube
is
stifled
by
the
weight
of
the
keywork,
that
is on the
rare
occasions
when
the
mechanism works
at
all.
Julian Egerton,
whose father had
played
with
both
Willman and
Williams,
was
another
prominent
clarinettist,
and a
contemporary
of Clinton.
He
played
with the
latter
for
many
years
in
Queen
Victoria's
private
band.
He
was
principal,
too,
at
many
of
the
provincial
festivals,
and at
the Richter concerts in London from the time of their com-
mencement in
1876.
He
was
well
known
to
habituds
of
the
St.
James's
Hall
where the
Beethoven
Septet
and
Schubert
Octet
were
regularly
given
twice
each
season.
Egerton,
like
Clinton,
adhered
to
the
old
system
and
played
on
a
pair
of
instruments made
by
Fieldhouse.
They
were
similar
in
design
to
those
used
by
Lazarus in the
'fifties
and
were
of
ebonite,
possibly
the first
instruments to
be
made
of this
material.
They
had
originally
belonged
to
George Tyler,'6 a very fine clarinettist, who died in 1878.
Egerton
played
on these
instruments
regularly
till the
change
15
Clinton's
instruments were
made
by
Messrs.
Boosey,
who turned
their
attention to
clarinet
manufacture n the
early
I88o's.
They
have
since
achieved a
very high
reputation
for
excellence
of
workmanship
and
accuracy
of
tuning.
His
brother's
combination
clarinet was
made
by Jacques
Albert
of
Brussels. A
company
was
formed with
Sullivan
as
chairman to
promote
its
use,
and
recitals
were
given upon
it
at
the
R.C.M.,
by
Gomez,
Clinton and
others.
All
George
Clinton's clarinets
incorporated
the
Barret
action
which
was
borrowed
from the oboe
and
applied
to
the
clarinet
by
both
Mahillon
and
Albert of Brussels.
I6
George
Tyler
was a memberof the
Royal
Italian
Opera
orchestra
and
of the
Philharmonic.
The
Musical
Directory
spoke
of
his
death
as
an
almost
irreparable
oss
to
the
R.I.O.
Another
Tyler-Joseph-
patented
a
C#
key,
a
very
valuable
addition to
the old
system
clarinet.
The
credit of
this
invention
was also
claimed
by
Lef6vre of
Paris,
as
well as
by
Albert
and
Mahillon.
The
Boehm
clarinet was
advertised
by
Rudall Rose in
I854-5,
and
pictured
by
Tamplini
in
The
Bandsman,
published
in
January,I857.
75
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The Clarinet
in
England
from
high
pitch
to low
forced
him
to
acquire
others.
Some
ten years ago he showed them to me, and even after seventy
years they
were
still
in excellent
condition,
a
tribute to
excellent
workmanship.
He told
me,
too,
of his
sorrow
when
the
change
of
pitch
forced
him to abandon
his old
friends. The
chief feature of his
playing
I
have
been told
by
friends and
pupils
were
extraordinary beauty
of
tone,
and
the charm
and finish of his
style.
Both
were
still
apparent
when,
as
an
octogenarian,
he
played
in
a
wireless
concert
some
years
ago.
He
had
great
success
and
popularity as a teacher, especially at the Royal College,
where he
succeeded Lazarus in
the
early
'nineties.
There are not
wanting
signs
that
English
clarinet
playing
in the
early
'nineties
was
in need
of
some
external
stimulus.
In
spite
of the
efforts
of
Lazarus,
Clinton
and
Egerton,
interest in
the
instrument
had
noticeably
declined,
and,
though
wind
chamber music
was
fairly
frequently performed
by
two rival
societies,
the
performances
tended
to
be
rather
unimaginative.
Audiences, too,
were
small.
Again,
although
composers
were
demanding
more
and
more
from
their wind players, the leading English clarinettists, Clinton
excepted,
were
quite
content
with
their
instruments,
which,
apart
from
minor
improvements
in
mechanism,
had
received
no
important
amelioration for close
on
half
a
century.
The
Boehm
model
which had freed so
many
continental
players
from
the
trammels of
mechanism,
was
almost
entirely
neglected
in
this
country.
A
solitary
pioneer
is found
in
James
Conroy,
an
army
bandmaster and
pupil
of
Lazarus.
He
bought
a
pair
of Boehm clarinets
quite
early
in
the
'sixties and demonstrated them to Lazarus. The latter gave
him
his
blessing,
prophesied
a
future for
the
system,
but
did
nothing
more about it-so
far
as we
know
at
any
rate.
Doubtless there were
other such
pioneers,
amateurs
possibly
-for
amateurs
having
nothing
to
lose
professionally
are
often
instrumental in
spreading
new
ideas-but
amateurs
of
the
clarinet
were
few
and far
between
at
this
period.
Professionals are
notoriously
conservative;
Lazarus
and
Clinton could
not be
expected
to
re-study
their
instruments
in
the midst
of
a
professional
career,
but
they
could
reason-
ably be expected to have imparted the Boehm system to
their
pupils. They
can
hardly
be
acquitted
of selfishness
in
not
doing
so.
It
was
left to
a
foreign
clarinettist
to
make
the
system
more
widely
known in
this
country.
This
was
Manuel
Gomez,
a
Spaniard,
and
a
prize
winner of
the
Paris
Conservatoire
who came
to
London in the
late
'eighties.
He
was
an
excellent
musician and
a
quite
excep-
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The
Clarinet
in
England
tional executant.
His talents soon
secured
him
the
post
of
principal at Covent Garden, and later in the newly formed
Queen's
Hall
Orchestra. His
execution caused
even
greater
astonishment
when
it was
noticed that
he
played
everything,
however
elaborate,
on his
Bb
clarinet,17
disdaining
the
use
of
an A
entirely.
The lesson
was not lost
upon
two
young
players,
recent
scholars
of the
R.C.M.,
Charles
Draper
and
George
Anderson,
who
took
immediate
steps
to
acquire
Boehm instruments.
With
their
courageous
example
begins
a new
chapter
in
English
clarinet
playing.
The
younger
professional players followed their example, hesitatingly at
first,
but the seed
was well and
fairly
sown.
English
wood
wind makers
did
what
they
could
to
oppose
the
innovation.
They
had never
made
Boehms,
and
did
not recommend
them for the
military
with
whom most
of
their business
was
done. Their
attitude,
in
fact,
was
frankly
obstructionist
and
reactionary,
and
lasted well
into the
present
century.
Within the last
thirty
years,
however,
there
has
been
a
complete
change
of
heart,
and
to-day
clarinets
of Boehm
and other
complicated
systems
are
made
in
greater per-
fection in this country than in any other in the world.
Another
stimulus
from outside was
provided
by
Richard
Miuhlfeld,
clarinettist
and
sub-conductor
of
the
Meiningen
Orchestra,
who
paid many
visits
to
England
between
1892
and
I907.
Muhlfeld was
a
sensitive
musician,
pianist
and
violinist as well
as
clarinettist. The
imaginative
and
essentially
artistic
quality
of
his
playing
had
inspired
Brahms
to
write
his clarinet
works
especially
for
him.
Three
reasons for the
mild
furore he
caused are
discernible:
I. The freshness and originality of the works themselves.
2.
The
interpretative ability
and
musicianship
of
the
player.
3.
The
preference
for
a
foreigner,
which,
formerly
con-
fined to
foreign
singers,
had
during
the last
fifty years
extended
itself to
instrumentalists
as well.
There is
no doubt
whatever
that
Miihlfeld
was
a
fine
artist;
whether or
no he
was
a
fine
clarinettist
is
a
different
17
This
necessitates
the addition
of
an
extra
key
for
the
low
Eb
at
the
bottom
of
the
instrument.
Sax made
this
addition
in
his
improved
clarinet in
I840.
Stadler,
Mozart's
clarinettist,
had
extended
the down-
ward
compass
from
E to C as in
the basset
horn
and
some
bass
clarinets,
but
his
example
was
not
followed,
and
Eb
is
now
accepted
as the
limit
of
downward
extension.
Gomez made
some
additions
and
improve-
ments to
the
Boehm
clarinet. His
complicated
instruments
were
made
for
him
by
Messrs.
Boosey.
77
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The Clarinet in
England
matter.
There are
good
reasons
to
suppose
that
in
tone,
intona-
tion, and execution he was considerably inferior to Clinton,
Charles
Draper
and several others.
He
played
on
the
clumsy
Birmann
system
clarinet,'8
which
fortunately
inspired
no
following.
But
his visits
certainly gave
a much
needed
fillip
to
clarinet
players,
to
composers
too,
even to
musical
journalists,
who
took
the
opportunity
of
redis-
covering
the clarinet
and
writing
some
pretty
nonsense
about it.
The
interest,
however,
was
shortlived;
by
the
end
of
the
century
the
clarinettist was
more
or
less where
he
was some ten
years before.
We
are now
on the
threshold of
modern
history,
and
at
the
point
where this
sketchy
chronicle
must
end.
I
had
hoped
to do
more than
merely
allude
to two
clarinettists,
whose
influence
during
the
last
thirty years
or
so has been
of the
highest
importance,
Charles and
Haydn
Draper.19
I
am
not
forgetting
Lazarus and
Clinton and the
rest,
when
I
suggest
that
they
have
had a more decisive
influence
on
English
clarinet
playing
than
any
other
players.
Between
them
they
have
determined the character of
the modern
English school, which, to my mind at any rate, yields to no
other
in
vigour
and
accomplishment.
To
mention
individuals is
invidious
and
unnecessary,
but
here are some
general
notes
about
their
attributes.
Tone.-Our
players
from
the
time of Willman
have
always
excelled
in
beauty
of
tone.
To
define
this
beauty
is
difficult,
but
here
are
some
of
the
ingredients-robustness
and
firmness without
harshness, warmth,
and a
perfect
clarity,
which,
as
in
singing,
comes
largely
from
perfect
intonation.
Technique.-English players
have
always
been notable
sight
readers
and
executants,
even
when
natural
agility
has
been
hampered
by
old
fashioned mechanism.
To-day,
when
the use
of the
Boehm
system
is
all
but
universal,
virtuosity
is
commonplace.
It
is
by
no
means rare to find
students
i8
Called after
Carl Barmann
(I8ii-85),
son
of Heinrich. It
is
an
improved
Muller
system
clarinet. The Germans and Central
Europeans
have
never
taken
kindly
to the Boehm model.
I9
Haydn
Draper
was
the
nephew
and
pupil
of
Charles
Draper-
Charles
Draper
has
retired,
at
any
rate for the
time,
from
the
exercise
of his
profession.
Haydn Draper
died some
years ago
in
the full
maturity
of his
powers.
Like his uncle
he
was a scholar of the
Royal College
and
was
by way
of
being
an
accomplished player
while
still
in
his
early
'teens. The
present professor
at the
R.A.M.,
Mr.
Reginald
Kell,
is
one
of his
pupils.
Mr.
Frederick
Thurston,
the brilliant
principal
clarinet
of
the
B.B.C.
Symphony
Orchestra,
is a
pupil
of
Charles
Draper.
78
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The
Clarinet
in
England
in their
teens
with more
technique
at their command
then
their
precedessors
of
thirty
or
forty
years ago
had
acquired
in full maturity. It is not entirely a matter of improved
mechanism;
there
seems
to be an ever
increasing
natural
aptitude.
Musicianship.-Here
the influenceof the
colleges
has
been
making
tself
felt
for
a
generation
and more.
Unimaginative
playing
is
rarer
han it
was
half a
century ago,
when recruit-
ment was
largely
from
military
bands. This is not
to
say
that
the
military
musician
s,
or
was,
necessarily
nsensitive,
but the civilian
enjoys
advantages
denied
to the
soldier,
and
a solid backgroundof education and general culture goes
a
long way
in
creating
a
finished artist.
APPENDIX.
Notes on
Saxophone,
Basset
Horn and Bass
Clarinet.
The
history
of
the
saxophone
in
England
begins
with
the
Alto
Fagotto,
which Lazarus
played
as
a
boy
in the
band of the Royal MilitaryAsylum. It was in principlea
wooden
prototype
of the
saxophone,preceding
Sax's
inven-
tion
by
almost
fifteen
years.
It
was
a
pleasant
oned
instru-
ment,
but
apparently
made
little
appeal,
and was soon
forgotten.
The
saxophone
n its modern orm
was
apparently
introduced o
this
country
by Jullien
n
1849.
It
was
played
by
one
Sommer.
It
appeared
again
in
I852
in
the
hands
of
Soualle,
a
very
capable
performer.
This
time
the
Manchester
Guardian
aw
fit
to call
it
the
Corno-musa.
From
the
fairly
accuratedescription t wasplainlyone of the largermembers
of
the
family.
Another brilliant
performer
was
Jullien's
Belgian
clarinettist, Wuille,
who
played
the
bass
clarinet
as
well. It
sprang again
into
a
shortlived
popularity
in
I865,
when
at
Mellon's
promenade
concerts a
Frenchman,
Cordier,
performed
some
striking
solos
upon
it.
Jullien
fils,
who
was
running
an
opposition
series of
concerts,
set
about
finding
a
rival to
Cordier
and selected
Tyler
for
the
part.
The
latter
may
be classed as
possibly
the first
English saxophonist.
For the next
twenty-five years
or so
the instrument
appears
to have been all but
forgotten,
in
London at
any
rate,
so much so
that
when
E.
Mills,
an
excellent
Brussels-trained
clarinettist,
performed
on it
in
I89I,
it
was
described
by
a
London
paper
as
the almost
obsolete
saxophone-something
between the horn
and
bassoon.
7
Vol. 68
79
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The
Clarinet
in
England
The
basset
horn,
as
we have
seen,
was
played
on
by
most
of the early clarinettists. In fact for the first half of the
nineteenth
century
it
was
a
very
popular
instrument
both
in
solos
and
obbligati,
and there
can
have
been
no
dearth
of
players,
since
two
players
were
forthcoming
to
accom-
pany
Miss
Jane
Shirreff20
in
a
concert in
the
'thirties,
but
it
appears
to
have
lost
ground
later in
the
century.
There
was
certainly
some
trouble
in
finding
players
for
the
wind
chamber
music concerts
in
the 'nineties. Francisco
Gomez,
a
brother
of
Manuel
and
a
no less
accomplished
player,
made efforts to revive it just before the last war and was a
fine
performer.
It seems
doomed,
however,
to
appear
in
text books
of
orchestration,
to be
rediscovered,
and to
dis-
appear
again.
The modern
French form of
the
instrument,
in which the extra
keys
to
carry
the
instrument
down
a
third
below
the
ordinary
clarinet
are
appropriated
to
the
little
fingers
of
both
hands,
is not
in
my
opinion,
so
satis-
factory
as
the
older
model
in which
they
are
assigned
to
the thumb of
the
right
hand,
and this
may
be
one of
the
reasons
why
the
modern
player
fights
shy
of it. But we
should not forget that Mozart originally wrote2' the
clarinet concerto
for
it,
and
gave
us several
masterly
examples
of its
proper
employment.
In
the orchestra
it
might very
properly
be used to
reinforce,
even to
replace,
the weak
middle
register
of
the
bass
clarinet,
and
to continue
down
the chalumeau
notes of
the orchestral
clarinet.
In
Mozart's
Requiem,
at
any
rate,
the
use
of
basset
horns
should
be
insisted
upon;
to-day
they
are
almost
invariably
replaced
by
A
clarinets
to the
great
detriment of
the tone
colour
intended by Mozart.22
The bass
clarinet, too,
has
been
noticed
in
passing.
It
made
its
appearance
in London
in
1833,
and was
played
occasionally
by
Willman
in
obbligati,
and
later
by
Maycock
in
both
obbligati
and solos.
It
came
into the
limelight
in
the
I850's,
again
in
solos,
when it
was
played by
the
20
In Al
desio
di
chi
t'adora
at an Antient Concert in
I834.
This
brilliant
rondo
for
soprano
was
written
by
Mozart
in
July,
1789,
for
insertion
in
Figaro.
The
obbligati parts
for 2
basset horns
are
florid
and
effective.
The work
might
well be added
to
our
concert
programmes.
21
Sketched
would
be more
correct.
Mozart
broke off
work on it
after
199
bars
of
the
Allegro
and on
taking
it
up
again
in
I79I
re-wrote
the work
for clarinet.
The slow movement is
particularly
well
suited
by
the
placid,
reedy
tone
of
the
basset
horn.
22
The most
striking
feature of the
basset
horn
is its reediness
due
to
the
length
and
smallness
of
its bore.
This is
entirely
lost
when
it is
replaced by
one of the
orchestral clarinets or
by
the alto or
tenor
clarinets.
The
latter
have
a
more
vigorous
and
open
tone.
8o
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The Clarinet
in
England
Belgian,
Wuille.
There
was for
long
a
tendency
to
regard
it as a poor relation of the clarinet, as a doubling instru-
ment
for
any
clarinettist
not of the first rank. This
in
the
writer's
opinion
has been
the fault
of
composers
who
have
not
made
sufficient
use of
it,
and who
forget,
or even
do
not
realise,
what
good
use can be made of
it,
not
only
in
the orchestra but
also
with
strings
in chamber
music.
Francisco
Gomez,
already
mentioned as a
bassethornist,
was
also
a
most
capable
bass
clarinettist,
and in
the
present
day
no
more
finished
artist
could be desired
than
Mr.
Walter Lear Bass clarinets have long been made in great
perfection
in this
country. English
players
have
always
preferred
the
big
bored
model first introduced
by
Sax
in
contrast
to
the
slighter
toned
German
model,
which
is
little
more than an
enlarged
basset horn.
Of
the contrabass
clarinet
it
is
necessary
to
say
very
little.
Efforts were
made
during
the nineteenth
century
to
produce
such an
instrument,
but
with
no
very
satisfactory
result,
and
it
was not
until
the
last
decade of
the
past
century
that
Messrs.
Besson of
Paris
produced
a
more
or
less passable instrument. Some of these were imported
into
this
country,
and
M.
Bretonneau
came from Paris to
demonstrate
their
capabilities,
but
the
instrument was
found
defective in
intonation,
and,
in
addition,
unwieldy
and
complicated.
A few
were
acquired
for the use of the
military,
but
were soon
discarded. Of
the
later and
more
satisfactory
models
recently
evolved
by
two
Paris
makers,
Buffet
and
Leblanc,
little or
nothing
appears
to
be known
by
our orchestras
and
military
bands.23
A
SHORT
BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Altenburg,
W.
Die
Klarinette.
Heilbronn,
1904.
Schlesinger,
K.
Articles on
Basset
Horn,
Bass
Clarinet,
Clarinet
in
Encyclopedia
Britannica,
I
th
edition.
Cambridge,
19o0.
Street,
Oscar W.
The
Clarinet and
its
Music.
Pro-
ceedings
of
the
Musical
Association,
42nd
Session,
1916.
Carse,
A.
Musical
Wind Instruments.
London,
I939.
Carse, A. The Orchestra n the XVIII Century. Cambridge,
I940.
23
Contrabass clarinets
are
found in
several
French
and
Belgian
works
bands.
The
Garde
Republicaine possesses
one
in
addition
to
two
bass
clarinets.
The Buffet
instrument
is
made
of
wood,
the
Leblanc
of
metal.
M.
Houvenaghel,
the
technical
adviser
to
the
latter
firm,
has
also
evolved a
sub-contrabass,
two
octaves
lower
than
the
bass.
8I
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The Clarinet
in
England
Royal Military
Exhibition,
I890.
A
Descriptive Catalogue
of
the Musical Instruments. By C. R. Day. London, 89I.
Quarterly
Musical
Magazine
-
-
London,
I818-28.
Harmonicon
- - - - -
London,
I823-33.
Musical World
- - - -
London,
I836-91.
Athenaeum
- - - - -
London,
I828-
.
Musical
Opinion
-
- - -
London,
I877-
.
Musical
Standard
-
- - -
London,
I862-
.
DISCUSSION.
The CHAIRMAN
Sir
Percy
Buck):
Ladies
and
gentlemen,
the
first
duty
of the
Chairman,
which
is
also
a
pleasure,
is
always
to
thank the
reader of
the
paper.
I
belong
to
the
generation
which can well
remember
the
playing
of
Clinton and
Egerton.
I
do
not think
I
have
ever
heard such beautiful
tone
got
out of
a
clarinet
by anybody
as
Egerton
used to
produce.
That
may
be
a
dream of
youth,
but
I
always
think
of
him
as
having
made
the most
perfect
sounds I ever heard. I also like to remember that Charles
Draper
and I
got
our
scholarships
at
the
Royal
College
of
Music on the same
day,
and
have
been friends ever
since.
The clarinet is tuned to
equal
temperament
so that
it
can
sound
a
complete
chromatic
scale.
But,
having
finished
the
lower
register
the
player
must blow
the
third
partial
of
the
bottom note to
get
a
B,
and
that
B
cannot be in
equal
temperament.
Is
the
interval from
Bb
to
Bi
out of
tune
?
Mr. RENDALL:
In
practice
it
is often
out of
tune,
the
Bb
being
sharp,
the
Bt
flat.
But
on
modern instruments there
are
many
different
fingerings
which
give
slightly
sharper
and flatter notes
when
they
are
wanted.
A
good
player
who
is
playing
with
strings
or
accompanying
a
singer,
will
unconsciously
adapt
himself. It
is
possible, especially
with
the
type
of instrument
I have
here,
to
alter
the intonation
appreciably.
The
CHAIRMAN:
I
remember
when I first
had lessons
in
orchestration,
I
was forbidden to write a shake for the
clarinet
on
At.
I asked
why,
of
course,
as
any
sensible
pupil would, and I was told that there was a mechanical
difficulty,
the
At
being
on the lower
register
and
Bt
on the
upper;
but I could not
help
wondering
whether it was
because
there was an enharmonic difference between the
notes.
But,
as
you
say,
the
player
can
definitely
alter the
pitch.
Mr.
RENDALL: Yes.
On
this
instrument
there are
three
differently
tuned
F#'s,
so the
player
can
adapt
himself
82
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The
Clarinet in
England
without
any
trouble
whatever.
That
is
why
the
instrument
does not sound at its best with the piano. The instruments
do not
blend;
in
fact,
they
do
not suit
each
other at
all.
The shake on
A$
is
now
practicable
and
easy
on all
modern
instruments.
It is
merely
a
question
of
an additional
key.
Mr.
LLEWELYNLLOYD:
The lecturer has
explained
about
the method
of
altering
the intonation. Is
that
a
matter of
mechanism,
or is there
any
control over
the intonation
through
the
lips,
as there is
in
some other
instruments
?
Mr.
RENDALL:
Lip
control exists
in
theory,
but
largely
in theory. It is possible to influence the intonation
very
slightly, possibly
a
vibration or
two with the
lips.
Alterations of
pitch
can also
be made
mechanically.
This
was
the case
with
the three
F$'s
I mentioned
just
now,
with their
varying
degrees
of
sharpness.
Or,
notes can be
sharpened
or flattened
by
opening
or
obstructing
tone
holes
just
below
the
note
which is
sounding.
In this
instru-
ment the middle
Bb[
is
always
sharp,
so
it has to be
flattened
by
the
player
putting
his
fingers
down.
He
may
also slacken off the lip pressure without thinking of it; in
fact,
I
think
any
really good player
will
do
so
automatically.
I
was
hoping
that
some members
might
have
personal
reminiscences of some
of
the
earlier
players,
of
Lazarus,
or
Maycock,
for
example.
The
CHAIRMAN:
I
remember
Lazarus's
name
being
on
the
programme
when
I
went,
fifty years
ago,
to the Phil-
harmonic Concerts.
I
myself
have
conducted
an
orchestra
in
which
Egerton
and
Clinton
were
playing.
The LECTURER: have heard a good deal about Clinton
and
Egerton,
and
also
heard
Egerton
play
on the
wireless when
he
was
eighty-four
or
so;
in
fact,
I
believe he
is
still
living.
The
SECRETARY:
In the
library
of
the
Royal
College
of
Music
there are the archives
of the Wind
Instrument
Chamber
Music
Society,
which
I
assume
is Mr.
Clinton's
Society,
presented by
Mr.
Arthur Frere. Mr.
Frere
was,
I
believe,
the
Secretary
of
that
Society
for some
years.
The
LECTURER:
There were two of
those
Societies. The
original Society split into two in consequence of a quarrel.
I think
yours
is
the one
which Clinton controlled.
The SECRETARY: I think
it
was
suggested
in
the
early
part
of the
paper
that
Mozart
might
have
heard the
clarinet
for
the
first
time
in London.
If
so,
may
it
be
assumed
that
London
was
in
the
eighteenth
century
ahead
of
the
Con-
tinent in
using
and
fostering
clarinet
playing
?
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The
Clarinet
in
England
The LECTURER:
No,
not
of
Germany.
If
you
admit
that Handel used the clarinet then it was probably rather
ahead
of
France.
But
they
had
a
good many
clarinet
players
in Paris round
about
1750.
No,
I
think we
were
very
much
in
the same
stage
except
for
M.
Charles. He
is
a
very
obscure
person.
We
have
his
Twelve Duettos
for
two
French
Horns
at the British
Museum,
but that
is
the
only
work
of
his
I
know,
and
that
is
very
rare,
I
believe.
The
CHAIRMAN:
Who
invented that
horrible little
thing
called
the
Eb
clarinet
?
The
LECTURER:
It
probably
came in about
80oo-15,
with
the
development
of
the
military
band. There
is
one
even
more
horrible,
the one in
high
Ab.
The CHAIRMAN:
hey
are
only
defensible
on the
ground
that
an
open
air band
must have
brilliancy.
The
LECTURER:
Yes.
Still,
the
D
clarinet
is
used
by
Richard
Strauss.
Mr. BATE: The lecturer more or less categorically
denied
the
player's
ability
to blow
a
note
up
or down.
Now
I
am
a
player
of
moderate
ability,
but
my
experience
has
been
rather
the reverse.
I
wonder
whether
the
lecturer
agrees
with
me on the
following
point.
I
find
that
when
one
is
in the lowest
register
or round about B and C
in the
middle of
the
staff,
it is
extremely
difficult
intentionally
to
blow
up
or
down. But
round
about the
A
or
Bb-the
throat
notes-it
is
very
much easier.
At
least
I
find
that on my pair of instruments. Is
it
possibly due to
the
fact
that
the
reed has
more dominance
in
the
partnership
of
reed
and
resonant
air
column
when
the
column is
shorter
?
Is the
reed
then
less
firmly governed
by
the
column
of
air
below
it,
and therefore
more
susceptible
to deliberate
lip
pressure
?
The
LECTURER:
Yes,
I
certainly
think
that
the
shorter
the air
column
the more
easily
is
it influenced.
I
do
not
think
the notes
at the
bottom
of the
tube can be blown
up
or down appreciably.
I
have never been able
to
do
so.
Mr.
BATE: I
agree
there,
but
when
the
player
is
on
the
upper
half
of
the tube the
facility begins
to come.
The LECTURER:
n
my
opinion
the
professional player
does
it
much more
by
opening
other
keys
to
sharpen
and
by closing
other
keys
to flatten.
84
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The Clarinet in
England
Mr.
ROYLE
SHORE:
I
should like
to ask
whether
the
lecturer ever heard what I once heard and have never for-
gotten.
Somebody
prophesied
when
the concertina was
invented,
that it would oust
the
clarinet
from
the
orchestra.
Did
anybody
ever
hear
that
grotesque
prophecy
?
The
LECTURER:
NO,
I cannot
say
I
ever heard
that.
Mr. ROYLE SHORE:
My
knowledge
of
the
clarinet
is
limited to
an
instrument
which
Professor Bantock
once
lent
me for
a
special purpose.
It
was described
as
a
Montenegrin
clarinet.
I
do
not
know
how
many
keys
it had.
I
used
it,
not for orchestral purposes, but for snake charming and
growing
a
mango
tree.
Miss
SCHLESINGER: I
should like to
thank
the lecturer
for
giving
us
information
on
a
field
of
knowledge
on which
I
knew little.
My
work
has
dealt
almost
entirely
with
ancient
instruments
and
with the
predecessors
of
the clarinet.
One
point might
perhaps
be
of
interest,
and that
is,
on
the
production
of the
upper
register
on the
clarinet
from
the
chalumeau
register.
I
once wanted to
know whether
it
could be produced in the same way as in the ancient instru-
ments
mentioned
by
Aristotle
and
various other
writers of
ancient
Greece,
namely, by
shortening
the
length
of the
little
tongue
which
produces
the
beating
reed.
If
the
reed
is
inserted
into
the instrument-a little
pipe-and produces
say
C, D,
E,
F
from the first
three
holes,
and the
player
then
shortens
the little
tongue
by
a
third
of
its
length
and
blows,
the
fundamental
rises to
the
fifth.
The size
of the
vibrating
part
of
the
modern clarinet
reed is so infinitesimal
compared with that of these little ancient mouthpieces,
that it
is rather difficult to
see whether the clarinet
player
is
really
conscious
of
what
he
does.
He
probably
does
shorten
the
vibrating portion
of
the
reed
unconsciously
with his
lip,
but
as the
total
vibrating
distance is
only
about
half an
inch,
whereas
in
the
other
it
was
anything
from
one
inch
to
one and
three-quarters
or
two
inches,
he
might
not
be at all
conscious of the fact
that
he
is
influencing
the
tone,
because
those
notes
that are
produced
from the
chalumeau
register
are not
harmonics.
They
have
not the
harmonic quality. Then where do they come from and
how
do
they
come
?
The
fact
is
that
the
note is born in
the
reed
mouthpiece
itself.
The
tube
of the clarinet is
but
the
resonator.
I
have
given
an
explanation
of the
process
together
with a
formula
(for
the
ancient
clarinet)
for
computing
the
pitch
in
vibration
frequency
of
notes,
from the
length
of
the
85
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The
Clarinet in
England
vibrating tongue,
which
provides
an
answer to the
question
in my book.4
The
LECTURER: I
am
afraid
that is rather
beyond
me.
I
have
always
understood
that
they
were harmonics.
Miss SCHLESINGER:
But
you
would not consider
that
they
had
the
harmonic
quality,
would
you
?
The
LECTURER:
Yes,
I
see
your
point.
No,
I
do
not
think
they
have
really,
but I
have
always
been told
they
were.
Miss SCHLESINGER: I asked Charles Draper himself
that
question,
and
he
did
not
at all
agree
with
my
suggestion,
but when
I
asked
whether
he
always kept
the reed
exactly
in the
same
position
in
his
mouth to
play
all
the
notes,
he
said, Oh,
no,
we move the
lips
up
and
down
on
it,
or
something
to
that effect.
The
LECTURER:
I
do
not
think
the
player
always
knows
what
he is
doing.
He is
so used to
doing
it
that,
like a
singer,
he does
it
without
thinking
about
it.
Miss SCHLESINGER:It is quite easy to see that one could
stop
one-third of
a
vibrating
reed
which
has
only
about
half
an
inch to
vibrate,
without
being
conscious
of
it.
If
so,
the modern
player
is a true descendant of
the
ancient Greek one.
The LECTURER:I
have
here
a
photograph
of
the
opening
page
of
the
Handel
Overture
in
D,25
which
is
possibly
the
first
piece
of music
written
for the clarinet
in
England.
I
also have
a
portrait
of
Willman26and some instruments.27
The CHAIRMANroposed a vote of thanks to the lecturer
coupling
with
it
an
expression
of
gratitude
to
Mr.
Oldman
for
having
read
the
paper.
The
motion was carried
with
acclamation.
24
The Greek Aulos
(Methuen),
pp.
96-103;
and
io6
seq.
25
Fuller
Maitland
and
Mann,
Catalogue
of
the
Music
in the Fitz-
william
at
Cambridge,
p.
221.
26
See the frontispieceto this volume.
27
These included
a
facsimile of
an
ancient
Egyptian
reed
pipe
lent
by
Miss
Schlesinger,
a
facsimile
of
a
two-keyed
clarinet
lent
by
the
President,
a
five-keyed
clarinet
by
Collier,
London,
circa
I775,
several
early
nineteenth
century
boxwood
instrumentswith from
six to
twelve
keys,
two
sixteen-keyed
nstruments
by
Fieldhouse and
Albert,
formerly
used
by
Lazarus,
and two Boehm clarinets
(one
an
early
model)
by
Buffet,
Paris.
86