| 介绍（英） | Clarinets
Tradition attributes the invention of the clarinet about 1700 to Johann Christoph Denner, an instrument maker and musician in Nuremberg.
The clarinet operates with a single reed mouthpiece and has a cylindrical bore. This acoustical setup causes the clarinet to overblow into the twelfth, rather than the octave, as do flutes and oboes. Therefore, the keywork and fingering system are different. The pitch of a clarinet, for example, "in A" or "in F," refers to the tone C as a standard pitch. When c1 is notated, a clarinet in F sounds a fourth higher (f1), an alto clarinet in F a fifth lower (f).
About 1760, the clarinet entered the classical orchestra; during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it spread to virtually all forms and styles of music making. Since the eighteenth century, several variants in size, bore, and sound have evolved: clarinet d'amour (ca. 1760), basset horn (ca. 1770), alto clarinet (ca. 1810), bass clarinet (19th century, ca. 1836), and contrabass clarinet (1890s). Before 1800, the reed was used pointing upward, but a change to a downward orientation afterward helped to produce a slightly softer sound.
Basset Horns
The basset horn is said to have been invented in Passau (Germany) by the brothers Anton and Michael Mayrhofer, in about 1770. The original sickle shape was replaced soon by an angular and later, in the nineteenth century, by a straight form.
The basset horn, usually pitched in G or F, exceeds the lower range of the regular clarinet by a major third. To keep the basset horn at a manageable size, it was equipped with a "box" containing three connected channels. The basset horn saw its heyday in the classical orchestra as a low melody instrument in place of-or alternately with-the clarinet. Its bore is relatively small and its timbre slightly subdued. Mozart used it repeatedly and explored its spiritual sound quality. |