Clarinet [clarionet, clarinette]

Albert R. Rice

https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.A2240511
Published in print: 26 November 2013
Published online: 25 July 2013

A woodwind instrument of essentially cylindrical bore, played with a single reed, and made in a variety
of sizes and tonalities. It is the main melody instrument in bands, an important orchestral woodwind,
and is widely played in popular, jazz, and klezmer music. The clarinet pitched in B♭ with Boehm-system
keywork is the most widely used today. Two other key systems—one developed by Oskar Oehler, and
the Reform-Boehm (a combination of Boehm-system keywork with the Oehler-system bore and finger
hole sizes) developed by Fritz Wurlitzer—are used by a few modern players.

The first documented appearance of the instrument was in Germany in 1710. In America, clarinets
were used in British military bands as early as 1758; the earliest advertisement offering clarinets for
sale appeared in the New York Gazette in 1761. By 1772 a Philadelphia maker, Jacob Anthony, Sr.,
advertised that he made clarinets and other wind instruments; two of his clarinets, in boxwood with
five keys, dating from about 1800, survive. Sheet music published as early as 1793 includes clarinet
parts for use at home. The first clarinet tutor, A New and Complete Preceptor for the Clarinet, was
published by George Blake around 1803.

Early clarinets were made of boxwood, rosewood, ebony, or ivory with ivory, metal, or wood ferrules,
and had from five to 13 brass keys inserted in rings or blocks. Mouthpieces were boxwood or
blackwood with ridges below and around the table so the reed could be tied on with cord. Until about
1840 the instrument was usually played with the reed placed against the upper lip. From the early 19th
century clarinets were made in a number of sizes, in the keys of F, E♭, D, C, B♭, and A, with alto
clarinets in F and E♭, and bass clarinets in C and B♭.

The most important American clarinet makers active during the first half of the nineteenth century
were asa Hopkins (Litchfield, Connecticut), William Whiteley (Utica, New York), Samuel Graves
(Winchester, New Hampshire), and Firth, Hall & Pond (New York City). Most of their clarinets were
modeled on English instruments, with some made in German style. About 1810, George Catlin
(Hartford, Connecticut) invented and began producing a bassoon-shaped bass clarinet, the “Clarion”; a
bassoon-shaped alto clarinet it also attributed to him. By 1838 the Graves Company offered pewter
mouthpieces (as a more expensive option). Later in the century many makers copied the keywork of
Eugène Albert (Belgian patent 1866), popular in Europe. These include the firms of Theodore Berteling
(New York City), Conn family and Buescher (Elkhart), and Penzel & Müller (Long Island City). During
the 20th century, skeletal-model brass clarinets plated with a silver alloy were made for outdoor use by
Conn, Bettoney (New York City), and H.N. White (Cleveland).

Unique and unusual designs by American makers include a double-walled brass body, developed by
C.G. Conn about 1895, and a double-walled body that could be warmed by blowing air through a top
vent, developed in 1926 by W.S. Haynes, Boston, and called the “Thermoclarinet.” Italian maker Pupo
Pupeschi’s 1892 fingering system was adopted by Penzel & Müller (NYC, c1900), Conn (c1910), and W.
Meinl (NYC, c1910). Significant patent designs improved the quality of the throat B♭ note: an
automatic B♭ mechanism (Leon Leblanc, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 1933); the S-K mechanism (William
Stubbins and Frank Kaspar, Leblanc, Kenosha, 1952); Rosario Mazzeo’s mechanism (Selmer, Elkhart,

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1959, 1962, 1965); and Thomas F. McIntyre’s system (Thibouville Frères, Ivry-la-Bataille assembled in
Naugatuck, Connecticut, 1962). Popular modern manufacturers include the French firm Buffet-
Crampon, Selmer (United States and France), Leblanc (United States and France), and Yamaha (United
States and Japan).

1. Soloists and orchestral players.

The earliest known soloist was military musician Charles Hoffman, who performed in Philadelphia in
1769. The first female clarinetist to appear in America, Margaret Knittel (from Switzerland), traveled
with her husband and performed in Philadelphia, New York and other east coast cities between 1816
and 1820. She also played the basset horn in an 1817 concert in Philadelphia, which is the first
documented performance on that instrument in America. Clarinetist James Kendall was active in
Boston from the mid-1820s as a soloist and as director of the Boston Brigade Band and other
ensembles. Beginning in 1844, Rhodolph Hall played the clarinet and other instruments in Hartford
and New Haven, Connecticut, New York City, and Boston. Thomas Ryan was a founding member of the
Mendelssohn Quintette Club of Boston in 1849 and played with the group in tours of Europe and
Australia until 1895.

In 1898, French clarinetist Alexandre Selmer came to the United States to become first clarinetist in
the Boston Symphony; he later began importing and selling clarinets made by his brother Henri in
Paris, leading to the founding of the Selmer firm in the United States. Gustave Langenus, New York
Symphony 1910–23, taught at Juilliard and was influential in promoting Boehm-system clarinets.
Stanley Drucker (New York Philharmonic, 1949–2009) inspired a challenging concerto by John
Corigliano. Other important orchestral clarinetists include Robert Lindemann (Chicago Symphony,
1913–17), Daniel Bonade (Philadelphia Orchestra, 1917–30), Simeon Bellison (NY Philharmonic, 1921–
48), Kalman Bloch (Los Angeles Philharmonic, 1937–81), Ralph McLane (Philadelphia Orchestra, 1943–
51), Mitchell Lurie (Pittsburgh Symphony, 1947–49; Chicago Symphony, 1949–50), Anthony Gigliotti
(Philadelphia Orchestra, 1949–96), Gino Cioffi (Boston Symphony, 1950–70), and Harold Wright
(Boston Symphony 1970–93).

Richard Stoltzman has been a major promoter of the clarinet as a solo instrument and has had many
works written for him. Other noted soloists include Larry Combs, also well-regarded as a jazz player;
David Shifrin, and John Bruce Yeh. Clarinetists who specialize in contemporary music techniques
include William O. Smith, whose New Directions for Clarinet (Berkeley, CA, 1977, 2/1994) explores
innovative clarinet techniques; Phillip Rehfeldt; F. Gerard Errante; Charles Neidich; and Eric Mandat.

2. Musical use of the clarinet.

Notable use of the clarinet in orchestral works includes Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue (1924), opening
with a low trill and a long glissando; Copland’s Appalachian Spring (1943–4) and El Salon Mexico
(1933–6), which includes a solo for E♭ clarinet; and William Schuman’s Symphony no.3 (1941), with a
bass clarinet solo. Solo pieces, sonatas, and works for clarinet and piano are by Leslie Bassett, Leonard
Bernstein, Bolcom, Corigliano, Dahl, Dello Joio, Daniel Gregory Mason, Perle, Boris Pillin, Sowerby, and
Toch. Chamber music includes duos by Dahl, Ran, and Copland (As it Fell Upon a Day with soprano);
Largo for clarinet, violin, and piano by Ives; To be Sung upon the Water (with soprano and piano) by

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Argento; Clarinade (with soprano saxophone and bass) by Mel Powell; quintets for clarinet and strings
by Douglas Moore, Quincy Porter, and Corigliano (Soliloquy); and a woodwind quintet by Elliott Carter.
Concertos include those by Copland, Corigliano, Piston, Rochberg, Siegmeister, Halsey Stevens, and
John Williams.

In early jazz music the clarinet was the primary woodwind instrument. Influential New Orleans
clarinetists include Alphonse Picou, Lorenzo Tio, Jr., Johnny Dodds, Jimmie Noone, George Lewis,
Albert Nicholas, William Humphrey, Omer Simeon, and Barney Bigard. Many of these players doubled
on saxophone or brass instruments. During the 1920s, jazz clarinetists working in Chicago included
Frank Teschemacher, Pee Wee Russell, and Buster Bailey. In the 1930s, Swing band leaders Benny
Goodman and Artie Shaw were the two most gifted and virtuosic players. Goodman also influenced
classical music by commissioning pieces from leading composers such as Copland (Clarinet Concerto,
1947). Other gifted jazz clarinetists were Buddy De Franco, Woody Herman, Jimmy Dorsey, Irving
Fazola, Eric Dolphy (on bass clarinet), Abe Most, Pete Fountain, Bob Wilbur, Tony Scott, Phil Woods,
Jimmy Giuffre, John Denman, and Bill Smith. More recently, Eddie Daniels has blended classical and
jazz idioms in single works, such as his arrangement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, which he calls The Five
Seasons.

Klezmer music was brought to the United States by eastern European Jewish immigrants between
1880 and 1924. The typical ensemble included clarinet, violins and bass, and other instruments.
Clarinetists Naftule Brandwein (1889–1963) and Dave Tarras (1897–1989) were particularly influential
and made many recordings that popularized the music. During the 1980s, klezmer began a revival in
American Jewish culture, led by clarinetists such as Andy Statman, Israeli performer Giora Feidman,
and David Krakauer.

Bibliography
Grove7 (J.K. Page and others); Waterhouse-LangwillI

P. Weston: More Clarinet Virtuosi of the Past (London, 1977)

J. Pierce: “The Bonade Legacy,” The Clarinet, 4/1 (1977), 8–9; 4/3(1977), 14–15; 4/4(1977), 11–
12; 6/4(1979), 6–13

R. Mazzeo: “The History of the Clarinet’s B flat Mechanisms,” The Clarinet, 7/2 (1980), 6–9, 33–
37

J. Kuehn: “Clarinet Jazz: The Rise and Fall (and Rise Again) of the Jazz Clarinet,” The Clarinet,
15/4 (1988), 30–31

J. Kuehn: “Jazz Bass Clarinet,” The Clarinet, 16/2 (1989), 4

P. Weston: Clarinet Virtuosi of Today (Baldock, UK, 1989)

C. Lawson, ed.: The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet (Cambridge, 1995)

D.C. Reeves: “Albert and the Albert System,” The Clarinet, 27/2 (2000), 30–32

D. Ross: “A Belgian in America: the Life and Career of Gustave Langenus,” The Clarinet, 27/4
(2000), 40–49

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R. Heaton, ed.: The Versatile Clarinet (Reading, UK, 2001, 2/2006)

A.R. Rice: The Clarinet in the Classical Period (New York, 2003)

P. Weston: “Out of Purdah: Three Early 19th-Century Female Virtuosi,” The Clarinet, 31/1
(2003), 90–92

J.E. Ellsworth: “Early American Clarinet Makers and Sellers, 1761–1820,” JAMIS, 32 (2006), 80–
123

E. Hoeprich: The Clarinet (New Haven, 2008)

A.R. Rice: From the Clarinet d’Amour to the Contra Bass: a History of Large Size Clarinets,
1740–1860 (New York, 2009)

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