Bass Clarinet in C?
Overall size: ca. 870
Sounding length: 1457
Bore: c-hole 18.9
Technical description: Rosewood with brass keywork, ferrules and bell. Five pieces: mouthpiece, crook, upper section, lower section, and bell. Rosewood mouthpiece not grooved for cord. German silver tenon soldered to brass crook. Brass ferrule between crook and upper section, visible on photos from the archive (Mus.1296), seems to have been removed in order to repair the upper section. Two speaker keys: One used to overblow, one used for a proper throat b♭. Thumb hole on front of the instrument, ring key for L0 to operate this key. Shaped brass thumb rest with sling-ring. No tone holes, but rings instead to operate the keys. L4 levers mounted on a plate. F♯3/C♯5 guided on a rod and in a saddle. Tone holes for L4 levers on brass bell.
L0: Ring; speaker 1; speaker 2.
L1: Ring; throat A♮; throat A♭.
L2: Plate.
L3: Ring; E♭4/B♭5.
L4: C♯4/G♯5; E3/B♮4; F♯3/C♯5.
R1: Ring; side
F4/ C6; side trill key for throat A-B♮ and B♭-C.
R2: Plate.
R3: Ring; B♭3/F♮5.
R4: F3/C5; G♯3/E♭5.
Keyhead type: modern.
Keymount type: screwed in pillars with pins.
No inscriptions.
Playing accessories: a cord and a reed-cap.
(Heike Fricke, 2014)
Sounding length: 1457
Bore: c-hole 18.9
Technical description: Rosewood with brass keywork, ferrules and bell. Five pieces: mouthpiece, crook, upper section, lower section, and bell. Rosewood mouthpiece not grooved for cord. German silver tenon soldered to brass crook. Brass ferrule between crook and upper section, visible on photos from the archive (Mus.1296), seems to have been removed in order to repair the upper section. Two speaker keys: One used to overblow, one used for a proper throat b♭. Thumb hole on front of the instrument, ring key for L0 to operate this key. Shaped brass thumb rest with sling-ring. No tone holes, but rings instead to operate the keys. L4 levers mounted on a plate. F♯3/C♯5 guided on a rod and in a saddle. Tone holes for L4 levers on brass bell.
L0: Ring; speaker 1; speaker 2.
L1: Ring; throat A♮; throat A♭.
L2: Plate.
L3: Ring; E♭4/B♭5.
L4: C♯4/G♯5; E3/B♮4; F♯3/C♯5.
R1: Ring; side
F4/ C6; side trill key for throat A-B♮ and B♭-C.
R2: Plate.
R3: Ring; B♭3/F♮5.
R4: F3/C5; G♯3/E♭5.
Keyhead type: modern.
Keymount type: screwed in pillars with pins.
No inscriptions.
Playing accessories: a cord and a reed-cap.
(Heike Fricke, 2014)
Artwork Details
- Title: Bass Clarinet in C?
- Date: second half of the 19th century
- Geography: Italy
- Culture: Italian
- Medium: Wood, brass, nickel-silver
- Dimensions: Total length approximately 870 mm, Tube length 1457 mm, Bell diamter 140 mm, Mouthpiece length 96 mm,, Crook approximately 220 mm, Upper body section (excluding tenon) 392 mm, Lower body section 322 mm, Bell, approximately 450 mm.
- Classification: Aerophone-Reed Vibrated-single reed cylindrical
- Credit Line: The Crosby Brown Collection of Musical Instruments, 1889
- Object Number: 89.4.1389
- Curatorial Department: Musical Instruments
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Giosue Esposito (Naples, active late 19th century)
1881
Charles Joseph Sax (Belgian, Dinant, Belgium 1790–1865 Paris)
1830
1790–1800
ca. 1888
1750–70
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