Basset horn
| Basset horn en .: basset horn it .: corne di bassetto frz .: cor de basset |
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|---|---|
| classification | Woodwind instrument , clarinet family |
| range |  written down
 Bassethorn in F, sounding
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| inventor | Theodor Lotz and others |
| Time of origin | from 1760 |
| Related instruments | Alto clarinet , basset clarinet in G, bass clarinet |
| Composers | Carl Stamitz , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Heinrich Ofen , Alessandro Rolla , Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Richard Strauss , Karlheinz Stockhausen , Markus Stockhausen , Bernd Alois Zimmermann , Georg Benjamin , Peter Schat |
| Musician | Suzanne Stephens , Sabine Meyer , Gregor Arzberger, Agnes Gueroult, Graham Evens, Fynn Musco, Jessica Hall, Ashley Smith, Bruno Martinez, Nikolay Inkizhinov
Trios: Lotz-Trio, Trio Alessandro Carbonare, Trio Javi Olmeda, TutzFreqenz Basset Horn Trio |
| Manufacturer | Schwenk & Seggelke , Herbert Wurlitzer , Leitner & Kraus , Buffet Crampon , Selmer Company , Stephen Fox |
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Commons : Bassethorn album with pictures, videos and audio files
 3 basset horn players in Mozart's time
 Basset horn by Jakob Friedrich Grundmann , 1787
Historical instruments |
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The basset horn is a member of the clarinet family . Due to its structure, the basset horn has a range of four octaves plus one tone.
function
The basset horn is the representative of the tenor register in the clarinet family . It transposes in F , so it sounds a fifth lower than notated (so there is a certain relationship with the cor anglais in F). Usually his part is written in the treble clef , in older works there are also deep basset horn parts in the bass clef . However, these should sound a fourth higher than notated, so the musician has to touch them up in octaves . The range of the basset horn in F ranges from the lowercase C to the four-bowed D, just like that of a basset clarinet , in real terms from the capital F to the three-bowed G, i.e. four octaves plus one note.
construction
The basset horn, like the clarinet , consists initially of five parts (mouthpiece, pear or barrel, upper and lower part, lintel or beaker); In addition, at the top of the instrument there is a short kinked or bent connection piece between the pear and the upper part and at the bottom of the instrument an upwardly directed metal arch between the lower part and the wooden cup (see figure above right). If you do without the connector, the bulb can also be kinked or bent, as shown in the illustration above on the left. There are also simpler designs in which the bulb with the connecting piece or the kinked or rounded bulb is replaced by a slightly kinked or bent metal tube and the cup is also made of metal and forms a unit with the metal arch, see fig. Image below left, with the beaker pointing upwards like the bass clarinet . Like the other clarinets, basset horns are offered with the German and French fingering systems as well as the Reform-Böhm system and the French system with a German inner bore, each with additional keys (basset keys) for the four lowest notes C that are not found on normal clarinets , C sharp, D and D flat, just as they are needed on a basset clarinet and a long bass clarinet. They are grasped with the right thumb on historical instruments and those with a German handle system, but with modern French instruments, it is much easier to use the two little fingers.
The six tone holes on the top can be uncovered, as on the higher clarinets, or capped, as on the bass clarinet; a variant is also possible in which only the lower three or four holes are covered.
history
Around 1760 the first basset horns were built at that time in various moods from D to G . Since the lower tuning required a longer column of air , the first instruments were made in the shape of a semicircle so that they remained handy despite their length. It can be assumed that the name Bassett Horn derives on the one hand from this characteristic shape and on the other from the metal bell that the clarinet did not have. Another extension of the tube was wound and attached to a wooden block at the lower end of the basset horn.
Later, the round shape was abandoned in favor of an angled design made of two straight parts and the key system developed in parallel with the clarinet mechanism. The basset clarinet in A or B, for which Mozart originally composed his clarinet concerto, is a hybrid between the basset horn and the clarinet ; it was developed by Anton Stadler , a friend of Mozart's. He extended the normal A clarinet by approx. 18 cm and provided it with additional keys for the four lower notes mentioned above. The stretched, straight design for the basset horn began to gain acceptance at the beginning of the 19th century. At the same time, however, the instrument experienced a devaluation in these decades, on the one hand because it was too quiet for the romantic orchestra , on the other hand because the bass clarinet began to gain acceptance . Apart from Richard Strauss , who liked to use the “old-fashioned” basset horn, the instrument fell into oblivion and was not revived until the end of the 20th century. This happened in connection with historical performance practice , but also with the newly emerging literature for clarinet quartet (two clarinets, basset horn and bass clarinet).
use
The peculiar sound of the basset horn, which is darker, more delicate and easier to mix than that of the clarinet, was only used by a few composers.
It is said to have been particularly loved by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , who, in addition to basset horn trios (Divertimenti, KV439b) and duos (KV 487), also composed three-part canzonets for voice and basset horns and used it in the orchestra for religious content: In the Requiem , it wears the dark orchestral color with and in the Magic Flute it is associated with Sarastro and his priests. In Mozart's opera La clemenza di Tito the aria from Vitellia (No. 23) Non più di fiori is composed with a solo basset horn in concert. Other early works for basset horn include a concerto for basset horn in G and small orchestra by Carl Stamitz, which was arranged for conventional basset horn in F and recorded on this instrument by Sabine Meyer , and a concerto in F major by Heinrich Ofen and Alessandro Rolla .
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy composed two delightful concert pieces for clarinet, basset horn and piano and Richard Strauss used the instrument in some of his operas and in wind chamber music . Hartmut Schmidt edited the cor anglais part of his cor anglais quartet for basset horn; the basset horn is also used in his mailbox stories to characterize the frog.
The works that Markus Stockhausen composed for the musician Tara Bouman are exemplary of the renaissance of the instrument at the end of the 20th century . His father Karlheinz Stockhausen also used the basset horn, among other things on stage as the figure of "EVA" in his light opera cycle. Bernd Alois Zimmermann uses the basset horn in his composition Photoptosis and Georg Benjamin in his first opera The little Hill . Peter Schat calls for three basset horns in the orchestra in his etudes for piano and orchestra . Jochen Feucht and Burkard Kunkel use the instrument in jazz.
literature
- Thomas Grass, Dietrich Demus, Das Bassetthorn. Its development and its music. 2nd Edition. 2004, ISBN 3-8311-4411-7 .
- Josef Saam, The basset horn - its invention and further development. B. Schott, Mainz 1971
- Hoeprich, Eric. 2008. The Clarinet . The Yale Musical Instrument Series. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10282-6 .
Web links
- "The Basset Horn" by Georgina Dobrée, Music Associates of America
- Hans-Jürgen Schaal : The basset horn - the sound of melancholy. In: hjs-jazz.de , 2011.
- Video: 3 basset horns in action (Mozart, Divertimento primo KV 439b. 1st movement)
Individual evidence
- ^ Johan van Kalker: The history of the clarinets . Verlag Textilwerkstatt Oberems, Oberems 1997, ISBN 3-9804301-1-1 , p. 172 .