Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 124
Scan 124
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
4 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 104. See the scan on archive.org.
1The clarinet has during the present century undergone various improvements, and has received many additional keys, by which the intonation of several notes has been rendered more true. How Simiot, of Lyons, increased the number of keys to 19 is well known, and needs no more than passing mention here. It is due to Adolphe Sax, the well-known maker of Paris, that the principal alterations in the instrument were made. Seeking for a more regular way of placing the holes, and making a greater use of key-work, he managed to construct a clarinet almost perfect in intonation, and of which the mechanism left little to be desired. Somewhat later, an endeavour was made by the clarinet player Klose to adapt a system to the instruments somewhat like that of Boehm for the flute. And about 1844 the maker Buffet, of Paris, following Klose's design, produced the instrument now so generally, but wrongly, called the Boehm clarinet, and which is generally adopted in French orchestras. Of the relative merits of the Boehm system it is not intended to speak, suffice it to say that with instruments of this construction much can be done that is impossible with the 13-keyed clarinet; but whether this is not accomplished somewhat at the expense of intonation is a matter of opinion upon which authorities differ. The 13-keyed instrument underwent considerable improvement at the hands of MM. Buffet-Crampon, of Paris, about 1843, and the first adoption of rings is due to them. In England the clarinet has been considerably improved, first by Cornelius Ward, and afterwards by Mr. Richard Carte. The speaker key, which had invariably been placed at the back of the instrument, was carried round to the front about 1845 by a German called Wehl; and this practice has since been followed generally. Upon the Boehm system instruments the speaker key is almost invariably at the back; and, strange to say, Mr. George Clinton, the well known player, is again reverting to this position of the key.
3In 1858 Mr. Richard Carte took a patent for an improved clarinet which really carried out Boehm's principle of placing the holes at regular intervals and venting the notes by open holes below, principles which the so-called "Boehm clarinet" carried out only partially. In this instrument the inventor attacked the great difficulties in the clarinet, i.e. the necessity of closing a hole and working a key with the thumb of the left hand; and the management of the a' key by
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