Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 126
Scan 126
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
8 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 106. See the scan on archive.org.
1the first finger. The instrument was made at first with an open instead of a closed speaker key. Mr. Carte made several modifications of this clarinet, the principal one being that known as the "Second Modification" (page 105), on which the a' is made by putting down the third finger of the left hand, a lever holding down the a'b and a' cups being raised by a ring action. The a'b is made by the first finger of the right hand, together with the third finger of the left; a double-action g''# key being employed.
3On one of the modifications of Mr. Carte's patent clarinet, the g'# and a' holes instead of being open and shut keys, as just described, were ordinary open keys. The a' hole was closed by the first finger of the right hand, and the a' and a'b by the third finger of the left.
5Mr. Carte also designed a clarinet with ordinary fingering, a thumb-plate taking the place of the thumb-hole; but though the instrument can be played with the old fingering, a ring action for the first and second fingers of the left hand closes the g' hole, and the player is therefore enabled, if he wishes, to dispense with the use of the thumb except for opening the speaker key. This instrument (page 105) has been rather extensively used, and will be found described elsewhere; as will also an instrument designed by Mr. Spencer, that has met with approval. Recent improvements in France have been made by Messrs. Evette and Schaeffer, and by M. Paradis, a clarinet player in the band of the Garde Républicaine.
7About 1853 a Spaniard, named Antonio Romero y Andria, invented an elaborate instrument pierced with 28 holes, and which was produced about 1862 by the maker Bié, of Paris. The mechanism was based upon that of Buffet and Klose, and was extremely complicated. The invention simplified the fingering of certain passages, and removed certain difficulties of execution, but unfortunately caused a radical change in the fingering. So that, although adopted by the Conservatoire of Madrid, the invention of Romero never entered into general use. A mechanism somewhat similar to that of Romero was patented in Paris by M. André Thibouville in 1886. The very great improvements, both in the method of boring and the application of the mechanism, that have been brought out by M. Albert, of Brussels, are so well known that they need only passing allusion here.
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