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Clarinet

13-Key Auguste Buffet Clarinet in B-flat

Paris, France
Western Europe

Boxwood, Ivory
c. 1840-1860


This Auguste Buffet Clarinet in B-Flat, features the clarinettist Iwan Müller's system. The basic idea was to allot a key or hole to every semitone and to place the tone-hole in the correct acoustical position. The main invention of Iwan Müller was a hinge key for the F3/C5 tone-hole, which was normally covered by the little finger. The advantage of the key-covered hole is that it can be bored at the optimal acoustic position and needn't be undercut like the finger-hole before. This changes not only the whole disposition of the tone-holes but also the sound and the loudness of the clarinet. Another major achievement of Müller was the saltspoon keyhead, which unfailingly closes the hole. This has a half ball shape, is filled with wool and covered with fish skin. The tone-hole has a profiled seating to fit the key. **Clarinets in the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments. http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ugw/ugwf1i.html This Buffet a Paris Clarinet shows the "Needle Spring" mounted on posts screwed into the clarinet, a new design of the throat A and Ab key, introduced by Auguste Buffet in 1837.

 

Owner:
Catalog#: HWMC

http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ugw/ugwf1i.html; http://www.niu.edu/~gbarrett/resources/development.shtml