Basset-horn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The basset horn is a musical instrument, a member of the clarinet family.
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[edit] Construction and tone
Like the clarinet, the instrument is a wind instrument with a single reed and a cylindrical bore. However, the basset horn is larger and has a bend near the mouthpiece rather than an entirely straight body (older instruments are typically curved or bent in the middle); and while the clarinet is typically a transposing instrument in B flat or A (meaning a written C sounds as a B flat or A), the basset horn is typically in F and has additional keys for an extended range down to written C which sounds F at the bottom of the bass staff. Its timbre is similar to the clarinet's, but darker and less brilliant. Basset horns in G and D also exist.
To confuse matters, it is not a horn; its name probably derives from the resemblance of early, curved or angled versions to a horn. The notion that it was invented by a man named Horn appears to be fanciful. Some of the earliest basset horns, dating from the 1760s, bear a maker's stamp claiming they were invented by A. and M. Mayerhofer of Passau, but while this claim has not been discredited, it remains unproved.[1]
[edit] Repertoire
Little classical music for the instrument is remembered today, although a number of composers of the Classical period wrote for it and the famous 18th century clarinettist Anton Stadler played it. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is by far the most notable composer for it, including it in his Masonic Funeral Music K.477, Requiem K.626 and several operas and chamber works. Other early works include the manuscript parts for a concerto for Basset Horn in G and small orchestra by Carl Stamitz which have been arranged for conventional Basset Horn in F, and a concerto by Backofen.
In the 19th century, Felix Mendelssohn wrote two pieces for the basset horn, clarinet and strings (opus 113 and 114, (string parts often arranged for piano)), but the instrument was largely abandoned until Richard Strauss took it up once more in his operas Elektra, Der Rosenkavalier, Capriccio, and several later works. In the 20th century Karlheinz Stockhausen has written for it, giving it a prominent place in his cycle of operas Licht and other pieces. On the whole, however, the instrument remains little-used.
[edit] Basset horn soloists and ensembles
The Prague Trio of Basset-horns, based in the Czech Republic, has a repertoire of music (originally written for, or transcribed for, three basset horns) by composers including Mozart, Scott Joplin, and Paul Desmond.
[edit] Trivia
The Italian name for the instrument, corno di bassetto, was used by Bernard Shaw as a pseudonym when writing music criticism.
[edit] References
- ^ Nicholas Shackleton. "Basset-Horn", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 22 Nov 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- "The Basset Horn" by Georgina Dobrée (Music Associates of America)
- Stephen Fox (maker of basset horns)
[edit] Recordings
- CD "Mozart, Stadler, and the Basset Horn" by Michael Harris, Colin Lawson, and Timothy Lines
- CD: Mozart Divertimenti for Three Basset Horns by the Mannheim Ensemble
- CD: Mozart Music for Winds by the New World Bassett Horn Trio
- Need link to c.1985 double LP "Music for Basset Horns" by the clarinet section of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
