Chalumeau

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This article is about the historical musical instrument. For other uses, see Chalumeau (disambiguation).
A Soprano Chalumeau
A Soprano Chalumeau

The chalumeau (plural chalumeaux; from Greek: κάλαμος, kalamos, meaning "reed") is a woodwind instrument of the late baroque and early classical era, in appearance rather like a recorder, but with a mouthpiece like a clarinet's.

Contents

[edit] Characteristics

According to a description in Majer's Museum Musicum (1732) the chalumeau was made in a family of four sizes: Soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Comparison with surviving chalumeaux and with music written for chalumeaux suggests the sizes of the first three of these correspond to instruments in, or near, the keys F4, C4, and F3 (in scientific pitch notation). Majer's bass chalumeau may have been in C3.[1] However, there are no extant historical chalumeaux of this size, while two lower-pitched instruments have since been identified as chalumeaux; these may be Majer's basses, or a fifth, lower-pitched size unknown to Majer.[2][3] Confusingly, at least two modern makers of reproduction chalumeaux (Moeck and Schöni) call the first three of these sizes sopranino, soprano, and alto, and make instruments in C3 which they call tenor.[4][5]

The chalumeau, like the clarinet, had an approximately cylindrical bore and a mouthpiece with a single reed. The unusual acoustic properties of both chalumeaux and clarinets, each behaving like a cylindrical pipe closed at one end, result in the instruments overblowing at the twelfth, meaning that the upper register sounds one octave and a perfect fifth higher than the lower. This is in contrast to most other woodwind instruments, which overblow at the octave. However, the chalumeau, which lacked a register key, was primarily used only in its fundamental range, therefore having a compass of only slightly more than an octave.

The soprano chalumeau had eight tone holes (one or more of them sometimes doubled for accidentals) to produce the notes F4, G4, A4, B♭4, C5, D5, E5, F5, and G5 while the two keys extended the range upward to A5 and B♭5. Alto and tenor chalumeaux were constructed analogously to produce pitches from C4 to F5 and F3 to B♭4 respectively. Of the two extant instruments that may be bass or sub-bass chalumeaux, one has only one key, controlling the lowest note, while the other has, besides the two throat keys, additional keys and tone holes to extend the range downward by a fifth.[2]

[edit] History

The word "chalumeau" was in use in French from the twelfth century to refer to various sorts of pipes, some of which were made of cane and featured a single "reed" cut into the side of the cane itself (see Similar instruments).

In the late seventeenth century an improved form of the chalumeau was developed. This baroque chalumeau represents the link between the recorder and the clarinet, and is essentially a cylindrical bore recorder with a mouthpiece like that of a clarinet and two additional "throat" keys controlling notes at the top of the fundamental register. The chalumeau continued to develop for several decades alongside the clarinet, and it has a large repertoire in 18th century orchestral and chamber music.[2].

The clarinet was developed from the chalumeau primarily by displacing the B♭ key up towards the mouthpiece, reducing the size of the hole and inserting a register tube; here it still produces B♭, but functions in addition as a register key, allowing the upper range to be easily sounded.[2] In addition the clarinet's mouthpiece was modified to improve performance in the upper register, and the chalumeau's straight foot joint was replaced by a flared bell. Early clarinets could be constructed with either the upper or the lower range well tuned, but not both. The baroque clarinet therefore was primarily used in its upper range, which had a bright sound and better projection than the mellow sounding chalumeau, aided also by the enlargement of the bell for resonance. Later developments in the keywork allowed better intonation throughout the range of the clarinet, contributing to its increased popularity throughout Europe, and to the demise of the chalumeau by about the mid 1780s.

Both the improvement of the chalumeau and the invention of the clarinet have been attributed to Johann Christoph Denner of Nuremberg, although his contributions are uncertain and in particular the clarinet may have been an invention of his son Jacob Denner.

[edit] Modern chalumeaux

Although only about eight examples of original chalumeaux are known to have survived, modern craftsmen are now producing replicas based on these instruments. Present day makers of replica chalumeaux include Moeck, Peter van der Poel, Andreas Schöni, R. Tutz, and Guntram Wolf. Other makers, including Hahl, produce modern adaptations of the chalumeau.

[edit] Similar instruments

Single-tube, cylindrical, single reed folk instruments are found in many European cultures; see Albogue, Alboka, Diplica, Hornpipe, pibgorn, and Sipsi. In the 1970s, a similar instrument called the xaphoon (also called "Maui bamboo sax" or "pocket sax") was developed by Hawaiian craftsman Brian Wittman.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ van der Meer, J. H. (March 1962). "The Chalumeau Problem". Galpin Society Journal 15: 89-91. 
  2. ^ a b c d Rice, Albert R. (1992). The Baroque Clarinet. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 15-38. 
  3. ^ Colin Lawson. "Chalumeau", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 27 October 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
  4. ^ Barock (page on Moeck web site). Retrieved on 2006-10-16.
  5. ^ Chalumeau price list on Historische Holzblasinstrumente web site. Retrieved on 2005-6-8.

[edit] External links

Reproduction and modern chalumeau makers:

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