Heckelphone-clarinet

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The heckelphone-clarinet (or Heckelphon-Klarinette) is a rare woodwind instrument, invented in 1907 by Wilhelm Heckel in Wiesbaden-Biebrich, Germany. Despite its name, it is essentially a wooden saxophone with wide conical bore, built of red-stained maple wood, overblowing the octave, and with clarinet-like fingerings. It has a single-reed mouthpiece attached to a short metal neck, similar to an alto clarinet.^[1] The heckelphone-clarinet is a transposing instrument in B♭ with sounding range of d (middle line of bass staff) to c (two ledger lines above the treble staff), written a whole tone higher. ^[2]

[edit] Timbre

The instrument sounds somewhat like a saxophone, but with a much softer tone. In his 1931 catalogue, Heckel asserts that "the clarinet-like tone of the instrument is excellent, extraordinarily harmonious, and powerful; nor is it sharp or metallic like that of the alto saxophone".^[3] It was apparently intended for military use, but never became popular, and only between twelve and fifteen were manufactured.

[edit] References

1. ^ Dullat, Günter (2001). Klarinetten: Grundzüge ihrer Entwicklung. Frankfurt am Main: Bochinsky. 
2. ^ Marcuse, Sibyl (1975). Musical Instruments: A Comprehensive Dictionary. New York: Norton. 
3. ^ Heckel (1931). Über 100 Jahre Weltruf. Wiesbaden-Biebrich: Heckel. 

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