Basset clarinet

The basset clarinet is a clarinet, the first corresponds to the B -flat clarinet. But it is about 18 inches longer, because their range in depth to 4 half tones - Dis Cis D C - extended downward. These tones are played with the right thumb and produce a special deep sound that is reminiscent of the sound of the basset horn. The expansion of the tonal range helped this clarinet type its name. Despite the name similarity, it is of the bass clarinet, which was developed in 1838 by inventor Adolphe Sax Sax, and to distinguish it from the basset horn in F.

The basset clarinet was invented in 1788 by the Viennese court instrument maker Theodor Lotz and of the clarinet virtuoso Anton Stadler - a friend of Mozart - further improved.

Played by Anton Stadler, it was first used by him in the premiere of Mozart's Clarinet Quintet K. 581, on 22 December 1789 in Vienna, and then also in 1791 in Prague with Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, K. 622.

Bassett Clarinet in A, there were, in B and in C. replicas of historical instruments in 1800 are still being produced today. In A and B mood Bassett clarinets are now offered as a modern -designed instruments of clarinet some farmers. More rarely, this instrument is used in jazz. Thus, the German jazz clarinetist Theo Jörgensmann playing on a B- basset clarinet by Harald Hüyng.

Lotz's invention belongs to the range of typical experimental instrument creations of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Bassettklappendrücker for the right thumb