Horns and clarino technique
John Howell
>Mozart symphony cycle, where it mentions that a dilemma occurred during
>preparations for the symphony in E-flat, K. 132. This symphony calls for
>a horn pitched in high E-flat, a key for which no crook exists. Ensure of
>how to achieve a horn in high E-flat, the powers-that-be initially
>supposed that this might mean a horn crooked in low E-flat with the
>use of Baroque clarino technique to yield sounds an octave higher (they
>later discovered that a C-alto crook put into the horn without the usual
>tuning bits produced a horn in high E-flat).
>
>What is clarino technique, and why did it pass out of fashion? (I mean,
>it seems roundabout to abandon a playing technique that gives the
>instrument more flexibility, and replace it with metal fittings for the
>instrument.) Does the abandonment of clarino technique explain why typical
>Classical writing for horn (and trumpet) is so much more monotone than
>Baroque horn (and trumpet) lines? How does clarino compare with
>"hand-horn" techniques? Sorry, I'm asking a lot, but this stuff really
>interests me!
>
>Andrew Stedman <aste...@uoguelph.ca>
OK, I'm catching up on voluminous e-mail and coming late to this query, but
I haven't seen any other replies that really explain it, so I'll give it a
try.
"Clarino" refers not to horn, but to trumpet, and it is not a different
instrument but a different playing technique. In Renaissance trumpet
ensembles, given the natural limitations of the natural trumpet, a 6-part
texture was typical, and the resulting sound was basically an extended and
ornamented C major chord with occasional excursions to the dominant chord.
(Depending on the tuning of the set of trumpets and on what "C" happened to
be in that town, of course.) The lower two parts were played by the
apprentices. Each had its note, the 6th part the octave above the
fundamental and the 5th part the 5th above that, each moving occasionally
as the harmony shifted to the dominant. The two middle parts (these parts
all had names, but I can't remember them) played trumpety figurations on
the root, third, and fifth in the middle range. The two top parts were
called "clarino," and lay in the part of the overtone range where they
could play diatonic scale passages. I assume that the fundamental players
used large mouthpieces favoring the low register, and the clarino players
smaller mouthpieces favoring the upper register. (And there is no
connection with hand horn technique. We're talking about double-fold
fanfare trumpets here, not the circular ones shown in later paintings.)
Example: The fanfare beginning Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo," and the adaptation
of that fanfare that he used to open his "Vespers" of 1610.
The Baroque trumpet playing we are most familiar with, in Bach, Handel, and
Purcell (there is also a fine and neglected French reperoire), utilized the
clarino register of the natural trumpet--that upper register allowing
diatonic scale passages. Bach's trumpeter in Leipzig was Gottfried Reiche,
and his ability is imortalized in the parts Bach wrote for him. (The
question of the high solo F trumpet in Brandenburg #2 is still one that
vexes scholars, but the clarino playing technique is exactly the same.)
In the classical period composers suddenly had new instruments available,
and for whatever reason the highly skilled and very difficult clarino
trumpet technique was lost. Haydn's and Hummel's "trumpet" concertos were
actually written for the keyed trumpet (or perhaps the keyed bugle), and
took full advantage of its ability to play chromatic passages. In the
orchestra proper, however, the "clarino" parts that had been assigned to
the natural trumpet during the Baroque period were assigned, instead, to
the new woodwind instrument, the "clarionette" or clarinet. That is
exactly why the clarinet's upper register--which does sound sort of like a
natural trumpet on a good day--is called the clarion or clarino register (I
forget which). It was considered the proper substitute for the "clarino"
high natural trumpet.
So, what did that leave for the actual trumpet parts in Mozart, Haydn, and
the next generation of composers? I bet you've already guessed: the
mid-register trumpety parts on the tonic, third, and fifth that had been
played by the journeymen players in Renaissance trumpet ensembles.
BORING!!!!!
(Correct in general, but corrections from experts would be appreciated.)
John
John & Susie Howell (John....@vt.edu)
Virginia Tech Department of Music
Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. 24061-0240
(540) 231-8411 - FAX (540) 231- 5034
Some phone systems may have trouble accessing area 540.
Please try 540 first, and notify your own communications people
if it does not work. Then try 703 (which remains in service
until mid-January 1996).
Robert Goodman
>Music's Mozart symphony cycle, where it mentions that a dilemma occurred
>during preparations for the symphony in E-flat, K. 132. This symphony
>calls for a horn pitched in high E-flat, a key for which no crook exists.
>Ensure of how to achieve a horn in high E-flat, the powers-that-be
>initially supposed that this might mean a horn crooked in low E-flat with
>the use of Baroque clarino technique to yield sounds an octave higher
>(they later discovered that a C-alto crook put into the horn without the
>usual tuning bits produced a horn in high E-flat).
>
>What is clarino technique, and why did it pass out of fashion? (I mean,
>it seems roundabout to abandon a playing technique that gives the
>instrument more flexibility, and replace it with metal fittings for the
>instrument.) Does the abandonment of clarino technique explain why
>typical Classical writing for horn (and trumpet) is so much more monotone
>than Baroque horn (and trumpet) lines? How does clarino compare with
>"hand-horn" techniques? Sorry, I'm asking a lot, but this stuff really
>interests me!
>
>Andrew Stedman <aste...@uoguelph.ca>
Andrew:
As was mentioned earlier, >>clarino technique<<, or the ability of a brass
player to play into the very high register (tessitura) on the instrument, was
developed in the Baroque period by trumpeters as a means of circumventing the
limitations of the natural harmonic series. It is only after third space c''
that the instrument becomes diatonic, allowing the player to play stepwise
from that note up to high c''' and beyond. J. Michael Haydn wrote a concerto
that ascends to g above high c on the natural trumpet!!!
The technique is only developed after years of practice, not only because the
development of the lip muscles is so important, but because as one plays
higher on the trumpet (or horn), the partials are spaced closer and closer
together, so that it is very easy to accidentally "crack" over to the
adjacent note without meaning to.
The difficulties involved in taming this clarino register is what ultimately
led to its decline, although changing tastes in musical style certainly had a
lot to do with it.
It was not unusual for trumpeters to double on other instruments. We know
that the most famous 18th century "stadtpfeifer" of Leipzig, J. Gottfried
Reiche, performed on not only trumpet, but cornetto, trombone, and horn,
because these instruments were inventoried as being in his possession at his
death in 1734. Indeed, as Tom Hiebert pointed out in a lecture at the 1994
Amherst Early Brass Festival, as the Baroque drew to a close, the popularity
of writing florid passages for the trumpet in the upper register declined
just as the horn started to gain in popularity. It would not have been odd,
therefore, for trumpeters to "follow the money" and begin to spend increasing
amounts of time performing on the natural horn.
In the Baroque, Rococo, and even the early Classical periods, there are parts
for horn that go way above the staff in treble clef. Johann Baptist Georg
Neruda (1701-1780) wrote a concerto for e-flat corno da caccia and strings
that goes up to G above high C!!! This instrument is the twelve and
two-thirds foot long natural horn. The horns of that period were mostly in
C, D and Eb.
It is quite possible Neruda wrote for a trumpet player who doubled on horn
with a specially-built mouthpiece. We know the trumpet parts of that era
exploited that range. There are numerous surviving horn mouthpieces with
somewhat flattened rims that seem to play particularly well in the upper
register. Several years ago, David Houser (hous...@aol.com), a mouthpiece
maker in Norristown, Pennsylvania, was commissioned by Franz Streitwieser, the
former director of the Trumpet Museum who first recorded the Neruda concerto,
to reproduce such a mouthpiece -- for playing in the horn's clarino register.
Dave subsequently came out with such a product, and Franz pronounced it to be
an excellent step in the revival of this long lost art.
However, I do not understand the confusion over a horn built in Eb alto. As I
said earlier, the twelve and two-thirds foot long e-flat instrument was quite
popular -- and finding one, with or without crooks, should not have been a
problem in the eastern Europe of Mozart's day or even today.
I hope I have been of some help in answering your questions. For further
assistance, I would recommend that you contact Mr. Thomas Hiebert, 1010 E.
Vassar, Fresno, CA 93704.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Goodman Internet: robert_...@icpphil.navy.mil
Naval Inventory Control Point Work: (215) 697-2434 Fax: (215) 697-6028
Philadelphia, PA 19111 Home: (609) 461-4199
__________________________/ Philadelphia Natural
(____________________) \ Trumpet Ensemble
"In short, I will say that it is impossible to become a skillful trumpeter,
in any style, if one does not begin with a complete study of the natural
Trumpet. Would it not be, in fact, in opposition to all further progress to
devote oneself at first to the study of an instrument which offers the
mechanical help of cylinders and pistons...?"
F.G.A. Dauverne
Trumpet Method (1857)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Peter Hoogenboom
: In the Baroque, Rococo, and even the early Classical periods, there are
: parts for horn that go way above the staff in treble clef. Johann Baptist
: Georg Neruda (1701-1780) wrote a concerto for e-flat corno da caccia and
: strings that goes up to G above high C!!! This instrument is the
: twelve and two-thirds foot long natural horn. The horns of that period
: were mostly in C, D and Eb.
Grove 6 gives the length as 13' 9.25"
: However, I do not understand the confusion over a horn built in Eb
: alto. As I said earlier, the twelve and two-thirds foot long e-flat
: instrument was quite popular -- and finding one, with or without crooks,
: should not have been a problem in the eastern Europe of Mozart's day or
: even today.
Well, I am assuming that e-flat alto would be an octave higher than that:
a 6' 10.625" horn, using Grove 6's figure, or 6 and a third feet, using
yours. This assumption is based on the following: B-flat basso horns
transpose down a 9th, B-flat alto horns a whole step. C basso horns down
an octave, C alto horns not at all. If E-flat horns transpose down a
major 6th, then E-flat alto horns transpose UP a minor third. I am
thinking, however, that there may have been some misinterpretation leading
to the decision that a piece was written for E-flat alto horn.
Also, all horns were generally C alto horns, and crooked to give a horn of
the proper key for a given piece. There were no B-flat horns or E-flat
horns, "with or without crooks" as far as I know.
Peter
--
Peter Hoogenboom phoo...@wlu.edu
Department of Music, DuPont 208 hoogen...@fs.sciences.wlu.edu
Washington and Lee University phoog...@wesleyan.edu
Lexington, VA 24450 (540) 463-8697
Peter Hoogenboom
: I am
: thinking, however, that there may have been some misinterpretation leading
: to the decision that a piece was written for E-flat alto horn.
Okay, I take that back. It's pretty unambiguous: It's an E-flat major
symphony
with one stave labeled "Corni in Es alti" and one labeled "Corni in Es
bassi."