The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

The first edition of Albert R. Rice's The Baroque Clarinet is widely considered the authoritative text on the European clarinet during the first half of the eighteenth century. Since its publication in 1992, its conclusions have influenced the approaches of musicologists, instrument historians, and clarinet performers. Twenty-eight years later, Rice has updated his renowned study in a second edition, with new chapters on chalumeau and clarinet music, insights on newly found instruments and additional material on the Baroque clarinet in society.
Expanding the volume to include the chalumeau, close cousin and predecessor to the clarinet, Rice draws on nearly three decades of new research on the instrument's origins and music. Discoveries include two recently found chalumeaux in a private collection, one by Johann Heinrich Eichentopf of Leipzig, and attributions based on historical evidence for three more chalumeaux. Rice furthers the discussion to recently uncovered early instruments and historical scores, which shed light on the clarinet's evolution. Most essentially, Rice highlights the chalumeau's substantial late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth century repertory, comprising over 330 works by 66 composers, and includes a more expansive list of surviving Baroque clarinet works, organized by date, composer, and tonality/range.
The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau provides a long-awaited follow-up to Rice's groundbreaking volume, drawing from a variety of sources-including German, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Flemish, Czech, and Catalan research-to bring this new information to an English-speaking audience. With his dedication to scholarly accuracy, Rice brings the Baroque clarinet into sharper focus than ever before.

Albert R. Rice is a researcher, clarinetist, past president of the American Musical Instrument Society, and review editor for the AMIS Journal and Newsletter, and an appraiser of musical instruments. He is the author of several books on the history of the clarinet, including The Clarinet in the Classical Period (OUP, 2003), From the Clarinet d'Amour to the Contra Bass: A History of Large Size Clarinets, 1740-1860 (OUP, 2009), and, most recently, Notes for Clarinetists: A Guide to the Repertoire (OUP, 2017).

- Dedication
- Preface to the 1st edition
- Preface to the 2nd edition
- Acknowledgements
- List of Figures
- List of Music Examples
- List of Tables
- Abbreviations
- Journals and Reference Works
- General
- Libraries, Museums, and Collections
- 1. Origins of the Chalumeau
- Antiquity
- Tenth through the Seventeenth Centuries
- Mock Trumpet
- Chalumeaux during the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
- Jacob Denner's Chalumeaux and Clarinets
- Chalumeaux Built as an Organ pipe
- Chalumeau Players
- Descriptions from the Mid-Eighteenth Century
- Extant Chalumeaux
- Later Documented Chalumeau Makers
- Chalumeau Reproductions
- Conclusion
- 2. Music for the Chalumeau
- Introduction
- Attilio Ariosti
- Antonio Maria Bononcini
- Agostino Steffani
- Johannes Conradus Melchior Pichler
- Johann Joseph Fux
- Antonio Vivaldi
- Antonio Caldara and Nicolas Matteis
- Johann Friedrich Fasch
- Jan Dismas Zelenka
- Johann Adolf Hasse
- Christoph Graupner
- Johann Melchior Molter
- Georg Philipp Telemann
- Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli
- Gregor Joseph Werner
- Christian Cannabich
- Conclusion
- 3. The Earliest Clarinets
- Extant Baroque Clarinets
- Denners' Clarinets: Documentation and Attribution
- Early Clarinets Made in Nuremberg, Amsterdam, and Dresden
- Design and Construction
- Materials
- Mouthpieces
- Keys
- Specific Descriptions of Baroque Clarinets
- Makers' Stamps
- Middle Section and the Stock-Bell
- Composite Clarinets
- Third Key and Additional Aspects of Design
- Pitch Designations and Pitch Levels
- Denner Three-Key Clarinet
- Keyless Clarinets
- Conclusion
- 4. Playing Techniques of the Baroque Clarinet
- Compass, Reed Position, Embouchure, and Articulation
- Hand Position and Fingerings
- Tuning and Pitch Observations
- Conclusion
- 5. Music for the Baroque Clarinet
- Jacques Phillipe Dreux
- Antonio Vivaldi
- Antonio Caldara
- Joannes Adamus Josephus Faber
- Georg Philipp Telemann
- George Frideric Handel
- Giovanni Chinzer
- Johann Valentin Rathgeber
- Joseph Joachim Benedict Münster
- Johann Wendelin Glaser
- Ferdinand Kölbel
- Johann Melchior Molter
- Franz Josef Sparry
- Jean-Philippe Rameau
- Jan (Johann) Zach
- Wenzel Stark (Starck)
- Johann Stamitz
- Christoph Graupner
- Chevalier D'Herbain
- Georg Pasterwiz
- Jean-Benjamin de La Borde
- Franz Joseph Ulbrecht
- Thomas Augustine Arne
- Conclusion
- 6. Baroque Clarinet in Society
- Iconographical Representations
- Travelling Musicians
- Court and Aristocratic Music
- Church and Civic Music
- Military Music
- Conclusion
- Appendix 1 Checklist of Extant Chalumeaux
- Appendix 2 Checklist of Extant Clarinets
- Appendix 3 Checklist of Chalumeau Music and Sources, 1694-1780
- Appendix 4 Checklist of Clarinet Music and Sources, about 1715-1760
- Appendix 5 Chalumeau and Clarinet Concerts, Rehearsals, and Clarinets for Purchase in Newspaper Advertisements, 1718-1760
- Bibliography
- Index