6

Baroque Clarinet in Society

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Early-​18th-​century European society embraced the Baroque clarinet as word
spread of its strong sound and enhanced capabilities. Evidence of its acceptance
is found in paintings, etchings, and other iconographic representations; concert,
sale, and maker advertisements; clarinetists listed in court records; biographical ac-
counts; and various documents. This chapter examines the ways the clarinet was
used from about 1720 to 1760.1

Iconographical Representations

There are graphic examples (engravings, paintings, etchings, mezzotints, stucco)

of the Baroque clarinet. Some are recognizable but not necessarily accurate; others
are more realistic, probably rendered from actual instruments (Pearson 2000: 87).
The important point is that they show the clarinet as a part of contemporary society.
Between 1709 and 1729, Johann Melchior Füssli (1677–​1736) created a series
of copperplate engravings for the frontispieces of Zurich’s annual New Year Piece
(Neujahrsstück).2 A 1717 copperplate engraving in this series depicts an instru-
ment identified by Fricke as a clarinet (2013: 77–​78). Füssli engraves the new music
hall (Musik-​Saal) next to the Fraumünster, showing the patroness of musicians St.
Caecilia with a violin and two music books at her feet. Next to her sits a young boy
holding a short wind instrument with a mouthpiece that could be on a clarinet or
recorder, with a short flaring bell. A motto in a scroll on the lower left corner reads,
“Deo et Diis grata” (God and pleasing to the Gods).3 The engraver’s depiction is
an allegorical representation not meant to depict an instrument accurately. Thus,
identification of the instrument held by the boy is inconclusive because of few con-
struction details, the lack of a key on the upper section, and finger holes on the
upper joint that are too close together. Since there is no corroborating evidence for
the clarinet in Zurich in 1717, this instrument appears more likely to be a recorder.4

1 Several informative essays on many types of musicians during the 18th century appear in Salmen 1983.
2 M. Vogel, “Füssli, Johann Melchior” in Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon 1992: vol. 46, 168–​69.
3 Fehr, Sieber, and Walter 1945: ill. 14. Another recorder is held by a boy in Matthis Pool’s allegorical en-
graving/​etching for Lukas Rogans’s Poëzy, Leeuwarden, 1715, in the Rijsmuseum. The author thanks Peter
Hutten for sending the link to the engraving.
4 Megerle [1709] 1978 edn. edn: 295 includes Weigel’s engraving “Music Fool” (“Music Narr”) of a man

playing a recorder. The text mentions recorders (Flauten) but not the clarinet. Mauz 2006: 66 and Fricke
2013: 77 identify it as a clarinet.

The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau. Albert R. Rice, Oxford University Press (2020). © Oxford University Press.
DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190916695.001.0001
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Fig. 6.1 Earliest detailed clarinet representation—​a gentleman playing a
two-​key clarinet, ca. 1722 (Weigel 1961 edn., sheet 14): by permission of
Bärenreiter-​Verlag, Kassel

The earliest detailed clarinet representation is an engraving (with a poetic de-

scription) of a well-​dressed gentleman playing his two-​key instrument5 in a sump-
tuous room, most likely a wealthy residence. It is by the Nuremberg artist Johann
Christoph Weigel (ca. 1654–​1726) in a collection, Musicalisches Theatrum (ca. 1722,
Weigel 1961 edn., sheet 14; see Fig. 6.1).6 According to Berner (Weigel [ca. 1722]
1961 edn.: viii), a chapter “On Musical Instruments” (Von dem musikalischen
Instrumente) in Johann Mattheson’s Das neu-​eröffnete Orchestre (1713) was a
guide to Weigel’s collection of 36 engravings of musical instruments. Mattheson

5 A clarinet most likely made in Jacob Denner’s workshop, Hoeprich 2008: 22.
6 Dated in MGG, “Weigel, Familie.”
192 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

classifies instruments by their artistic appeal, noting their use by different segments
of society. Weigel’s collection reflects Mattheson’s approach, contrasting 24 courtly
instruments in elegant musical scenes (including a singer and a music director) in
the first section, with 12 instruments played by village musicians and soldiers in
the second. Of Mattheson’s 23 musical instruments, all but the chalumeau were
engraved by Weigel, who substituted a more fashionable instrument, the clarinet

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(Weigel [ca. 1722] 1961 edn.: iv, viii). The clarinet drawing accurately renders the
turning, keys, and proportions of a two-​key instrument. Weigel’s engravings differ
from Mattheson’s classification, as reflected in the choice of poetic captions, such as
those for the recorder and lute (Weigel [ca. 1722] 1961 edn.: viii). Weigel’s approval
of the clarinet is exemplified by this favorable description in the engraving’s cap-
tion. His suggestion that the clarinet is a softer substitute for the trumpet is particu-
larly well illustrated in Telemann’s compositions.

When the trumpet call is all too loud,

The clarinet knows how to please
Eschewing both the high and lowest sound,
It varies gracefully and thus attains the prize.
Wherefore the noble spirit, enamored of this reed,
Instruction craves and plays assiduously.7

In a similar series of etching-​engravings of aristocratic and peasant musicians

(ca. 1720–​ 1730), the Augsburg engraver and publisher Martin Engelbrecht
(1684–​1756) depicts a seated gentleman playing a recorder (see Beck and Roth
1965, no. 32) in “Flutes, oboe, flageolet, bassoon, and clarinet” (Flötten, Hautbois,
Flachinett, Fagot, und Clarinett). A bassoon leans against the wall, and an oboe, a
recorder, a flageolet, and a two-​key clarinet sit on a table, each clearly and accurately
depicted.8 The clarinet’s reed is visible in a reed-​above position on the mouthpiece,
with a key below it and finger holes on the upper joint (Fig. 6.2).9 It is the earliest
and clearest depiction of the single reed.
The Margrave Frederic II of Brandenburg-​Bayreuth (1711–​1763) and his wife,
Margravine Wilhelmine of Brandenburg-​Culmbach (1709–​1758) owned gilded
stuccos depicting many musical instruments. In 1735, the Margrave gave his
wife the Hermitage Palace at Bayreuth as a birthday present. She redecorated and
redesigned many of the Hermitage’s buildings and rooms. In 1739–​1740, the Italian
stucco artist Francesco Gerolamo (Jeronimo Francesco) Andreioli (1711–​1758)

7 “Waan der Trompeten-​Schall will allzulaut erthönen /​so dient das Clarinet auf angenehme weiß /​es darff

en honen-​Thon auch niedern nicht entlehnen /​und wechselt lieblich um; Ihm bleibt hierdurch der preiß. /​
[D]‌arum manch Edler Geist, dem dieses werck beliebet. /​Sich Lehr-​begierig zeigt und embsig darin übet.”
Trans. in Kroll 1968: 51; Hoeprich 2008: 23.
8 The recorder is held in the same position as the “Flûte Douse” player in Weigel’s Musicalisches Theatrum

(sheet 12), including the player’s identical fingering.

9 There are two stanzas of a verse below the engraving that do not describe the clarinet. See the description

of Engelbrecht’s hand-​colored/​watercolor etching–​engraving in the Library of Congress, http://​lcweb2.loc.

gov/​diglib/​ihas/​loc.natlib.miller.0391/​default.html.
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Fig. 6.2 An etching-​engraving of a seated gentleman playing a recorder with an oboe,
recorder, flageolet, and two key clarinet on a table, by Martin Engelbrecht, Augusburg,
ca. 1720–​1730 (Beck and Roth 1965, no. 32): by permission of the New York Public
Library, New York

decorated the music room with seven gilded depictions or “trophies” of musical
instruments in half relief, on white marble, between green wall panels. Most are
instruments that would have been played in contemporary music. For example,
Fig. 6.3 shows two crossed soprano chalumeaux above a two-​key clarinet over a
large coiled hunting horn,10 with instrument construction and proportion details
suggesting he worked from actual instruments.11 Andreioli made two other

10 Cavarocchi and Kossatz (1992): vol. 3, 618–​9; Joppig 1998: 40.

11 Two chalumeaux were used in many operas, oratorios, cantatas, and sacred music from 1705 to 1740, and
clarinets and horns were used by Telemann in his cantata Ein ungefärbt’ Gemüte (1722–​1735); Handel in his
Ouverture, HWV 424, ca. 1740–​1741; and Joseph Münster in Epithalamium Mysticum (1740).
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Fig. 6.3 Gilded “trophy” of two crossed soprano chalumeaux above a two-​key clarinet
over a large coiled hunting horn, on white marble, by Francesco Gerolamo Andreioli,
1739–​1740, Hermitage palace, Bayreuth

trophies of a clarinet and horn, and a clarinet and oboe (Joppig 2004: 17–​18; Joppig
2005: 97–​99, Abb. 4–​6).
Albericus Hirschberger (1709–​ 1745) joined the Cistercian Abbey in
Raitenhaslach in Upper Bavaria in 1727, and during the 1730s became a novice,
chef, wine maker, and music director (Harten, Flotzinger, and Fastli 2017). In 1743,
he wrote a volume of six masses, Philomela Cisterciensis, published in Burghausen
by Luzenberger. An ornate frontispiece illustrates trumpets, horns, trombone,
bassoon, harp, viola da gamba, timpani, transverse flute, post horn, spinet, pan-
pipes, and two clarinets with an approximate conical outline, each placed diago-
nally across a recorder (Kirnbauer 1995: 734; Göthel 1972: 395–​96, no. 544, illus.
51). The small, inadequately detailed illustration does show a key on the upper
dorsal side of one of the clarinets. Another interesting German engraving about
1750 depicting a Baroque clarinet was executed by Johann Christoph Steudner
 Baroque Clarinet in Society 195

(1710–​1775): “Rühmlichster Nachklang die schönste Music. Dulcissimum melos

bona fama.” In a room with a garden view sit a director with a roll of paper; clav-
ichord, viola da gamba, violin, and three wind (recorder, oboe, clarinet) players;
a pair of singers; and an audience of a woman and child (Sasse 1966: vol. 4, 124;
Göthel 1972: 172, no. 136, illus. 15). Details of clarinet construction are not shown.
The work, printed and engraved by “Paul Decker inv. et del” and “Mart. Engelbrecht

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esc. A. V,” suggests the Nuremberg painter, draftsman, and engraver Paul Decker,
the younger (1685–​1742), working with the Augsburg artist Martin Engelbrecht.12
An aristocrat playing a Baroque clarinet is in one of 16 scenes of musicians on
a single engraved sheet, about 1740, in the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague (Klerk
1976: no. 41, 1.4, Rice 1992: fig. 5.2). The small size of the original engraving reveals
only a few details of the clarinet. It has a long lower joint suggesting a three-​key clar-
inet, with a thumb key for e3 or b4. The lower left-​hand corner of the sheet has “Joh.
Pet: Wolff Seel: Erben exc.” Wolff was a Dresden printer whose heirs (Erben) con-
tinued the firm until about 1773; the engraver is anonymous.13
An aristocratic family is depicted in an anonymous German etching, ca. 1740,
with the father playing the cello and the mother singing while a son plays the clar-
inet (Fig. 6.4).
The instrument held by the boy is clearly a Baroque clarinet by the shape of the
bell and mouthpiece, despite Klerk’s (1976: no. 20, 2.5) identification of it as a re-
corder. In common with many 18th-​century depictions, such as the Recueil de
planches (Fig. 3.2), this clarinet appears conical. The etching was most likely part of
a series because it carries the number 3 in the right-​hand corner. The accompanying
couplet reads, “I work with true affection, strengthened through music’s sound, and
bring to the Creator a pure song of praise.”14
The painter and graphic artist Johann Elias Ridinger (1698–​1767) of Augsburg
is famous for about 1,600 copperplate engravings and etchings of animals and
hunting scenes. After 1723 he founded a publishing company in Augsburg and sold
prints that he designed and engraved (Sonja Weih-​Krüger, “Ridinger, Johann Elias,”
Oxford Art Online). Ridinger produced a few engravings of musical instruments,
including a mezzotint of a youth playing the clarinet outdoors, illustrated in
Chapter 4 (Fig. 4.4), part of a series of four engravings of musicians with poems
in German and Latin extolling the virtues of each of their instruments: clarinet,
lute, recorder; and flute (Thienemann 1856: 262–​63). Ridinger expertly depicts a

12 Bénézit (2006: vol. 5, 208) mentions that Engelbrecht illustrated drawings for Decker’s “Princely

Architects.”
13 Information on Wolff from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, https://​skd-​online-​collection.skd.

museum/​Details/​Index/​1179466. Engraving attributed to an anonymous artist; cf. Klerk 1976: 15.

14 “Mit treuen Seelen trieb, gestärckt durch Music klang, bring ich dem Schöpffer dar, ein reines Lob-​

gesang.” Hoeprich (2008: 30, fig. 47) reproduced an engraving of two clarinetists and two horn players in
a sleigh (private collection) dated ca. 1740. Subsequently, Ernst Schlader, acquired the same engraving of
a procession on January 24, 1776 in Leiden, The Netherlands, celebrating the second Centenary of Leiden
Freedom (October 3, 1574) and the establishment of Leiden University (February 8, 1575). The techings were
completed by Nicolaas van der Worm (1757–​1828) after drawings by Abraham Dellos (1731–​1820).
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Fig. 6.4 Aristocratic family depicted in an anonymous German etching, ca. 1740
(Klerk 1976, no. 20, 2.5): by permission of the Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

three-​key clarinet in an engraving (ca. 1750–​1760) of a young man playing the clar-
inet with a caption in German and Latin describing the clarinet’s virtues.

Das mit durchdringender Anehmlichkeit The Clarinet, which delights with its pene-
ergözender Clarinet trating agreeableness
Wie es den Nahmen fürt, so kling es klar Like the name it bears, it sounds clear and pure
und
Nette
Recht auf Trompeten art; jedoch gar douce Quite in the manner of a trumpet; yet all dolce
und süsz; and sweet;
Ach wer doch allezeit ein Virtuosen hätte, Ah, had one ever a virtuoso,
Der ihn bey stiller nacht fein sanfft Who, on a quiet night, might blow him gently
zur ruhe
bliesz. to his rest.
Clarius haud ullum calami genus aera No other kind of reed breaks the air more
frangit,
clearly,
Rite tubae cantum suivi imitante sono. Fittingly imitating with its tone the song of the
sweet trumpet.
Hoc audire melos per amica silentia noctis, To hear its singing through the friendly
stillness of the night,
Corporis, ut mentem, membra quiete sapit. Can calm the body’s members, and the mind.15

15 Ross 1979: 34, trans. by D. Martin Jenni.

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Fig. 6.5 Painted panel of two angels with Baroque clarinets playing from a music
book held by a cherub, 1744–​1745, on the choir loft in the Church of St. Magnus, Bad
Schussenried, Germany

In 1719–​1733 and 1744–​1745, the artist Gabriel Weiss was commissioned to

paint six panels of young angels playing instruments with cherubs on the choir loft
in the Church of St. Magnus (Pfarrkirche Sankt Magnus) in Bad Schussenried in
southern Germany. One of the panels illustrates two angels with Baroque clarinets
playing from a music book held by a cherub (Fig. 6.5)—​the earliest known painting
of clarinets.16 On the left side of the panel, there is a three-​key clarinet with turning
on a long stock bell that accommodates a third key on the back; and on the right,
a shorter two-​key clarinet (Hoeprich 1995: 258–​61).17 The mouthpieces are in
the angels’ mouths, so reed position cannot be seen. The first angel holds the clar-
inet with the right hand uppermost; the second holds the instrument with the left
hand uppermost. Both angels show awkward finger and thumb positions (Pearson
2000: 90–​91).
A wooden statue of an angel with gilded wings who is playing a three-​key clar-
inet (Fig. 6.6) is a decorative element on an organ in the Pfarr-​und Seminarkirche
in St. Peter, Schwarswald (Black Forest, southern Germany). The angel was made

16 “Weiss, Gabriel” 1942: 327 cited by Hoeprich 1994: 259, 266. In the other panels, angels play a pair of

recorders and a flute, an oboe and bassoon, two natural trumpets, two timpani, and two trombones or slide
trumpets.
17 On the cover of Hoeprich 2008.The author thanks Eric Hoeprich for a photocopy of this painting.
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Fig. 6.6 Wooden statue of an angel with gilded wings playing a three-​key clarinet by
Matthias Faller (1754) on an organ, Pfarr-​und Seminarkirche, St. Peter, Black Forest,
southern Germany

in 1754 by the sculptor, wood carver, and draftsman Matthias Faller (1707–​1791)
(Rice 2009b: 56–​57).18 There is a tradition of using instrument-​playing angels and
putti to decorate Baroque organs in Germany, and this example is one of the few
with a clarinet, although the bell is rather large compared to surviving instruments.
This carving is an exceptional example of a clarinet in a church.
Finally, an oil painting by the French artist Guillaume Voiriot (1713–​1799),
Portrait de la famille de Pierre de Perceval (Group portrait of the Perceval family),
was shown at the Salon in Paris in 1767 (Hérissant 1767: 16),19 shows a wealthy
family outdoors, a husband and wife standing behind a stone railing. The impres-
sive surroundings suggest a large estate in France. Below are five children (three
boys and two girls) in rustic costumes, posing as itinerant beggars with musical
instruments. From left to right they hold a musette (French bagpipe), a two-​key
clarinet pointing up at an angle,20 a guitar over the boy’s shoulder, a miniature vielle

18 “Faller, Matthias” 2005: vol. 36, 430–​31. The author received the photo and information from the late

Hans Rudolf Stalder.

19 “Peintures. Par M. Voiriot, Académicien. 65. Un Tableau de Famille. De 7 pieds de haut, sur 5 pieds 6

pouces de large” (Painters, by M. Voiriot, Academic. 65. A portrait of a Family. 7’ high, 5’ 6” wide).
20 The clarinet resembles instruments by Godefroid-​Adrien Rottenburgh of Brussels (Hoeprich 1995: 265),

or Jean-​Godefroy Geist of Paris.

 Baroque Clarinet in Society 199

à roue (hurdy gurdy), and a triangle (cf. Leppert 1978: 80). Hoeprich (1995: 263–​
64) observes that this simple setting of provincial life was an artistic staple (Leppert
1978: 122, note 81).21

Traveling Musicians

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Musicians who traveled around and played concerts or benefits were impor-
tant in introducing the clarinet to the concert-​going public and musicians in
many large cities in Germany, Great Britain, France, and The Netherlands
during the first half of the 18th century (for a list of 61 concerts see Appendix
5, Clarinet). Their performances undoubtedly encouraged wealthy individuals
and village and church musicians to purchase and learn the clarinet. In a period
when many musicians were not well compensated, the lure of good pay, espe-
cially in England, was attractive (Mattheson 1713: 211). “He who in the present
time thinks of playing music travels to England. In Italy and France one plays
to hear and learn, in England one plays to gain [money], but in the fatherland it
is the best to consume.”22 A contemporary writer claims that the Italian singer
Francesca Margherita de l’Epine had “since her Arrival in England, by Modest
Computation; . . . got by the Stage and Gentry, above 10,000 Guineas” (Downes
[1708] 1969 edn.: 46).23
The Daily Courant of March 24, 1726, mentions the first clarinetists identified by
name, two Germans who gave a benefit concert in London on March 25, 1726.

For the Benefit of M. August Freudenfeld, and Francis Rosenberg, Clarinets.

At Mr. Hickford’s Great Room over against the Tennis-​C ourt, in James’s
Street, near the Hay-​Market, Tomorrow being Friday, the 25th of March,
will be performed a Consort of Instrumental Musick by the best Hands.
To begin precisely at Seven a-​C lock. N.B. You are desired to come in at
James’s-​Street Side.

The same announcement was repeated one year later in The Daily Courant of
March 14, 1727, for a concert the next day with five shillings’ admission.24 A little
more than a month later (April 26), the clarinet was played in a benefit concert for
Mrs. Davies at the York Buildings, probably by Freudenfeld and Rosenberg (Daily

21 Oja (1978: 39, item 207) correctly identifies the instrument as a clarinet.
22 “Wer bey diesen Zeiten etwas in der Music zu praestiren vermeinet /​der begibt sich nach Engelland. In
Italien and Frankreich etwas zu hören und zu lernen; in Engelland etwas zu verdienen; im Vaterlande aber am
besten zu verzehren.” Cf. the trans. in Sands 1943: 91.
23 Although this amount may be an exaggeration, l’Epine was very popular and commanded high fees. See

Grove 6, “L’Epine, Francesca Margherita de.”

24 These players may have also influenced Handel to include two chalumeaux in the sketches for the aria

“Quando non vede” in the opera Riccardo Primo (1727). In later versions, Handel replaced the chalumeaux
with oboes by inserting a musically similar aria, “Quell’ innocente afflito.” See Lawson 1981a: 145–​46.
200 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

Journal, April 26, 1727).25 A chalumeau concerto was performed five years earlier at
the Richmond-​Wells Theater, announced in The Daily Post of June 31, 1722, but the
player is not mentioned. “Richmond-​Wells . . . on Mondays will be a select Band of
Musick from the Opera . . . N.B. There will be several Concerto’s [sic] every Evening
on a new Instrument from Germany call’d The Shalamo, never play’d in Publick be-
fore” (Appendix 5, Chalumeau, no. 1).

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Mr. Charles was a popular traveling musician whose career is documented
in some depth (Cheville 1993: 158–​59 and 2004: 49–​50; Beakes 2007: 405–​39).
Hiebert (2006: 239–​46) suggests that Charles may have been the German mu-
sician Charles (Carlo) Vernsberg (Vernsburgh).26 Charles played in various
cities throughout Great Britain for 24 years (1733–​1757) and made a significant
contribution to the clarinet’s newfound popularity. He was first mentioned on
October 6, 1733, in the “Third Musick” between acts of Sir John Vanbrugh’s play
The Relapse at the Haymarket Theatre, London, including “I. Concerto for French
Horns, the French Horns by Charle and Giay, lately arriv’d from Paris” and “III.
Solo for French Horn by Charle” (Lennep Avery, and Scouten 1968, pt. 3: 323).
Both Charle[s]‌and Giay performed again at the Haymarket on October 20, 1733,
but this time in a “Duo for Two French Horns” (Lennep, Avery, and Scouten 1968,
pt. 3: 328). Charles was evidently performing in Paris during the early 1730s but
his last name is never mentioned in concert advertisements. He began to call
himself “Mr Charles” on September 9, 1734, when he played a horn concerto
at Goodman’s Fields Theatre (Lennep, Avery, and Scouten 1968, pt. 3: 414). He
appeared as a horn soloist and for the first time, a clarinetist, on April 1, 1735,
on a benefit concert at the Swan Tavern, performing “several new Pieces on the
French Horn and Clarinet” (Lennep, Avery, and Scouten 1968, pt. 3: 475). He was
also a composer, as noted in The Daily Advertiser for October 10, 1735: “Solo on
the German Flute by Burchinger, Se Largo by Burchinger and Charle” (Lennep,
Avery, and Scouten 1968, pt. 3: 517).
Two years later, he added the chalumeau to the clarinet and horn in London.
On March 11, 1737, a concert at Stationers’ Hall is advertised at a cost of five
shillings: “By the best Hands, with a Solo; and several new Pieces on the French
Horn, Clarinette, and Sharlarno [sic] by Mr Charles. Also several pieces on the
French Horn by an English Gentlewoman, and a Negro boy of ten years old, both
scholars of Mr Charles” (Highfill, Burnim, and Langhans 1975, vol. 3: 178–​79).
By now, Charles was also a horn teacher. A concert was announced in the London
Daily Post for March 3, 1738 “[c]‌onsisting of several select Pieces composed by Mr
Handel . . . with two new Minuets, and Chorus out of Atalanta for French Horns

25 The clarinet was not forgotten, since its name “The Clarinette” was used as a novelty by Gay in 1733 in

the title of Air 37, “Ah, why is my Heart so tender!,” printed in the libretto to the ballad opera Achilles. (Gay
1733: 45.) The other short tunes in the libretto are named without any apparent purpose. See Fiske 1986: 113.
26 Two concertos for two violins and two horns by Charles, one Concerto Grosso for strings and two horns

attributed to Charles, and two Concerti Grossi for strings, oboe and horn attributed to Vernsburgh are part of a
collection of 32 instrumental pieces purchased for the British Library in 1993 and 1999, GB-​Lbl, Add. 71539.
 Baroque Clarinet in Society 201

and Trumpets, the two French Horns to be performed by two little Negro-​boys,
Scholars to Mr Charles, who never performed before.”27
Charles and his wife gave benefit concerts in Stamford (1741) on the horn, a solo
shalanto (chalumeau), and a clarinet concerto. On February 9, 1742, Charles played
a concert in York with local musicians, including a “Select Piece on the shalamo
(chalumeau), clarinet concerto, and for the first time, a solo on the ‘haubois de

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amour.’ ”
His next concert in Dublin was preceded by a rehearsal at the Music Hall on May
5, 1742, reported in the Dublin Journal (April 27–​May 1, 1742).28 The Dublin Journal
refers to him as “the Hungarian, Master of the French Horn, with his Second,
accompanied by all the best Hands in the City.”29 He is characterized the same way
in the Dublin Mercury advertisement for his first Music Hall benefit concert (Fig.
6.7) on May 12, 1742 (Weston 1971: 23). This concert included popular works such
as “Mr Handel’s Water-​Music, with the March in Scipio, and the grand Chorus in
Atalanta.” Charles played solos, pieces, and concertos on the French horn, clarinet,
oboe d’amour, and chalamo (chalumeau). The N.B. (Nota Bene) at the end of the
advertisement states “The Clarinet, the Hautbois de Amour, and Shalamo, were
never heard in this Kingdom before.”
Since Charles also wrote music, it is probable that the clarinet concerto and
solos for horn, oboe d’amour, and chalumeau were written by him. His com-
petence at playing four different instruments was widely reported in the
newspapers, where it was announced that he would give a repeat performance if
requested. This concert was given on June 2 at the Music Hall with the concertos
and solos on the clarinet, hautbois d’amour, and shalamo.30 Charles was living
in Caple Street in Dublin while playing in the pit band at the Aungier Street
Theatre (Highfill, Burnim, and Langhans 1975, vol. 3: 179). In November, he
advertised for horn pupils in the Dublin Gazette (November 23–​27, 1742) “Mr.
Charles, French-​Horn Master, having taken Mr. Geminiani’s Concerns and
Great Music-​Room in Dame Street, proposes teaching Gentlemen and others
the French-​Horn after the newest Taste, and in the most expeditious Manner.
He likewise teaches Lovers of Hunting, or Hunstmen, the Hunting or Field-​
Pieces, as now in Use all over England, France, &c. He will, if required, wait
on Gentlemen at their Houses.”31 On December 28, 1742, the same announce-
ment stated that Charles will teach “Gentlemen and others,” adding “NB He
attends his Scholars at the Great Room before-​mention’d, from eight in the
Morning to three in the Afternoon: His Price to those who come to him, is a
Guinea Entrance, and a Guinea for 16 lessons, which he gives to the Month.—​If

27 Cited by Weston 1971: 20.

28 Boydell 1988, 81.
29 Dublin Journal, May 8–​11, 11–​15, 1742.
30 Dublin Journal, May 18–​22, May 29–​June 1, 1742.
31 Dublin Gazette, November 23–​27, December 4–​7, December 18–​21, 1742, January 1–​4, January 11–​15,

and January 29–​February 1743.

202 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

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Fig. 6.7 Announcement in the Dublin Mercury of Mr. Charles’s first Music Hall benefit
concert in Dublin on May 12, 1742 (Weston 1971: 23): by permission of the British
Library Newspaper Library, London

he waits upon Gentlemen, the Price is a Moydore Entrance, and Moydore for 16
Lessons” (Dublin Journal, December 28, 1742–​January 1, 1743). Since the moi-
dore (moydore) was the equivalent of 27s. 6d., Charles most likely made a good
sum with only a few gentleman students (cf. Flood 1913: 284; Boydell 1988: 90).
On February 12, 1743, at the Theatre Royal (Dublin Gazette, February 5–​8,
1743) Charles performed in “the Overture to Vinci’s Artaxerses, Charles’ favorite
hunting song called the Early Horn with the singer Mr. Baildon; a Solo on the
French horn, and a Concerto on the Clarinet” (Dublin Gazette, January 25–​29,
1743). Charles’s last concert in Dublin was on March 10, 1743, when he played a
French horn solo at a benefit concert for William Delamain at the Smock-​Alley
Theatre (Dublin News-​Letter, March 5–​8, 1743).
 Baroque Clarinet in Society 203

On November 1, 1743, his concert was held in the Assembly Rooms at Salisbury,
featuring his usual horn solos and pieces with clarinet, oboe d’amour, and chalu-
meau. There was an important addition of a trio for three French horns, a work
that he played with his wife and son. Handel’s music was featured again and, as
in Dublin, the clarinet, oboe d’amour, and chalumeau “being instruments never
heard here before” (Weston 1971: 25–​26; Highfill, Burnim, and Langhans 1975,

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vol. 1: 179). James Worgan (1713–​1753), a double-​bass player and organ builder
in London, wrote to James Harris (1709–​1780), a writer and prominent person in
Salisbury musical activities:

I received yours the which I beg pardon for not answering before the time[;]‌I got
very safe to town, & soon after heard, Mr Charles had run away from London but
where they could not tell, for he had sold the goods in the house he lived in, which
were Mr Tyres’s[;] I suppose he is now gone from Sarum [Salisbury.]

Jonathan Tyers was the owner of Vauxhall Gardens and his house was adjacent
to the Gardens (Burrows and Dunhill 2002: 178–​79; 1101, 1120). On December
29, 1743, Mr. Charles, his wife, and his son gave a concert in Bristol, where two
horns and an oboe d’amour were played, as well as a trio on the shalmo.32 Charles
may have made things right with Jonathan Tyers because on May 16, 1744, he and
his family gave a concert similar to Bristol in London at Hickford’s Room (Daily
Advertiser, April 25, 1744). Weston suggests (1971: 25–​26) that if Mrs. Charles
or her son had been able to play on the clarinet, Handel’s Ouverture in D major
for two clarinets and horn could have been played by the family trio. After an in-
terval of more than four years, Mr. Charles and his son performed on all their usual
instruments in Derby (November 19, 1748), Worcester (December 22, 1748), and
Hereford (January 3, 1749).
In June 1751, Charles bought the New Vauxhall Theatre in Bristol, where he man-
aged concerts and played on the horn with his son; the theater was unsuccessful
(see Hooper 1963: 104–​5). Later concerts by Charles and his son on the horn and
clarinet and/​or chalumeau were in Hexham (January 24, 1755), Edinburgh (March
20, 1755), Derby (November 25, 1756), and Manchester (June 1, 1757). The concert
at the Assembly-​Room in Derby on November 25, 1756, included “[c]‌hoice pieces
on the French-​Horns,” a “Solo on the Violin,” a “Concerto on the Clarinet,” and a
“Concerto and a Solo on the Violoncello,” to conclude with a “Ball for the Ladies.”
The next year, Charles’ last concert given in Manchester, was unusual, including
five works for two French horns, a violin concerto, and a solo on the chalumeau,
but without the clarinet. The majority of Charles’s concerts featured the clarinet,
suggesting its popularity and the fact that a clarinet concerto or solo piece was not
unusual at this time. Mr. Charles and his family undoubtedly contributed to the

32 Advertised in the Bristol Oracle and County Advertiser, December 24, 1743; see Hooper 1963: 99. The au-

thor thanks Janet Page and Michael Finkelman for this reference.
204 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

clarinet’s new found popularity; he is the only professional clarinet virtuoso of the
early 18th century whose lengthy career is well documented.
A few newspapers reported on other professional clarinetists active before 1760.
The Frankfurter Frag-​und Anzeigungs-​Nachrichten for October 13, 1739, advertised,
“Two good clarinettists have arrived at the windmill in All Saints Lane; anyone
wishing to hear them perform will be welcome” (Kroll 1968: 47, note 1).33 A court

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performance occurred in an outdoor Garden in Frankfurt am Main on August 15,
1749 featuring four virtuosos playing trumpet, clarinet, French horn, flute and re-
corder, and a choir. The music (now lost) was by the Vice Capell-​Director, Heinrich
Valentin Beck, who edited verses from Bartold Heinrich Brockes’ “Irdischen
Vergnügen in Gott” (Terrestial pleasure in God, 1738) (Israël 1876: 36).
During a performance at the Concert Spirituel in Paris on March 25, 1750,
a concerto for the “clarine” (clarinet) was played by the bassoonist France de
Kermasin.34 This is the earliest known performance of a clarinet concerto in France.
Two performances of a “Concerto for Clarinette” were held at the London New
Haymarket Theatre on December 30, 1751,35 and a “Concerto for two Clarinettes”
was played at the same theater on January 7, 14, 21, 31, and February 4, 6, 1752.36
Unfortunately, the names of the clarinetists are not known. On January 17, 1754,
at the French Theater in The Hague, The Netherlands, a benefit concert for Miss
Corbin, featured a part of the ballet, “L’Heure du Berger” with music by Lord
Merenda. The musical instruments played included timpani, trumpets, horns,
clarinets, oboes, flutes, and violins (’s-​Gravenhaagsche Courant, January 2, 1754).
Benefits at London’s Great Room in Dean-​street, Soho for the French horn players
Solinus and Leander included “several pieces for Clarinets and French-​Horns” (the
clarinetists are unnamed) between the acts on February 21 and 26, 1754.37 The com-
poser, keyboardist, oboist, and clarinetist Charles Barbandt performed his “Great
Concerto with Clarinets, French Horns, and Kettledrums, new compos’d by Mr.
Charles Brabandt” in his concerts at London’s New Theatre in the Haymarket on
April 2, 1755,38 March 18,39 March 25,40 April 1, 1756.41 The first English clarinetists
were Thomas Habgood and Hugh Pearson, who played a “grand” concerto at the
King’s Theatre on March 13, 1758.42 At a Benefit concert, Barbandt performed a
“Grand Concerto with Clarinets, and French Horns” on February 15, 1760, at the
Little Opera House in the Haymarket.43 Count Carl Zinzendorf ’s diary for October

33 “Zwey gute Clarinettisten sind allhier in der Windmühl auf der Allerheiligen-​ Gass ankommen; wer
solche zu hören beliebet kann sich dasselbst melden.” Quoted in Israël 1876: 29.
34 Mercure de France, Avril 1750, 183; cited in Pierre (written 1900) 1975: 116, 257, no. 403.
35 General Advertiser, December 28–​30, 1751, January 1–​2, 1752.
36 General Advertiser, January 6, 14, 21, 30, 31, 1752; February 3, 4, 5, 6, 1752; Daily Advertiser, February

4, 1752.
37 Public Advertiser, February 12, 13, 14, 16, 18, 21, 1754.
38 Public Advertiser, March 26, 1755.
39 Public Advertiser, March 17, 18, 1756.
40 Public Advertiser, March 23, 1756.
41 Public Advertiser, March 29, 31, April 1, 1756.
42 Public Advertiser, March 10, 13, 1758.
43 Public Advertiser, February 14, 15, 1760.
 Baroque Clarinet in Society 205

6, 1761, notes that the Polish Count Michael Ogínski (1731–​1803) played pieces
for the clarinet (possibly by Haydn) at the home of Prince Paul Anton Esterházy in
Eisenstadt (Landon 1980: 362). Two years later, Ogínski played in an amateur or-
chestra in Moscow, showing an “astonishing virtuosity” (Stählin [1769] 1970: 163–​
64; Mooser 1951: vol. 1: 34, note 6; Weston 1977: 188).
Carl (or Charles) Weichsel was a German musician active in London. He played

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the oboe at King’s Theatre, and was probably the “Mr Wrexell” who played the clar-
inet on November 28, 1760, in Arne’s Thomas and Sally and in Arne’s music for an
“Afterpiece: A New Musical Entertainment” (Pohl [1867] 1970 edn., vol. 1: 64, 71–​
72; vol. 2: 373).44 Weichsel may also have played the clarinet during 1762 in Arne’s
Artaxerxes and J. C. Bach’s Orione (Weston 1977: 267). Contemporary English
instruments suggest that Weichsel played a five-​key Classical clarinet after about
1765, but he may have been the player whom a writer (known only by the initials
“J.P.”) referred to in The Harmonicon of 1830 (J. P. 1830: 57–​58): “I conjecture, also,
that it [the clarinet] is of German invention, for I have heard that a native of that
country played on a clarionet with three keys only, many years ago, in this country.”
An anonymous Dutch etching of a horn player and a clarinetist, dressed in
costumes of the Italian commedia dell’arte, ca. 1750 (Klerk 1976: no. 20, 1.1.) (Fig.
6.8).45 Hoeprich (1984: 52–​53, ill. 4) points out the clarinet’s conical profile and its
resemblance to the oboe except for the differences in turning. The clarinet’s asso-
ciation with the horn suggests that the etching was done when these instruments
were commonly used together—​during the mid-​18th century. The poem captures
the belief of the greater tonal beauty of the clarinet compared to the peace-​trumpet
(natural trumpet):

With the lovely sound of my bright clarinet

I cover noise however loud it becomes,
Even the pleasant sound of the shrill peace-​trumpet,
Must yield in beauty to my clarinet.46

Court and Aristocratic Music

People of wealth and status purchased instruments to include them in their pri-
vate wind ensembles and orchestras, and occasionally to play. For example, 1710
Nuremberg archival records indicate that Jacob Denner was commissioned by
the Nuremberg council to compile a list of instruments that Field Marshall Duke

44 At Covent Garden, Weichsel received 5s. per night to play the oboe and 10s. 6d. to play the clarinet in

Thomas and Sally. See Lennep, Avery, and Scouten 1962, pt. 4: 815, 827.
45 Described as “Musical Harlequins” (Klerk 1974: 73, no. 163).
46 “Door ’tliest ’lyk klinken van myn frisse Clarinet. /​Verdoof ik het geluit hoe hoog, ’took word verhaven,

| En de aagenamen klank der schelle Vré-​trompet, /​Zy moet haar schoonheld vor myn Clarinet begeven.”
Trans. Hans Ruyter, the Claremont Graduate University.
206 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

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Fig. 6.8 Anonymous Dutch etching of a horn player and clarinetist, ca. 1750,
dressed in the costumes of the Italian commedia dell’arte (Klerk 1976, no. 20, 1.1): by
permission of the Haags Gemeentemuseum, The Hague

Johann Franz von Gronsfeld intended to purchase, including two clarinets and
27 other instruments, for his court musicians (Nickel 1971: 251–​52).47 This is the
earliest evidence for the clarinet’s use in an ensemble or small orchestra. Although
Jacob Denner probably made these instruments, no maker is identified in the order
(Kirnbauer and Thalheimer 1995: 100, note 66). The Duke employed musicians
to play clarinets and other instruments and to fulfill additional duties. The new
clarinets were immediately played in rehearsals that began on January 8, 1711, for
the coronation of Kaiser Karl VI, December 22, 1711. The Frauenkirche musician
and organist Maximilian Zeidler (1680–​1745) wrote the first and third parts of a
lost Festivmusik, scored for 17 musicians in 16 parts: four singers (soprano, alto,
tenor, and bass), two violins, two violas, two oboes, two trombones, two clarinets,
two trumpets, and timpani (Nickel 1971: 245).48 The music was not played for the
Kaiser and was postponed. On January 28, 1712, the Festivmusik was played at the
Kaiser’s Vienna residence by about 70 performers (Nickel 1971: 245–​46).

47 The orchestral musician often did not specialize in a single instrument until the 19th century. During the

18th century most players learned a number of wind, string, and percussion instruments in a Stadtpfeiferei
(town pipers’ school). See Mahling 1983: 231–​34; Schwab 1983: 41.
48 The second and fourth parts of the Festivmusik were written without clarinets by Johann Jacob de

Neufville. Staatsarchiv Nürnberg, Rep. 67, Nr. 45, Akte 413. Nickel 1971 462, no. 1428.
 Baroque Clarinet in Society 207

The earliest orchestra to hire clarinetists was at the Stuttgart court, introduced by the
Kapellmeister Johann Christoph Pez (1664–​1716). In the 1714 Lista, three musicians
played clarinet when needed: Franz Anton Maximilian Pez (the Kapellmeister’s son)
from 1711 to 1720; Georg Christoph Bleßner, from 1711 to 1722, and 1724 and 1729;
and Antonÿ Meister, from 1707 to 1717 (Owens 1995: 184, 445–​46; Nägele 2014: 506–​
7). Pez primarily played violin, viola d’amore, and viola da braccio; Bleßner played

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oboe, recorder, and violin, and sang bass; Meister was a music copyist and played vi-
olin and viola (Owens 1995: 443–​46; Owens 2011: 184, 186, 193).49 In 1720 or 1722,
Georg Albrecht Kress played the clarinet when needed, but primarily played violin,
viola d’amore, viola da braccio, flute, keyboard, and oboe (Nägele 2014: 506).50
At the Rastatt court, west of Stuttgart, both clarinets and chalumeaux were avail-
able in 1718. The 1718 Castenbauer Inventory records the Rastatt court purchased
one clarinet (Owens 1995: 478).51 Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer (1657–​1746),
Rastatt court Kapellmeister from 1715, wrote stage works and libretti; the music is
lost but the libretti have been retained. His Meleagers Gelübd-​mässiges Ehren-​Feuer-​
Opffer (1718) was written to celebrate Prince Ludwig Georg Bernard Simpert’s
birthday and includes a poem to the Prince, listing chalumeaux and clarinets
(Chalmieu und Clarinetten).52 The earliest clarinetists hired at the Rastatt court
were Jacob Georg Klipfele, from 1753 to 1771, and Ludwig Küstner, from 1763 to
1771 (Thomsen-​Fürst 2014a: 429).
The Gera court orchestra purchased music in 1717 and 1718, including a Partie
using clarinets and horns by “Stelzel” (Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel, 1690–​1749),
and several partitas for clarinets and horn (Clarinette, Chalm. und Waldhorn) by
Emanuel Kegel (1655–​1724) (Maul 2004: 119). Clarinetists and chalumeau players
were most likely employed at the Gera court.
The court orchestra in Koblenz purchased two clarinets on January 17, 1733,
for court music or “Hof Music” (Bereths 1964: 44).53 Johann Peter Spitz, a military
musician who joined the court orchestra as an oboist, violist, and retainer in 1725,
most likely played the clarinet from the 1730s through1740s and remained until
1785 (Baur 1981: 82).54 The earliest players who entered the court as clarinetists
were Valentin Meder 1753–​1797, who also played cello and violin (Baur 1981: 83)
and Johann Konrad Meder (1759–​1765), son of Johann Heinrich Meder (Bereths
1964: 51).
In Merseburg on August 19, 1737, the court orchestra hired two clarinetists,
Rimmler (Johann George Rümler) and Geritzsch (Johann Friedrich Kortzsch),
both of whom played in the newly formed oboe band (Hautboisten-​Bande) and

49 Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart A21 Büschel 607, J. C. Pez, Lista, January 14, 1714. Owens 1995: 443–​46;

Owens 2005: 232.

50 Nägele (2014: 506) erroneously listed the “Trompete” as an instrument played by Franz Pez; the instru-

ment in the 1714 Lista is a “Clarinet.”

51 Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart A21 Büschel 609, Owens 1995: 476–​80.
52 Fischer 1718: 31; Thomsen-​Fürst 2014a: 418–​19.
53 Many courts purchased instruments for use when needed.
54 Staatsarchiv Koblenz, 1 C 945 fol. 40. Bereths 1964: 48, note 237.
208 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

were paid one Thaler, 18 Groschen (Steude 2003: 97–​100).55 In 1739, two clarinetists
from Merseburg (probably Rümler and Kortzsch) played a concert in Rudolstadt,
close to Merseburg (Fleischer 1996: 93). Six years later, the Rudolstadt court or-
dered two clarinets for four Thalers each and had two other clarinets repaired
(Fleischer 1996: 105; Ahrens 2009: 210, note 184). Another orchestra with clarinets
was at the court of Sayn-​Wittgenstein at Berleburg, where a 1741 detailed inventory

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of instruments has “in a flute case, two pairs of clarinets” (In einem Flöten-​Casten
zwey Paar Clarinetten). 56
In Gotha, the earliest court document for the purchase of clarinets dated March
3, 1742, states, “Three pairs of additional clarinets and an oboe d’amour, which
were to be bought for the court oboe band” (Vor 3. fernere Clarinetten und eine
Oboi d’amour, welche vor die Hoff-​Hautboisten bande erkauffet worden). The
statement “additional clarinets” suggests that these were not the first clarinets to
arrive in Gotha. They were intended for the oboe band but would also have been
used in the court orchestra. The invoice describes three pairs, D clarinets (D basset
horns), F clarinets (F basset horns), and C clarinets.57 There is no record that
instruments were purchased, but in 1749 three pairs of clarinets for the oboe band
were purchased from the Gotha maker Johann Heinrich Geist.58 These clarinets use
in the court orchestra cannot be confirmed, because of the lack of chamber bills in
this purchase category (Ahrens 2014: 38).
In 1745 Jan Zach, the Czech composer and musician, was appointed Kapellmeister
of the Mainz court orchestra; on October of that year, his Mass was performed at
Frankfurt am Main for the coronation of Emperor Franz I. Of 12 musicians listed
in the 1745 “coronation diary” (“Krönungsdiarium”), Petrus (Peter) Kraus is the
only “Clarinettist” and was still in the Mainz court calendar for 1756,59 although
there may have been previous clarinetists. The court orchestra at Cologne listed
two clarinetists from 1748: Theodor Klein, originally hired as a horn player on June
3, 1739, and Joseph Flügel, a viola player hired on December 13, 1743 (Niemöller
1960: 65–​66, 68, 237, 257).60
At Darmstadt, Christoph Graupner (1683–​1760) was Kapellmeister of court
music from 1714. He wrote only one work for clarinet, the cantata Lasset eure Bitte

55 Sächsisches Huptstaatsarchiv Dresden, Loc. 13381, Cammer-​Acta, 1739, vol. III, blatt 230-​a-​b; Steude

2003: 99, note 81.

56 Inventarium sämmtlicher Mobiliare, aufgenommen nach Ableben des Grafen Casimir 1741. Cited by

Domp 1934: 68–​69.

57 Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Gotha, Friedensteinsche Kammerrechnungen-​Belge 1714/​42/​Beleg. O. Nr.,

below Nr. 2576. A photocopy of the order to buy the clarinets is in Ahrens 2009: 210, Abb. 7.
58 Thüringisches Staatarchiv Gotha Geheimes Archiv, WW Va, Nr. 8, p. 99, “3 Stück Clarenetten.” Siegmund

2006: 253; Ahrens 2014: 38. The estate inventory of February 19, 1748, after the death of Duke Ernst August
I on January 19, 1748, lists “1. Clairon, oder Clarinette.” Geist is known for a four-​key D clarinet (ca. 1760) in
the Musée de la Musique E. 992.2.1; he may have supplied a pair of clarinets to the French court, delivered on
April 9, 1762 (Greenberg 2006: 29); and in 1775 he moved to Paris, where he was recognized as a maker by the
Chatelet de Paris (Gérard 1973: 196).
59 “Krönungsdiarium,” A-​Wn; Chur-​ Maynzischer Hof-​, Staats-​und Stands-​Calender auf das Jahr 1756,
Maynz: Ockel, 1756, 54; https://​www.dilibri.de/​stbmz/​content/​structure/​1424554. The author thanks Felix
Gratl for a transcription of the Krönungsdiarium.
60 Rechn. Mittwochsrentkammer 20. 12. 52, cited by Niemöller 1960: 80, note 5.
 Baroque Clarinet in Society 209

vor, GWV 1174/​54, 1754. David Steger was a servant from 1732 to 1750 when
he was appointed chamber musician to play violin, clarinet, and harp until 1760
(Noack 1967: 232; Biermann 1987: 62). Karl Jakob Gozian from Karlsruhe was
previously a valet but from 1754 played violin and clarinet until his death in 1756
(Noack 1967: 232–​33; Biermann 1987: 62).61 Johann Peter Schüler played clarinet,
horn, and musette from 1756 to 1760, and on January 2, 1757, Steger and Schüler

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are listed as “2 Clarinets also 2 Clarinos” (2 Clarinetti Steger und Schüler noch 2
Clarino), suggesting that they played clarinet and trumpets, or clarino (trumpet)
parts on the clarinet (Noack 1967: 238).
In France, the earliest evidence of the clarinet is in a letter written by the Comte
de Clermont to the Comte de Billy of Paris on February 11, 1749: “But let us speak
of your menuets. I am currently assembling the virtuosi, the first horn, the second
horn, solo violin, viola, violin, clarinet, oboe, tromba marine, flageolet, contrabass,
fife, timpani, Vielle, Jew’s harp, recorder, mirliton, chalumeau, bagpipe, musette,
castanet, tabor, trombone organ, barrel-​organ, tambourine, harp, harpsichord, and
spinet . . .”62
The clarinet was first played at the Paris Opéra in Jean-​Philipp Rameau’s
Zoroastre in 1749. Two clarinetists, Jean [Johann] Schieffer and François [Franz]
Raiffer, are listed in a Paris Opéra archives document, “Instruments extraordinaires
employés à l’Opéra” (Girdlestone 1969: 294). They were paid a total of 168 livres
“for playing the clarinet in 3 rehearsals and 25 performances of the opera Zoroastre,
for six Livres each time.”63 However, neither the engraved score of Zoroastre (1749)
nor another score (in the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris) dated 1756 contains parts
for the clarinet. It is likely that the decision to use clarinets in Zoroastre was made
after the engraving had been started (Rameau, Zoroastre, 1999 edn., lix). This use
implies that Schieffer and Raiffer also performed on other wind instruments such
as the oboe, playing the clarinet only when instructed to do so. Besides the string
instruments, the orchestra for Zoroastre consisted of a pair each of flutes, horns, and
oboes (La Laurencie 1913: 28).
For Rameau’s Acante et Céphise, Gaspard Procksch and George Flieger were hired
to play clarinets pitched in D, C, and A, and Schencker and Louis played horns for
18 performances from 1751 to 1762.64 The following payments are listed for these
four extra players.

61 The two D clarinet parts in Graupner’s Lasset eure Bitte vor (1754) were most likely played by Steger and

Gozian. Lawson 1981a: 108.

62 “Mais parlons de vos menuets, j’assemble actuellement les virtuoses, les Cornos primo, Corno secondo,

violino sello, violeta, violino, Clarinetto, aubois, trompette marine, flajolet, Contrebasse, fifre, timbale, viel,
guimbarde, flutte douce, flutte à l’oignon, chalumeau, cornemuse, musette, Castagnette, tambourin, trom-
bone, orgue, orgue de Barbarie, timpanon, harpe, clavessin et epinette . . .” Cucuel 1913a: 15.
63 “[P]‌our avoir joué de la clarinette dans trois Repétitions et 25 Représentations de l’Opéra de Zoroastre,

à raison de 6 Livres, chacque fois,” Etat de Payements qui seront faits à plusieurs sujets cy-​après nommez,
employez à l’Opéra, par extraordinaire, depuis le 29 aoust 1749, Arch. Opéra. A. 19. Emargements, 1749–​
1751, quoted by La Laurencie 1913: 27. This document was not found by Stern (1983: 6–​7), who assumed that
it was lost during the transfer of material from the Opéra archives to the Paris Archives Nationales.
64 Arch. Opéra, Historique. II, cited by La Laurencie 1911: 16; reproduced, pl. IV in Stern 1983.
210 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

Gaspard Procksch for having played the clarinet in 18 180#

performances of Acante and Céphise from November 19 1761
[1751] to January 7 1762 at 6 # [livres] for each performance

Additional payments for seven rehearsals which he receives 126#

For three additional rehearsals 18#

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Flieger for the same as above 126#
Schencker for the same as above 126#
Louis for the same as above 126#65

In Karlsruhe, the Bayreuth oboe band (Bayreuther Hautboisten) musicians

and singers included Johann Reusch, a member since 1730 and active until his
death in 1787; he played flute, oboe, and clarinet, and was a copyist. (Thomsen-​
Fürst 2014b: 169). A manuscript about 1760, once owned by the composer
Johann Melchior Molter, refers to Reusch as a clarinet player (Becker 1955: 289).
“Since the band of clarinets and horns was broken up by the retirement [in 1760]
of the previous court musician, Jacob Hengel, nevertheless the gap is at present
being filled through the particular diligence of the court musician, Reusch, and
now since the aforementioned Hengel’s salary becomes vacated through retire-
ment, we ought to. . . .”66 In a petition dated August 14, 1769, Reusch specifies
that he had for some time been “performing as first flautist, no less than as first
player on the clarinet.”67 It was only in the 1771 Karlsruhe Directory that Reusch
is listed as a flutist, oboist, and clarinetist.68 Kapellmeister at the Karlsruhe court,
J. M. Molter, wrote a March in D major (1745) for six wind instruments, two
oboes, D clarinet, bassoon, and two D horns.69 The clarinetists who played this
work were most likely members of the Karlsruhe court’s oboe band, including
Reusch. Molter’s six concertos for D clarinet and string orchestra (ca. 1750–​
1760) were most likely written for Johann Jacob Hengel (Klaus Häfner, “Johann
Melchior Molter,” Oxford Music Online) or Reusch, who also played Molter’s
flute concertos (Thomsen-​Fürst: 2014b: 169, note 203). Other clarinetists in

65 “Gaspard Procksch pour avoir joué de la Clarinette dans 18. Representations de l’Opera d’Acante et

Cephise du 19. November 1761 [sic] au 7. Janvier 1762 a raison de 6# par chaque Representation 108♯; Plus
Ledit, a fair Sept Repetition don il 126#. Luy e n’est passé trois suivant l’osayse 18#, Flieger pour idem que
dessus 126#, Schencker pour idem que dessus 126#, Louis pour idem que dessus 126#.” Etat des Payements
à faire à differents Sujets Employés par Extraordinaire dans plusieurs Representations de differents Opera,
reproduced in Stern 1983, pl. IV.
66 “Demnach der durch das austreten des gewesenen Hof Musici, Jacob Hengel, zerrissene Chor de Musique

von Clarinetten und Horn, nunmehro durch Besondern Fleiß des Hof Musici Reuschen anweiderum ergänzet
und wir nun auch durch erstgenannten Hengels ausweichen deßen gantze Besoldung ledig warden . . . [quo-
tation breaks off here].” Quoted in Schiedermair 1912–​1913: 445; trans. Don Halloran; Thomsen-​Fürst
2014b: 165.
67 “[C]‌oncertisten und premier Flatuo-​Stelle, nicht weniger daß premier Blaßen auf dem clarinet.”
Schiedermair 1912–​1913: 445, note 2.
68 “Staats und Addresse Kalender auf das Jahr 1771,” Schiedermair 1912–​1913: 445.
69 The manuscript is dated based on its watermark (RISM, no. 453003195).
 Baroque Clarinet in Society 211

Karlsruhe were Johann Philipp Müller, also a bassoonist, in 1768; Jacob Georg
Klipfele, from 1772 to 1775; and Ludwig Küstner, from 1772 to 1805 (Thomsen-​
Fürst 2014b: 169).
On August 15, 1749, the court orchestra in Frankfurt am Main performed a work
by the Vice Capell-​Directore Heinrich Valentin Beck (1698–​1758) that included
four court musicians playing trumpets, clarinets, horn, flute, and recorder.70 The

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Würzburg court orchestra appointed clarinetists Martin Heßler from 1756 to 1802
and Stephan Blum from 1763 to 1790 (Kirsch 2014: 591).
The earliest reference to the clarinet in present-​day Czech Republic is the 1751
inventory of instruments from the estate of Bernard Nemêc at Olomouc (formerly
Olmütz). This large collection contained four clarinets, which may have been
used for orchestral, church, dance, and/​or Turkish music. The clarinets appear to
have gone to the court of Bishop Leopold Egk von Hungersbach in Olmütz, where
clarinets are known to have been played from 1758 to 1760. Four clarinets (two C
and two A) are listed in an inventory of his instruments (Sehnal 1972: 296). An ex-
tant pay document indicates that Bishop Egk von Hungersbach had nine regular
musicians: violinist, double bassist, two trumpeters, and a five-​member band of two
clarinets, two horns, and bassoon. The clarinetists were Anton Fernier (Fournier)
and Franz Fogenauer (Pilková 1980: 41; Sehnal 1972: 292–​93; 295). A catalog of
the music and instrument collections show that the clarinetists also played the
English horn; and the music included 18 partitas for clarinets, horns, and bassoons
and seven for two English horns, horns, and bassoons (Whitwell 1984: 22–​23;
Sehnal 1972: 298). The clarinetists must have played clarinets with three to six
keys, mentioned by J. K. Rohn in his 1768 compendium published in Prague (Rohn
1768: 232).
In his 1801 autobiography, the composer Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf mentions
hearing clarinets in 1754 at an outdoor festival at Schlosshof, Austria near the border
of the Czech Republic (Dittersdorf [1896] 1999 edn.: 78). Cannabich and Toeschi,
both students of Stamitz, shared the concertmaster position at the Mannheim
court orchestra after Johann Stamitz’s death in 1758, when the first chair in each
instrumental section was a specialist. The clarinetists Michael Quallenberg and
Johannes Hampel were officially on the musicians’ list. A court document ordering
their uniforms suggests they were appointed in 1757 but for some reason they did
not appear in the 1758 court calendar (Pelker 2014: 139−40).71 Court documents
state that Quallenberg officially served from 1758 to 1764 and from 1769 to 1778;
Johannes Hampel, from 1758 to 1762; Thaddäus Hampel (son of Johannes), from
1763 to 1777 (clarinet) and from 1774 to 1777 (violin and viola) (Pelker 2014: 322,
326–​27). The court purchased two clarinets, probably during the 1760s, from the
well-​known and respected Viennese maker Matthias Rockobauer (ca. 1708–​1775)

70 “. . . [M]‌it 4 Fürtlichen Virtuosen unter umwechselnden Trombetten, Clarinetten, Waldhorn, Flaut-​

travers und à beck etc. nur einmahl Musicalisch aufgeführt warden.” Cited in Israël 1876: 36.
71 A petition for uniforms made by these clarinetists is dated October 6, 1757.
212 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

(Pelker 2014: 223).72 Johann Kertz, Toller (or Broller), and Wilhelm Weisch senior
were appointed clarinetists to the Zweibrücken court orchestra in 1760 (Gruhn
1974: vol. 1: 180–​81).

Church and Civic Music

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The popularity of music with clarinets in monasteries and convents in the 18th cen-
tury is apparent from their purchases of clarinets and music. At Eberbach Abbey
the clarinet was most likely played during the first half of the 18th century, since six
clarinets were bought from a Mainz dealer in 1710, and others were purchased in
1731, 1735, and 1759 (Gottron 1959: 115–​16.) Shortly thereafter, two churches in
Nuremberg ordered clarinets from Jacob Denner. Between May 1, 1711, and April
30, 1712, four clarinets were made for the Frauenkirche “Music-​Chor”;73 two years
later, the Sebalduskirche ordered two clarinets.74 In 1712, Maximilian Zeidler, or-
ganist at the Frauenkirche, wrote two clarinet parts in the first section of his lost
Festivmusik, celebrating the 1712 coronation of Kaiser Karl VI (Nickel 1971: 245).
Two years later, two clarinets were made by Jacob Denner for the Sebalduskirche,75
and two clarinet reeds were delivered to Zeidler as part of a list of repaired
instruments, dated 1714–​1715 and 1719.76
The Pièta in Venice had clarinets during the first half of the 18th century, as
evidenced by Vivaldi’s use of them in the Concerto Grosso for the Feast of Saint
Lawrence, RV 556, ca. 1715; in the oratorio Juditha Triumphans, 1716; and in two
Concertos for 2 C Clarinets, 2 Oboes, and Strings, RV 559 and RV 560, 1720–​1724.
Giovanni Chinzer in Florence also wrote a Concerto in C Major for 2 C Clarinets,
Strings and Organ, ca. 1720–​1725, and a Concerto in F major for Two C Clarinets,
Strings and Organ, ca. 1720–​ 1725 is attributed to Chinzer (see Chapter 5).
Buonanni’s description of the clarinet in 1722 also supports the clarinet’s use
in Rome and in Italy. The German organist and composer living in Antwerp—​
Johannes Adamus Josephus Faber (ca. 1703–​1764)—​specifies a C clarinet in two
movements of his Missa Maria Assumpta, 1720 (Rice 2009b: 54–​59).77
A 1739 musical instrument inventory at Kremsmünster Abbey by choir di-
rector (Regens Chori) Father Nonnosus Stadler lists five clarinets: “three unusable
clarinets and two boxwood clarinets lost about a quarter of a year ago of which

72 Karlsruhe, GLA, 77/​1394 (Hofinstrumentenmacher). Cited by Pelker 2014: 223, note 117. Rockobauer is

known for one extant three-​key clarinet, and three extant three-​key clarinets d’amour (Rice 2009a: 35, 388).
73 Landeskirchliches Archiv, Nuremberg Kirchenrechnung Vereinigtes protestantisches Kirchenvermögen

der Stadt Nürnberg 228, Nr. 3, 70; Nickel 1971: 454, note 1246.
74 Landeskirchliches Archiv, Nuremberg, Kirchenrechnung 228, Nr. 5, 78; Nickel, 1971: 454, note 1246.
75 Landeskirchliches Archiv, Nuremberg, Kirchenrechnung VkiV 228, Nr. 5 (May 1, 1713–​April 30, 1714),

78; Nickel 1971: 247, 463, note 1435.

76 Stadrechnungsbeleg 1282, January 1, 1714–​ December 31, 1715, in the 1719 calendar year; Nickel
1971: 247, 463, note 1436.
77 During the 1720s, Faber performed chamber music with his brother, the organist Jan Adam Faber, and

other musicians, and probably played the clarinet, bringing it with him from Germany (Schreurs 2013: 119).
 Baroque Clarinet in Society 213

only one has a mouthpiece and main section.”78 The three unusable clarinets may
have arrived earlier in the 1730s. Schlader and Tutz (2014: 70–​73) suggest that pos-
sibly the “4 crummhorns” (“4 Krumbhörner”) in the inventory refer to two curved
basset horns (stamped “AA” and “SS”) and two curved oboes di Selva (tenor oboes
in E), and that (1) both instrument types are similar in design, and (2) the six-​key
curved basset horns are equivalent to two-​key Baroque clarinets without an E/​B

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key with Baroque clarinet mouthpiece-​barrels and typical clarinet keys (Schlader
and Tutz 2014: 74–​77, Abb. 2). The basset horn’s early use is documented in a sacred
aria, Kommet her Mariae Kinder in G major, 1748–​1763, by the Benedictine priest
and composer Franz Sparry (1715–​1767) at Kremsmünster. It is written for soprano
solo, two violins, two clarinets in G (G basset horns), organ, and violone (Schlader
and Tutz 2014: 80–​81). The 1739 inventory suggests that the curved basset horn
arrived in Kremmünster about 1735.
According to the lexicographer E. L. Gerber (1812–​1814: vol. 3, pt. 3: 156), Joseph
Lachner, Kapellmeister in Kempten and a virtuoso English horn player, was taught
the oboe and clarinet by his father, a village musician (Dorfmusikant), and began to
play these instruments at seven in 1746. This account testifies to the popularity of
the Baroque clarinet among church and civic musicians. Indeed, two years later Mr.
Hart, the earliest known clarinet teacher in England, placed an advertisement three
times in London.

To all LOVERS of MUSICK, That are willing to learn to play on the Violin, German
Flute, Common Flute, French Horn, Clarennet, or any other Instrument, may
be taught by Mr. HART, sen. next Door to the India Arms, Totherhith-​Stairs, on
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, from Ten in the Morning ’till Six at Night
at 2s 6d. the first Lesson, 1s, each Lesson after; and those Gentlemen that chuse
[sic] to be taught at Home may be waited on at a very reasonable Rate. He Likewise
furnishes all Captains with Musick for any Entertainment on Board by Timely
Notice to the abovemention’d Place.79

Musical entertainment on a ship must have been greatly appreciated during the
18th century. During 1757 and 1758, William Sharp, physician to George II and
George III, played the clarinet, while other instruments were played by family
members and professional musicians on the barge Apollo, near Durham and along
the Thames (Crosby 2001: 10–​33, 85; Rice 2019).
In 1748, the Cologne Cathedral Chapel orchestra added clarinets, played by vio-
linist and horn player Theodor Klein and the oboist Joseph Flügel; and in 1752, two

78 “3 unbrauchbare Clarinett und 2 Buchsbaumerne seind vor ungefähr einem Viertljahr verlohren, und

findet sich von dem einen nur das Mundstück und Hauptschedl.” Kellner 1956: 357–​38. On January 12, 1747,
at the end of the inventory, Joseph Kinniger and Ignatius Dansky state that all of the instruments in the collec-
tion are available.
79 General Advertiser, November 23, 26, December 3, 1748. See the discussion of Hart and other 18th cen-

tury clarinet teachers in Crisp 2019: 14–​21.

214 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

new clarinets were acquired80 (Niemöller 1960: 65–​66, 68). In 1749, the Church of
St. Gereon musical instrument inventory includes clarinets (Niemöller 1960: 66).
The clarinet arrived at the Benedictine Abbey church of St. Peter in Salzburg in 1753,
played by a person named Vierthaler in a group of 24 musicians (Eder 1991: 117). Two
clarinets mentioned in the 1753–​1756 inventory of Matthias Rosenberg, a merchant
in Christiania, Norway, were purchased by a Jacob Syllesborg for two Ort (Aksdal

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1992: 6). The inventory of the estate of Hans Ditlevsen of Roskilde, Denmark (1759)
lists 27 instruments, including two clarinets (Himmer 1992: 159). In 1759 Laurentius
Martin of Marienberg Abbey in south Tyrol, northern Italy, wrote for the D horn
or D clarinet and two C clarinets in his Prologus Divina Providentia Narrat Thema
Comoediae.81 This abbey had probably owned clarinets since the early 1750s.
In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin mentions hearing clarinets while vis-
iting the Moravian community of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1756. He states, “I
was at their Church, where I was entertain’d with good Musick, the organ being
accompanied with Violins, Hautboys, Flutes, Clarinets, etc.” (Lemay and Zall
1981: 149). However, Franklin wrote this portion of his autobiography between
September and October 1788, and was relying on a recollection that was faulty
(see Lemay and Zall 1981: x). D. M. McCorkle (1956: 600), formerly director of the
Moravian Music Foundation, commented.

Many of Franklin’s papers had been destroyed during the Revolution, and he was
doubtless writing from memory. It seems safe to assume that he had become fa-
miliar with the “clarinets” in Paris, rather than Bethlehem, and they slipped into
this list of woodwinds inadvertently. Certainly, no other evidence has turned up to
indicate that the clarinet was known in Bethlehem as early as 1756.

Dr. Karl Kroeger, formerly of the Moravian Music Foundation, states in a private
communication that later investigations still confirm McCorkle’s statement. Indeed,
in the music of large Moravian communities of both Bethlehem and Salem, North
Carolina, clarinets are not found among written instrumental parts until after 1800.
Table 6.1 is a selected chronological list of the Baroque clarinet appearances
from 1710 to 1760 in church and monastery records, music schools, courts, and
opera, indicating the number of clarinets in inventories or number of clarinetists,
clarinetists when known, music when referred to, and source.

Military Music

Two-​and three-​key clarinets were introduced into military bands by the 1750s and
continued to be played as late as the beginning of the 19th century. Thomsen-​Fürst

80 Rechn. Mittwochsrentkammer December 20, 1752, “für zwey Clairenetten 22 Gld./​18 Alb.,” Niemöller

1960: 80, note 5.

81 The author thanks Felix Gratl for sending photocopies of the music.
Table 6.1 The Baroque Clarinet in Church, Monastery, School, Court, and Opera, 1710–​1760

Year Place Clarinets Clarinetists Music Source

1710 Nuremberg Eberbach 6 Nuremberg archives, Gottron

Abbey 1959: 115–​16
1711–​1712 Nuremberg Frauenkirche 4 Nuremberg archives, Nickel
1971: 454, note 1246
1714 Nuremberg Sebalduskirche 2 Nuremberg archives, Nickel
1971: note 1246
ca. 1715 Venice Pièta 2 in C Vivaldi, Concerto Grosso, Ryom 2007: 243
RV 556
1714, 1720/​1722 Stuttgart court 4 Franz Anton Maximilan Pez, Stuttgart city archives, Owens
Georg Christoph Bleßner, 1995: 443–​46; Nägele 2014: 506
Antonÿ Meister, Georg
Albrecht Kreß
1718 Rastaat court, 1 Johann Caspar Ferdinand Thomsen-​Fürst 2014a: 418–​19;
Castenbauer inventory Fischer, Meleagers (text only, Owens 1995: 478
music lost)
1720 Antwerp Cathedral 1 in C Joannes Adamus Josephus Faber, Missa Maria Assumpta Rice 2009a: 54–​59
Faber
1733 (Jan. 17) Koblenz court 1 Johann Peter Spitz Bereths 1964: 44; Baur 1981: 82
1737 (Aug. 19) Merseburg court, oboe band 2 Johann George Rümler, Steude 2003: 97–​100
Johann Friedrich Kortzsch
1739 Kremsmünster Abbey, 2 lost, 3 broken Kellner 1956: 357–​58.
inventory
1741 Berleburg court, inventory 2 Domp 1934: 68–​9
1742 Gotha court, oboe band 2 in C, 2 in low F, Gotha city archives,
inventory and 2 in low D, Ahrens: 2009: 210

Continued

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Table 6.1 Continued

Year Place Clarinets Clarinetists Music Source

1745 Karlsruhe court oboe band 1 in D Johann Molter, March for six D-​KA, Mus. Hs. 448
wind instruments
1745 Mainz court, listing 1 Peter Kraus Jan Zach, Mass for the Krönungs Diarium, A-​Wn
coronation of Franz I
1745 Rudolstadt court 2 purchased, 2 Fleischer 1996: 105
repaired
1746 Greiz, Collegium Musicum 2 Crentzeisen, Johann Michael Greiz city archive, Jung 1963: 150
Trommer
1746 Kempten Lachner senior, Joseph Lachner, student Gerber (1812–​1814) 1966: vol. 3,
clarinet teacher pt. 3, 156
1748 Cologne court 2 Theodor Klein, Joseph Flügel Niemöller 1960: 65–​66, 68, 237,
257
1748 London, Mr. Hart, teacher General Advertiser, November
23, 26, December 3, 1748.
1749 Cologne, St. Gereon Church 2 Niemöller 1960: 66
1749 Frankfurt am Main, concert 2 Israël 1876: 36
notice
1749 Paris Opéra 2 Johann Schieffer, Franz Jean-​Phillipe Rameau, Paris Opéra archives, La
Reiffer Zoroastre Laurencie 1913: 27
1751 Paris Opéra 2 in C, 2 in D, Gaspard Procksch, George Rameau, Acante et Céphise Paris Opéra archives, Stern
and 2 in A Flieger 1983: pl. IV.
1751 Olmütz estate of Bernard 4 Sehnal 1972: 296
Nemêc, inventory
1753 Salzburg, St. Peter’s Church 1 Vierhalter Eder 1991: 117
1754 Schlosshof, Austria 2 Dittersdorf (1896) 1999 edn.: 78

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1754, 1756 Darmstadt court 2 in D, 3 David Steger, Karl Jakob Christoph Graupner, Lasset Noack 1967: 232–​33; Biermann
Gozian, Johann Peter Schüler eure Bitte vor, GWV 1174/​ 1987: 62
54, 1754
1756 Würzburg court 1 Martin Heßler Kirsch 2014: 591
1757/​1758 Mannheim court 2 Michael Quallenberg, Pelker 2014: 139–​40
Johannes Hampel
1758–​1760 Olmütz, Bishop Leopold 2 in C, 2 in A Anton Fernier (Fournier), Sehnal 1972: 292–​93, 295;
Egk von Hungersbach, Franz Fogenauer Pilková 1980: 41
inventory
1759 Hans Ditlevsen, Roskilde, 2 Himmer 1992: 159
Denmark, inventory
1759 Marienberg Abbey, south 1 in D P. Laurentius Martin, A.I.mf, without no.
Tyrol, northern Italy Prologus Divina Providentia
Narrat Thema Comoediae,
1759
1760 Zweibrücken court 2 Johann Kertz, Toller Gruhn 1974: vol. 1: 180–​81
(Broller), Wilhelm
Weischsen.

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218 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

(2014a: 419) suggests that clarinets were used in a military band during the 1750s at
Rastatt, and cites Franz Joseph Ulbrecht’s Musica à tavola (1756–​1766), a septet for
two B♭ clarinets, two E♭ horns, two E♭ trumpets, and one bassoon.
A hand-​colored engraving published in London in 1753 by James Maurer
shows a grenadier company preceded by a band of eight musicians playing two
each oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons. Are the clarinets Baroque clarinets

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or four-​or five-​key Classical clarinets? The engraving is not sufficiently detailed
for us to know.82 The introduction of the clarinet in English military and mi-
litia bands occurred during the 1750s but the players were not officially called
clarinetists, since the general term “hautbois” for wind players was used in mili-
tary documents.83
In America, the earliest specific evidence for the clarinet appears in New York
advertisements in 1758 and 1759.

Any performers on the Hautboy, French Horn, Clarinet, or Bassoon, who are
willing to engage themselves for five or six months; will meet with good encour-
agement by applying to the Commanding Officer of General Lascell’s Regiment at
Amboy [, New York].84

Music bands in British foot regiments serving in America are documented from
1755 to 1783 (Camus 1976: 179–​84). The band of the 17th Regiment of Foot in 1762
was the earliest and played a “regimental march [that] includes clarinet” (Camus
1976: 180).
In 1762 in Paris, the French guards and the Swiss guards were permitted to
establish a band of four each bassoons, hunting horns, oboes, and clarinets
(Hardy 1910: 21; F. Robert, “militaire (musique).”85 One year later, a news-
paper advertised for a musician who played the clarinet for a military regi-
ment in Kassel: “The Hessian Life-​ Dragoon-​ Regiment desires a military
musician who can play the oboe, flute, and clarinet and who can furnish
good recommendations. Such a person should report to the regiment of
Kirchhayn.”86

82 A View of [the] Royal Building for his Majesty’s Horse & Foot Guards, St. James’s Park, London (London: H.

Parker, 1753), reproduced in Hoover 1985: 818, fig. 436. A detail of the engraving is reproduced in Camus
1980: 82, fig. 72; a detail of the British Library’s engraving is reproduced in Croft-​Murray 1980: 152, no. 11, pl.
110; see also Whitwell 1984: 119, note 354.
83 One hautbois paid 1shillings 6 pence or 2 shillings was in three regiments: British dragoons, foot guards,

and Irish dragoons. See “Daily Pay of the Land Forces &c.” in A List of the General and Field-​Officers, as They
Rank in the Army (1758), n.p.
84 New York Gazette & Weekly Post Boy, December 12, 1758; January 1, 1759.
85 Published in the Etat militaire de France pour l’année 1763: 172–​75. “S.M. accordé à son Régiment des

Gardes-​Suisses une Musique composée de 4 Bassons, 4 Cors de Chasse, 4 Hautbois & 4 Clarinettes.”
86 “Das löb. Hessische Leib-​ Dragoner-​Regiment, verlangt einen Hautboisten, so Hautb. Flutetraversen
und Clarnette blasen kan, auch mit guten Attestatis versehen ist; Solcher meldet sich bey schon erwehnten
löbl. Regiment zu Kirchhayn.” Casselische Polizey-​und Commercien-​Zeitung (1763), 113; quoted in Whitwell
1984: 97, note 285.
 Baroque Clarinet in Society 219

In 1766 the Salzburg grenadier band (Grenadiers-​C ompagnien) consisted of

two each clarinets, fifes, and drums.87 Two marches written for this band in
1765 for two each clarinets and fifes (Pfeifer) are extant.88 Fortunately, a de-
scription of these two clarinets exists in the Salzburg archives: a 1769 “Essay
and Specification of Instruments in the French Pitch required by Military
Bandsmen” cites the following: “2 clarinets in D with mouthpieces and B keys

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as well as joints for tuning them to C” (Birsak 1985: 26).89 These instruments
probably continued to be played because of the conservatism of the bandsmen.
Birsak reported that the Salzburg Museum has a three-​key D clarinet (no. 18/​2)
with an E/​B thumb key by G. Walch, which fits remarkably well the 1769 spec-
ification (1985: 27, photographs 1a–​c). The Salzburg Museum’s two-​key and
their three-​key D clarinets were still owned by the grenadier band, according to
a 1776 inventory.90
Later examples of Baroque clarinet use appear in countries outside Germany
and Austria. A two-​or three-​key instrument may have been used in Swedish mil-
itary bands, beginning in 1762 or 1763 (see Rice 1984: 19). In 1773, the Swedish
music historian A. A. Hülphers mentions in his treatise the clarinet as an instru-
ment “recently adopted in our Regimental Music”91 and credits its introduction
to a Count Axel von Fersen (1755–​1810), who “augmented the field music at the
Royal Lifeguards with clarinets. . . .”92 The instruments used by Count Fersen may
have been similar to those used by a group of musicians in the infantry, described
by the organist Johan Miklin in a March 17, 1772, letter to Hülphers as “consisting
of 10 persons, namely 3 oboists, 2 horns, 2 bassoons, 2 clarinets, and 1 trumpet.”93
In France it appears that the three-​key clarinet was played in the military into
the 1780s. J. B. L. Carré (1783, pl. XIV) engraved a three-​key clarinet with an
E/​B key for the left-​hand little finger marked T, below a recorder, a fife, and an
oboe in a 1782 engraving in his treatise on the French military. He described it as
“resembling a variety of oboe, but different in that the reed is very large and hard,
which is why the sound is very silvery and close to the trumpet.”94

87 According to a circular decree (Zirkular-​Reskript) dated October 4, 1766, quoted in Whitwell 1984: 105.

This was reproduced in Hübler’s Sammlung der Militär-​, Politischen und Oekonomie Geseteze, vol. 4 (1765–​
1768), 77, according to Rameis 1976: 19.
88 Entitled “Mousquetiers Marche” and “Grenadiers Marche”; reproduced in Brixel, Martin, and Pils

1982: 64–​67. Kappey 1894: 75–​77 printed a nonet that he dated 1720–​1730, for two oboes, two D clarinets,
two D trumpets, two D and two G horns, and bassoon. The Bayerische Staatsbibliothek has dated this work as
1790–​1810.
89 Salzburg, Landesarchiv, Akte Landschaft XIII/​11, cited in Birsak 1985: 26. This list is reproduced in

Birsak and König 1983: 63, Abb. 59.

90 See Oskar Seefeldner, “Das Salzburger Kriegswesen,” Salzburg, MCA, MS HS 4045, cited in Birsak

1985: 31.
91 Hülphers: (1776) 1969 edn.: 87, note 11, “aylingen i wår Regements Musik antagne.” Trans. Mrs. Kirsten

Koblik.
92 Hülphers: (1776) 1969 edn.: 103, note 23 “har fält-​musiken . . . med Clarinetter . . .” Trans. Mrs. Kirsten

Koblik.
93 “[U]‌prätter . . . af 10 personer, näml. 3 hautboist., 2 waldth. 2 bassong. 2 clarinett. 1 trompet.” Quoted in

Norlind 1937: 44. Trans. Mrs. Kirsten Koblik.

94 Carré 1795: 373, “semble une variété du hautbois, et n’en diffère que par l’anche plus large et plus ferme,

pourquoi le son en est plus argentin et plus proche de celui du clairon.”

220 The Baroque Clarinet and Chalumeau

Conclusion

The Baroque clarinet had a significant impact on 18th-​ century society, as

demonstrated by the numerous iconographical images. It was immediately rec-
ognizable by its strong sound, by its usefulness as a solo and orchestral instru-
ment, and as a leading woodwind in militia and military bands. Its use in sacred

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music at monasteries and churches begins surprisingly early, at Eberbach Abbey
(1710), Nuremberg; Frauenkirche (1711–​1712); and the Sebalduskirche (1714).
The instrument spread to the Venice Pièta (ca. 1715); Antwerp Cathedral (1720);
Kremsmünster Abbey (1739); St. Gereon Church, Cologne (1749); St. Peter’s
Church, Salzburg (1753); and Marienberg Abbey, northern Italy (1759). The clarinet
was adopted in court music and in opera at Stuttgart (1714), Rastaat (1718), Koblenz
(1733), Merseburg (1737), Berleburg (1741), Gotha (1742), Karlsruhe (1745),
Mainz (1745), Rudolstadt (1745), Paris Opéra (1749), Olmütz (1751), Darmstadt
(1754), Würzburg (1756), Mannheim (1757/​1758), and Zweibrücken (1760). The
clarinet was introduced in oboe or wind bands in Merseburg (1737), Gotha (1742),
and Karlsruhe (1745). Civic music was played in Greiz by the Collegium Musicum
(1746); clarinet teachers are known at Kempten (1746) and London (1748); and
two clarinets were included in an outdoor festival in Schlosshof, Austria (1754). In
military and militia bands, the clarinet was introduced in London (1753), Rastatt
(1750s), Paris (1762), New York (1762), Stockholm (1762–​1763), Kirchhayn (1763),
and Salzburg (before 1765). After 1770, the clarinet became a favorite woodwind
of composers and players throughout Europe. It offered a unique sound quality
present in no other woodwind before or after, and inspired many generations of
composers, as represented by solo, chamber, wind, and orchestral music.
The Baroque clarinet continued to be played throughout Europe during the late
18th and early 19th centuries. In all levels of society, during the beginning of the
19th century, the Baroque clarinet was slowly supplanted by the Classical four-​
and five-​key clarinet used in opera houses and military bands throughout Europe
and Scandinavia. The clarinet’s popularity was increased by many virtuoso con-
certo performers in the great cultural centers of Paris, London, Vienna, Berlin, and
Stockholm, and adopted by all opera and court orchestras and taught at schools and
conservatories.