Clarinet. Nominal pitch: B♭.

P Bié

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Instrument

Clarinet

Instrument Family

Wind

Maker

P Bié

Place Made

Western Europe ; Europe ; Paris ; France

Date Made

Circa 1865

Description

Technical description: Stained boxwood with german silver ferrules, bell rim and keywork. Four pieces: mouthpiece, barrel, one section and bell. The mouthpiece, of cocus, is grooved for a cord binding. The barrel, 67mm long and slightly bulbous, is stained like the body. The stain, almost varnish, on the bell is thicker and is damaged in one place, almost as if an attempt had been made to deface an inscription, though there is no other evidence that this has been done.The Romero system offers several alternative fingerings and enables the player to play up to C₅ in the throat register to avoid difficult fingering combinations. The instrument is equipped with seven additional `throat' tone-holes above the L1 finger-hole in a vertical line. In the following description these are numbered 1 to 7 from the top. Holes 1 to 6 are closed by rods on the right side of the instrument, hole 7 is allowed to open when the key under L3 is used. There are also two duplicate holes, 5a and 6a, on the left of the instrument, these are both opened by the key under L2. These throat holes are closed by the rings for R1, R2 and R3, also by that for L0. The `open note' of the instrument is throat B♭; closing R1, R2 and R3 successively gives A♮, A♭ and G♮. Thus the traditional open G has to be fingered with the first three right hand fingers down. The `cross-break' trills use throat holes 1 and 2, opened by the key under L1; by itself it gives C♮, when R1 is also closed it gives B♮. The speaker is not used for any of these throat notes; it can therefore be sited where it can best assist the production of the upper register notes. L0: T; ring closing throat holes 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6; speaker. L1: T; ring closing throat holes 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6; cross rod key allowing throat holes 1 and 2 to open (throat B♮; throat C₅). L2: T; double ring, the lower one closing throat holes 3, 4 and 5, the upper one closing the spectacle key and the vent beside L3 which gives a good B♭; rod key opening throat holes 5a and 6a which gives with L1 G₄/E♭₆. L3: T; spectacle ring for forked B♭; cross key allowing throat hole 7 to open, giving, with L2, and alternative F♯₄/C₆. L4: Alt C♯₄/G♯₅; lever opening the articulated G♯₃/E♭₅; lever closing two low tone-holes for F₃/C♮₅; lever closing the three low tone-holes for E₃/B♮₄; lever closing one low tone-holes for F♯₃/C♯₅. R1: T; ring closing (i) the articulated G♯, (ii) the F♯ hole, so giving the Boehm B♭₃/F♮₅; and (iii) throat hole 3 for the throa  A♮; rod key opening a hole beside L1, giving together with L0 another C₆. R2: T; ring closing the F♯ hole giving the Boehm F♯ with R2 closed and R1 open, also closing throat 3 and 4 for the throat A♭. R3: T; ring closing throat 3, 4 and 5 for the throat G♮ if left hand is open; cross key giving another F♯₅, but no good B♮₃. R4: Articulated B♮₃/E♭₅; F♯₃/C♯₅, F₃/C♮₅ and E₃/B♮₄ (these four in one plane and duplicated by levers under L4). Keymount type: screwed-in pillar mounts and metal saddles and screws. Keyhead type: modern. Overall size: 651; 576 to top of barrel. Bore: at C₄ hole 14.4; at F₃ hole 15.1. Stamped on barrel " * / LEFEVRE / A PARIS / * / BREVETE / * " / monogram (not clear, could be "TC" or "PB"; the letters are in relief and have been applied to the wood, not stamped into it); stamped on opposite side of barrel " * / E. ALBERT / * " (stamped into the wood in the usual manner). P. Bié purchased the business from F. Lefèvre c 1855 and appears to have continued using the old name. Repair History: Refurbished by E. Planas 1985. Bell scratched, keywork sticky. General literature references: Rendall 1954, pp.103 4. Usable pitch: A₄ = c 447 Hz. Specific literature references: Rendall 1954, pp.108 9; G.S. (1968) No. 173. Illustration references: Vol. 1 p.98; Follan 1987a, p.21; Dullat 2001, p.72

Other Information

General usage of type: Invented by the Spanish clarinettist, Antonio Romero y Andia to overcome the `break' problem.

Notes

T.K. Dibley, August 1992; R. Neil, 1986; H. Fricke, July 2005.

Measurements

651; 576 to top of barrel.

Collection

Rendall Collection ; MIMEd

Accession Number

0130

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