"Clarinet, nominal pitch: A"

Clarinet, nominal pitch: A | Osterried & Gerlach | Circa 1900

Audio Clips

Professional musicians would often buy matched sets of clarinets that were made in different keys. This allowed the musician to choose the correct instrument for the music being performed while maintaining the same sound quality between the instruments.Since the early part of the nineteenth century, Munich had been a leading centre for the production of woodwind instruments. These high quality instruments were made by the firm of Osterreid & Gerlach, which was connected by family and training with the influential maker Ottensteiner. Ottensteiner, together with the clarinet virtuoso Carl Baermann, developed the system of clarinet represented here – the Ottensteiner-Baermann system.

Clarinet

Instrument Data

Instrument Information

Title

Clarinet, nominal pitch: A

Accession Number

5296

Collection

Sir Nicholas Shackleton Collection; MIMEd

Date Information

Date Made

Circa 1900

Period

19th century; 20th century; 1890s; 1900s

Gallery Information

Gallery

Wolfson Gallery

Case

Woodwind case 1

Maker Information

Maker Name

Osterried & Gerlach

Maker Biography

Osterreid and Gerlach were established as a partnership between Anton Osterreid (1829-1912) and Gerlach in 1895. Osterreid trained in Paris and in 1852 migrated with his sister to America, but returned in 1860. He worked as a foreman for various firms before retiring in 1909, three years before his death.

Made In

City

Munich

Country

Germany

Description

Technical Description

Technical description: Stained boxwood with german silver ferrules and keywork. Five pieces: mouthpiece, barrel, upper section, lower section, bell. Sharing original named blackwood mouthpiece (grooved for cord with silver lay) with (5295). Brille on upper section with vent just above R1. Additional L3 side F₄/C₆. Alternative R1 touchpiece for C♯₄/G♯₅. End pivoted F₃/C₅. Additional L4 lever for G♯₃/E♭₅. German silver tube in thumb-hole. 17 keys, 4 rings, 4 black rollers. L0: T; speaker. L1: T + ring + vent; throat A♮; throat A♭. L2: T + ring + vent; alternative cross key for F₄/C₆. L3: T; E♭₄/B♭₅; side F₄/C₆. L4: C♯₄/G♯₅; E₃/B♮₄; F♯₃/C♯₅; alternative lever for G♯₃/E♭₅. R1: T; side F₄/C₆; side E♭₄/B♭₅; side trill key for throat G-A or C₆-D₆; side trill for throat A-B♮ and B♭-C; alternative touchpiece for C♯₄/G♯₅. R2: T + ring + vent. R3: T + ring (forked B♭₃/F♮₅); cross B♭₃/F♮₅. R4: G♯₃/E♭₅; F₃/C₅. Keymount type: screwed in pillars with push-pins. Keyhead type: modern. Signature marks: Inscribed on barrel, both sections, and bell with star / "OSTERRIED / GERLACH / MÜNCHEN / A"; on mouthpiece "GERLACH / MÜNCHEN". Playing accessories: Wooden reed-cap with an ivory ferrule. (5295) and (5296) in presumably original brown leather case lined with purple velvet. Also in case wooden tenon protectors, mop, and cork grease. (5295) in B♭ and (5296) in A are a matched pair of clarinets.

Provenance

Bequest of Sir Nicholas Shackleton, 2006.

Classification