Which is it?

[N Grossingink]

HA! Now that I've gotten you to open up this topic, I need some learned advice.

There seem to be at least 3 ways of referring to this instrument:

1) E flat Contralto Clarinet
2) E flat Contra-Alto Clarinet
3) E flat Contra Alto Clarinet

Which is correct/more correct?

Thanks,
N

[David Ward]

FWIW I've always known of the instrument as the E flat Contrabass clarinet. I think the choice of name largely depends on the country, even if English speaking.

[N Grossingink]

Thanks Emily, Ron and David. Since this is an American publisher I'm going to stick with "E flat Contra Alto".

N

[motet]

There are three sizes of clarinets in Eb--make sure you've got the right one! There's the little soprano clarinet common in big late-romantic orchestras. There's a tenor-sized, bigger than the standard clarinet but smaller than a bass clarinet, that I've always heard simply as "alto clarinet." Then there's a big thing, bigger than a bass clarinet, called a contraalto clarinet. The latter two are not common in symphony orchestras, but sometimes found in band music.

[N Grossingink]

There are three sizes of clarinets in Eb--make sure you've got the right one! There's the little soprano clarinet common in big late-romantic orchestras. There's a tenor-sized, bigger than the standard clarinet but smaller than a bass clarinet, that I've always heard simply as "alto clarinet." Then there's a big thing, bigger than a bass clarinet, called a contraalto clarinet. The latter two are not common in symphony orchestras, but sometimes found in band music.

This is a band composition, and yes it is the big one.

In my life as a record collector, I remember reading that in the first American performance of the Shostakovich 7th symphony a contra alto clarinet was used to play the bass clarinet solo in the 2nd movement. The solo goes down to the very depths of an instrument that has the extended foot, and is unplayable by the standard bass clarinets.

Here's the part, 2nd page 4th stave.
http://archives.nyphil.org/index.php/ar ... 2/mode/2up

N.

[David Ward]

I think virtually all professional orchestral players of the bass clarinet in the UK nowadays have an instrument that can go as low as that Shostakovich example, and I suspect that this is probably much the same in the US.

I notice that Gould on page 540 of her book lists the standard scoring for wind band as including an instrument she calls ‘E flat Contrabass Clarinet’ which would seem to support my suggestion that it may be given different names in different English-speaking countries.

[Jim Coull]

While the names get interchanged anywhere, there is technically no such thing as an Eb Contra-Bass clarinet. The clarinet family alternates (mostly) with Eb and Bb transpositions (from highest to lowest):

Eb Soprano (sounds a minor 3rd higher than written)
Bb Soprano (sounds a major 2nd lower than written)
Eb Alto (sounds a major 6th lower than written)
Bb Bass (sounds a major 2nd + an octave lower than written)
Eb Contra-Alto (sounds a major 6th + an octave lower than written)
Bb Contra-Bass (sounds a major 2nd + two octaves lower than written)
{And of course there is the A (Soprano) clarinet - not common in band music}

The "Contra" indicates that the instrument sounds an octave lower than its smaller sibling, i.e., the contra-alto sounds and octave lower than the alto when playing the same written pitch. This might be a picky point, but the misuse of terms can lead to problems. For example, if a part is simply labeled as contra-bass, one must assume that the Bb instrument is what is meant. However that is not always the case as many composers/arranger/publishers are IMHO careless with the labels. As a former band director (now retired) I learned that I had to carefully examine any part labeled contra-bass to see which instrument to give my student for that part. Fortunately, I was lucky enough to have both a Eb Contra-Alto and a Bb Contra-Bass.

Jim Coull

[David Ward]

Can anybody tell me definitively whether or not the term Contra-Alto Clarinet is ever used here in the UK?

There is certainly a confusing difference in the terminology for certain brass instruments between the UK and the US. eg The E flat instrument called an Alto Horn in the US, Germany and certain other countries is called the Tenor Horn in the UK, while a US/German Tenor Horn is called a Baritone in the UK (this is the instrument used in Mahler 7), but a US Baritone is something entirely different &c &c.

There's also a clarinet in F in fairly regular use, namely the so-called ‘Basset Horn’ (used in Mozart's Requiem and Magic Flute and also in various operas by R Strauss &c). The Basset Horn's written range extends down to the low C sounding as the F immediately below the standard bass stave. It seems to have a rather thinner tone than other clarinets.

[MikeHalloran]

I played string bass in concert bands off and on for decades. If there was no double bass part, I'd be assigned the Eb contra-bass clarinette part if there was none—I liked that since I only had to transpose the key signature unlike tuba or Bb contrabass where there was more transposition.

I have never seen it called anything other than Eb contrabass clarinet on any of those parts I ever played. I'm fairly certain that I would have noticed.