The bass clarinet is a musical instrument that belongs to the clarinet family. Similar to the more commonly used soprano B♭ clarinet, the bass clarinet is typically tuned to B♭, which means that when a musician plays a note written as C, it sounds as B♭. However, the bass clarinet plays notes one octave lower than the soprano B♭ clarinet. Bass clarinets are also made in other keys, such as C and A, but these are very rare compared to the common A clarinet used in classical music. Bass clarinets are often played in orchestras, wind ensembles, and concert bands. They may also appear in marching bands, jazz bands, and occasionally perform solo parts in contemporary music and jazz. A person who plays the bass clarinet is called a bass clarinettist or a bass clarinetist.
Description
Modern bass clarinets are usually straight, with a small curved metal bell and a bent metal neck. Earlier versions had different shapes, and some had double bodies that looked like bassoons. The bass clarinet is heavy and is held using a strap around the neck or an adjustable peg attached to the body. Although Adolphe Sax used a similar upturned bell design for larger saxophones, the two instruments are different. Bass clarinets are often made from grenadilla wood (African Blackwood) or plastic resin (more common for student instruments), while saxophones are usually made of metal. (Metal bass clarinets exist but are rare.) A key difference is that clarinets have a cylindrical bore (round shape inside) that stays the same size along the body, unlike saxophones, which have a conical bore (wider at the bottom). This difference gives clarinets a unique sound and causes them to overblow at the twelfth (octave plus fifth) instead of the octave like saxophones.
Most modern bass clarinets, like other clarinets, use the Boehm system of keys and fingerings. However, some bass clarinets made in Germany use the Oehler system, which is called the "German" system in the United States. This system is commonly used in Germany, Austria, Eastern Europe, and Turkey. Bass clarinets made with the earlier Albert system are still used in these areas. German system bass clarinets often have narrower bores than Boehm system instruments, which changes their sound and playing characteristics. Some modern makers have created Boehm system bass clarinets with a German-style bore, but these are not widely used.
Most modern Boehm system bass clarinets have an "extension" key that allows them to play down to the written E flat. This key was first added to help transpose music for the rare A-pitched bass clarinet but is now commonly used in concert band music. A major difference between soprano and bass clarinets is a key pad operated by the left-hand index finger with a vent that can be opened for high notes. This allows a "half-hole" fingering technique to play higher notes. Older bass clarinets had two register keys: one for middle D sharp and below, and another for middle E and above. Newer models use an automatic register key system, where a single left thumb key controls both vent holes. Whether the right-hand ring finger (used for middle D sharp and below) is pressed or not determines which vent opens.
Many professional or advanced bass clarinets can play as low as a written C, which is two octaves below middle C. At concert pitch, this note is the B flat below the second ledger line below the bass staff or B flat 1 in scientific pitch notation (the same as the bassoon’s lowest B flat). These lowest notes are played using additional keys operated by the right thumb, some of which are also found on the left or right-hand little-finger key clusters. Overall, the bass clarinet sounds an octave lower than the B flat soprano clarinet.
Like all wind instruments, the highest notes a bass clarinet can play depend on the instrument’s quality and the player’s skill. According to Aber and Lerstad, who provide fingerings up to written C7 (sounding B flat 5), the highest note commonly found in modern solo music is the E below that (sounding D5, the D above treble C). This gives the bass clarinet a usable range of up to four octaves, similar to the bassoon. Because of this range and the large amount of music written for bassoons and cellos, many bass clarinetists perform pieces originally intended for those instruments due to the limited number of solo works for the bass clarinet.
Uses
The bass clarinet has been used in music for orchestras and concert bands since the middle of the 1800s. It became more common in the middle and late 1900s. While it is not always needed in orchestra music, it is usually included in concert band music. In recent years, more music has been written for the bass clarinet alone or with piano, orchestra, or other groups. It is also used in clarinet choirs, marching bands, film scores, and jazz music.
The bass clarinet has a deep, rich, and dark sound that is different from other instruments in its range. It adds a unique quality to music by using the lower notes of the soprano and alto clarinets.
Some of the earliest solo parts for the bass clarinet were written in the 1834 opera Emma d'Antiochia by Mercadante. He originally requested a different instrument, called a glicibarifono, for that part. In 1836, Giacomo Meyerbeer wrote a significant solo for the bass clarinet in his opera Les Huguenots.
French composer Hector Berlioz was one of the first Romantic composers to use the bass clarinet in large works, such as his Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale (1840), Te Deum (1849), and Les Troyens (1863). Later French composers, like Maurice Ravel, wrote difficult and showy parts for the bass clarinet in works such as Daphnis et Chloé (1912), La valse (1920), and his version of Pictures at an Exhibition (1924).
Richard Wagner used the bass clarinet in his operas, starting with Tannhäuser (1845). He included it in the wind section as both a solo and supporting instrument. Wagner used the instrument’s dark tone to express sadness and sorrow. His use of the bass clarinet helped make it a permanent part of opera orchestras. The instrument plays a major role in Tristan und Isolde (1859), Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876), and Parsifal (1882).
Around the same time, Franz Liszt wrote important parts for the bass clarinet in his symphonic poems Ce qu'on entend sur la montagne, Tasso, and Dante Symphony. Giuseppe Verdi used the instrument in operas like Ernani, Aida (1870), La forza del destino, Simon Boccanegra, Don Carlo, and Falstaff. Giacomo Puccini, composer of La Bohème, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly, used the bass clarinet in all his operas, starting with Edgar (1889). Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky included the bass clarinet in his ballet The Nutcracker.
Later Romantic composers, like Gustav Mahler, used the bass clarinet in all of his symphonies, including long solo parts in his Symphony No. 6 in A minor. Richard Strauss wrote for the bass clarinet in most of his symphonic poems, and it shared a spotlight with the tenor tuba in his Don Quixote (1898). Strauss often wrote parts that required the instrument to play very high notes, as in Also Sprach Zarathustra.
Composers from the Second Viennese School, such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, and Alban Berg, often preferred the bass clarinet over the bassoon, its closest relative in range. Russian composers Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev used the lowest notes of the bass clarinet in many of their works, including Shostakovich’s Symphonies 4, 6, 7, 8, and 11, and Leoš Janáček’s Sinfonietta. These works take advantage of the instrument’s deep, powerful sound.
Prokofiev wrote parts for the bass clarinet in his Symphonies 2–7 and in Romeo and Juliet. Sergei Rachmaninoff used the instrument in his Symphonies 2 and 3 and in his symphonic poem Isle of the Dead. Igor Stravinsky wrote complex parts for the bass clarinet in works like The Firebird (1910), Petrushka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913).
The bass clarinet has a solo at the start of the third movement in Ferde Grofé’s Grand Canyon Suite. In the duet “A Boy Like That” from West Side Story (1957), Leonard Bernstein used three bass clarinets for their deep, dark sounds.
Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians (1976) includes two bass clarinets, playing deep, repeated notes that create a sense of slow, changing rhythms. One of the most performed works for the bass clarinet is Marc Mellits’ Black, with over 3,000 performances as of 2024.
Modern composers often use the bass clarinet with the contra-alto and contrabass clarinets, as in Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Piano Concerto. Many wind ensemble pieces include parts for the bass clarinet.
Important solo and ensemble works for the bass clarinet include:
- Kalevi Aho: Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Orchestra (2018)
- Georges Aperghis: Façade-Trio (2 x bass clarinet, percussion)
- Howard J. Buss: Lunar Vistas (solo), Three Euphonics (solo), Color'tudes (bass clarinet and piano) (2021)
- Ann Callaway: Concerto for Bass Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra (1985–1987)
- Unsuk Chin: Advice from a Caterpillar (2007)
- Peter Maxwell Davies: The Seas (2008)
- Osvaldo Golijov: Ayre (2002)
- Osvaldo Golijov: Lagrima (2003
History
There are several instruments that some people believe could be the first bass clarinet. One of the earliest is a dulcian-shaped instrument in the Museum Carolino Augusteum in Salzburg. This instrument is incomplete, missing a crook and mouthpiece, and is believed to be from the first half of the 1700s. Its wide, cylindrical shape and finger holes suggest it may have been a chalumeau or a bass-range clarinet. Four other instruments, called bass chalumeaux or clarinets, from the 1700s also appear to be among the earliest examples. One of these is thought to be from before 1750, though the authenticity of at least one has been questioned.
In the Munich Stadtmuseum, there is an instrument made around 1770 by the Mayrhofers of Passau, who are often credited with inventing the basset horn. This instrument resembles early basset horns but is larger and longer, capable of playing in low B♭. Whether it should be called a low basset horn or a bass clarinet is a matter of opinion. No further development of this type of instrument is known to have occurred.
A newspaper article from 1772 describes an instrument called the "basse-tube," invented by G. Lott in Paris. This instrument no longer exists, and little is known about it. The article is often cited as the earliest record of a bass clarinet, but recent research suggests the basse-tube may have been a basset horn instead.
In 1793, Heinrich Grenser created the Klarinetten-Bass, which had a folded shape similar to a bassoon and an extended range. It was likely intended to replace the bassoon in military bands. In 1807, Desfontenelles of Lisieux built a bass clarinet with a shape similar to the later saxophone. This instrument had thirteen keys, more than most soprano clarinets of the time.
Other makers developed additional designs, including Dumas of Sommières (who called his instrument a "Basse guerrière") in 1807; Nicola Papalini, around 1810 (a unique, curved wooden design); George Catlin of Hartford, Connecticut ("clarion") around 1810; Sautermeister of Lyons ("Basse-orgue") in 1812; Gottlieb Streitwolf in 1828; and Catterino Catterini ("glicibarifono") in the 1830s. Most of these instruments had shapes similar to a bassoon and extended ranges. A straight-bodied instrument without an extended range was made in 1832 by Isaac Dacosta and Auguste Buffet.
In 1838, Adolphe Sax, a Belgian instrument maker, designed a straight-bodied bass clarinet. His knowledge of acoustics led him to include features such as large, precisely placed tone holes and a second register hole. His design became very popular and formed the basis for all modern bass clarinets.
The instrument on which Anton Stadler first played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's clarinet concerto was originally called a Bass-Klarinette. However, it was not a bass clarinet in the modern sense. Since the late 1700s, this instrument has been known as a basset clarinet.
Notation
Orchestral music for the bass clarinet is written using one of four systems.
Sometimes, music is written for the bass clarinet in A, as seen in works by composers like Wagner, Mahler, or Rachmaninov. This type of music is often written in the bass clef, though not always (for example, in Ravel’s La Valse). The first bass clarinet in A was likely made by Johann Adam Henkel around 1850. Over the next 70 years, several makers, including Stengel, Moritz, Kruspe, and others, produced these instruments. Buffet made some in the 1920s, but few were made overall. After the 1920s, very few bass clarinets in A were produced, even though Fritz Wurlitzer tried making one in the 1940s.
Despite being rare, important works by famous composers used the bass clarinet in A. In the early 1900s, makers began regularly making B♭ bass clarinets with an E♭ extension key, allowing musicians to adjust A parts to play on B♭ instruments.
In the 1970s, there was a small increase in interest in the A bass clarinet. Selmer of Paris made a few A-pitched instruments with Boehm system keywork and low E♭ tuning (even though original music rarely goes below written low E). However, these instruments were expensive, and many musicians avoided carrying two heavy bass clarinets to performances. Few were sold, and Selmer stopped making A bass clarinets in the late 1980s. Today, very few musicians own a bass clarinet in A. Most play A parts on B♭ instruments, adjusting the music down by one semitone.