Chalumeau
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The chalumeau (plural chalumeaux) is a wind instrument, closely related to the clarinet. The word was in use in French from the twelfth century to refer to various sorts of pipes, some of which were made of cane and featured a single "reed" cut into the side of the cane itself. In the late seventeenth century an improved form of the chalumeau was developed. This baroque chalumeau represents the link between the recorder and the clarinet, and is essentially a cylindrical bore recorder with the mouthpiece of a clarinet and two additional "throat" keys controlling notes at the top of the fundamental register. Like the recorder, the instrument was built in families, from bass to soprano. The chalumeau continued to develop for several decades alongside the clarinet, and it has a large repertoire in 18th century orchestral and chamber music.[1]
The chalumeau and clarinet were two distinct instruments during the baroque period, although the clarinet eventually became the more versatile of the two, leading to the demise of the chalumeau by about the mid 1780s. The unusual acoustic properties of both instruments, behaving like a cylindrical bore closed at one end, result in the instrument overblowing at the twelfth, meaning that the upper register sounds one and a half octaves higher than the lower, unlike most other woodwind instruments, which overblow at the octave. The chalumeau, with its two opposing keys to extend the range by two semitones, was primarily used only in its fundamental range, therefore having a compass of only slightly more than an octave.
According to a description in Majer's Museum Musicum (1732) the chalumeau was made in four sizes: Soprano, alto, tenor, and bass. Comparison with surviving chalumeaux and with music written for chalumeaux suggests the sizes of the first three of these correspond to instruments in, or near, the keys F4, C4, and F3 (in scientific pitch notation). Majer's bass chalumeau may have been in C3.[2] However, there are no extant historical chalumeaux of this size, while two lower-pitched instruments have since been identified as chalumeaux; these may be Majer's basses, or a fifth, lower-pitched size unknown to Majer.[1][3] Confusingly, at least one modern maker of reproduction chalumeaux (Moeck) calls the first three of these sizes sopranino, soprano, and alto, and makes an instrument in C3 which they call a tenor.[4] The soprano, chalumeau had eight tone holes (one or more of them sometimes doubled for accidentals) to produce the notes F4, G4, A4, B♭4, C5, D5, E5, F5, and G5 while the two keys extended the range upward to A5 and B♭5. Alto and tenor chalumeaux were constructed analogously to produce pitches from C4 to F5 and F3 to B♭4 respectively. Of the two extant instruments that may be bass or sub-bass chalumeaux, one has only one key, controlling the lowest note, while the other has, besides the two throat keys, additional keys and tone holes to extend the range downward by a fifth.[1]
The clarinet was developed from the chalumeau primarily by displacing the B♭ key up towards the mouthpiece, reducing the size of the hole and inserting a register tube; here it still produces B♭, but functions in addition as a register key, allowing the upper range to be easily sounded.[1] In addition the clarinet's mouthpiece was modified to improve performance in the upper register, and the chalumeau's straight foot joint was replaced by a flared bell. Due to inherent acoustical limitations of the instrument, it could be constructed with either the upper or the lower range well tuned, but not both. The baroque clarinet therefore was primarily used in its upper range, which had a bright sound and better projection than the mellow sounding chalumeau, aided also by the enlargement of the bell for resonance. The two keyed baroque clarinet soon gained a third key at the bottom of the instrument to help sound the missing B natural (now placed at the bottom of the upper register, rather than the top of the fundamental register), which also served to extend the low register by one tone down to E. Further developments in the keywork allowed better intonation throughout the range of the clarinet, contributing to its increased popularity throughout Europe, and to the decline of the chalumeau.
Both the improvement of the chalumeau and the invention of the clarinet have been attributed to Johann Christoph Denner of Nuremberg, although his contributions are uncertain and in particular the clarinet may have been an invention of his son Jacob Denner. Although only about eight original chalumeaux are known to have survived, modern craftsmen are now producing replicas based on these original instruments. Present day makers of chalumeaux include Stefan Beck, Daniel Deitch, Moeck, Peter van der Poel, R. Tutz, and Guntram Wolf.
In the 1970s, a similar instrument called xaphoon (also called "Maui bamboo sax" or "pocket sax") was developed by Hawaiian craftsman Brian Wittman.
The chalumeau register can also refer to the fundamental register of the clarinet.
Additionally, in French children's slang, a chalumeau is the term used for a small firecracker that has been broken in the middle and lit in the crack for the sparks and the small flames.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Rice, Albert R. (1992). The Baroque Clarinet. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 15-38.
- ^ van der Meer, J. H. (March 1962). "The Chalumeau Problem". Galpin Society Journal 15: 89-91.
- ^ Colin Lawson. "Chalumeau", Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (accessed 27 October 2006), grovemusic.com (subscription access).
- ^ Barock (page on Moeck web site). Retrieved on 2006-10-16.
