Basset clarinet
From Oddwinds
So is the basset clarinet odd or not? It's a member of the mundane clarinet family. It doesn't look very odd; it looks pretty much like a mundane soprano clarinet, except longer and with a few extra keys. It sounds about like a soprano clarinet, too, except that it can go a few notes lower. Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, widely regarded as the best clarinet concerto ever written, was written for a basset clarinet.
Still, the basset clarinet was around for only a few decades at best in Mozart's time, before being forgotten until the 20th century, and aside from a few Mozart works the basset clarinet literature is pretty sparse. So it seems to be borderline odd (Category 2).
Basset Clarinet Makers
- Buffet Crampon.
- Chadash Clarinet makes basset lower joints and bells to convert an existing clarinet in A.
- Stephen Fox makes basset clarinets in C, Bb, A, and G. He will also convert an existing soprano clarinet in C, Bb, or A to a basset clarinet by extending the lower joint or building a new lower joint.
- Hammerschmidt
- Howarth of London makes basset lower joints and angled barrels for existing clarinets in A.
- Leblanc (division of Conn-Selmer).
- L. A. Ripamonti.
- Schwenk und Seggelke.
- Selmer (division of Conn-Selmer).
