Berr's Clarinet Tutors and the 'Boehm' Clarinet

Author(s): Albert R. Rice

Source: The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 41 (Oct., 1988), pp. 11-15
Published by: Galpin Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/842703
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 ALBERT R. RICE

Berr's Clarinet Tutors and

the 'Boehm' Clarinet
Charlton's response to E. A. K. Ridley's recent article
DAVID clarifies the publicationdates of two of Berr's clarinettutors and
outlines some of the interesting contents of these tutors. In further
clarificationand amplificationof the statementsof Ridley and Charlton,
I offer the following addendum.
Berr'sMethodeComplkte de Clarinettewas publishedin 1836 (the same
year as his TraiteCompletde la Clarinette)and listed in 1837 in the Agenda
Musicalou Indicateurdes Amateurs,Artisteset CommerCants en Musique,
3e Ann6e, 1837.1 Indeed, Berr is also listed here as a co-author with
others of MithodesCompltesfor the bassoon, tromboneand ophicleide.
In his Traite(pp. 9-10), Berrwas the firstto divide the clarinet'srange
into four parts: Chalumeau (e3 to f4), Intermediaire[intermediateor
throat] (g4 to bb4),Clairon [clarinet] (b5to c6), and Aigu [high] (d6to
g6).2 One year later, Berr refined this division in his Methode (p. 7) by
providing a chromatic range of: Chalumeau (e3 to f4), Intermediaire
(f#3 to bb4), Clairon (b5to c6), and Aigu (c6 to g6). His nomenclature
and division in the Methodehave been adopted by almost every
subsequentauthor.
Berr was one of the earliest in France to advocate the practice of
turningthe mouthpiece so that the reed is placed on the lower lip. Both
of the illustrationsin the frontispieces of his tutors show gentlemen
performers with the reed against the lower lip.3 Not every clarinet
teacher at the Conservatoire,however, was in agreement with Berr as
shown by Buteux's remarksin his tutor of 1836:
The Germanswho havegivenus the clarinethavekeptthe habitof playing
withthe reedbelowby pressing[thereedagainst]thelowerlip. MICHELand
hisstudentXAVIERLEFEVRE, who greatlyimprovedthe instrument, placed
[thereed]aboveor againsttheupperlip. Thisprincipleadoptedby ourschool
distinguishesit from the Germanschool. It has the advantageof providing
mobilityandsensitivityof execution,also clearnessandpungencyof sound,
and generallymorevigor throughoutthe entirerangeof the instrument.4
The eventualadoptionin Franceof the lower-lip or mandibularposition
of the mouthpiecewas probablyaccomplishedduringthe second half of
the century by the majority of clarinettists.

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 A thirdtutorwhichaccordingto Fetiswaswrittenby Berrshouldbe
mentioned,althoughits informationis morelimitedthanthe previous
tutors.It was publishedunderthe pseudonumof J. EnnesBerr and
entitled:NouvelleMethode de Clarinettea'6 et 13 Clefs,Augmentee de
45 PiecesFaciles,EtudesdeDuosprogressifs ParFrederic Berr.5
Inhisearlierarticle,RidleysuggestedthatBerrhadsomeinfluencein
the developmentof the 'Boehm'Clarinet.Theredoes not seemto be
any specificevidencefor this assumption.Ridleynoted that KlosC's
'TablatureDescriptiveDe La ClarinetA AnneauxMobiles' was
includedin Berr'smethodpublishedby Gerardas evidencefor that
assumption. KlosC's'Tablature' did not appearuntilthe publicationof
histutorin 1844afterBerr'sdeathin 1839,andCharltonhasshownthat
Berr'sMethode in theBritishLibrary, h. 1158,wasissuedby E. Gerardet
Cie in 1868.Theinclusionby thispublisherof Klose's'Tablature' is one
indicationof the growingpopularityof the 'Boehm'clarinet.6
Inthemajorityof accountsregarding the 'Boehm'clarinet,Klos6 and
Buffetare creditedwith the developmentof the instrument.In 1839,
Louis-Auguste Buffet (also known as Buffetjeune) exhibitedat the
ParisIndustrial Exhibition'Boehm'flutesandpiccolos,and'a clarinet
constructed afterthe [Boehm]system,butwhichhasnot alreadybeen
appliedto the clarinetby Mr. Boehm'.7This 'Boehm'clarinetwas
undoubtedlyone of the earliestmodelsconstructedby Buffet. The
Frenchpatentno. 9759,fortheapplication of movableringsto clarinets
andoboes,was appliedfor by L. A. Buffet(not Klos6as erroneously
reportedby Ridley,p. 68), of Ruedu BouliNo. 4, on December15th,
1843and approvedon February19th, 1844.8The text of this patent
informsus of the difficultiesencounteredby Buffetin his effortsto
applymovableringsto the clarinetand oboe:
Since1839I havepatented of movable
theapplication ringsto thefluteand
havetriedto bringto clarinets andoboesthisimportant improvement. The
thirteenkey clarinet,firstconsidered as perfect,still was not altogether
satisfactory.Indeed,theoriginal designof theholesof theclarinet,calculated
according to the spaces between the fingers, used to producedefective
intonation, andmuffled,weakor overlyloudsounds. Themechanism of the
keysrequired a slidingfromonekeyto another in orderto slurtwonotes.It
createdinsufferable difficulties
forfingeringandimpeded onefromplaying in
In the
everypitcheasily. short, pitches were creatingan incorrectfingering
Sseveralnoteshadto be tunedwithonlyonehole.
because
Here
. were the difficultiesthathad to be surmounted, and the
. anddefectsthathadtobecorrected. Itwasmyaimandittookme
disadvantages
aboutfiveyearsto realizeitY
It is of someinterestthatBuffetsucceededin applyingmovable
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rings to the flute in 1839, certainly relying to a large extent on Boehm's
work. He does not mention here, however, any help or inspiration for
applying movable rings to the clarinet that he may have received from
Klos6 or Boehm. Buffet stated only that within five years [i.e. 1839-
1844] he had succeeded in applying rings to the clarinet and oboe. Yet, it
does not seem surprising that Buffet would not mention any other help
that he received in this invention since he was applying for a
patent.10
In his tutor of 1844, Klos6 stated that he worked for many years to
find ways to resolve the defects of the clarinet:
I endeavoredto get rid entirely of the faults I havejust mentioned. I labored
long at this and afternumeroustrialsthe movable rings appearedto me to solve,
in an efficacious manner,the problem whose solution I had searchedfor during
many years. It is to Mr. AugusteBuffetJr. who seized and interpretedmy ideas
with a rare happinessthat I owe the instrument I now present to artists and
amateurs."'
Georges Kastner, in the 1844 supplement to his instrumentation treatise,
was quick to credit Klose with perfecting the clarinet by applying to it
'le systeme de Boehm'. Buffet's work apparently was unknown to
Kastner who further mentioned that:
.*. this clarinetwhich is called with movable rings and which one may call
'clarinetKlose', offers for its principaladvantagesan easy and naturalfingering,
a perfect equality of sound, a great exactness [in intonation] throughout the
range, and finally an extreme facility to produce passages previously
unplayable on the 13 key clarinet.12
It is ironic that Kastner's identification of this new clarinet with 'le
systeme de Boehm', rather than the 'clarinet Klose', seems to have
gained currency almost immediately. This erroneous identification has
(and apparently will) continue to the present day.

NOTES
1Paris: E. Duverger, 1837, col. 34; reprint ed., Geneva: Minkoff, 1981.
2 Earlierdivisions of the
range were always divided into two or three parts.
In the 1844 supplement (p. 23) to his instrumentationtreatise, Traits
Gdndral
d'Instrumentation,Georges Kastner specifically notated Berr's division of the
clarinets' range, but extended the highest note to c7.
3The term 'embouchure'is misleading if it is applied to the position of the
mouthpiece (i.e. reed placement). It was originally used to indicate the
mouthpiece (e.g. by PierreJaubertin DictionnaireRaisonne'UniverseldesArts et
Mitiers,nouvelle edition, Paris:P. F. Didotjeune, 1773, vol. 2, p. 184), but its
currentmeaningappliesonly to the position of the lips, as used by Vanderhagen
(1785) and Lefevre (c.1802) in their tutors.

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 4 LesAllemands, qui nousont donnela Clarinette,ont conservel'habitude
de jouerl'Ancheen dessous,en la posantsurla lkvreinfdrieure; MICHELet
son 6leveXAVIERLEFEVRE, auquelscet instrument doit de grandsprogrbs,
l'ont placeeen dessussousla lkvresuperieure.Ce principeadopteparnotre
6cole la distinguede l'ecole allemande;il a l'avantagede faireobtenirde la
mobilit6et de la sensibilit6dansl'execution;plusde nettet6et de mordantdans
les sons detacheset generalementplus de vigueurdanstoute l'etenduede
l'instrument'.
See, METHODEDE CLARINETTE / d'aprbsCelle Composeepar /
XAVIER LEFEVRE/ Adopteeparle Conservatoire de Musique./ Augmentie
/ du M6canismede l'Instrument perfectionn6 par / IWANMULLER/ PAR
BUTEUX... Paris.E. Troupenas, et Cie / Nve Vivienne,No. 40. Thistutor
consistsof 181pagesandindicatesa platenumberof 36. Althoughthetitlepage
is undatedin print,thecopyattheBibliothbque NationaleshelfnumberCh. 10
bearsatthetopof thepagein largeinkletters:'DeposealaDirectionMai1836,
No. 94'.
5 Paris:Meissonnieret Aulagnier,plate numberM.H. 763, 109 pages.A
copy is preservedat the libraryof the Conservatoire Royalde Musiquede
Bruxelles, shelf number D.D. 9004. According Fetis, this tutor was
to
published in 1839.
6 At leasttwo otherclarinettutorsfromthis periodincludedthis identical
fingeringchart.It is usedby F. Neerman,a professorat the Conservatoire and
studentof Klos6,in hisMithode deClarinette Diviseeen troisparties et
elimintaires
progressives (Paris:Lafleur,c.1850).(Thistutoris 59 pagesin length,a copy is
preservedat the UniversityLibraryat Cambridge,class markMR. 390.
a.85.12).The chartfor a clarinetwith movableringsis also foundin a tutor
writtenbyBerr'sbrother,Phillipe,andpublishedasMithode deClarinetted'apris
celledeVanderhagen Contenant touteslesNouvelles Tablatureset desEtudesSpeciales,
Augmentle d'unAppendice Boehm
pourlaclarinette parV.Blancou (Paris:Aulagnier).
Thistutoris 121pagesin lengthandincludesa platenumberof A.A. 180.It is
undatedandaccordingto Hopkinsonappeared between1843and1867.A copy
is preservedatthelibraryof theConservatoire Royalde MusiquedeBruxelles,
shelfnumberD.D. 9005.PhillipeBerr'searlierNouvelle Mithode deClarinette,
mentionedby Charlton,wasdatedby Fetis,underhis entryforJ. Eunds[sic]
Berr,asbeingpublishedin 1835.See Cecil Hopkinson,A Dictionary ofParisian
MusicPublishers 1700-1950(London:The Author,1954),p. 4.
7 'une clarinetteconstruited'aprbsle memesysteme,maisque M. Boehm
n'avaitpas cherch6 jusqu'icia appliquera la clarinette'.
See [M. Savart],'Instruments de musique',in Rapport duJuryCentral...
(Paris:L. Bouchard-Huzard, 1839),vol. 2, p. 365. Cf. JamesCoover,Musical
Instrument Collections:
CataloguesandCognateLiterature (Detroit:Information
Coordinators,1981),p. 191, item 1200.
s ThispatentandanEnglishtranslation werereproduced by N. NobleVance
in hisPh.D.thesisentitled,'AnHistorico-Acoustical Approachto theTeaching
of the Clarinetwith Head-Startfor the Clarinetist'(Ph.D thesis,Walden
University,1972),pp. 304-321 andIdem,Historical Development of theClarinet
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(Rock Island, Illinois: EnnennVee,1973), pp. 31-42. Constant Pierre
erroneouslyreferredto Buffet'spatentof 1844 as no. 16036,in LesFacteurs
d'InstrumentsdeMusique (Paris:E. Sagot,1893),p. 309.
9 Englishtranslationby the author.The Frenchtext of this handwritten
patentwas not clearenoughto quote every word accurately.Drawingsof
Buffet's clarinetand oboe with movablerings, found in his patent, are
reproducedby Karl Ventzke,in Boehm-Oboen unddie neueren franzisischen
Oboen-Systeme (Frankfurt: VerlagDasMusikinstrument, 1969),tafelIIbetween
pp. 16 and 17.
10At the IndustrialExhibitionat Parisof 1844Buffetwasawardeda bronze
medalfor a 'clarinettesystemede Boehm'.See [Louis-Adam] de Ponttcoulant,
Organographie.Essaisurla FactureInstrumentaleArt,Industrie
et Commerce (Paris:
Castel,1861;reprinted., Amsterdam: F. Knuf, 1971),vol. 2, p. 436.
S. . je duscherchera fairedisparaitre complktement les defautsdontj'ai
parlkci-dessus.Je travaillaipendantlong-tems;aprbsde nombreuxessais,les
anneauxmobilesme parurentr6soudred'unemanibreefficace,le problkme
'
dontjecherchaisla solutiondepuisplusieursannees;c'est Mr.AugusteBuffet
jeune, qui a saisiet interprettmes idees avec'un rarebonheur,queje dois
l'instrumentque je prtsente aujourd'hui Messieurs les Artistes et
amateurs.'
See H[yacinthe]Klose,Mithode pourservira l'enseignementdeLa Clarinettea
anneaux mobiles,et decellea 13 cles(Paris:Meissonnier,c. 1844),p. 2. English
translation by Vance,Historical Development of theClarinet,
p. 16.A copyof this
tutoris preservedin the libraryof the ConservatoireRoyalde Musiquede
Bruxelles,shelfnumberD.D. 9054. Kloseis mentionedas the inventorof a
clarinetwith movablerings, as well as havingpublisheda tutor for his
instrumentin the AMZ, vol. 46 (Oct. 9, 1844),col. 688.
'
12 '. . . cette clarinettequ'il appelle ANNEAUX MOBILESet qu'on
devraitappelerclarinetteKlosd offre pour principauxavantagesun doigte
facileet naturel,une parfaite6galitedu son, une grandejustessedanstoute
l' tendue,enfinuneextremefacilite ' rendredes
passagespresqu'inexecutables
sur la clarinettea 13 Clefs
See G. Kastner,Traite ge'nrale ... Suppldment
d'lnstrumentation (Paris:Prillip,
1844),p. 23.

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