9

I am a clarinettist so I am a little embarrassed to need to ask this. I have not played the bass clarinet. I am looking at a miniature score of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (Dover Miniature Scores).

Towards the end of The Ritual Action of the Ancestors, there are two bass clarinets playing. The second part is written in the bass clef and the first switches to the bass clef at bar 143. I thought that the bass clarinet was a transposing instrument (down a major 9th) and would be written in the treble clef. As a player, how would I interpret the bass clef? Would I now consider my instrument as only transposing by a major second?

More generally, what notation is used for the bass clarinet?

Elements in Space
  • 10,785
  • 2
  • 23
  • 67
badjohn
  • 4,163
  • 1
  • 18
  • 41

1 Answers1

8

In this case, your intuition is correct: when the bass clarinet is written in the bass clef, it now only transposes by a major second instead of by a major ninth.

Transposing by a major ninth (i.e., written in treble clef) is far more common so as to allow the player to use the same fingerings as they do when playing the standard clarinet. But this bass-clef notation does occasionally appear.

But buckle up.

To make matters more confusing, the transposition level isn't fully standardized when the score briefly changes to treble clef. In the German style, the treble-clef notation is still only transposed by a major second. In the Russian style, however, treble-clef notation reverts to the standard major-ninth transposition.

Confused yet? But it gets even better: some Italian scores write the bass clarinet in bass clef but continue to transpose it by a major ninth (!).

In practice, it's best to remember the four traditions of bass-clarinet notation:

  1. The standard (French) style, always written in treble clef transposed by major ninth;
  2. the German style, in which all is transposed by major second;
  3. the Russian style, in which treble-clef notation transposes by major ninth but bass-clef notation transposes by major second;
  4. and the Italian style, in which all is transposed by major ninth (treble clef and bass clef).
Richard
  • 82,618
  • 16
  • 186
  • 360
  • Thanks. This is the first time that I have noticed the bass clarinet written in the bass clef. I would have been less puzzled if it was consistently so. The switch for just a few bars seemed odd. – badjohn Jul 06 '19 at 15:38
  • Did I interpret the instrumentation correctly? We need 5 players and 10 instruments? – badjohn Jul 06 '19 at 15:39
  • 1
    @badjohn That I admit I'm less clear on. It's definitely five players, but the number of instruments may change if the performers choose to transpose the parts themselves and play on only one instrument. – Richard Jul 06 '19 at 15:41
  • Thanks for the enhanced answer. As you would expect, your style 3 appears to be correct for this piece. I was listening to it while following the score. What's the difference between 1 and 4? – badjohn Jul 06 '19 at 15:42
  • 1
    @badjohn Good call, I was unclear, and I've now edited it: the French style only uses the treble clef, but the Italian style uses both treble and bass. – Richard Jul 06 '19 at 15:44
  • Yes, I expect that some players may transpose rather than have so many instruments e.g. a clarinet in D. I have heard of players using only a B♭ and transposing when the part requires an A. I don't fancy transposing on sight by a semitone but I guess that I could learn it. I am familiar with transpoing by a major 2nd, major 6th, and major 9th (I also play the sax). – badjohn Jul 06 '19 at 15:45
  • @PiedPiper one of the three clarinettists also doubles bass. Does that clarinettist not need both B-flat and A clarinets in addition to the bass clarinet? If so, I then count 11 instruments unless the players are sharing. Also, if the bass clarinettist needs both B-flat and A instruments when serving as Cl IV, that would be 12 instruments. – phoog Jul 06 '19 at 19:03
  • @phoog It is a little confusing, I carefully transcribed the instrumentation page but it is a little hard to interpret. I was not following the clarinets through the entire piece but, I think that PiedPiper is right, one player is dedicated to the bass. – badjohn Jul 06 '19 at 22:41
  • @phoog So, I also count 10 instruments. P1 D & E♭. P1 B♭ & A. P3 B♭, A & bass. P4 B♭ & A. P5 bass only. The reference to Cl. IV is a little confusing. It seems to number the B♭ & A players as I, II, and III and the bass as IV but the "small" clarinet gets no number. Of course, I could be wrong. – badjohn Jul 06 '19 at 22:46
  • @badjohn the list given in the question clearly shows that the second of the three "normal" clarinettists (call her Carol) sometimes plays a second bass clarinet and that the bass clarinettist sometimes plays as a fourth normal clarinettist. If Cl II and IV needs both A and B-flat clarinets in addition to the bass clarinet then those two players need three instruments. It seems unlikely, but the information available on this page does not rule it out. I'll check to see whether I have a score handy. – phoog Jul 07 '19 at 03:19
  • @badjohn If your interpretation is correct then the notation "II = B. Cl II" is inconsistent with "= Cl. IV." In one case, the equals sign means "also sometimes plays" while in the other case it means "is labeled as." And labelling a bass clarinet as Cl. IV would indeed be rather odd. The inconsistency is easily eliminated by interpreting the equals sign consistently as "also sometimes plays." – phoog Jul 07 '19 at 03:23
  • @PiedPiper then what is the meaning of "= Cl. IV"? – phoog Jul 07 '19 at 03:25
  • @phoog The Cl. IV is confusing. I'll go through the score to check what is actually used but I won't get time today or maybe a few more days. Yesterday, I had some time alone to listen and follow the score. That luxury won't be available again for a while. – badjohn Jul 07 '19 at 05:29
  • @Richard There are really two questions here: the bass clarinet notation and the instrumentation. I'll split the question into two: I'll trim this back to just the bass clarinet notation since Richard answers that well. I'll start a new question for the instrumentation. – badjohn Jul 07 '19 at 07:29