The alto clarinet is a

woodwind instrument Woodwind instruments are a family of musical instruments within the greater category of wind instruments. Common examples include flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and saxophone. There are two main types of woodwind instruments: flutes and Reed ...

of the

clarinet family The clarinet family is a family (musical instruments), musical instrument family of various sizes and types of clarinets, including the well-known soprano clarinet, B clarinet, the bass clarinet, and the slightly less familiar E-flat cl ...

. It is a

transposing instrument A transposing instrument is a musical instrument for which music notation is not written at concert pitch (concert pitch is the pitch on a non-transposing instrument such as the piano). For example, playing a written middle C on a transposing i ...

pitched in the key of E, though instruments in F have been made. In size it lies between the

soprano clarinet A soprano clarinet is a clarinet that is higher in register than the basset horn or alto clarinet. The unmodified word ''clarinet'' usually refers to the B clarinet, which is by far the most common type. The term ''soprano'' also applies to th ...

and the

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

. It bears a greater resemblance to the bass clarinet in that it typically has a straight body (made of

grenadilla ''Dalbergia melanoxylon'' (African blackwood, grenadilla, or mpingo) is a flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to seasonally dry regions of Africa from Senegal east to Eritrea and south to the north-eastern parts of South Africa. The ...

or other

wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin th ...

, hard

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

, or

plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...

), but a curved neck and bell made of metal. All-metal alto clarinets also exist. In appearance it strongly resembles the basset horn, but usually differs in three respects: it is pitched a whole step lower, it lacks an extended lower range, and it has a wider bore than many basset horns. The range of the alto clarinet is from the concert G₂ or G₂ (in the second octave below middle C, bottom line of the

bass clef A clef (from French: 'key') is a musical symbol used to indicate which notes are represented by the lines and spaces on a musical stave. Placing a clef on a stave assigns a particular pitch to one of the five lines, which defines the pit ...

) to E₆ (in the second octave above middle C), with the exact upper end of the range depending on the skill of the player. Despite the broad range, the instrument is always scored in the treble clef. Most modern alto clarinets, like other instruments in the clarinet family, have the

Boehm system The Boehm system is a system of keywork for the flute, created by inventor and flautist Theobald Boehm between 1831 and 1847. History Immediately prior to the development of the Boehm system, flutes were most commonly made of wood, with an i ...

or Oehler system of keys and fingering, which means that this clarinet has virtually identical fingering to the others. The alto clarinet, however, often has an extra key allowing it to play a low (written) E, and a half-hole key controlled by the left-hand index finger with a vent that may be uncovered to assist in playing the

altissimo Altissimo (Italian for ''very high'') is the uppermost register on woodwind instruments. For clarinets, which overblow on odd harmonics, the altissimo notes are those based on the fifth, seventh, and higher harmonics. For other woodwinds, the alt ...

History

The invention of the alto clarinet has been attributed to

Iwan Müller Ivan Müller, sometimes spelled Iwan Mueller (1786 in Reval, Estonia – 1854 in Bückeburg), was a clarinetist, composer and inventor who at the beginning of the 19th century was responsible for a major step forward in the development of th ...

and to Heinrich Grenser, and to both working together. Müller was performing on an alto clarinet in F by 1809, one with sixteen keys at a time when soprano clarinets generally had no more than 10–12 keys; Müller's revolutionary thirteen-key soprano clarinet was developed soon after. The alto clarinet may have been invented independently in America; the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

has a bassoon-shaped alto clarinet in E, cataloged as an "alto clarion", attributed to an anonymous American maker circa 1820. This instrument bears a strong resemblance to the "patent clarions" (bass clarinets) made from about 1810 by George Catlin of

Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...

and his apprentices. Later, in Europe,

Adolphe Sax Antoine-Joseph "Adolphe" Sax (; 6 November 1814 – 4 February 1894) was a Belgian inventor and musician who invented the saxophone in the early 1840s, patenting it in 1846. He also invented the saxotromba, saxhorn and saxtuba. He played the f ...

made notable improvements to the alto clarinet. Albert Rice defines clarinets in G with flared bells, which were produced as early as 1740, as alto clarinets,Albert R. Rice. ''From the Clarinet D'Amour to the Contra Bass: A History of Large Size Clarinets, 1740–1860.'' Oxford University Press, 2009, pp. 9-10. but this use of the term is uncommon.

Use in musical ensembles

Soon after its invention, Georg Abraham Schneider composed two concertos (Op. 90 and op. 105) for Müller's instrument and orchestra. Generally, however, the alto clarinet has not been commonly used in orchestral scoring. It is used mostly in

concert band A concert band, also called a wind band, wind ensemble, wind symphony, wind orchestra, symphonic band, the symphonic winds, or symphonic wind ensemble, is a performing ensemble consisting of members of the woodwind, brass, and percussion famil ...

s and plays an important role in clarinet choirs. A few jazz musicians,

Hamiet Bluiett Hamiet Bluiett (; September 16, 1940 – October 4, 2018) was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. His primary instrument was the baritone saxophone, and he was considered one of the finest players of this instrument. A mem ...

Vinny Golia Vinny Golia (born March 1, 1946) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist specializing in woodwind instruments. He performs in the genres of contemporary music, jazz, free jazz, and free improvisation. Career As a composer, Golia fuse ...

J. D. Parran J. D. Parran is an American multi-woodwind player, educator, and composer specializing in jazz and free improvisation. He plays the soprano, alto, tenor, baritone, and bass saxophone, as well as the E-flat clarinet, alto clarinet, bass clarinet, ...

, Petr Kroutil,

Joe Lovano Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarin ...

and

Gianluigi Trovesi Gianluigi Trovesi (born 1944) is an Italian jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He has won various Italian jazz awards. He also teaches in Italy. Early life Trovesi was born in Nembro near Bergamo in Lombardy in 1944. He studied harmony ...

among them, have played the alto clarinet. In his '' Treatise on Orchestration and Instrumentation'',

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

said of the alto clarinet, "It is a very beautiful instrument which ought to take its place in all well-established orchestras."

Notability

The alto clarinet band part remains in 20th and 21st century wind band literature. Band directors looking to add color to a large clarinet section will often move clarinet players to this instrument. Many times the alto clarinet serves an important role in the harmonic scoring of the clarinet section within the broader scope of the concert band. There is a notable alto clarinet solo in

Percy Grainger Percy Aldridge Grainger (born George Percy Grainger; 8 July 188220 February 1961) was an Australian-born composer, arranger and pianist who lived in the United States from 1914 and became an American citizen in 1918. In the course of a long an ...

's wind-band piece ''

Lincolnshire Posy ''Lincolnshire Posy'' is a musical composition by Percy Grainger for concert band commissioned in 1937 by the American Bandmasters Association. Considered by John Bird, the author of Grainger's biography, to be his masterpiece, the work has six ...

''. An important orchestral example is

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the ...

's ''Threni'', which calls for an instrument in F instead of the usual E, and with extension keys to fingered low C (therefore indistinguishable from a basset horn). Stravinsky calls for the usual alto clarinet in E in the '' Elegy for J.F.K.'' (1964).

Joseph Holbrooke Joseph Charles Holbrooke (5 July 18785 August 1958) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. Life Early years Joseph Holbrooke was born Joseph Charles Holbrook in Croydon, Surrey. His father, also named Joseph, was a music hall music ...

seems to have liked the instrument. He wrote an elaborate part for alto clarinet in his Symphony No. 2 ''

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''. In the wind band and clarinet choir the alto clarinet can add tonal strength to the ensemble, not only because it can play lower notes, but because some of the most beautiful notes (written C to F) in the upper register of the alto clarinet have the same pitch as the weaker-toned middle-register notes (written F to B) of the B

Ensemble music

The alto clarinet fell somewhat out of favor outside of marching bands, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It has become mildly more popular with contemporary composers, and especially those writing music for clarinet choir.

Solo music for alto clarinet

The solo repertoire for alto clarinet is quite limited, with much of it consisting of transcriptions of works originally for basset horn. A number of compositions originally conceived for alto clarinet and piano include Franklin Stover's ''Pastorale & Passepied'' (with alternate part for basset horn in F), Frank McCartey's ''Sonata'', David Bennett's ''Dark Wood,'' William Presser's ''Arietta'', Alfred Reed's ''Serenata'' and ''Sarabande'', and a ''Sonata'' by Norman Heim. Karlheinz Stockhausen has also composed for the alto clarinet and basset horn.

Differences in nomenclature

In contrast with more recent families of instruments such as for example the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, the terms used for the different sized clarinets draw more on tradition and regionalism, and are not without discrepancies. The familiar B and A clarinets, while technically soprano instruments, are not commonly referred to as such outside of academic circles. There is no "tenor" clarinet as such, and while the term "bass clarinet" seems clear enough, its relation to the alto clarinet really places it in the position of the tenor instrument of the clarinet family. Some writers have considered that the ''alto'' clarinet might be better referred to as a "tenor". Add to this the fact that the contrabass clarinet in Eb, though pitched below the bass clarinet, is sometimes referred to as a "contralto clarinet", there is ample ground for confusion in clarinet nomenclature. Considering the wide range of the clarinet (more than three octaves) and focussing on the first two octaves, this would compare better with the classifications given, for example, to the

family. The "soprano" clarinets in B and A share their lowest octaves with the

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

(minus a semitone in the case of the B clarinet). In the case of the E alto, the range usually extends to a tone below that of the

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

. It is clear that the "soprano" clarinets in B, A, and C are perfectly capable of taking on the higher lines in a score, but they achieve this by playing largely in their "clarion" and "altissimo" registers. The lower instruments are, for obvious reasons, exploited much more in their "chalumeau" registers and this, by comparison, is quite low. Also, since the time of

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

and the clarinettist

Anton Stadler Anton Paul Stadler (28 June 1753, in Bruck an der Leitha – 15 June 1812, in Vienna) was an Austrian clarinet and basset horn player for whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote, amongst others, both his Clarinet Quintet (K 581) and Clarinet Concert ...

, composers began to favour the rich sonorities of the lower

tessitura In music, tessitura (, pl. ''tessiture'', "texture"; ) is the most acceptable and comfortable vocal range for a given singer or less frequently, musical instrument, the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding (or character ...

of the clarinet and this may partly have contributed to the clarinet family being pitched further down against its counterparts in the wind section of the orchestra where it will often take on the lower parts.

Alto clarinet parts in wind bands

In the late 1940s, there was some discussion over whether the alto clarinet should be eliminated from the standard wind band.Sawhill, Clarence E. "The Problem of the Alto Clarinet" and Rohner, Traugott. "Shall We Eliminate the Alto Clarinet?". In (Both reprinted from ''The Instrumentalist'', 1948.) Arguments used include its relatively low volume and that its part is often doubled by other instruments, and the expense. Because of this, publishers of band music for elementary and junior high school players tend to leave parts out for alto clarinet. Mature bands utilizing more sophisticated arrangements quite often have a seat dedicated to alto clarinet, so in the majority of American high school and college bands, a complete family of clarinets is encountered in the modern wind band. The alto clarinet is an integral part of the clarinet choir, where it often doubles the melody in octaves, and is often used as a middle solo voice between the treble and bass voices.