A soprano clarinet is a

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

that is higher in register than the

basset horn The basset horn (sometimes hyphenated as basset-horn) is a member of the clarinet family of musical instruments. Construction and tone Like the clarinet, the instrument is a wind instrument with a single reed and a cylindrical bore. Howeve ...

alto clarinet The alto clarinet is a woodwind instrument of the clarinet family. It is a transposing instrument pitched in the key of E, though instruments in F have been made. In size it lies between the soprano clarinet and the bass clarinet. It bears a grea ...

. The unmodified word ''clarinet'' usually refers to the B clarinet, which is by far the most common type. The term ''soprano'' also applies to the clarinets in A and C, and even the low G clarinet—rare in Western music but popular in the folk music of

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—which sounds a whole tone lower than the A. While some writers reserve a separate category of

sopranino clarinet The A-flat (A) clarinet is a member of the clarinet clarinet family, family, smaller than and sounding a perfect fourth higher than the E-flat clarinet, E clarinet and a minor seventh higher than the soprano clarinet, B clarinet. As a transposing ...

s for the E and D clarinets,Nicholas Shackleton. "Clarinet", ''

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'', ed. L. Macy (accessed 21 February 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). those are generally regarded as soprano clarinets as well. All have a written range from the E below

middle C C or Do is the first note and semitone of the C major scale, the third note of the A minor scale (the relative minor of C major), and the fourth note (G, A, B, C) of the Guidonian hand, commonly pitched around 261.63 Hz. The actual frequen ...

to about the C three octaves above middle C, with the sounding pitches determined by the particular instrument's transposition. Use of the terms ''soprano'', ''piccolo'', and ''sopranino'' is relatively rare and of debatable accuracy. The only instrument name that is consistent and unambiguous is that of the bass clarinet. These other terms came about specifically to distinguish the soprano clarinet from its lower-pitched siblings and have been applied later and only in that context. Even the term ''alto'' (for the E instrument a fifth below the B 'soprano') is open to discussion and the alternative term ''tenor'' might appear, from the point of view of pitch at least, to be more appropriate. Orchestral composers largely write for clarinets in B and A. The bass is not uncommon and the high E is very occasionally called for, often referred to simply as E clarinet. Clarinets in C were used likewise from the Classical era until about 1910.

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also called for clarinets in B when writing in very sharp keys (e.g. the E major arias in ''

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'' and ''

Così fan tutte (''All Women Do It, or The School for Lovers''), K. 588, is an opera buffa in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was first performed on 26 January 1790 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte w ...

''), but this became obsolete far sooner. There have also been soprano clarinets in C, A, and B with curved barrels and bells marketed under the names

Saxonette A saxonette is a soprano clarinet in C, A, or B that has both a curved barrel and an upturned bell, both usually made of metal. It has the approximate overall shape of a saxophone, but unlike that instrument it has a cylindrical bore and overblow ...

, Claribel, and Clariphon.

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lists also obsolete "sopranino" clarinets in (high) G, F, and E, and soprano clarinets in B and A. The G (sopranino) clarinet, only a half step lower than the A

piccolo clarinet The clarinet family is a musical instrument family of various sizes and types of clarinets, including the well-known B clarinet, the bass clarinet, and the slightly less familiar E and A clarinets among others. Clarinets other than ...

, was popular during the late 19th century in

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for playing

Schrammelmusik Schrammelmusik () is a style of Vienna, Viennese folk music originating in the late nineteenth century and still performed in present-day Austria. The style is named for the prolific folk composers Johann and Josef Schrammel. The Schrammel brothers ...

Contemporary works for clarinet in C

* Richard Barrett: ''knospend-gespaltener'' for solo clarinet in C *

James Erber James Erber (born 1951) is a British composer of the New Complexity school. Born in London, Erber studied music at the universities of Sussex and Nottingham, and worked in music publishing from 1976 to 1979. His first work, ''Seguente'' for ob ...

: ''Strange Moments of Intimacy'' for solo clarinet in C

References

{{Authority control Clarinets B-flat instruments