Eugène Albert (April 26, 1816 – May 11, 1890)
was a
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...
woodwind instrument maker, primarily known for his
clarinets, based in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. His work started around 1839,
and his sons, Jean-Baptiste (1845–99), Jacques (1849–1918), and E.J. Albert, continued making clarinets until the end of the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
. The model of clarinet he made is still widely known, especially in the U.S., as the "
Albert system
The Albert system refers to a system of clarinet keywork and fingering developed by Eugène Albert. In the United Kingdom it is known as the simple system. It has been largely replaced by the Boehm system and Oehler system.
Big Band musician J ...
",
although this model is basically the same as
Iwan Müller's 13-key instrument, with the addition of some improvements inspired in his tutor,
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 ...
.
Sax was the first to use ring keys on the clarinet. In 1840 he made an improvement in
Iwan Müller's 13-key clarinet,
adding two rings, or ''brille'' (glasses), to the lower joint.
This resulted in the 13 keys / 2 rings clarinet. In the same year, Albert, based on Müller modifications and Adolphe Sax's rings created a new keywork system, adding more two rings to the upper joint, resulting in a 13 keys / 4 rings clarinet. His instruments are reported have had "better tone and intonation than
Boehm
Boehm () is a German surname, transliterated from Böhm (literally: Bohemian, from Bohemia) or reflective of a spelling adopted by a given family before the introduction of the umlaut diacritic. It may refer to:
* Aleksandra Ziółkowska-Boehm (b ...
models of the time".
Albert's instruments were very well made, and finely tuned. His clarinets were very popular in England, where the leading clarinettist of the time,
Henry Lazarus
Henry Lazarus (1 January 1815 – 6 March 1895) was the leading British clarinet virtuoso of the 19th century. George Bernard Shaw wrote of Henry Lazarus:
He was the best clarionet ld spelling, now clarinetplayer in England; when you were ...
, owned eight of Albert's instruments.
When
Boosey & Co. (now
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and woodwind musical instruments.
Formed in 1930 throu ...
) decided to begin making clarinets, Albert was brought to London as a consultant.
Eugène Albert's instruments were almost all made for high pitch, A'=''c''452, meaning that after World War I few professional clarinettists played them. His son, E. J. Albert, made a range of models in A'=440, meaning that his reputation lasted far after his death, and his instruments were played up until the end of the 20th century.
Probably it was E. J. Albert, and not Eugène, who about 1890 built an early
contra-alto clarinet
The contra-alto clarinet, E♭ contrabass clarinet, is a large clarinet pitched a perfect fifth below the B♭ bass clarinet. It is a transposing instrument in E♭ sounding an octave and a major sixth below its written pitch, between the ...
in F.
See also
*
Clarinet makers
References
External links
Albert System Metallic Clarinet
1816 births
1890 deaths
Belgian musical instrument makers
Clarinet makers
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