The heckel-clarina, also known as ''clarina'' or ''patent clarina'', is a very rare
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 r ...
, invented and manufactured by
Wilhelm Heckel in
Wiesbaden-Biebrich
Biebrich is a borough of the city of Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany. With over 38,000 inhabitants, it is the most-populated of Wiesbaden's boroughs. It is located south of the city center on the Rhine River, opposite the Mainz borough of Mombach. Biebr ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. Heckel received a patent for the instrument on 8 December 1889.
It was apparently intended to be used for the shepherd’s pipe solo in Act III of
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's ''
Tristan und Isolde
''Tristan und Isolde'' (''Tristan and Isolde''), WWV 90, is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner to a German libretto by the composer, based largely on the 12th-century romance Tristan and Iseult by Gottfried von Strassburg. It was comp ...
''.
It was used beginning in 1891 at the
Festspielhaus,
Bayreuth as a substitute for Wagner's ''
Holztrompete''; the clarina was found more practical and more effective in producing the desired tone-colour.
The heckel-clarina is a
single reed, conical
bore instrument made of metal, resembling a
soprano saxophone.
It has the fingering of the oboe and a clarinet-type single-reed mouthpiece.
Two versions were available: a sopranino in E-flat and a soprano in B-flat. According to Heckel's promotional materials, the heckel-clarina's tone resembled that of a
cor anglais in its low
register
Register or registration may refer to:
Arts entertainment, and media Music
* Register (music), the relative "height" or range of a note, melody, part, instrument, etc.
* ''Register'', a 2017 album by Travis Miller
* Registration (organ), th ...
, a
saxophone
The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...
in the middle, and a
clarinet in its upper range.
The compass of the B♭ instrument is:
The clarina was found very effective as a solo instrument.
The instrument is not to be confused with the
heckelphone-clarinet, also a very rare conical bore single reed woodwind by Heckel but lower in pitch and made of wood.
References
External links
Diagram of heckel-clarina heckelphone-clarinet, and saxophone from 1931 Heckel catalog.
Single-reed instruments
1889 introductions
{{SingleReed-instrument-stub