Images(4)

Clarinet, A

Maker August Grenser

Date1785

Place MadeDresden, Saxony, Germany, Europe

Serial No.none

SignedStamped on lower joint-bell section: [crossed swords] / A. GRENSER / DRESDEN / 1785 / A [or 1?]
Stamped on upper and middle joints: [crossed swords] / A. GRENSER / A
Stamped on barrel, faintly: [crossed swords] / (illegible mark)
Markingsnone
DescriptionBoxwood body with horn ferrules. Simple system of fingering with 5 brass keys with square, flat covers.

Originally, this clarinet likely had only 4 keys. It is plausible that the lower joint/bell could be played with either A or B-flat corps de rechange.
DimensionsOverall length (from top of barrel to bottom of bell): 646 mm
Barrel: 65.5 mm
Top joint: 211 mm
Middle joint: 110 mm
Bottom joint-bell: 257 mm
Bore at top of top joint: 14.0 mm
Bore at bottom of top joint: 14.0 mm
Bore at bottom of middle joint: 13.6 to 14.1 mm (worn into an oval shape)
(excluding tenons)
ProvenancePurchased in 1999 from Bernhard von Hünerbein, Cologne, Germany.
Published ReferencesNMM catalog: _As Good as Gold: The First 50 Years (1973-2023)_. Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2023. (pp. 51, 60-61)

Deborah Check Reeves. "Historically Speaking." The Clarinet 30, No. 1 (December 2002), p. 40.

André P. Larson. Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848. With essay by John Koster. Exhibition catalog, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 12-November 2, 2003. Vermillion: National Music Museum 2003. Page 45.

Deborah Reeves, "Historically Speaking," The Clarinet. Vol. 50, No. 3, June 2023, pp. 28-31.

Credit LinePurchase funds gift of Tom and Cindy Lillibridge, 1999

Object number07385

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