Clarinet, B-flat
Date1847-1850 ca.
Place MadeBaltimore, Maryland, United States, North America
Serial No.None
SignedStamped on top and bottom joints and bell and on mouthpiece (barrel missing):HILDEBRAND / BALTIMORE
Description3 sections: top joint, bottom joint, bell (barrel missing). Simplified 'Albert' system (no rollers and no patent C-sharp). Rosewood(?) body with nickel-silver keys, rings and ferrules. 12 touchpieces, 4 rings.
Top joint: unusual wrap-around-front register key that has thin band screwed into top of lever of thumb touchpiece that encircles left half of clarinet (side with the throat g-sharp LH key) that is connected to bottom part of lever of register tonehole pad on front of clarinet (screw missing from this connection).
Bell: very large ferrules on both ends; top ferrule protrudes substantially in center; bottom ferrule quite flat and wide; consequently weight of bell is heavy.
DimensionsOverall length (from top of top joint to bottom of bell): 543mm
Barrel: missing
Upper joint: 206mm
Bottom joint: 232mm
Bell: 105.4mm
Bore at top of top joint: 15.1mm
Bore at bottom of top joint: 15.1mm
Bore at bottom of bottom joint: 23.0mm
ProvenanceNo known provenance.
Published ReferencesKoeppe, Douglas. _Woodwinds in Early America_. Wimberley, Texas: Brother Francis Publishers, 2015 (p. 495)
"Hildebrand Clarinet Discovered." _Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society_ Vol. XVIII, No. 3 (October 1989): 9 (photos).
“Hildebrand.” In _The New Langwill Index_, edited by William Waterhouse. London: Tony Bingham, 1993 (p 175).
Credit LineArne B. Larson Estate, 1988
Object number04702
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