Clarinet, B-flat
Distributor
Heinrich Gottlob Gütter
Date1820-1825 ca.
Place MadeMarkneukirchen, Saxony, Vogtland, Germany, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedStamp on bell joint only: GÜTTER / BETHLEHEM / PENNMarkingsPitch mark on barrel, upper joint, middle joint and bell: B
Description5 sections: barrel, top joint, middle joint, bottom joint, bell. Simple system; 5 brass keys with flat, square covers, mounted in rings, blocks, and lower stock bulge, with springs attached to keys; boxwood body; horn ferrules. Original mouthpiece of dark dyed boxwood.
This instrument was probably made by the Gütter family in Neukirchen (Markneukirchen), and distributed in America by family member Heinrich Gottlob Gütter (b. Neukirchen, 1797; d. Bethlehem, 1847). The Gütter family (comprising at least two and possibly three generations of craftsmen in the Vogtland region) ranks among the most widely represented musical instrument makers/dealers in Moravian collections in the United States.
Heinrich Gottlob came to Bethlehem in 1817 and is currently recognized for his principal role as a dealer in (rather than a maker of) musical instruments, which was not an uncommon practice among other Neukirchen instrument-making families, who wished to establish overseas businesses.
DimensionsOverall (from top of barrel to bottom of bell): 599 mm
Barrel: 65 mm
Top joint: 190 mm
Middle joint: 102 mm
Bottom joint: 125 mm
Bell: 113 mm
Bore at top of top joint: 15.1 mm
Bore at bottom of top joint: 15.2 mm
Bore at bottom of mid joint: 14.4 mm
Bore at bottom of bottom joint: 19.3 mm
(all measurements exclude tenons)
ProvenancePreviously owned by Kurt Stein, Springfield, Pennsylvania. Purchased from S. Frederick Starr, Oberlin, Ohio, 1993.
Published ReferencesReeves, Deborah Check. "Historically Speaking," The Clarinet 50, no. 4 (September 2023), pp. 26-27
Carter, Stewart. "The Gütter Family: Wind Instrument Makers and Dealers to the Moravian Brethren in America." _Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society_ 27 (2001): 48-83 (illus.).
Farrar, Lloyd P. "Under the Crown and Eagle." _Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society_ 13, no. 2 (June 1984): 7 (illus.).
Credit LineBoard of Trustees, 1993
Object number05722
On View
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