E-flat clarinet

E clarinet
E clarinet with Boehm System keywork.
Woodwind instrument
Classification
Hornbostel–Sachs classification422.211.2
(Single reed instruments – with fingerholes)
Playing range

Written range:

Related instruments

The E-flat (E) clarinet is a member of the clarinet family, smaller than the more common B clarinet and pitched a perfect fourth higher. It is typically considered the sopranino or piccolo member of the clarinet family and is a transposing instrument in E with a sounding pitch a minor third higher than written. The E-flat clarinet has a total length of about 49 centimetres (19 in).[1]

In Italian, the term quartino refers specifically to the E♭ clarinet, particularly in band scores. The term terzino is also used, referring more generally to any small clarinet; in Italian scores, the E♭ clarinet is sometimes indicated as terzino in Mi♭, e.g. the Fantasia Eroica op. 33 (1913) by Francesco Paolo Neglia [it]. Until the late nineteenth century, the term Elafà also indicated a clarinet in E♭.[2]

The E clarinet is used in orchestras, concert bands, and marching bands, and plays a central role in clarinet choirs, carrying melodies that would be uncomfortably high for the B clarinet. Solo repertoire is limited, but composers from Berlioz to Mahler have used it extensively as a solo instrument in orchestral contexts.

  1. ^ Gangl, Manuel (2021). The E-flat clarinet. Austria: Manuel Gangl Verlag. p. 72. ISBN 978-3-9519865-3-1.
  2. ^ Amore, Adriano (2018). I Clarinetti piccoli in Italia [Small clarinets in Italy] (in Italian). Turin: GEDI Gruppo Editoriale / Adriano Amore. p. 13–15. OCLC 1124643607.