This chalumeau consort was designed and built by Evgeni Orkin himself. The soprano and alto instruments were modelled on instruments by J. C. Denner, while the tenor and bass were based on a pair of chalumeaux by Kleinig, Germany, c. 1720–1730.

A small number of historical chalumeaux made of ivory have survived. In reference to this tradition, the light-coloured instruments were made from imitation ivory, evoking the exclusive aesthetic of such historical instruments.

The Bassoon de Chalumeau “Katana” is Orkin’s own design, inspired by Japanese aesthetics and created in connection with his Telemann/Shakuhachi project.

These four clarinets in D, C, B-flat and A were designed by Evgeni Orkin after models of early Baroque clarinets. The two-key instruments in D and C draw particularly on the rare surviving ivory clarinets by Georg Heinrich Scherer of Butzbach, whose instruments from the first half of the eighteenth century belong to the earliest surviving clarinets. Following this exceptional tradition, the light-coloured instruments were made from imitation ivory. 

The three-key B-flat model is inspired by an early Amsterdam clarinet associated with Jan Boekho(u)t, around 1718, while the A clarinet represents a somewhat later stage of development. On the B-flat instrument, the additional key is operated by the right thumb; on the A instrument, by the left little finger. A two-key clarinet in C dating from around 1718 has been attributed in the literature to Jan Boekhout. 

The four models are named after composers whose music is associated with these instrument types: Molter (D), Vivaldi (C), Stamitz (B-flat) and Rameau (A).

These three original London clarinets are highly representative of English clarinet making around 1800. The group consists of an A clarinet by Longman, Clementi & Co., London, c. 1798–1801, a B-flat clarinet by James Wood, London, c. 1800, and a C clarinet by Metzler, London, c. 1812–1815. All three instruments are played at approximately a¹ = 430 Hz.

A characteristic feature of English clarinets of this period is the distinctive swelling of the lower joint in the area of the right-hand little finger, accommodating part of the key mechanism. On the early A clarinet by Longman, Clementi & Co., this form is still particularly rounded and pronounced, a feature frequently encountered on English clarinets of the late 18th century. Comparable English instruments in museum collections are explicitly described as having a bell-shaped swelling in the region of the right-hand little-finger keys.

The keywork also illustrates the development of the instrument during this period. The additional sixth key for the A–B-natural trill, referred to in English sources as the A–B-natural trill or A/B shake, was not yet consistently present on early English clarinets and only gradually became part of the expanded Classical-period key system.

Longman, Clementi & Co. was formed in 1798, when Muzio Clementi joined the established London firm of Longman. The name Longman, Clementi & Co. was used only until 1801. The surviving stamp on the clarinet, “LONGMAN CLEMENTI & COMPY / No 26 CHEAPSIDE / LONDON”, therefore allows the instrument to be dated unusually precisely to 1798–1801. A closely comparable instrument with the same firm designation is preserved in the Bate Collection in Oxford.

James Wood began working as a London woodwind-instrument maker around 1799. He became an important representative of English woodwind making and was also known for his work on keys and mouthpieces. As early as 1800, he patented a technical improvement in instrument construction. The dating of this B-flat clarinet to c. 1800 therefore fits very well with the earliest phase of his independent career.

Valentine Metzler, originally from Bingen am Rhein, settled in London toward the end of the 18th century and worked there as a woodwind-instrument maker. The mark “METZLER / LONDON / 105 WARDOUR ST.” is particularly useful for dating the instrument: Metzler is documented at this address from around 1812. The C clarinet was therefore probably made around 1812–1815 and already shows the somewhat more developed form of English Classical clarinet construction.

All three instruments were also used in the recording of the album “WanderVirtuose.” Together, they offer a particularly clear view of the development of the English clarinet from the final years of the 18th century into the early decades of the 19th century—from the distinctly rounded early form to the increasingly standardized six-key Classical clarinet.

These four original early Romantic clarinets in A, B-flat, C and E-flat are representative examples of South German clarinet making around 1820. Three of the instruments display the characteristic features of the Adler workshop in Bamberg. The A clarinet does not bear a clearly identifiable maker’s stamp, but its construction, proportions and keywork strongly suggest that it can likewise be attributed to Adler, Bamberg.

The instruments are associated with Karl Friedrich Adler (1795–1888), who moved to Bamberg in 1820 and established an important instrument-making workshop there. Comparable surviving Adler clarinets from Bamberg are dated to approximately 1820–1825.

A particularly significant feature of these instruments is the transition from the Classical clarinet to the fully developed early Romantic instrument. Compared with the five- or six-key clarinets of the late eighteenth century, their keywork is considerably more elaborate. Numerous additional keys facilitate chromatic passages, alternative fingerings and trills, allowing an increasingly even and flexible use of the instrument in all keys. This expansion of the key system was one of the defining developments in clarinet construction during the early nineteenth century.

Another striking feature is the varied use of materials. Boxwood is combined with different light and dark materials for rings, ferrules and joints, together with metal keywork. The differing forms of keys, key mounts and connecting elements give each of the four instruments its own individual constructional character, while their common origin and close chronological relationship remain clearly recognizable.

Of particular importance is the B-flat clarinet by Adler, Bamberg, which has not only survived as a historical instrument but has also been used extensively in performance and recording. Two CDs were recorded on this clarinet: “In Celebration of a Friendship”, featuring the clarinet quintets by Heinrich Joseph Baermann and Carl Maria von Weber, and a further recording devoted to works by Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Carl Maria von Weber. The instrument therefore documents not only the construction of the early Romantic clarinet but also its characteristic sound in the repertoire for which this type of instrument was created.

Original instrument in A with reconstructed basset lower joint and interchangeable B-flat body

This remarkable basset clarinet is based on an original A clarinet by Friedrich August Peuckert of Breslau, dating from the early nineteenth century. The surviving original material comprises two mouthpieces, the barrel, upper joint and middle joint, together with a characteristic pear-shaped d’Amore bell or Liebesfuß. The original lower joint, however, had not survived.

The historical context of the instrument is particularly significant. Friedrich August Peuckert was active as an instrument maker in Breslau during the early nineteenth century, and a surviving comparison clarinet is dated to approximately 1815. More importantly, Peuckert is documented as a maker of basset clarinets as early as 1806. In a contemporary notice he described a new type of B-flat clarinet developed in collaboration with the clarinettist and basset-horn player Vincent Springer of Amsterdam. The instrument was only slightly bent, descended to low C and was praised for its exceptionally beautiful tone. Later organological research identifies it as a basset clarinet and relates it to what was then called a new type of clarinet d’amour. 

The surviving pear-shaped Liebesfuß of the present A instrument fits remarkably well into this historical context. The combination of clarinet and d’Amore bell was by no means unknown around 1800. Anton Stadler likewise explored such concepts, and the iconographical evidence associated with his basset clarinet shows an angled construction terminating in a distinctive d’Amore- or Liebesfuß-type bell. Since none of Stadler’s original basset clarinets survives, the precise construction of these instruments necessarily remains a matter of historically informed reconstruction. 

Using the surviving original Peuckert components as the foundation, Riccardo von Vittorelli completed the instrument as a playable basset clarinet. He reconstructed the missing lower joint with its basset keywork, extending the compass into the characteristic low register of the historical basset clarinet. In addition, an interchangeable B-flat corps de rechangewas made, allowing the instrument to be used in more than one pitch, in accordance with a widespread practice of late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century clarinet making.

The reconstruction of the A configuration also took into account the special form of basset clarinet associated with Anton Stadler and Mozart. Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet K. 581 and Clarinet Concerto K. 622 were conceived for Stadler’s basset clarinet in A, with its chromatically extended lower register. The well-known image from Stadler’s Riga concert programme shows a characteristically angled instrument, and historical as well as modern reconstructions have interpreted this design as incorporating a knee and a d’Amore- or Liebesfuß-type bell. B-flat basset clarinets, on the other hand, are also documented in considerably straighter forms: Peuckert’s 1806 instrument for Vincent Springer was explicitly described as “only slightly bent.”

The result is therefore not a freely invented modern instrument, but a historically informed completion of a substantially surviving original Peuckert instrument. Original components, the unusual d’Amore bell, reconstructed basset keywork and the additional B-flat interchangeable body combine to form an instrument that is simultaneously an important historical object and a practical reconstruction.

This layered history is what makes the instrument particularly significant. It documents both the remarkable experimental character of clarinet making around 1800 and the close relationship between the clarinet d’amour, basset clarinet and basset horn, while restoring to practical use an instrumental type directly connected with the sound world of Mozart, Stadler and the clarinet virtuosi of the early nineteenth century.

This chalumeau consort comes from the historic MOECK–Steinkopf series. From the 1960s onwards, MOECK in Celle produced historical woodwind instruments based on reconstructions by the pioneering instrument maker Otto Steinkopf; the chalumeaux were also modelled on surviving originals in Stockholm collections.

The four instruments shown here belong to the darker wood version. Evgeni Orkin recorded his Telemann CD on a MOECK chalumeau made in a lighter wood version.

These three original clarinets by the Parisian instrument maker Amlingue date from the late 18th century and are pitched at approximately a¹ = 430 Hz. The group consists of a clarinet in C from the 1780s and clarinets in B-flat and A from the 1790s.

Particularly noteworthy is the construction of the early C clarinet. Here, the later customary division into lower joint and bell has not yet been introduced: the lower joint and bell are made from a single piece of wood.

Also characteristic of this period is the shared use of the same middle section, the “body,” for both A and B-flat clarinets. The central body of the instrument could be retained for both pitches, while only the lower joint with bell and the barrel with mouthpiece were exchanged. This partially modular construction principle was widespread in the late 18th century and demonstrates the considerable flexibility with which instrument makers approached bore design, pitch, and overall instrument length.

Together, these three instruments provide a particularly clear illustration of both an earlier constructional form of the C clarinet and the interchangeability of essential components between A and B-flat clarinets in late-18th-century French clarinet making.

These two instruments provide a particularly clear illustration of the transition from the Classical to the Romantic clarinet, as well as a construction principle characteristic of the period: the interchangeable instrument. Each clarinet is accompanied by an additional central body section, a “corps de rechange” or interchangeable “body”. By exchanging this section, the instrument could be adapted for use as an A or B-flat clarinet, while substantial parts of the remaining instrument could continue to be used. This economical and practical system was widespread around 1800 and during the early nineteenth century.

The earlier instrument is an early Romantic eight-key clarinet, attributed to Franz Schöllnast, Pressburg, c. 1810–1820. It bears no unequivocal maker’s stamp, but its construction, proportions, treatment of materials and arrangement of the keywork show strong parallels with surviving instruments from the Schöllnast workshop. Franz Schöllnast (1775–1844) was one of the important woodwind makers active in Pressburg and established his own workshop there around 1810. He produced clarinets, basset horns and numerous other wind instruments and became known for technically inventive and increasingly elaborate designs. 

Its eight-key mechanism already represents a significant development beyond the five- and six-key clarinets of the Classical period. Additional keys improved chromatic connections, trills and difficult cross-fingerings, considerably increasing the technical flexibility of the instrument. Clarinets of this type belong directly to the sound world of Beethoven’s period: the gradual expansion of the key system provided the greater chromatic and tonal flexibility increasingly required by the orchestral writing of Beethoven’s middle and late symphonies.

The second instrument was made by Johann Andreas Mollenhauer in Fulda and, judging from its construction and substantially expanded keywork, can plausibly be dated to approximately 1825–1835. Mollenhauer established his workshop in Fulda in 1822 and was already exhibiting clarinets, flutes and oboes in 1823. During his earlier journeyman years he had worked with several important wind-instrument makers – notably including Franz Schöllnast in Pressburg. The two instruments are therefore connected not only stylistically, but also through a direct workshop tradition. 

The Mollenhauer instrument already represents the developed Romantic clarinet, with a considerably more elaborate key system. Compared with the instrument attributed to Schöllnast, its mechanism is denser and more complex: additional keys provide alternative fingerings, facilitate chromatic passages and improve the response and intonation of otherwise problematic notes. At the same time, the older principle of an interchangeable body for A and B-flat is retained – an intriguing combination of traditional modular construction and increasingly modern keywork.

Together, the two instruments document a decisive stage in the history of the clarinet: from the early Romantic eight-key instrument of c. 1810–1820 to the much more highly developed Romantic clarinet of the 1820s and 1830s. The surviving corps de rechange also demonstrates how closely A and B-flat clarinets were still conceived as parts of a single interchangeable instrumental system.

Reconstruction based on an original surviving fragment

This exceptional basset horn originated from an original anonymous lower section dating from the late eighteenth century. The surviving historical material includes the characteristic lower body section with the so-called “book” (Buch) – a construction typical of early basset horns in which the extended bore is folded back on itself before leading to the lowest register of the instrument.

The surviving fragment shows clear constructional parallels with early basset horns of the Classical period. A particularly close comparison can be found in the anonymous basset horn dated c. 1810 and illustrated by Thomas Grass and Dietrich Demus, today preserved in the Musikinstrumenten-Museum Markneukirchen. The original key arrangement of the present fragment, however, appears distinctly more archaic: there are no separate touches for the left-hand little finger, and the low basset keys were conceived consistently for operation by the thumb. This unusually early and economical mechanical concept, together with the construction of the surviving lower section, suggests a date in the last third of the eighteenth century, possibly c. 1770–1790. Since no maker’s mark survives, this dating must remain a typological attribution rather than a definitive identification.

Only the original wooden lower section of the historical instrument had survived. Using this fragment as the starting point, the basset horn was reconstructed by the instrument maker Riccardo von Vittorelli following comparable historical instruments. The missing body sections were rebuilt and integrated into a complete instrument.

A further stage of the reconstruction concerned the mechanism. The additional key system was newly conceived from a practical playing perspective, making it possible to use the full compass and fingering possibilities of a Classical basset horn. The aim was not to create a modern instrument disguised as a historical one, but to recover a playable basset horn whose construction and sound concept remain as closely connected as possible to the surviving original fragment and to comparable instruments of the late eighteenth century.

The reconstructed basset horn was also used for the recording of the CD “Mozart Opera Arias.” Its recovered sound world can therefore be experienced not only as an object of organological research, but directly in repertoire from Mozart’s musical world.

The instrument therefore combines original historical material, organological reconstruction, and the practical revival of an almost vanished instrumental type. Its unusual history also illustrates the close relationship between historical research, instrument making and historically informed performance practice.