Editing Alto clarinet (section)

== Use in musical ensembles ==
Soon after its invention, Georg Abraham Schneider composed two concertos (Op. 90 and op. 105) for Müller's instrument and orchestra.<ref name=hoeprich /><ref>{{cite web
| url=http://imslp.org/wiki/Basset_Horn_Concerto,_Op.90_(Schneider,_Georg_Abraham)
| title=Basset Horn Concerto, Op.90 (Schneider, Georg Abraham)
| publisher = IMSLP}} Despite the title, the solo part does not use the notes below low written E characteristic of a basset horn.</ref> Generally, however, the alto clarinet has not been commonly used in orchestral scoring. It is used mostly in [[concert band]]s and plays an important role in [[clarinet choir]]s.  A few jazz musicians, [[Hamiet Bluiett]], [[Vinny Golia]], [[J. D. Parran]], [[Petr Kroutil]], [[Joe Lovano]] and [[Gianluigi Trovesi]] among them, have played the alto clarinet.  Trovesi particularly favors the instrument, and has featured it on several of his albums.<ref>https://www.jazzword.com/reviews/gianluigi-trovesi-anat-fort-gianni-coscia-giorgio-gaslini/| "Gianluigi Trovesi"</ref> [[Hector Berlioz]] describes it as "[a] very beautiful instrument which ought to take its place in all well-established orchestras."<ref>Berlioz, Hector; ''A Treatise upon Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration''; Elias Howe; London:  1900.  p. 131.</ref>, while [[Charles Koechlin]] describes it as "like the basset horn, a very beautiful instrument" with a "legitimate place [in] a Clarinet Quartet, where it will have the same role as a [[viola]] in a [[string quartet]]"<ref>Koechlin, Charles; ''Traité de l'orchestration''; Max Eschig; Paris:  1954.  p. 35.</ref>

=== Notability ===
The alto clarinet band part remains in 20th and 21st century wind band literature. Band directors looking to add color to a large clarinet section will often move clarinet players to this instrument.  Many times the alto clarinet serves an important role in the harmonic scoring of the clarinet section within the broader scope of the concert band.

There is a notable alto clarinet solo in [[Percy Grainger]]'s wind-band piece ''[[Lincolnshire Posy]]''.

An important orchestral example is [[Igor Stravinsky]]'s [[Threni (Stravinsky)|''Threni'']], which calls for an instrument in F instead of the usual E{{Music|flat}}, and with extension keys to fingered low C (therefore indistinguishable from a basset horn).<ref>{{cite journal
 | last = Pauli
 | first = Hansjörg
 | title = On Strawinsky's 'Threni'
 | series = New
 | journal = Tempo
 | volume = Ser., No. 49.
 | pages = 16–17+21–33
 | date = Autumn 1958| issue = 49
 | doi = 10.1017/S0040298200044806
 | s2cid = 145162755
 }}</ref><ref>Igor Stravinsky, ''Threni: id est Lamentationes Jeremiæ Prophetæ'', Hawkes Pocket Scores no. 709 (London: Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Limited, 1958). The fingered low C (sounding low F) occurs in b. 234 and 237, on pp. 37–38.</ref> Stravinsky calls for the usual alto clarinet in E{{Music|flat}} in the ''[[Elegy for J.F.K.]]'' (1964).<ref>{{cite book
| last = White
| first = Eric Walter
| year = 1979
| title = Stravinsky: The Composer and His Works
| edition = second
| location = Berkeley and Los Angeles
| publisher =The University of California Press
| isbn = 0-520-03985-8
| page = 533}}</ref>

[[Joseph Holbrooke]] seems to have liked the instrument.  He wrote an elaborate part for alto clarinet in his Symphony No. 2 ''[[Apollo and the Seaman]]''.<ref>The woodwind section in ''[[Apollo and the Seaman]]'' includes three [[oboe]]s, [[cor anglais]], [[E-flat clarinet|E{{music|flat}} clarinet]], two B{{music|flat}} clarinets, alto clarinet in F, bass clarinet, three [[bassoon]]s and a [[contrabassoon]]</ref><ref>Forsyth, Cecil, ''Orchestration'', 1955, London, Macmillan & Co. pp. 282–85.</ref>

Some contemporary composers have written full concertos for the instrment, such as Argentinian composer [[Fabricio Gatta|Fabricio Gatta's]] '' Concerto for Alto Clarinet and Orchestra'' (2024).<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM-iWXuf12o| Concerto for Alto Clarinet and Orchestra"</ref>

In the wind band and clarinet choir the alto clarinet can add tonal strength to the ensemble, not only because it can play lower notes, but because some of the most beautiful notes (written C to F) in the upper register of the alto clarinet have the same pitch as the weaker-toned middle-register notes (written F to B{{music|flat}}) of the B{{music|flat}} [[soprano clarinet]].

=== Ensemble music ===
The alto clarinet fell somewhat out of favor outside of marching bands, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  It has become mildly more popular with contemporary composers, and especially those writing music for [[clarinet choir]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sheetmusicplus.com/ensembles/clarinet-choir/500053?Ntt=alto+clarinet&narrow_by=alto+clarinet&Ns=salesRank%257C1&recsPerPage=25&currentPage=2|title=Clarinet Choir Music, Scores, Sets, And Digital Downloads &#124; Sheet Music Plus|website=Sheetmusicplus.com|access-date=19 April 2021}}</ref>

=== Solo music for alto clarinet ===
The solo repertoire for alto clarinet is quite limited, with much of it consisting of  transcriptions of works originally for basset horn.  A number of compositions originally conceived for alto clarinet and piano include Franklin Stover's ''Pastorale & Passepied'' (with alternate part for basset horn in F), Frank McCartey's ''Sonata'', David Bennett's ''Dark Wood,'' William Presser's ''Arietta'', Alfred Reed's ''Serenata'' and ''Sarabande'', and a ''Sonata'' by Norman Heim.  Karlheinz Stockhausen has also composed for the alto clarinet and basset horn.<ref>''Sukat'' (1989), for alto flute and basset-horn; ''Ave'' (1984-85), for basset horn and alto flute; ''In Freundschaft'' (1977) for solo instrument, exists in a version for alto clarinet</ref>

=== Differences in nomenclature ===
In contrast with more recent families of instruments such as for example the [[saxophone]], the terms used for the different sized clarinets draw more on tradition and regionalism, and are not without discrepancies. The familiar B{{Music|b}} and A clarinets, while technically soprano instruments, are not commonly referred to as such outside of academic circles.  There is no "tenor" clarinet as such, and while the term "bass clarinet" seems clear enough, its relation to the alto clarinet really places it in the position of the tenor instrument of the clarinet family.  Some writers have considered that the ''alto'' clarinet might be better referred to as a "tenor".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Scholes|first1=Percy A.|title=The Oxford Companion to Music|publisher=Oxford|pages=192}}</ref>   Add to this the fact that the contrabass clarinet in Eb, though pitched below the bass clarinet, is sometimes referred to as a "contralto clarinet", there is ample ground for confusion in clarinet nomenclature.

Considering the wide range of the clarinet (more than three octaves) and focussing on the first two octaves, this would compare better with the classifications given, for example, to the [[saxophone]] family. The "soprano" clarinets in B{{Music|b}} and A share their lowest octaves with the [[alto saxophone]] (minus a semitone in the case of the B{{Music|b}} clarinet). In the case of the E{{Music|b}} alto, the range usually extends to a tone below that of the [[tenor saxophone]].  It is clear that the "soprano" clarinets in B{{Music|b}}, A, and  C are perfectly capable of taking on the higher lines in a score, but they achieve this by playing largely in their "clarion" and "altissimo" registers. The lower instruments are, for obvious reasons, exploited much more in their "chalumeau" registers and this, by comparison, is quite low.  Also, since the time of [[Mozart]] and the clarinettist [[Anton Stadler]], composers began to favour the rich sonorities of the lower [[tessitura]] of the clarinet and this may partly have contributed to the clarinet family being pitched further down against its counterparts in the wind section of the orchestra where it will often take on the lower parts.

=== Alto clarinet parts in wind bands ===
In the late 1940s, there was some discussion over whether the alto clarinet should be eliminated from the standard wind band.<ref>Sawhill, Clarence E. "The Problem of the Alto Clarinet" and [[Traugott Rohner|Rohner, Traugott]]. "Shall We Eliminate the Alto Clarinet?". In {{cite book
 | title = Woodwind Anthology
 | publisher = [[The Instrumentalist (magazine)|The Instrumentalist]]
 | location = Evanston, IL
 | year = 1972
 | pages = 208–12
 | isbn = 0-686-15891-1}} (Both reprinted from ''The Instrumentalist'', 1948.)</ref> Arguments for its removal include its relatively low volume, the superiority of a then-recent (but never mass-produced) prototype in the key of F, and that its part is often doubled by other instruments.<ref group=Note name=Note01/> Arguments against its removal included its unique tone colour, its role in creating a complete clarinet family, the difficulties its removal would cause in later performing older works, the public funds already spent on obtaining alto clarinets for many groups, and the fact that many bands could improve their alto clarinet section by increasing the size of the section and asking stronger players to play it. This discourse caused the instrument's popularity to decline, meaning that much music published from the 1970s onwards does not include an alto clarinet part (especially pieces written for developing ensembles).  However, mature bands utilizing more sophisticated arrangements quite often have a seat dedicated to alto clarinet, so in the majority of American high school and college bands, a complete family of clarinets is encountered in the modern wind band.

The alto clarinet is an integral part of the [[clarinet choir]], where it often doubles the melody in octaves, and is often used as a middle solo voice between the treble and bass voices.