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Basset horn

Basset horn. Nominal pitch: F. Straight model. Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood, grenadilla) with nickel silver-plated keywork, ferrules, crook and bell. Keys have leather pads. String-lapped tenons. Boehm system. Ascending lower joint has four basset keys which take compass chromatically down to the written low C. The lower joint doubles back in the style of a book. It is pinned to the main tube (rather than being enclosed) and lies to the left. The bell faces slightly to the rear. Upper joint and lower joint stamped: 'PASK/.LOWTHER ARCADE/STRAND/LONDON'. A unicorn's head emblem appears above each inscription. Each joint is also stamped: 'LAZARUS', referring to the famous 19th century clarinet virtuoso Henry Lazarus, who once owned the instrument.

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  • Period:
  • Materials:solder, string, cork, leather, steel, plating, German silver, copper alloy, grenadilla), Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood
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  • Inscriptions:
  • Hornbostel-Sachs category:422.211.2 (Single) clarinets with cylindrical bore, with fingerholes
  • Repository:Horniman Museum and Gardens
  • Measurements:overall: 710 x 120 x 120 mm