Eugène Albert

Eugène Albert (April 26 1816-May 11 1890) [Grove Albert] was a Belgian woodwind instrument maker, primarily known for his clarinets, based in Brussels. His work started around 1839, [Grove Albert] and his sons, Jean-Baptiste (1845–99), Jacques (1849–1918), and E.J. Albert, continued making clarinets until the end of the World War I. The model of clarinet he made is still widely known, especially in the U.S., as the "Albert system", [Grove Albert] although this model is basically the same as Iwan Müller's 13-key instrument, with the addition of two rings, or "brille", added to the lower joint by Adolphe Sax. [Grove Albert] His instruments are reported have had "better tone and intonation than Boehm models of the time." [Grove Clarinet]

Albert's instruments were very well made, and finely tuned. His clarinets were very popular in England, where the leading clarinettist of the time, Henry Lazarus, owned eight of Albert's instruments. [Grove Albert] When Boosey & Co. (now Boosey & Hawkes) decided to begin making clarinets, Albert was brought to London as a consultant. [Grove Albert]

Eugène Albert's instruments were almost all made for high pitch, A'="c"452, meaning that after WWI few professional clarinettists played them. His son, E. J. Albert, made clarinets in far more models, and in A'=440, meaning that his reputation lasted far after his death, and his instruments were played up until the end of the 20th century. [Grove Albert] Probably it was E. J. Albert, and not Eugène, who about 1890 built an early contra-alto clarinet in F. ["Pedal Clarinet", in "Encyclopædia Britannica", Eleventh Edition (1911)]

References

*Nicholas Shackleton. "Eugène Albert", "Grove Music Online", ed. L. Macy (accessed November 10 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access).
*Nicholas Shackleton. "Clarinet, §II, 4: The clarinet of Western art music: Organological history (iii) The Boehm clarinet.", "Grove Music Online", ed. L. Macy (accessed November 10 2006), [http://www.grovemusic.com/ grovemusic.com] (subscription access).

Notes

ee also

*Clarinet makers

External links

* [http://www.music.ed.ac.uk/euchmi/ugw/ugwf1j.html Essay with photos of Albert's clarinets]