Hector Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust
1846

Although La Damnation de Faust contains no significant bass clarinet solo passages, it is worth mentioning here in terms of its historical impacts, in part because of Hector Berlioz’s influence as an orchestrator in the late nineteenth century. Arguably, no one person has had a greater effect on symphonic orchestration in the entire history of Western art music than Berlioz. 

Much of this influence stemmed from his 1843 Treatise on Instrumentation, which can be read in full on IMSLP in a variety of translations, including this English translation from 1882. In this writing, Berlioz discusses the bass clarinet at length. He says that the instrument “is evidently not destined to replace in the upper notes the high clarinets; but certainly, to extend their compass below.” This is indeed how he uses the bass clarinet in Faust– as an extension of the clarinet ensemble. However, this is an interesting comment considering that Berlioz knew of Meyerbeer’s bass clarinet solo from Les Huguenots, which includes a prominent altissimo G and almost the entire range of the instrument. Berlioz also admired Sax’s new bass clarinet design and published an entire article praising the instrument. So, why deny that the bass clarinet could be effectively used to play high notes? Perhaps it was because the Sax instruments were not widespread as of yet, and bass clarinet players were, in general, not as competent as Dacosta, the virtuoso who debuted Meyerbeer’s famous solo. Berlioz even went so far as to rewrite the Huguenots solo in his instrumentation treatise, taking the altissimo G down an octave: 

As previously mentioned, the bass clarinet in La Damnation de Faust is essentially treated as a third clarinet part. It is only present in Act III and IV, and even then, it is tacet for many scenes. This might seem mundane by today’s standards, but it is the first significant operatic part to treat the bass clarinet as a regular member of the woodwind chorus instead of an unusual color used exclusively for solo passages. Berlioz used the bass clarinet similarly in the sextet from his less-performed opera Benvenuto Cellini (1838), but in this case, the bass clarinet part is doubled by the principal clarinetist instead of requiring a third clarinet player.

Unfortunately, nobody seems to have taken Berlioz’s parting advice on the bass clarinet: “If four or five be employed in unison, it gives a rich and excellent sonority to the wind instruments of the orchestral bass.”

Click on this video to watch a production of the opera, starting just before the excerpt pictured above (1:21:50)

Works Cited

Hector Berlioz, Treatise on Instrumentation, translated by Mary Cowden Clarke, p. 114-16.

Albert R. Rice, From the Clarinet d'Amour to the Contra Bass, p. 300-63.