The Voice of the Chalumeau
Authors: Sandra	Perez Romero  
Published: September 2024

Name: Sandra P. Pérez Romero

Main Subject: Historical Clarinet

Research Supervisor: Inês de Avena Braga

Title of Research: The Voice of the Chalumeau: A historical study of music for various sizes of chalumeaux and voice in the Holy Roman Empire and the Republic of Venice 1703-1767

Research Question: What was the importance of the chalumeau in XVIII century vocal music in the Holy Roman Empire and the Republic of Venice?

Summary of Results:
The chalumeau is a single reed woodwind instrument whose development lies between the recorder and the clarinet. It was used extensively as an obbligato instrument in vocal repertoire throughout the eighteenth century, when it was a highly popular instrument in the major courts in Europe. The vocal repertoire that included chalumeau from this time period – as this work aimed to illustrate – is quite large and diverse. It accounts for several hundreds of pieces and it encompasses a wide range of genres, all with unique instrumentation. The development of the repertoire for chalumeau was directly linked to three Holy Roman Emperors and the political milieu in the Hofkapelle in Vienna during the first half of the eighteenth century. Besides Vienna, the chalumeau was extremely popular in other courts such as Dresden, Hamburg and Darmstadt; the latter proved to be an extremely fertile land for chalumeau writing with Johann Christoph Graupner, who included parts for different sizes of chalumeaux in more than eighty cantatas. Other prolific composers for chalumeau include Atilio Ariosti, the brothers Giovanni and Antonio Maria Bononcini, Antonio Caldara, Francesco Bartolomeo Conti, Johann Joseph Fux, Johann Adolph Hasse, Johann David Heinichen, Giovanni Alberto Ristori, Johann Franz Strall, Georg Philipp Telemann, Antonio Vivaldi, among others. After a thorough search through RISM (Répertoire International des Sources Musicales) and other online library catalogues, a total of 203 vocal works that include one or more parts for chalumeaux is presented in this thesis. Performance practice and general considerations on the style of this repertoire are addressed as well, with emphasis on the genres of Cantata, Opera, Oratorio and Serenata, but also Antiphonies, Hymns, Litanies, Masses, Psalms and other sacred works that employed the instrument as well. In addition, this research has resulted in several world premiere recordings of music by Hasse and Caldara. Finally, considerations on the “gloom” color often associated with the chalumeau in secondary sources are contrasted with the descriptions of the instrument in primary sources and the evidence present in the works composed outside Vienna.

Biography:
Sandra Pérez Romero (b.1992) is a Mexican born historical clarinetist. In 2015, she graduated Cum Laude from the Music Bachelor in Universidad Veracruzana (Mexico), under the supervision of Juan Manuel Solís (clarinet) and Ricardo Miranda (Musicology). She has collaborated with several orchestras in Mexico both as an active member and as a soloist and she has participated in clarinet and chamber music festivals in North America and Europe.