In a German orchestral score, "Klarinetten in B" would mean "Clarinets in Bb', whereas "Pauken in H" would be "Timpani in B". Don't ask me why (I must research it some day), but it's been like that for hundreds of years, and has caught me (and many others) out before now, necessitating a swift retune after playing the 1st note :)
Cheers, Ben. | [reply] |
I think here is the "why," fairly clearly written in the first two paragraphs of the message ... thanks to Bear Woodson of the "Horn" group from yahoo groups.
>Yes, the Note "H" evolved out of the Medieval
>German Note of "H" or rather a "Hard B", or now
>called "B Natural". Our Modern "Flat" Sign evolved
>out of a "Soft B" or "Bb". In Modern German, "B"
>equals the note "Bb", and "H" means "B-Natural".
>From this evolved the Musical Motive "B, A, C,
>H", or rather "B-Flat, A, C, B-Natural", which even
>Johann Sebastian Bach used in a keyboard fugue,
>that he never finished.
Here is the link:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/horn/message/4632
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Wow... I have some experience in music, but I had never heard that.
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