A Clarinet pitched in B♭, an octave below the soprano clarinet (for illustration, see Wood-wind instruments). Its range usually extends to E♭ on French and English instruments, and D on German ones. Early extant examples date from 1793 and were probably first intended to replace the bassoon in military bands. Meyerbeer scored for it orchestrally in 1836, and it was used from the later 19th century by such composers as Mahler, Wagner, Schoenberg and Stravinsky.

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