Low tone - full sound
The bass clarinet is considerably larger than the Bb clarinet - more than a meter (approximately 40 inch) tall, having keys of nearly half a meter (20 inch) in length. It was developed around 1800. A wind instrument of that size requires a perfect key system. Alternatively you can bend the corpus several times so the tone holes get closer to each other in order to cover them all with your fingers. Not having perfect keys, early instrument builders chose that way, so that the first bass clarinets did look more like a snake rather than an ordinary clarinet (see picture).
Francois J. Fetis, a Beligan music scientist, wrote in 1832: "You saw this big, or better huge, instrument and expected to hear hard, rough tones; nevertheless it was a full, strong and soft sound. ... " The Italians therefore called the instrument glicibarifono (pronounce: gleetchee bariphono, meaning "sweet-deep-sounder"), today they call it Clarone.
Yes, looks like a saxophone (it is no coincidence!)
1836 the composer Meyerbeer introduced the Bass Clarinet in his opera "the huguenots" in a grand recitativo - just at the same time when the famous Adolphe Sax, the inventor of the Saxophone, developed a Bass Clarinet that was quite similar to today's model (which used the improved keys). It is since then that everybody (especially Wagner and Verdi) employed the Bass Clarinet in compositions for large scale ensembles, the symphonic band music and even in popular music. Because of its shape the Bass Clarinet is often confused with a Saxophone - although it is acustically rather a distant relative... nevertheless in the modern form it has got the same father with Adolphe Sax.
Noted in B flat, violin clef
The Bass Clarinet notes are written in B flat, usually in the violin clef (rarely in the basso clef), it just sounds an octave lower than the Bb clarinet. There are no A Bass Clarinets, nevertheless some composers require them (exactly when the Soprano Clarinet player changes his instruments from Bb to A, because we go to #-keys). The Bass Clarinet player has to transpose then. In contrast to the Soprano Clarinet's voice, that is possible with Bass Clarinets, since there are only few extremely quick movements and "jumps" required. The Bass Clarinet usually has calmer movements - comparable to the contrast between Violine and Violoncello.
Awesome tone range - extreme dynamics
The Bass Clarinet's tone range is wider than any other wind instrument's - it can play as low as a Bassoon (in order to make it possible to play bassoon-voices, the instrument makers use four additional keys; the professional instruments therefore reach deep C - that sounds as B flat), and as high up as a soprano clarinet. It's dynamic is even wider than that of a normal soprano clarinet, only Saxophones can and do play louder. It is easy to play and to start playing in a nearly unhearable pppp with any tone you like. You can easily play a crescendo up to the loudest ffff and go back.
Listening to film music you find the bass clarinet quite often when the composer wants to increase the thrill, like when something is slowly approaching...
At the end of the 20th century the bass clarinet experienced a career even in popular music. In the nineties it was a kind of kult instrument in Europe, but that trend seems over now - in comparison to the saxophone the variance in sounds you can produce is more limited, it is far more difficult to learn, and it is sensitive. Plus it doesn't fit well into the pop music styles of the early 21st century with its hard beats and electronic sounds.
German Version