Although Amand Vanderhagen (1753–1822) is periodically encountered as a clarinetist and author of treatises, the significance of his contributions to the development and advancement of the instrument has not been fully recognized. The first two known published methods on the Classical clarinet, Vanderhagen’s Méthode nouvelle et raisonnée pour la clarinette (1785) and Nouvelle méthode de clarinette (1796), offer thorough explanations of technique that are remarkably similar to many modern methods, demonstrating Vanderhagen’s importance in advancing clarinet pedagogy from the Baroque to the Classical eras.
Pedagogical issues addressed by these treatises, such as forming an embouchure, selecting and adjusting reeds, proper breathing, correct body posture, and articulation, remain as critical to clarinet playing now as they were at the end of the eighteenth century. Vanderhagen’s writings were copied and paraphrased by other contemporary clarinetists in their treatises, indicating that Vanderhagen was influential as a clarinetist and teacher.
This thesis presents complete translations, with editorial and translation footnotes, of Amand Vanderhagen’s Méthode nouvelle et raisonnée pour la clarinette and Nouvelle méthode de clarinette. Although biographical information regarding Vanderhagen has been scarce and difficult to locate, all known information has been collected in an attempt to present his biography as thoroughly as possible. Vanderhagen’s two treatises are also compared to those by his contemporaries, Frédéric Blasius and Jean Xavier Léfèvre, to examine the extent to which others transmitted Vanderhagen’s pedagogical ideas. These comparisons reveal how modern Vanderhagen’s teachings were for that era and how Vanderhagen’s pedagogy mirrors current clarinet instruction. Some aspects of these treatises, such as dating, foliage, and watermarks, are not considered in this thesis.
This translation project is of value to our understanding of the development of clarinet pedagogy, the clarinet, and performance practice during the last quarter of the eighteenth century.