Fratelli Patricola

Last updated
Patricola Brothers
Genre instrument makers
Founded1976
Headquarters
Key people
Francesco, Pietro and Biagio Patricola
Products Clarinets (Boehm system), Oboes
Number of employees
9
Website patricola.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Fratelli Patricola (Patricola Brothers) is an Italian company producing oboes and clarinets since 1976, based in Castelnuovo Scrivia in the Province of Alessandria.

Contents

History

The brothers Francesco, Pietro and Biagio Patricola, woodwind instrument makers, founded their own workshop in 1976 for the production of oboes and clarinets. [1] [2] Two sons and a grandson are also working as instrument builders in the family business. [3]

Fratelli Patricola Clarinets
Patricola CL4.jpg
clarinet in B CL.4 (full Boehm)
Patricola Artista Clarinetto Mib.jpg
clarinet in E CL.1

Products

Patricola make oboes and clarinets from the woods of Grenadilla (Dalbergia melanoxylon) and Bubinga (Guibourtia tessmannii), aged for up to 12 years, and with silver-plated or optionally gold-plated key work. [1] The woodworking is done with the help of CNC machines, while the hand-made key work is manufactured in-house. [4] About 75% of the manufacturing is done by hand. [1]

Oboes are made in student, semi-professional and professional grades, and the oboe d'amore, cor anglais, and oboe musette in E♭ are also produced. Clarinets are offered as "Virtuoso" semi-professional and "Artista" professional models using the French (Boehm) fingering system in B♭ and A, with options for Full Boehm fingering and a low E♭ key. A clarinet in C and a sopranino in E♭ are also made.

Patricola instruments are distributed globally and played by well-known oboists and clarinetists in orchestras in Italy and throughout the world. [5]

Related Research Articles

The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oboe</span> Double-reed woodwind instrument

The oboe is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites.

The Boehm system is a system of keywork for the flute, created by inventor and flautist Theobald Boehm between 1831 and 1847.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cor anglais</span> Woodwind musical instrument

The cor anglais, or English horn, is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially an alto oboe in F.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bass clarinet</span> Member of the clarinet family

The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B, but it plays notes an octave below the soprano B clarinet. Bass clarinets in other keys, notably C and A, also exist, but are very rare. Bass clarinets regularly perform in orchestras, wind ensembles and concert bands, and occasionally in marching bands, and play an occasional solo role in contemporary music and jazz in particular.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contrabass clarinet</span> Very low pitched instrument of the clarinet family

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Contra-alto clarinet</span> Low pitched instrument

The contra-alto clarinet, E♭ contrabass clarinet, is a large clarinet pitched a perfect fifth below the B♭ bass clarinet. It is a transposing instrument in E♭ sounding an octave and a major sixth below its written pitch, between the bass clarinet and the B♭ contrabass clarinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theobald Boehm</span> German inventor and musician (1794–1881)

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The Western concert flute is a family of transverse (side-blown) woodwind instruments made of metal or wood. It is the most common variant of the flute. A musician who plays the flute is called a “flautist” in British English, and a “flutist” in American English.

The alto clarinet is a woodwind instrument of the clarinet family. It is a transposing instrument pitched in the key of E, though instruments in F have been made. In size it lies between the soprano clarinet and the bass clarinet. It bears a greater resemblance to the bass clarinet in that it typically has a straight body, but a curved neck and bell made of metal. All-metal alto clarinets also exist. In appearance it strongly resembles the basset horn, but usually differs in three respects: it is pitched a whole step lower, it lacks an extended lower range, and it has a wider bore than many basset horns.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">E-flat clarinet</span> Sopranino member of the clarinet family

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbert Wurlitzer</span>

The company Herbert Wurlitzer Manufaktur für Holzblasinstrumente GmbH is a German clarinet manufacturer based in Neustadt an der Aisch, Bavaria with a second production site in Markneukirchen, Saxony. It was founded in 1959 by Herbert Wurlitzer. His father Fritz Wurlitzer operated since the 1930s in Erlbach, now a district of Markneukirchen, a manufactory for the production of clarinets. The company W. Wurlitzer makes clarinets with German System and with the "Reform Boehm system", developed by Fritz Wurlitzer in the late 1940s, an instrument with Boehm fingering system and the sound of an Oehler Clarinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Reform Boehm system</span> System of keywork for the clarinet

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "I Patricola "suonati" nel mondo e ora in tv" [Patricola played around the world and now on TV]. La Stampa (in Italian). Turin. 23 October 2016. Archived from the original on 28 December 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2020.
  2. "Nell'azienda dei fratelli Patricola, dove nascono gli strumenti musicali esportati nel mondo" [In the Patricola brothers' shop, where musical instruments exported worldwide are born]. La Stampa (in Italian). Turin. 6 March 2017. Archived from the original on 17 July 2024. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  3. "La nostra storia" (in Italian). Castelnuovo Scrivia: Fratelli Patricola. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  4. "Processo di fabbricazione" (in Italian). Castelnuovo Scrivia: Fratelli Patricola. Archived from the original on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  5. "Amici" (in Italian). Castelnuovo Scrivia: Fratelli Patricola. Archived from the original on 5 June 2023. Retrieved 13 August 2021.