 | |
| Type | Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung (Deutschland) GmbH (like Ltd.) |
|---|---|
| Industry | Clarinet makers |
| Founded | 1993 |
| Headquarters | |
Key people | Josef Leitner and Wolfgang Kraus |
| Website | https://www.leitner-kraus.de/ |
Leitner & Kraus is a German clarinet manufacturer based in Neustadt an der Aisch, Bavaria. [1] [2]
The company was founded in 1993 by Josef Leitner and Wolfgang Kraus. In 2001 the company expanded its production and moved to new facilities. As of 2019, Leitner & Kraus employs 15 people. [3]
Clarinets of different moods are produced with the German and the French fingering system as well as those with the Reform Boehm system. [4] With German system (Oehler) 10 models in Bb and A, [5] of which one is a Viennese model with further bore, [6] three models in C, and four in D and high-Es are offered. The lower section is covered by three basset horns in F [3] and three long bass clarinets ranging to low-C. With the French system (Boehm) the company manufactures four models in Bb and A, with the reform Boehm system six models in Bb and A, a Bassett clarinet in Bb and A and three models in C, D and Es, as well as a basset horn in F. [3] The instruments are made to order, using grenadilla wood, on special request also from cocobolo.
For the German models the company developed a new patented A-Bb-Enhancement. [7] For the Bb-Clarinet with German System, Model 250, the company received the 2016 German Musical Instrument Award. [8]
While some clarinet makers dispense with the production of mouthpieces, Leitner & Kraus devotes special attention to this important part [9] and offers a configurator for the right choice of mouthpiece on its website. There are mouthpieces for German and French clarinets, with different track lengths and web openings, made of “Zelltec”, a composite material, and of "cast wood" (linea verde), a material developed by the company. [3]
The instruments of Leitner & Kraus are mainly sold in Germany. 20 to 25% of the production is spread over several European countries, the US and China. [3]
The clarinet is a single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell.
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 saxophone is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to produce a sound wave inside the instrument's body. The pitch is controlled by opening and closing holes in the body to change the effective length of the tube. The holes are closed by leather pads attached to keys operated by the player. Saxophones are made in various sizes and are almost always treated as transposing instruments. Saxophone players are called saxophonists.
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.
The basset horn is a member of the clarinet family of musical instruments.
The basset clarinet is member of the clarinet family similar to the usual soprano clarinet but longer and with additional keys to enable playing several additional lower notes. Typically a basset clarinet has keywork going to a low (written) C or B, as opposed to the standard clarinet's E or E♭. The basset clarinet is most commonly a transposing instrument in A, although basset clarinets in C and B♭ and very seldom in G also exist. The similarly named basset horn is also a clarinet with extended lower range, but is in a lower pitch ; the basset horn predates, and undoubtedly inspired, the basset clarinet.
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.
Buffet Crampon SAS is a French manufacturer of wind instruments based in Mantes-la-Ville, Yvelines department. The company is the world market leader in the production of clarinets of the Boehm system. Its subsidiary, Buffet Crampon Deutschland GmbH, founded in 2010 and based in Markneukirchen, Vogtland, Sachsen, is the world market leader in the manufacture of brass instruments. To manufacture and sell its products, the BC Group employed around 1000 people worldwide at the beginning of 2021, 470 of them as employees of BC Germany alone. The management of the group has been in the hands of Jérôme Perrod since 2014.
The Buescher Band Instrument Company was a manufacturer of musical instruments in Elkhart, Indiana, from 1894 to 1963. The company was acquired by the H&A Selmer Company in 1963. Selmer retired the Buescher brand in 1983.
In music, the bore of a wind instrument is its interior chamber. This defines a flow path through which air travels, which is set into vibration to produce sounds. The shape of the bore has a strong influence on the instrument's timbre.
The Boehm system for the clarinet is a system of clarinet keywork, developed between 1839 and 1843 by Hyacinthe Klosé and Auguste Buffet jeune. The name is somewhat deceptive; the system was inspired by Theobald Boehm's system for the flute, but necessarily differs from it, since the clarinet overblows at the twelfth rather than the flute's octave. Boehm himself was not involved in its development.
The clarinet family is a woodwind instrument family of various sizes and types of clarinets, including the well-known B♭ clarinet, the A clarinet, the bass clarinet, and the slightly less familiar E♭clarinet.
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.
The Reform Boehm system is a fingering system for the clarinet based on the Boehm system. It was developed to produce clarinets with the Boehm keywork but with a sound similar to a German clarinet.
Backun Musical Services Ltd. (BMS) is a Canadian manufacturer of clarinets in B♭ and A and accessories, based in Burnaby, British Columbia.
Seggelke Klarinetten, is a German clarinet manufacturer based in Bamberg in the Bavarian Upper Franconia. The company manufactures clarinets according to the German system and the French system as well as in a combination of both systems, starting from the Boehm system. A specialty of the company is the reproduction of historical clarinets.
Fratelli Patricola is an Italian company producing oboes and clarinets since 1976, based in Castelnuovo Scrivia, province of Alessandria.
The company F. Arthur Uebel GmbH (FAU) is a German manufacturer of clarinets with headquarters in Wiesbaden and production facilities in Markneukirchen (Saxony).
Dietz Klarinettenbau GmbH & Co. KG is a German clarinet manufacture based in Neustadt an der Aisch, Bavaria.
