The chalumeau is the name of the lower register of the clarinet and the name of an instrument that was used as a solo instrument in Austria and Germany during the Baroque period. Telemann, who played it himself, gave it some of its most accomplished  works as well as Paganelli, Fasch, and most importantly, Graupner. At the Vienna Opera during the first half of the eighteenth century, several Italian composers used it frequently and solely as an obbligato instrument. With a softer and more velvety timber, especially compared to the Baroque clarinet, it was used sparingly : for one or at most two arias in an entire opera or a cantata.

 

Some operas, such as the ones by Gluck used the chalumeau in their Viennese version, but not in their Parisian version. On the other hand, some composers have used the clarinet and chalumeau in the same work, but in complementary roles. Eventually, with the development of the low register of the classical clarinet, this original voice disapeared. As for the family of the recorder, the chalumeau has existed in different formats, but it is mainly the soprano that was used in opera obbligatos.