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19th Century Brass Instruments at the Shrine to Music Museum
The Shrine to Music Museum and its holdings of 17th- and 18th-century brass instruments were presented in a previous issue of BRASS BULLETIN. In this sequel, a representative sampling of the Museum’s collection of more than 1500 19th-century European and American brass instruments will be presented.
Color photographs by Simon Spicer, Educational Media Center, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD, USA. Black-and-white photographs by Gary M. Stewart, Shrine to Music Museum.
Some, but not all, of the Museum’s 19th-century brass instruments have been cataloged, studied, and published. Among the dissertations and theses previously cited are studies of the Museum’s keyed brass, trombones, baritones, euphoniums, E-flat tubas, alto horns, and British brass. Current projects include the cataloging of American cornets and trumpets as well as more than 300 instruments produced by the C. G. Conn Company of Elkhart, Indiana, from 1876 to the present.
A small group of the Museum’s brass instruments are regularly played in a unique ensemble known as The Golden Age of Bands 1860-1915 (see photo 1). It is America’s only active collegiate ensemble devoted to the authentic re-creation of instrumental music played in the United States between the years of the American Civil War and World War I. Original music and period instruments are used, including Albert system clarinets and conical bore brasses. The instruments are all built in high pitch, just less than a half step above today’s A=440.
Photo 1.
The Golden Age of Bands 1860-1915 at the University of South Dakota.
Representative of the numerous outstanding 19th-century brass instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum are the following examples:
EUROPEAN INSTRUMENTS
Slide trumpet
No. 418. Slide trumpet by Charles Pace, London, ca. 1834-1849. Engraved on bell: CHAS. PACE/MAKER/49 King St./Westminster. Bell garland and portions of tubing decorated in relief with leaves, acorns, roses, clover, military flags and associated paraphernalia, as well as musical instruments such as military brasses, clarinets, and a schellenbaum. Original, fitted case veneered with birdseye maple. Four crooks, two shanks, and mouthpiece. Overall length 58 cm. Bell diameter 11 cm. Charles Pace worked at 49 King Street from 1834-1849 (photo 2).
Photo 2.
No. 418. Slide trumpet by Charles Pace, London, ca. 1834-1849.
Keyed brass
No. 2677. Serpent, unsigned, England, ca. 1825-1830. Copper body in four sections, with brass trim. Four flat brass keys. Finger holes bushed with brass. Offset bell. Height of body 71,5 cm. Bell diameter 11,2 cm. Few copper serpents, which were designed for outdoor use by the military, survive. Bibliography: Gary M. Stewart, “Keyed Brass Instruments in the Arne B. Larson Collection”, The Shrine to Music Museum Catalog of the Collections, Vol. I, André P. Larson, ed. (Vermillion, SD: The Shrine to Music Museum Foundation, 1980), p. 7 (photo 3).
Photo 3.
No. 2677. Serpent, unsigned, England, ca. 1825-1830.
No. 2889. Upright serpent (Russian bassoon) by François Sautermeister & Louis Müller, Lyons, France, ca. 1830-1840. Stamped on all joints: Vᵉ Sautermeister/&/Muller/a Lyon. Painted, dragon-head bell. Maple with brass trim. Three brass keys and original ivory mouthpiece. Overall height 98,3 cm. Müller, Sautermeister’s nephew, continued the business after his uncle’s death in 1830 (photo 4).
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Brass Bulletin 61, I / 1988 pages 50–59
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