Tenor/Baritone Cornet, circular, C, B-flat, G, F
Date1850 ca.
Place MadeUnited States, North America
Serial No.none
SignednoneMarkingsStamped on lower valve cover plates: 1, 2, 3, 4DescriptionSilver-plated brass, double coil, telescopic tuning slide at leadpipe, three top-action string-operated flat rotary (Allen) valves for the right hand (1, ½, 1½), one side-action (lever under) string-operated flat rotary(Allen) valve for the left hand, assending 2½, internal stop, spiral-spring return.Silver-plated telescopic tuning slide (original); brass crook (not original) and silver mouthpiece, stamped “H.N. WHITE CO / 36” on one side and “EQUA-TRU” on the other (not original).
This unusual instrument appears to be inspired by Dodworth’s circular cornet, shown in his 1853 Brass Band School. Different from Dodworth's cornet, the present instrument has the tubing in two coils, rather than one, to accommodate twice the length. Without activating any valves the nominal pitch is 11-foot G or 12-foot F with the brass crook. Activating the fourth valve raises the pitch to 8-foot C or 9-foot B-flat respectively.
This instrument is very difficult to categorize; with the crook and the actuated fourth valve, it can be counted among the “4th Class” of Dodworth’s system, which includes “Baritones, Baritone Sax Horns, B♭ Trombones, Valve Trombones—all an octave below the Altos.” It would seem to be an experimental narrow-bore instrument possibly intended as a substitute for the French horn (and in that sense a precursor of the tenor cor or mellophone); however, with a final bell diameter of only 159 mm, it lacks the characteristically wide bell flare.
DimensionsHeight: 510 mm
Tube length: 2236 mm, 2285 mm, 2441 mm, 3119 mm, 3275 mm
Bore diameter valve slides: 12.3 mm
Bore diameter tuning slide (initial, minimum): 10.9 mm, 10.3 mm
Bore diameter crook (initial, minimum): 10.6 mm, 9.1 mm
Bell diameter: 159 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1987 from Robert Hazen, Washington, D. C.
Published ReferencesSabine Katharina Klaus, Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 3: Valves Evolve (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2017), pp. 208, 214-215, 312.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number06883
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