Vocal horn, [F, E-flat], D [D-flat and C]

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Vocal horn, [F, E-flat], D [D-flat and C]

Maker F. Besson

Date1889

Place MadeLondon, England, Europe

Serial No.42810

SignedStamped on bell: 40 MEDALS OF HONOUR (in banner) / FB (monogram) / F. BESSON / “Prototype” / 198 EUSTON ROAD / LONDON / [five-pointed star] / C. FISCHER / 6. 4TH Av. N.Y. / SOLE AGENT U. STATES

MarkingsStamped on second valve casing: F BESSON / [five-pointed star] / BREVETE / 42810
Stamped on valve casings, caps and stems, respectively: 10, 11, 12
Stamped on main tuning slide: D
Engraved marks on first and third valve slides: C, Db, D, Eb, and E
Similar engraved marks on second valve slide without letters.
DescriptionSilver-plated brass, quadruple loop (including tuning slide), tuning slide forming first and second loop, fixed leadpipe, three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), bottom-sprung, alignment by one key on piston (brass), windway 1-2-3.

Tuning slides for F, E, E-flat, D-flat, and C missing.

According to the Besson stock books at the Horniman Museum in London, this instrument was numbered prior to October 14, 1889.

The Vocal Horn in F to C with upward-turned bell was advertised by Besson & Co. in London in about 1885, and is listed in Carl Fischer's Besson catalog of 1885 as “BALLAD, OR VOCAL HORN.” The vocal horn had several alternative main tuning slides to be inserted in the middle, as in an inventions horn. In the key of 8-foot C, the vocal horn was suited for male voice repertoire in tenor range, while in the key of F it could be used as a horn substitute.

This vocal horn survives only with the main tuning slide for D, but the marks on the valve slides, engraved by a former owner, indicate that alternative slides for C, D-flat, E-flat, E, and F were present.
DimensionsHeight: 417 mm
Tube length: 2122 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 10.3 mm, 9.2 mm, 11.8 mm, 11.8 mm
Bell diameter: 216 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1997 from Fred Oster, Vintage Instruments, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Published ReferencesSabine Katharina Klaus, Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 4: The Heydey of the Cornet (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2022), pp. 225-26, 295.

Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999

Object number07215

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