Serpent, D
Maker
Nicolas Pierre Joly
Date1829
Place MadeBar-sur-Aube, France, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedEngraved on tube between first and second curve: N♣ P♣ Joly♣ F♣ 1829♣Markingsnone
DescriptionBrass, six fingerholes, two closed keys for F-sharp and B-natural. Tubing made in two parts: main tubing (one brass sheet folded over) and bell section (two brass sheets formed into moderately-flaring tubing with brass strips at the two seams).
This unusual French metal serpent is one of only two known instruments by Nicolas Pierre Joly (1799-1885), the other one being an unusually small serpent in tenor size. Joly is recorded as a jeweler in his hometown Bas-sur-Aube. The D-pitch is typical for French church serpents, and the instrument follows the elegant, elongated French design of wooden serpents.
DimensionsHeight: 782 mm
Tube length instrument: ca. 1925
Tube length including bocal: ca. 2170
Bore diameter (initial, bell): 25/24.3 mm–125 mm
Fingerhole positions (from receiver): 695 mm, 734 mm, 773 mm, 1129 mm, 1167 mm, 1206 mm
Keyhole positions (from receiver): 565 mm, 999 mm
Hole diameter (range): 12.5 m
Keyhole diameter: 10.4 mm
ProvenanceBefore 1992, previously owned by a private collector, France. In 1992, sold by Hôtel Drouot, Paris, France. By 1998, owned by Tony Bingham, London, England. In 1998, sold by Bingham to Joe R. and Joella F. Utley.
Published ReferencesWilliam Waterhouse, The New Langwill Index (London: Tony Bingham, 1993), p. 196.
Sabine K. Klaus,"Serpent of Wood and Metal," ITEA Journal for Euphonium and Tuba, Vol. 33, No. 1 (Fall 2005), pp. 82 and 84.
-------. Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 2: Ways to Expand the Harmonic Series (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2013), pp. 112–13, 126–28, 133, 255.
------. “Serpente aus Metall,” in: Vom Serpent zur Tuba. Entwicklung und Einsatz der tiefen Polsterzungeninstrumente mit Grifflöchern und Ventilen. Michaelsteiner Konferenzberichte, Band 83 (Augsburg: Wißner Verlag, 2019), pp. 24–25, 36.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number07331
On View
Not on view
1820-1830 ca.
1900-1925 ca.
