Cornophone, alto, E-flat
Maker
F. Besson
Date1910 ca.
Place MadeParis, France, Europe
Serial No.80428
SignedStamped on bell: SYSTEME PROTOTYPE (in banner) / FB (monogram) / F. Besson / BREVETE / 96. RUE D’AMGOULÊME / [five-pointed star] / GRANDS PRIX / PARIS 1900 / ST LOUIS 1904 / LIÈGE 1905 / BRUXELLES 1910 / HORS CONCOURSMarkingsEngraved on bell below signature: Don de la Société / Les Amis de la Musique
Stamped on second valve casing: F BESSON / [five-pointed star] / BREVETE / 80428
Stamped on valve casings and caps, respectively: 10, 11, 12
DescriptionGerman-silver-plated brass, triple loop, tuning slide at first bow (small first loop), fixed leadpipe, three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), bottom-sprung, alignment by one key on piston (brass), single water key at tuning slide, windway 1-2-3.
The cornophone offered an alternative to the Wagner tuba and was used in Paris instead of that instrument.
DimensionsHeight: 405 mm
Tube length: 2015 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 10 mm, 9.3 mm, 10.9–11.3 mm, 11.3 mm
Bell diameter: 149 mm
ProvenancePurchased from Galerie Inauen, Zürich, Switzerland, 1996.
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. 242-43, 298.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number07141
On View
Not on view
![Vocal horn, [F, E-flat], D [D-flat and C]](/internal/media/dispatcher/54492/thumbnail)
![Cornet, [c, B, B-flat], A [and A-flat]](/internal/media/dispatcher/12185/thumbnail)
