Cornopean, C, B-flat, A, A-flat, G, F, E, E-flat, D, D-flat
Distributor
Thomas Key
Date1845 ca.
Place MadeLondon, England, Europe
Serial No.425
SignedStamped on garland: KEY / 20 CHARING CROSS / LONDONMarkingsEngraved crosses marking the order of the valve slides.
Printed label inside case lid: 425
Engraved on tuning shank for B-flat: BI
Engraved on tuning shank for A: A
Engraved on coupler shank for E: E. on F Crook
Engraved on crook for C: C. Octave
Engraved on crook for A-flat: AI
Engraved on crook for G: G
Engraved on crook for F: F
Engraved on crook for E-flat: EI
Engraved on coupler for D: D on EI
Engraved on coupler for D-flat: DI on EI
DescriptionBrass, silver, double loop with dummy tube, main tuning slide at second bow, C-crook inserted instead of main tuning slide, three Stölzel valves (½, 1, 1½), spring in barrel, clapper key for left hand.
Three unmarked brass mouthpieces with flat silver rim, contemporary with the instrument. Three original brass tuning shanks with two ears, one of them a coupler; one additional tuning shank not original; five crooks and two coupler crooks. All parts in original, black wooden case with brass fittings, woven green felt interior and compartments for all the original pieces mentioned above.
Thomas Key was active at the address given in the signature between 1812/13 and 1853. Possibly made by Keat & Son, London, sole makers for Key since 1825.
The instrument shows two unusual features: First, the order of the first and the second valve is reversed; this construction is occasionally found in English brasses until the1860s. Second, the C-octave crook shortens the overall tube length instead of lengthening it, by being inserted instead of the main tuning slide and bypassing the leadpipe.
DimensionsHeight: 249 mm
Tube length: 1212 mm, 1157 mm, 1282 mm, 1345 mm, 1435 mm, 1552 mm, 1757 mm, 1847 mm, 1901 mm, 2045 mm, 2116 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slide): 12.1 mm, 11 mm, 11.4 mm, 11.3 mm
Bore diameter shanks and crooks (range initial, minimum): 10.8–10.7 mm, 10–9.1 mm
Bore diameter couplers (range initial, minimum): 12–11.7 mm, 10–9.8 mm
Keyhole position (from bell end): 244 mm
Keyhole diameter: 10.4 mm
Bell diameter: 117 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 2003 from Tony Bingham, London, England.
Published ReferencesSabine K. Klaus, "Cornopean by Thomas Key in B-flat, London, ca. 1845," International Trumpet Guild Journal, March 2005, p. 50.
Sabine 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. 47-48, 50, 53-55, 281, 283, 296.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 2003
Object number10508
On View
Not on view
Denis Antoine Courtois
1844-1856 ca.
