Images(10)

Upright Serpent, C

Vernacular Name

Basson russe, C

ALTERNATE NAME(S)

Russian bassoon, C

Maker Sautermeister & Muller

Date1830-1836 ca.

Place MadeLyon, France, Europe

Serial No.None

SignedStamped on front side of all metal parts (except end cap) and the back side of all joints: [leaf] / Ve Sautermeister / & Müller / [leaf] a Lyon [leaf] / [leaf]
DescriptionBody of maple in three sections (wing joint, butt or lower joint, and bass joint); brass crook (with pigtail curl), tuning shank, ferrules and keys; painted brass bell in the shape of a dragon head; original ivory mouthpiece.

Six fingerholes (three each in wing joint and butt joint); three keys mounted in pillars with brass leaf springs (one thumb, and one each in wing joint and butt joint).

The characteristic dragon-shaped bell with minimal flare, has an highly embossed scale pattern, bulging eyes, flared nostrils, and terminates with bared teeth exposed from the open dragon's mouth. It is painted with gold, green and red paint on the majority of the head, with white and black paint on the eyes. The throat, upper and lower jaw exhibit a floral pattern.
DimensionsOverall length: 980 mm
Mouthpiece receiver (crook): 460 mm
Tuning slide shank: 400 mm
Wing joint: 222 mm
Butt joint: 270 mm (including metal caps)
Bass joint: 275 mm
Bell: 340 mm
ProvenanceNo known provenance.
Published ReferencesBanks, Margaret Downie. "Nineteenth-Century Brass Instruments at the Shrine to Music Museum." _Brass Bulletin_ 61, no. 1 (1988): 52-54.

Larson, André P. _The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir_. Vermillion:
National Music Museum, 1988. (inside back cover)

Phillips, Harvey, and William Winkle. _The Art of Tuba and Euphonium_. Netherlands: Summy-Birchard, 1992. (appendix B, p. 91)

"Rare French Serpent Donated." _Shrine to Music Museum, Inc. Newsletter_ 9, no. 2 (January 1982): 4.

_Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society_ 11, no. 1 (February 1982): 2.

_T.U.B.A. Journal_ 9, no. 4 (Spring 1982).

Credit LineGift in memory of Joseph William Mauck, President of the University of South Dakota from 1891-1897, by Frederic H. and Elisabeth F. Burt and their children, 1981

Object number02889

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