Natural trumpet, D
Date1725-1730 ca.
Place MadeNuremberg, Germany, Europe
Serial No.none
SignedEngraved on bell garland: M IOHANN LEONHARD / EHE IN NURNBMarkingsMaster’s mark with initials engraved on bell garland: I L [head of turbaned man facing right] E
DescriptionBrass; garland with straight upper edge with engraved lines, tulip engraving; Nuremberg rim, rolled wire with leaf pattern; ferrules with engraved rings.
Attribution to Johann Leonhard Ehe III based on the shape of the first two initials in the master’s mark, the fact that the word MACHT is abbreviated to only an "M" and both first names are written out in full length.
There are striking similarities in the restrained engraving style, found on the trumpet NMM 7410 by Wolf Magnus Ehe I (1690–1722), and on NMM 7160 by his cousin Johann Leonhard Ehe III (1700–1771). Both trumpets have the same simple tulip decoration, presumably engraved in house. The similarity in decoration may hint at an early manufacture of the trumpet NMM 7160, shortly after Wolf Magnus Ehe’s death.
DimensionsHeight: 738 mm
Tube length: 2207 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum): 11.9 mm, 10.8 mm
Bell diameter: 106 mm
ProvenancePossibly used by the foremost English trumpeter of his time, Walter Morrow (1850-1937), in 1895 for the demonstration of a short excerpt from J. S. Bach’s B Minor Mass, and the whole final chorale of the Christmas Oratorio. Morrow is said to have borrowed the instrument from the lawyer William F. Blandford (Dahlqvist and Eklund).
Purchased in 1993 from Edward H. Tarr, Rheinfelder-Eichsel, Germany.
Published ReferencesTarr, Edward H. "The Unnatural Trumpet: The Adoption of Vent Holes in the 1960s and '70," in: Laurence Libin (ed.), Instrumental Odyssey: A Tribute to Herbert Heyde. Bucina: The Historic Brass Society Series No. 9 (Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press, 2016), p. 115.
Klaus, Sabine K., and Robert W. Pyle, “Trumpet Mute Pitch: An Analysis of Three Historic Mutes,” in: Proceedings of the Third Vienna Talk on Music Acoustics, 16-19 Sept. 2015, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (online publication: http://viennatalk2015.mdw.ac.at/proceedings/ViennaTalk2015_submission_14.pdf).
Klaus, Sabine Katharina. Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 1: Instruments of the Single Harmonic Series (Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2012), pp. 100-102, 104, 108, 111, 118, 122, 124, 135, 163, 187, 243, 248, 254, 258, 260.
Tarr, E. H. The Trumpet, 3rd revised and enlarged edition (Chandler, Arizona: Hickman Music Editions, 2008), p. 136.
Tarr, E. H. “Natural Trumpet in D by Johann Leonhard Ehe II,” International Trumpet Guild Journal 27, no. 4 (June 2003), p. 68.
Tarr, E. H. “Trumpet,” The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition, Stanley Sadie, editor (New York and London: Macmillan, 2001), Vol. 25, p. 832, fig. 12a.
Dahlqvist, Reine, and Bengt Eklund. "The Brandenburg Concerto No. 2," Euro-ITG Newsletter 2 (1995), pp. 4-9, here 6.
Brodersen, Christopher. "In Praise of Edward H. Tarr and in Defense [sic] of the Trumpet Music of the Later 18th Century," Continuo 18, no. 1 (February 1994), title page and p. 4.
Barclay, Robert. The Art of the Trumpet-Maker (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), pp. 52, 59, 119, 162.
Tarr, E. H. (translator). “Essay on an Introduction to the Heroic and Musical Trumpeters’ and Kettledrummer’s Art by Johann Ernst Altenburg (Nashville, Tennessee: The Brass Press, 1974), p. 13.
Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999
Object number07160
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