Images(7)

Cornophone, alto, E-flat

Maker F. Besson

Date1895 ca.

Place MadeParis, France, Europe

Serial No.54023

SignedStamped on bell: SYSTÈME PROTOTYPE (in ribbon) / FR (monogram) / F. BESSON / BREVETÉ / S. G. D. G. / 96 RUE D'ANGOULÈME / PARIS. / [five-pointed star]
MarkingsZigzag engraving on side of bell: S. M. R / · 36 ·
Stamped on second valve casing: F. BESSON / [five-pointed star] / BTÉ SGDG. / 54023 [2 stamped over 3].
Stamped on valve casings, respectively: 4, 5, 6
DescriptionBrass, German silver, triple loop, tuning slide at first bow (small first loop), fixed leadpipe, three Périnet valves (1, ½, 1½), bottom-sprung, alignment with one key on piston (brass), windway 1-2-3.

Funnel-shaped brass mouthpiece with horn-size shank.

Alto member of the cornophone family, an instrument type patented by Adolphe Fontaine-Besson on October 14, 1890 (British Patent # 16,358). Like the Wagner tuba, the cornophone family (ranging from cornophone cornettito to contrabass) was intended to produce a “medium timbre between the existing brass and woodwind instruments” (Patent description, p. 2). The alto is described as “exceedingly easy of execution and needing but little study for this purpose.” As outlined in the patent, the bore of this cornophone is conoidal throughout, including the main tuning slide but excluding the valve section. In the patent the leadpipe is described as beginning at 7.3 mm internal diameter, increasing over a distance of 20 mm to 8.3, 9.5, 10.3, and 11.2 mm (at 5, 10, and 15 mm from the mouthpiece end). However, the patent also states that “this invention is not limited to these dimensions as they may be slightly increased or diminished to suit the requirements of each particular voice diapason, pitch, or other characteristic which the instrument is to process.” (Patent description, p. 4, dated May 6, 1891). Although larger than specified in the patent, the bore of this cornophone is narrower than that of cornophone NMM 7141 and follows the patent specifications more closely.
DimensionsHeight: 392 mm
Tube length: 2039 mm
Bore diameter (initial, minimum, tuning slide, valve slides): 8.3 mm, 7.7 mm, 11.1–11.4 mm, 11.3 mm
Bell diameter: 138 mm
ProvenancePurchased in 1998 from Tony Bingham, London, England.
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. 241-43, 298.

Margaret Downie Banks, "Brass Instruments from the Utley Collection fill the Museum's Horn of Plenty this Season: A Cornophone from the Utley Cornucopia." America's Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. 26, No.4. (November, 1999) pp. 4-5.

Credit LineJoe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999

Object number07309

On View

Not on view