Catholic - Historic Brass Society

UTLEY & KLAUS
123
handed people and right-handed ones by right-handed people. Since there are fewer lefthanded
people than right-handed, one would expect more right-handed than left-handed
instruments. This is actually confirmed in Chart 7 by the two more or less parallel curves
of right- and left-handed trumpets, the former being generally more numerous than the
latter.
Chart 7
Chronological distribution of left- and right-handed trumpets.
One might also ask whether personal preference was the only criterion that determined
which hand operated the valves, or if there were also certain traditions that influenced
construction. The issue is closely related to Richard J. Martz’ discussion of left- vs. righthanded
horns, in this issue. 43 Keyed trumpets, for example, were more often left-handed,
according to Heyde, because they followed the natural-trumpet tradition of being held with
the right hand; thus only the left hand was free to operate the keys. 44
In Bavaria the reason for the free choice of right-handed or left-handed instruments
until the early twentieth century seems to have its roots in early valve constructions, or
perhaps the keyed bugle. It is astonishing that there seem to be no surviving Barth or Saurle
keyed trumpets, although the latter’s price list from 1826/40, mentioned above, lists them. 45
On the other hand, there are many surviving keyed bugles from both workshops, as already
mentioned. The main difference between the Austrian-type keyed trumpet and the keyed
bugle, invented in England and copied in Bavaria, is the way they were held. The former was
played with one hand only, the latter with both hands. If one assumes that the surviving