THE ROMANTIC TRUMPET - Historic Brass Society

TARR 227
the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and the United States. 100 In some cases it is
not possible to tell from the title which instrument is intended because terminology was not
yet standardized; for example, the already-mentioned Mithode tie trompette d'harmonie,
trompette a clefs, et de cornet by Cam (Paris/Lyon, ca. 1825) actually treats not the keyed
trumpet, but the keyed bugle. 101 Other titles of keyed-bugle methods show the equation of
trompette with "bugle": A. Brulon, Methode pour trompette a cies ou bugle (Paris, 1841),
Coletti, Mithode complete et graulude de trompette a clef (bugle)(Paris, ca. 1845), Noblet's
Nouvelle methode de bugle (on trompette a clefs) (Bonn/Paris, 1831), and Anton Scherer's
Mithode de bugle, ou trompette a pistons [sic] (Paris, 1845). 192 Of the forty-one methods, the
most noteworthy are perhaps those by Harper, Sr. (1835), 103 a second one by Hyde (ca.
1819) 104 , and by the patent usurper Logier. 103
An interesting solo work written for keyed bugle (Klappen Flugel Horn) in B 1 ' is the
Polonoise pour le Cor de Signale a Clefs oblige and orchestra, Op. 128 (1823) by Joseph
Kiiffner ofWiirzburg (1777-1856), dedicated to one V. Leixner. The range of the solo part
is from b to a" (generally ft-a"), and like the works by Fiala and Herrmann mentioned above,
it is fully chromatic. 106 A curiosity, because its composer was untrained and the accompanying
orchestra is unusually large, is Anthony Philip Heinrich's Concerto for Kent Bugle or
Klappenflugel (1834). 107
3. The English slide trumpet (ca. 1790-ca. 1885)
The solo trumpeter Sarj ant, in a 1784 concert celebrating the 100th anniversary of
Handel's birth, was harshly criticized by the historian Charles Burney for not being able to
lip down the eleventh partial of the harmonic series in a rendition of the trumpet aria from
Messiab. 108 Could it be that Sarjant responded to this criticism by developing a trumpet
with a U-slide, so as to be able to correct the intonation of this and other notes? At any rate,
by 1790-91 he was apparently playing pieces at Vauxhall Gardens by Handel which were
unplayable on the natural trumpet, but which Charles Cudworth has suggested would work
well on a slide trumpet. 1 ° 9
The earliest unequivocal reference to such an instrument is in John Hyde's Preceptor
for the Trumpet 6- Bugle Horn from 1799, discussed above: 110 he speaks of the "Chromatic
Trumpet, Invented by J. Hyde, and made by [Richard] Woodham", who died in 1797. 111
"This instrument was essentially a folded Baroque trumpet except for an additional tube and
finger cross-piece which was intended to be drawn toward the face to alter the open pitches
of the natural harmonic series." 112 Since the double slide moves in the direction of the
player's chin, the mouthpiece is angled off. A spring or elastic band within the tube returns
the slide to the original position. Hyde refers specifically to Burney's 1784 criticism,
justifying his desire to improve the instrument. A range table in Hyde's method, written for
an instrument in D, shows that he used the slide to lower the natural harmonics by only half
a step. 113
The range tables and music contained in the next English methods show that the U-
slide was used to lower the pitch of the natural harmonics by a whole step as well. The