Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 174
Scan 174
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
10 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 154. See the scan on archive.org.
1possible to place the holes at their proper positions, and to make them of a diameter suitable to the proportion of the bore. The most improved form of the serpent, as made at the commencement of the present century by the English maker Key, had 17 keys, and no open finger-holes, and will be found described in detail subsequently.
3About 1780, according to Gerber (Lexicon der Tonküstler, Leipzig, 1790), a musician named Rêgibo, of Lille, produced an instrument of the serpent type, but gave it the form of a bassoon, thus rendering it more portable. A few years later Frichot, a refugee from Paris, brought out, in London, an instrument somewhat similar to that of Rêgibo, but made in brass, and called by him the bass horn or basson russe. The bass horn was soon introduced into military bands, and being carried by the English bands into Belgium in the 1815 campaign, its use rapidly extended, and shortly afterwards became general throughout Europe.
5The gradual disuse of the cornetto, owing to the difficulty of procuring efficient players, led eventually to the application of keys to the trumpet. The idea originated about 1770 with Koelbel, a horn player in the Imperial Guard at St. Petersburg, but it was not generally adopted until about 1795, when the instrument maker Weidinger, of Vienna, succeeded in producing a trumpet which had five keys. The advantages resultant from this construction becoming evident, trumpets thus made were eagerly received into the orchestra; and, throughout Italy, were in general use for a number of years.
7In 1810 Joseph Halliday, the bandmaster of the Cavan Militia, patented an invention by which he gave the bugle a compass of 25 tones. This was brought about by the application of five keys, thereby binding together by chromatic degrees the second and third harmonics (c' to g'). The key bugle, called also Kent bugle or cor à clefs, easy to play, and tolerably certain as regards intonation, imparted a new colour to wind bands. Its use soon became general, it was received into the orchestra, and was everywhere looked upon with favour. A sixth key (open) was shortly afterwards added; and the instrument thus constructed underwent further improvements at the hands of different makers.
9The key bugle, when played by an artist, is capable of far more than is now generally supposed; and in agility and rapid articulation
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