Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 175
Scan 175
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
8 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 155. See the scan on archive.org.
1it is still preferable to any piston instrument. Shakes and rapid passages, diatonic or chromatic, can be executed upon it with the greatest precision and ease. The key bugle therefore became, next to the clarinet, the principle solo instrument in military bands from 1820 until 1835, when it began to be superseded by the cornet à piston.
3The principle of the key bugle was applied to the bass horn by Jean Hilaire Asté, an instrument maker of Paris, in 1817. This maker is better known as Halary; and according to the Rapport de l'Académie Royale des Beaux Arts de l'Institut de France (meeting of July 17, 1817) an application for a patent was made for several new instruments of Halary's invention. The invention of the ophicleide, or keyed serpent, has been generally, but wrongly, attributed to Frichot, but the real credit belongs to Halary. The instruments for which application for a patent was made were called (1) the clavi-tube; (2) the quinti-tube or quinti-clave; (3) the ophicleide. Of these the clavi-tube was the key bugle slightly modified, and the quinti-tube was in reality an alto ophicleide. The patent was taken out in Paris in 1822, and from the specification it appears that the ophicleide had nine or ten keys, each key giving a semitone's difference in pitch. By reason of the length and proportions of the tubing the fundamental sounds are employed; the instrument has, therefore, a compass of a little over three octaves (38 semitones) from B, or C to c''.
5Of accurate intonation, and of a tone-quality entirely its own, the ophicleide for a time enjoyed great popularity, and in the hands of a good player was deservedly popular. Of late years it has been replaced by the tuba and euphonion, and with the death of its only remaining player, Mr. Samuel Hughes, the artistic value of the ophicleide may be said to have ceased. First introduced into the orchestra of the opera at Paris in 1817 by Spontini, the importance of the ophicleide became recognised by subsequent composers, and it was employed as a bass to the trombones. Among others, Meyerbeer and Mendelssohn both made use of the instrument, and it was not until about 1848 that the use of the tuba, the tone of which was found to blend better with that of the trombones, came to be generally adopted.
7The alto ophicleide in E♭, a minor third higher in pitch than the instrument in C, had for some time been in use in military bands, but its employment never entered into the orchestra. This instrument in
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