Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891 › scan 216
Scan 216
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments recently exhibited at the Royal Military Exhibition, London, 1890 …, 1891
16 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 196. See the scan on archive.org.
1proper proportions for the euphonion or trombone. The valve, by which either set is brought into connection, is placed almost immediately below the mouthpiece; hence, only the mouthpiece and a very short length of tubing are common to both instruments.
3However ingeniously these double instruments are constructed, such devices appear suitable only for a display of virtuosity, and therefore can scarcely be considered of much account for any serious musical purpose.
5Valved instruments, as used at the present day, may be said to consist of three groups, which are thus formed:—
71st Group.—Instruments which make use of all the harmonics up to the 16th, such as the valve-horn and valve-trumpet.*
92nd Group.—Instruments which make no use of the harmonics above the 8th, and which do not habitually employ the fundamental sounds, such as cornets, bugles (including all the saxhorns), and valve trombones.
113rd Group.—Instruments which make no use of the harmonics above the 8th, and which employ the fundamental sounds, such as euphonions, tubas, &c., and therefore possess in addition a compass of nearly an octave below that of instruments in Group 2.
13The earlier valve instruments were the valve-horn, the valve-trumpet, and cornet. The latter appears to have been a gradual growth rather than an original invention, and can neither be considered as a trumpet nor yet as a bugle. Its tubing, almost cylindrical except near the bell, resembles that of the trumpet, and yet it makes use of the same harmonic sounds as the bugle. It has been said that the cornet is a development of the old posthorn; but if this be in reality the case, all trace of that instrument has vanished, for the proportions and tone-quality of the cornet are very different. The cornet has been for some time one of the most important instruments in military bands; and of late years there has been a growing tendency to replace by its use that of the trumpet in the orchestra. This is much to be regretted, for the majestic and penetrating quality of the trumpet is completely absent in the more common-place, and even vulgar, sound of the cornet, more agile though the instrument may be.
15* The scale of the trumpet begins practically at the 3rd harmonic.
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