CD production, planned for 2024

The history of the cornet ( Kornett ) in Germany

“ Can one play these things, too ? ”

This is one of the most frequently asked questions about my collection of historical brass instruments in the former

" Postkutschenpferdewechselstation " in Bentrup

( and yes, this word exists ) it means

"Stagecoach horse changing station" 

One can, and so I have put together a program for this CD that deals with the development of the cornet in Germany, with manufacturers, soloists and composers.

The invention of valves by Heinrich Stölzel and Friedrich Blühmel around 1814 was truly groundbreaking and a game changer for brass players. The patent was granted on12th April

1818 and valid for 10 years. In the following 100 years, the musical repertoire for these

instruments developed from simple folk music adaptations, arrangements of well-known

opera arias and overtures to original compositions and highly virtuoso solo pieces.

The production of cornets in master workshops and later in factories experienced a real boom in the 19th century.

Unfortunately in Germany the cornet was then supplanted by the trumpet at the beginning of the 1920s, unlike in Great Britain, for example, where it has always remained very popular thanks to the brass bands, or in France, where it is still taught at conservatories today.

This CD provides an insight into the diversity and inventiveness with which the cornet family has been expanded with a particular focus on Germany, an area that has so far received little attention to date.

With:

And the             "Bentrup Court Orchestra"

The music on the CD

1.  Posthorn Signal

"Arrival and departure of couriers"

for solo posthorn. Attached to the main signal are two short signals, the first indicating the number of horses ( in this case 4 )

and the second indicates the number of
wagons ( in this case 2 ).
In 1828, the postal signals, which until then had been freely improvised, were standardised and
were called "Prussian posthorn signals".
These then became the "Signals of the German Reichspost" in 1871.

2. Theme and Variations for keyed bugle in Bb and orchestra, Cologne (1820)
Keyed bugle + 16-piece orchestra
Gustav Albert Lortzing 1801-1851
The founding of the first Lippe corps of "Hautboists" in 1803 by Princess Pauline (1769-1820) marked the beginning of professional musicianship in Detmold. It consisted of 8 so-called Hautboists, whose main instruments were clarinet, horn, bassoon and oboe, but all of whom also had to be able to play at least one string instrument. Arranging the music for such an ensemble was not only customary, but was even expected from the music directors. For the opening of the theatre in 1825, Mozart's "La Clemenza di Tito" was performed with 16 Hautboists, supplemented by the "Stadtmusiker" and his journeymen. One year later, Albert Lortzing was engaged as a singer and actor at the Detmold court theatre (1826-1833). He appeared in around 100 musical and 200 acting roles and also composed music for theatre plays, including Christian Dietrich Grabbe's "Don Juan and Faust". His great operas had not yet been written, in the meantime he took instrumentation lessons from the Detmold hautboist (later music master) Johann Anton Dassel. In 1831 he wrote the concert piece for horn and orchestra for his friend and lodge brother August Räuber, who came to Detmold from Cologne as solo hornist in 1828. Together with the work for keyed bugle composed in Cologne on 9 October 1820, these are the only surviving works by Lortzing that were written for a solo instrument. The theme, composed by Jakob Haibel for his ballet "Le nozze disturbate", which premiered in Vienna in 1795, seems to have been very popular; even Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827 used it. Here it is varied four times strictly in Mozart's style, which is also the model for the concertante introduction, the interludes and the orchestration.

Instrument used:
Keyed bugle in Bb with seven keys Carl Ernst Eschenbach 1827-1915 Bautzen

The manufacture of musical instruments in the Eschenbach family goes back to the middle of the 18th century, when the sons of Johann Gottfried 1698-1781, who was a carpenter and string maker, learned the craft of making musical wind instruments and passed it on to the next generations. Gustav Adolf was a half-brother of Carl Ernst, with whom he was also apprenticed and worked as a journeyman. He then moved to Berlin, where he had major commissions for the post office, the military and the police. His sons Ernst and Fritz later worked as restorers at the Berlin Musical Instrument Museum. Carl Ernst was apprenticed to his father together with another brother Carl August 1821-1898. There are very few keyed bugles of this type, known as the "Dresden Model", in the world. ( There is an almost identical one built in Dresden by his brother Carl August ).

3. Die Post im Walde Op.12 ( 1838) Heinrich Schäffer 1808-1874  for Posthorn in Ab and piano
The singer and singing teacher had great success with his compositions, primarily for male choir, especially

in northern Germany. The text was written as early as 1835 by Otto Friedrich Gruppe 1804-1876.

The post signal "Personenposten" from the Prussian post signals is hidden in the middle of the composition.

The highlight of his musical career was the competition for military bands at the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. In front of a jury consisting of Ambroise Thomas, Hans von Bülow, Félicien David and Léo Delibes, the most famous military bands from all over Europe competed for the honor. As test piece, the ouverture to "Oberon" by Carl Maria von Weber was required. He with his united bands (2nd Guards Regiment and the Emperor Franz Grenadier Regiment)  also played a fantasy from the opera "The Prophet" by Giacomo Meyer and were unanimously awarded first prize. Many saw this success as confirmation of the orchestration system he had developed.Two famous cornet soloists played in these military bands, Julius Kosleck from 1843-1853 and later Theodor Hoch, who also won the prize for best soloist in Paris.

4. Post Horn Gallop (1844) Hermann Koenig 1815-1880  for Coach-Horn in Ab and piano
Koenig came to England in the first half of the 19th century, where he became famous as a cornet-soloist. He was also active in the field of instrument developing and making (the company was called Pask & Koenig) and as a composer. Koenig played in the Drury Lane Orchestra in London from 1840 on. He then followed the well-known French composer and conductor Louis Jullien to America. After returning to Europe in 1854 he worked with Antoine Courtois developing the König horn and two different cornet models. Of the relatively few compositions that Herman Koenig has left us is his " Posthorn Gallop", in which he uses the english " Coach-Horn-Call ", the most famous one. Herman Koenig himself was the soloist at the premiere in the Covent Garden in 1844. Remarkable is his attitude to the post horn: he clearly preferred the sound of the German posthorn,

but advised his students to practise on the smaller English posthorn, as this improved the embouchure and technical agility.

5. Elegy for cornet + piano Alexander Dagomischski 1813-1869
arranged by Wilhelm Wurm 1826-1904  for cornet in Ab and piano
Wilhelm Wurm was born in Braunschweig on September 25, 1826. His father, military bandmaster of the
" Black Hussars ", was also his son's first teacher on an instrument whose popularity was growing unusually fast in Europe at the time: Wilhelm became a cornet virtuoso of European proportions. Ludwig Maurer, the music inspector of the Russian Imperial Theaters, brought him to St. Petersburg in 1847. Russia's ruler Alexander III had been enthusiastic about the cornet from an early age. In the times when the Tsar grew up and ruled, St. Petersburg became a Mecca for European brass musicians. Wurm, who first (1861-1868) became the music teacher of the high-born pupil and then (1875-1885) director of his amateur brass orchestra, held a special place of honor among them. In 1862 he was awarded the title of soloist of His Imperial Highness, and between 1865 and 1884 he was repeatedly awarded Russian, Prussian and Swedish medals. 1873 Wurm met the cornet legend Jean Baptiste Arban (1825-1889 ). The two became very good friends and Arban dedicated one of his best pieces to Wurm, "Caprice and Variations; " A mon excellent ami et celebre collegue... ^"[6]He left behind a large number of marches, etudes, a school for cornet, in which he also used exercises by Ernst Sachse and others, as well as transcriptions for cornet and piano of romances popular at the time.

The workshop, which was also the representative for the French luxury brand Courtois was also the point of contact for Oskar Böhme who played a Courtois cornet and also published many of his compositions with Zimmermann Verlag. Willy Brandt played a Zimmermann cornet, which can still be admired today in the trumpet museum in Bad Säckingen. Branches of his workshop followed in Leipzig, Moscow, Riga and London. From 1901, Zimmermann was purveyor of wind instruments to the court of the Tsar and exclusively to the Russian army. In 1886, he returned to Germany to settle in Leipzig, where he founded the new headquarters of his company, which also included the Zimmermann Musikverlag. From 1893, the company regularly attended world exhibitions and won numerous gold medals for its instruments. For his achievements, Julius Heinrich Zimmermann was awarded the Imperial Royal Russian Order of St. Stanislaus. With the outbreak of the First World War, the company was regarded in Russia as enemy property and nationalized in 1919. The brass instrument factory was re-established after the Second World War II and, after privatisation in 1991, still exists today under the name "St. Petersburg Musical Wind Instruments Factory".

6.  Allegro moderato for 2 cornets (Cornet in Eb and Cornet in Bb)
Ernst Sachse 1813-1870
The brothers Friedrich and Ernst Sachse were among the best German trumpeters of the 19th century. Ernst was a grand ducal chamber musician and staff trumpeter in Weimar, playing under Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Franz Liszt, among others. In 1844, Hector Berlioz wrote about him "... the valve trumpet is excellent. The artist is called Sachse, like his rival in Hanover, I don't know which of the two I should give the palm ". Around 1840 he composed two works for the valve trumpet, which he performed shortly afterwards, including the Concertino for trumpet in D and orchestra. This is not a trumpet in low D, as is usually the case in this time, but the high version, which sounds very similar to the cornet in Eb used here. The Eb cornets in Germany were melody instruments and not responsible, as in Great Britain, for timbre and effects. Sachse also wrote etudes, 7 of which can be found in Wilhelm Wurm's cornet method. Sachse taught Ferdinand Weinschenk, who in turn trained the famous cornet soloists Eduard Seifert (solo trumpeter in Dresden) and Oskar Böhme, who dedicated his trumpet concerto to him, at the Leipzig Conservatory.

8. Concert Fantasia for Cornet in Bb and Piano 1874
9. Russian Gypsy Song for Cornet in C and Piano 1883
Julius Kosleck 1825-1905
Kosleck was sent to the military music school in Annaberg at the age of

eight and trained as a trumpeter. From 1853-1863 he was a military

musician in the music corps of the 2nd Guards Regiment on foot in Berlin.

From 1863-1893 he was member of the Royal Orchestra, from 1873 to

1903 he taught trumpet and trombone at the Royal Academy of Music in

Berlin. He performed as a cornet virtuoso in Germany, England, Russia

and the USA. Kosleck foundedt he Kaiser Cornet Quartet in 1870. It's lineout

comprised of soprano cornet, alto cornet, tenor cornet in E flat and bass cornet.

It was to become one of the most famous and successful ensembles of its time

and toured throughout Europe, took part in the 1872 " World's Peace Jubilee

and International Musical Festival " in the USA in 1872 and also played for

the Tsar in Moscow. In 1890, Kosleck expanded it into the Patriotic Brass

Band with up to 25 players, for which Richard Strauss' " Solemn Entry of the

Knights of the Order of St. John " was composed. Kosleck was known as a a specialist for the high trumpet parts of Bach and Handel, which he mastered on a 2-valve, straight trumpet in A without windings and crooks. On September 28, 1884, he played Johann Sebastian Bach's Mass in B minor on the 1st trumpet in Eisenach under Joseph Joachim, in 1885 in London's Royal Albert Hall on Bach's 200th birthday and again in Vienna in 1888 under Hans Richter. He was very interested in the music of the old trumpeters' guild and is considered the originator of the misnomer "Bachtrompete", not realizing that there were no valves in Bach's time. It is not incorrect to considered him a pioneer of the modern piccolo trumpet. In 2008 there was a sensational find, a collection published by the Berlin publisher Eduard Anecke in 1896 consisting of a total of 57 pieces ranging from 4 trumpets and timpani up to his brass band instrumentation. This was entitled " Trompeten Musik : Aufzuege, Fanfaren, Maersche; der heroisch ritterlichen Trompeter u. Paukerkunst " -Seiner Majestät Kaiser Wilhelm II.in tiefster Ehrfurcht gewidmet von J. Kosleck. Königlicher Professor und Lehrer an der Königlichen Hochschule für Musik.

Instruments used
Cornet in Bb " Berlin Model " Ferdinand Sydow Potsdam
From 1860 Sydow continued the firm founded by Carl August Heiser in 1824 and in 1890 he was
appointed court brass instrument maker in 1890.

Cornet in C " Berlin Model " Ernst Leberecht (Albrecht) Paulus 1839-ca.1903 Berlin
Paulus came to Berlin in 1857 and worked for Julius Lemcke before taking over his business in 1866. Since 1874 he also supplied the Berlin court orchestra, in which Julius Kosleck played, with French horns, trumpets and cornets. In 1878 Paulus made a cornet for Kosleck, which is now on display at the Musikinstrumenten-Museum in Berlin. On 24.02.1880 he was appointed court instrument maker. He enlarged his workshop as he received large orders from a total of 23 regiments. In 1903 his business was continued by Arthur Sprinz 1878-1939.

10. "Not For Everyone" 1894 Polka brilliant for cornet in A and piano
Carl Höhne 1860-1938
The son of the town music director of Pritzerbe in Westhavelland joined the Spandau regiment "Königin Elisabeth" in 1878 to study music and become a bandmaster. After moving to Braunschweig in 1884 to join the 76th Regiment he took up the post of 1st trumpeter at the ducal court theatre there in the same year. From 1891 he was with the Prussian Court Orchestra in Berlin, from 1901 as 1st trumpeter. In 1903 Joseph Joachim appointed him to succeed Kosleck as a teacher at the Royal Academic College of Music. Höhne also played in the famous Kaiser Cornet Quartet alongside his colleague Robert Königsberg. In a letter to Franz Schediwy in 1895, he expresses his enthusiasm for the cornet built by the master, as does Königsberg in 1898 about all four instruments for the quartet. Höhne himself was also an excellent soloist. A review in the Bade-Blatt in Baden states: "Mr. Höhne has also found here in full measure the applause that accompanied his performances in other cities. The artist's extraordinary technique and brilliant virtuosity met with universal acclaim, as did his soft and beautiful tone, which is always of transparent clarity and purity ...". In "Not for everyone" many of these skills are required. It begins with a free cadenza, followed by a delicate andante.The polka that follows contains everything a virtuoso's heart desires; double tongue, triple tongue and even quintuple tongue, which combines both and is completely unique at this time. The so-called "long tongue" is also used here, a technique of which Höhne says: if you can't master it, you can't be a trumpeter. Arpeggios and large interval leaps are also to be performed, although the lip trill is added by the performer.

Instrument used
Cross cornet in A Franz Schediwy 1851-1933
Born in Bohemia, Schediwy established himself in Ludwigsburg from 1875 after learning to make brass instruments in Vienna and then studying music. In 1892, he became a citizen of Württemberg and was awarded the title of Royal Purveyor to the Court. In 1916, Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded him the " Golden Medal for Art and Science on the ribbon of the Order of Frederick ". He manufactured the entire range of brass instruments and also maintained a dependence in Berlin, which also supplied the Prussian army and the Kaiser Cornet Quartet with instruments. For the so-called Kreuzkornett (cross-cornet), he received the patent on September 4, 1900. The arrangement of the valves and tubes crosswise optimises the airflow through the instrument, the machine was more protected than before and the main tuning slide on the side made it possible to adjust the intonation very quickly.

11.  "Facilita" Theme and Variations for cornet in Bb and piano
John Hartmann 1830 - 1897
Hartmann was born in Auleben. He was principal cornet and violinist with the Prussian Cuirassiers in Cologne.
In 1855 he followed his bandmaster to England, where he joined the Crystal Palace Company. He played
cornet there until he was offered the position of bandmaster of the Tyrone Militia in Sheffield. This was followed by
various positions, including with the Royal Sherwood Foresters, one of the best bands in the country. He led the

4th Foot Guards in Corfu for four years and transformed the 12th Lancers in Hounslow from a mediocre into a professional band. At the end of his career he composed and arranged for British publishers.

"Facilita" is a typical solo piece with introduction, cadenza, theme and three variations, and still popular today, especially in Great Britain. This edition comes from a Russian collection which dates back to Wilhelm Wurm. What is special here is that the editor of this collection, Boris Taburetkin, trumpeter in the Marinsky Opera and Ballet Orchestra, has inserted a minor theme in a romantic gesture between the 2nd and 3rd variation.

Instruments used
Intro, cadenza and theme: Cornet á Pistons in Bb 1875 Antoine Courtois Paris, founded 1789
Variation I: Cornet á Pistons in Bb Gebrüder Alexander Mainz, founded 1782
Variation II: Cornet á Pistons in Bb Hermann Dölling Markneukirchen, established 1897
Theme in minor Cornet á Pistons in Bb Heinrich Moritz Schuster 1845-1913 Markneukirchen
Variation III: Cornet á Pistons in Bb Bohland & Fuchs founded in 1870
The Courtois cornet was very popular with soloists in the 19th century. Renowned virtuosos such as Hermann Koenig, Jean Baptiste Arban and Matthew Arbuckle worked with the company. In Germany, Courtois models were used by Wilhelm Wurm, Willy Brandt, Oskar Böhme and Hugo Türpe. The above-mentioned manufacturers and several others made a Model Courtois.

12.  Allegro Scherzando from: 24 Duets 1906
Hermann Pietzsch 1851-1920
Pietzsch studied in Dresden and was a trumpeter in the Düsseldorf Municipal Orchestra from 1876 to 1914. He composed several teaching works and solo pieces for cornet. The Fantasy and Variations on an original theme by Carl Höhne are dedicated to Pietzsch.The Scherzando from his 24 Duets seems suitable to introduce the two smallest of our collection, so-called pocket cornets. One is 19 cm long, the other 22 cm. These practical travel cornets or, as they were called (only at the time, of course), women's cornets, were very often custom-made. The accurately shaped case with mouthpiece and A crook and the engraving of the cornetist's name seem to indicate this.

A Mother's Heart has a very folk-musical flavor that transports the listener to the mountains and utilises another invention from the end of the 19th century, the echo cornet. An echo effect is simulated by attaching a second, muted bell, which can be switched on at lightning speed with a fourth valve.The dedication reads "To my dear friend Carl Fischer" and refers to his publisher, a brother of the Bremen music dealer August Emil Fischer, who opened a workshop in New York in 1872.

Instrument used:
Echo cornet by Jerome Thibouville, Paris
Thibouville instruments were played in Germany, for example by Eduard Seifert, the solo trumpeter of the Dresden court orchestra. Like Oskar Böhme, Seifert was a pupil of Christian Ferdinand Weinschenk, who in turn studied with Ernst Sachse.

14th Serenade Op.22 No.1 (1903) for cornet in Eb and piano
Oskar Böhme 1870-1938
Böhme studied with his father Heinrich Wilhelm Böhme, who was a trumpeter and cornet player in the miners' band of the Freiherrlich von Burgker coal mines. From 1885 to 1894 Oskar Böhme toured Europe as a soloist. During this time, he also studied composition at the Hamburg Conservatory and in Berlin. He was thereafter a member of the opera orchestra in Budapest together with his brother Willi until 1896. He returned to Germany and studied music theory, composition and piano in Leipzig. In 1898 Oskar Böhme went to St. Petersburg, where he was accepted as a cornet player in the orchestra of the Mariinsky Theater, the Imperial Opera, in September 1902. Böhme played in this orchestra for 19 years, from 1916 as a soloist. Shortly after the beginning of the war, he became an honorary citizen of St. Petersburg. The Bolsheviks' seizure of power forced him to take his leave of the Mariinsky Theatre. After 1921 he taught at the Rimsky-Korsakov School of Music in Leningrad. From 1930 to 1934, he was a member of the orchestra of the Grand Drama Theater, which later became the Gorky Theater. His most important works are the Trumpet Concerto Op.18 in E minor from 1899 (the only authentic trumpet concerto of the Romantic era) and the Sextet in Eb minor for brass ensemble ("Trumpet Sextet") Op.30 from 1907. Böhme played a Courtois Cornet á Pistons, many of his works are published by Julius Zimmermann in St. Petersburg.

Instrument used
Cross cornet in Eb
Robert Barth Stuttgart around 1900
Barth, a musician and maker of brass instruments, originally came from Markneukirchen and settled in Stuttgart in 1858, less than 20 km away from Franz Schediwy in Ludwigsburg. The design of this cornet is virtually identical to that of Schediwy. One of his advertisements reads: Royal purveyor to the court, special artist pistons and horns of his own improved design.

15.  Russian Fantasy Op.1 for cornet in Bb and piano 1910
16.  Sérénade d'amour Op.7 No.1 for cornet in Bb and piano 1915
Paul Wiggert 1878-1919
Unfortunately, little is known about Wiggert. He was a trumpeter in the Royal Musical Orchestra in Dresden (now the Saxon State Orchestra) from 1904-1916 and thus a colleague of the famous Eduard Seifert, who was also known as the "infallible".

Instruments used:

Cornet in Bb Julius Heinrich Zimmermann Leipzig late 19th century.
The ratchet-and-pawl device seen on the right photo is to adjust the tension of the clock spring. The ratchet allows rotary movement in only one direction while the motion in the opposite direction is prevented by a pawl.

A view of Zimmermann's workshop and the 1908 catalog.

Cross cornet in C with Bb crook ( Pigtail ) Franz Schediwy Ludwigsburg around 1900.
Above right the two possibilities to change the basic tuning of the cornet, either to lengthen the leadpipe with a Pigtail or change the main tuning slide.

17. "On the watch" Fantasy piece
Paul Dierig
The cornet solo is played from a distance, the piece combines signals with a romantic melody.

Instrument used:
Cross cornet in Bb ( model Schediwy ) Leopold Mitsching, Elberfeld early 20th century.

18.  "Lullaby" Op.14 for cornet, violin and piano 1910
Willy Brandt 1869-1923 Arr. Willi Budde

The trumpeter, cornet soloist, composer and conductor Willy Brandt (1869-1923) was trained by the court conductor Zimmermann in Coburg. At the age of eighteen, he was already a finished virtuoso. He spent at least two summer seasons (1887 and 1888) with the Bad Oeynhausen spa orchestra, less than 5 km away from my workplace, the music school in Löhne. At the end of September he left for Helsinki to work as "1st trumpeter and soloist" in the local orchestra for three winter seasons (1887-90). On September 3, 1890, Brandt appeared at an audition for an advertised position as 1st trumpeter in the opera orchestra of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow - a few minutes too late, the position had already been filled. Because he had come from so far away, he was allowed to play for five minutes. His rendition of an Arban etude was so brilliant that the commission recognised him as a "star" and, in order not to lose such an important musician, temporarily offered him a vacant contrabassoon position. A short time later he was offered the coveted trumpet position. In Moscow, Brandt, who always signed his name "Willy", adopted the first name Wassily Georgiewitsch. However, his publisher Julius Heinrich Zimmermann called him "Willy Brandt" again in 1910. Brandt was appointed professor at the Moscow Conservatory in 1899. In addition to his orchestral position and professorship, Brandt also conducted the wind orchestra of the Alexandrovsky Military School.His most important pupil, with whom he also played in thr Bolshoi Brass Quartet, was probably Mikhail I.Tabakov (1877-1956). Until 1912, there were only two music academies in Russia, in St. Petersburg and Moscow, which had been founded by the Rubinstein brothers in 1862 and 1866. It was not until 1912 that a third one was added, in Saratov (in the Volga region). Professors were appointed to this institute, including Brandt. There he also conducted the symphony orchestra of the university. He always carried his mouthpiece in his vest pocket and, like Herbert L. Clarke, he practiced tonguing "dry" while walking on the street. He enjoyed the loving respect of his students. According to him, an orchestral musician should always have three items with him: "a pencil, an eraser and ... a corkscrew!" Brandt played everything on a German Bb trumpet by Heckel. As a cornet player, he used a "Model Courtois" by J.H. Zimmermann, St. Petersburg. This instrument, which has been preserved in ruins, is now on display in the trumpet museum in Bad Säckingen. His compositions "Ländliche Bilder" for 4 cornets, the two concert pieces for cornet and piano as well as a concert polka and our lullaby have all been republished and are still played today.

Instrument used:
Cornet in Ab by Ackermann & Lesser Dresden at the end of the 19th century, wooden mute as it was in use around 1900. The company was founded in Dresden in 1880 with the departments of wind instrument making, music trade and its own publishing house.

Text: Willi Budde

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