CD production

"Not for everyone"


(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.

So why historical instruments and not the much more advanced and certainly easier to play modern successors?

Quite simply;
Each of the 25 instruments used here has its own unique character,
and together with the historical pianos by Blüthner (1862) and
Bechstein (1900) and the orchestra, which plays on historical
instruments or their replicas, it is a great pleasure for us and also 
a musical challenge to try and find out what it might have sounded like back then.

The first metal horns were made at the beginning of the 15th century. Since the introduction of the stagecoach in the 17th century the postilions carried such a horn to announce the departure and arrival of the post, certainly the case in Bentrup.

However, postal signals were limited to the so-called natural tone series, a master of his trade was able to produce about 20 different tones, of which about 10 were realistically usable.


Towards the end of the 18th century, experiments were carried out with keys to increase the range of tones and in 1810 the Irishman Joseph Halliday was granted a patent for a keyed bugle with 5 keys attached to a posthorn. It was now possible to play almost all notes, albeit

with tonal deficits caused by opening the keys. The handling was also difficult, partly because, unlike the keyed trumpet, the keyed bugle needed both hands to play it.

Postkutschenpferdewechselstation

in Bentrup around 1900

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.


In the 19th century, the manufacture of brass instruments in master workshops and later in factories experienced a real boom.
Unfortunately, the cornet was then replaced by the trumpet in Germany in the early 1920s, unlike in Great Britain, for example, where it has always remained very popular thanks to brass bands, or in France, where it is still taught in conservatories today.
This CD provides an insight into the diversity and inventiveness with which the cornet family has been continually expanded, with a particular focus on Germany, an area that has received little attention to date. At that time, cornets were not only tuned in Bb, as is common today. Cornets in C, Eb, A and Ab are also used here, just as was customary in the 19th century.
The orchestral tuning is A=430 Hertz, the Blüthner grand piano from 1862 is tuned to A=432 Hertz and the Bechstein grand piano from 1900 is tuned to A=440 Hertz.



With:

Willi Budde, Posthorn,

Cornets and Keyed Bugle

Eva Roebers, Piano

Frauke Pöhl  Violin

Helen Barsby, Cornet,

Natural Trumpet

And the "Bentrup Court Orchestra"

Frauke Pöhl, Johanneke Haverkate, Anna Scherzer, Jörg Buschhaus, Nicole Inoue, Klaus Bona, Violin


Ulrike Jacoby, Indre Zelenyte Viola, Martin Fritz Cello, Hermann Hickethier Bass


Brian Berryman Flute, Christopher Woods Clarinet, Helen Barsby, Rüdiger Meyer Natural-Trumpet


Anton Koch Natural-Horn in Bb alto, Vincent Levesque Natural-Horn in F, Thomas Lück Ophicleide

The music on the CD

1. Post Horn signal
   ‘Arrival and departure of the couriers’
   for solo post horn in Eb

Attached to the main signal are two short signals, the first indicating the number of horses ( in this case 2 )

and the second indicates the number of
wagons (in this case 1).
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.

Instrument used:

Four-winded posthorn in Eb

Gustav Adolf Eschenbach 1843-1927 Berlin.

2. Theme and Variations for keyed bugle in Bb

    and orchestra, Cologne (1820)
    Gustav Albert Lortzing 1801-1851
    Arranged by Willi Budde

The founding of the first Lippe Hautboisten-Corps 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 principal oboists, supplemented by the ‘Stadtmusikant’ 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 major 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 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 so popular that even Ludwig van Beethoven used it in his 12 variations on the ‘Menuett à la Viganò’ for piano. 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.
It was recorded in the Ahnensaal of Detmold Castle, just a few hundred metres away from the Detmold State Theatre and the Lortzing monument on Theaterplatz. If you listen carefully, you can even hear the rumble of the auto scooter at the summer funfair that is taking place at the same time.

Instrument used:
Keyed bugle in Bb with seven keys, Carl Ernst Eschenbach (1827-1915) Bautzen. It is interesting that this horn is in the basic tuning of D, but the piece is in Bb. It therefore had to be lengthened with the help of the so-called ‘pig tails’, which resulted in the horn losing its intoned F. As if Master Lortzing had already anticipated this, the F, in contrast to all the other notes, only appears five times in the entire piece. I tried to ‘fake’ it, just like the ghost notes in jazz. You can hear this particularly in the second variation, where four of the five Fs are hidden.


Musical instrument making in the Eschenbach family dates back to the middle of the 18th century, when the sons of the carpenter and string maker Johann Gottfried (1698-1781) learnt the craft of brass instrument making and passed it on to the next generation. Gustav Adolf was a half-brother of Carl Ernst, with whom he was apprenticed and worked as a journeyman. He then moved to Berlin, where he received large orders for the post office, the military and the police. His sons Ernst and Fritz 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’. (An almost identical one was built by his brother Carl August in Dresden).


3. Die Post im Walde Op.12 (1838)

    Heinrich Schäffer 1808-1874

    for post horn and piano


Instrument used:
Posthorn in Ab with "Berlin Pumpen Valves"

Weber 1821-ca.1862 & Rossberg, Zittau / Saxony

The singer and singing teacher Schäffer had great success with his compositions, mostly for male choir, especially in northern Germany. The text was written as early as 1835 by Otto Friedrich Gruppe (1804-1876). The signal ‘Personenposten’ from the Prussian post signals is hidden in the centre of the composition.


In the forest the coach rolls                                             

In the deep, silent night;

The passengers sleep,

The postillion drives gently.


At the forester's house

What does the postillion blow?

The passengers wake up

And think it's the station


He plays such gentle songs

Clear up to the window,

The forest echoes them again,

And the moon comes out.


Yes, shine the moon in the window

The little love's window:

Through her dreams moves

Post horn and moonlight.


The" Berlin Pumpen Valve" is an early form of valve that was developed by Heinrich Stölzel (1777-1844) in 1827 and independently of him by Wilhelm Wieprecht (1802-1872) in 1833. In 1838 Wieprecht became director of all the bands of the Guards Corps. He reformed the entire Prussian military music, especially in terms of instrumentation. The highlight of his musical career was the competition for military bands at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867. The most famous military bands from all over Europe competed for the honor before a jury consisting of Ambroise Thomas, Hans von Bülow, Félicien David and Léo Delibes. The overture to “Oberon” by Carl Maria von Weber had to be performed as the test piece. He and his united bands (2nd Guard Regiment and Kaiser-Franz-Grenadier-Regiment) also played a fantasy from the opera “The Prophet” by Giacomo Meyerbeer and were unanimously awarded first prize. Two famous cornet soloists played in these military bands, Julius Kosleck from 1843-1853 and later Theodor Hoch, who also received the prize for best soloist in Paris.

4,  Post Horn Gallop (1844)
    Hermann Koenig 1815-1880
    for coach horn in A flat 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 development and construction of instruments (Pask & Koenig) and as a composer. From 1840 Koenig played in the Drury Lane Orchestra in London. He then followed the well-known French composer and conductor Louis Jullien

to America. After his return to Europe in 1854, he worked with Antoine Courtois on the development of the Koenig horn and two different cornet models. Of the relatively few compositions that Hermann Koenig left us, his “Posthorn Gallop”, in which he used the English “coach-horn call”, is the best known. Koenig himself was the soloist at the first performance in Covent Garden in 1844. His attitude to the post horn is remarkable: he clearly preferred the sound of the German post horn, but advised his pupils to practise on the smaller English post horn as this improved the flexibility.

Coach horn in Ab played by a bugler the 45th Artillery Regiment.

5. Allegro moderato for 2 Cornets
   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 and played under Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Franz Liszt. Hector Berlioz wrote about him in 1844 “... the valve trumpet is excellent. The artist's name is Sachse, like his rival in Hanover, I don't know which of the two I should give the palm to”. 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 low trumpet in D, as was customary at the time, but the high version, which sounds very similar to the cornet in Eb used here. Unlike in Great Britain, the Eb cornets in Germany were melody instruments and not responsible for timbre and effects. Sachse also wrote etudes, 7 of which can be found in Wilhelm Wurm's cornet school. He was the teacher of 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.

Instruments used: cornet in Eb and cornet in Bb Leopold Mitsching 1865-1822
Elberfeld. In 1911 he was appointed purveyor to the court of the Prince of Lippe. The Eb cornet, also known as the soprano cornet, belonged to the 2nd Westphalian Hussar Regiment No.11. In 1906, the regiment was nicknamed the "Krefeld Dancing Hussars" after it was transferred from Düsseldorf to Krefeld. During a visit to Krefeld by Emperor Wilhelm II, the maidens of honor of Krefeld's upper class complained that there were no dancers in their town. The Emperor promised to remedy the situation. On April 2, 1906, the Emperor personally led the regiment to Krefeld on horseback and handed it over with the words: " I have brought the garrison to the town and the dancers to the ladies ".

The Emperor on his way to Krefeld

6.  Elegy: I remember deeply for voice + piano
     Alexander Sergeyevich Dargomyschski 1813-1869
     arranged by Wilhelm Wurm 1826-1904
     for cornet and piano

Wilhelm Wurm was born in Braunschweig on September 25, 1826. His father, military bandmaster of the “Black Hussars”, was also his first teacher on an instrument whose popularity was growing unusually fast in Europe at the time: Wilhelm became a cornet virtuoso of European stature. 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. During the time in which the Tsar grew up and ruled, St. Petersburg

became a Mecca for European brass players. Wurm, who was initially (1861-1868) music teacher of the high-born pupil and then (1875-1885) director of his amateur brass orchestra, occupied a special place of honor among them. In 1862 he was awarded the title of “Soloist to His Imperial Highness”, and between 1865 and 1884 he was repeatedly awarded Russian, Prussian and Swedish medals. In 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... “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 and opera arias popular at the time

I remember

how deep my gaze
penetrated the groves and forests like a ray,
And embraced the steppe far and wide.

You, the sharp eyes, you
are also extinguished.
I have looked you out.
I cried you out in sleepless nights,

I cried you out in
I have looked you out for the maiden of love.

I have cried you out in sleepless nights
nights,

I have cried you out in sleepless nights,
In sleepless nights...


выглядел is a very beautiful and old Russian word and means: (futile) waiting for someone, looking expectantly into the distance,
here translated as “eyes looked out”.

Instrument used:
Cornet in Ab
Julius Heinrich Zimmermann 1851-1923, Leipzig

After completing his training in Berlin, Zimmermann moved to St. Petersburg in 1876, where he founded a factory for brass instruments in 1880 and registered the trademark “J.H.Z.”. The workshop, which represented the French luxury brand Courtois among others, was a port of call for Oskar Böhme, who played a Courtois cornet and 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. This was followed by branches in Leipzig, Moscow, Riga and London. From 1901, Zimmermann was a supplier of instruments for the Tsar's court and exclusively for the Russian army. In 1886 he returned to Germany and settled in Leipzig, where he established the new headquarters of his company, which also included the Zimmermann music publishing house. From 1893, the company regularly took part in world exhibitions and won numerous gold medals for its instruments. Julius Heinrich Zimmermann was awarded the Imperial-Royal Russian Order of St. Stanislaus for his achievements. With the outbreak of the First World War, the company was regarded as enemy property in Russia and nationalized in 1919. The factory was re-established after the Second World War and, following privatization in 1991, still exists today under the name “St. Petersburg Factory of Wind Instruments”.

7.  Gruss ans Herzliebchen (1870)
     for cornet, violin and piano
    Heinrich Wilhelm Böhme 1843-1915
    Arr. Willi Budde

As a cornet player in a military band, Wilhelm Böhme, the father of
Oskar Böhme, wrote this concert polka during the advance on France,
it was famous at the time and often played. The edition used is the
6th edition and dates from 1889. The indication that the piece was also

available for salon orchestra gave us the idea of adding a violin
and to transpose the polka half a tone lower to D major.

Instrument used:

Kreuzkornett in A Franz Schediwy
1851-1933 Ludwigsburg end of the 19th century.
Instrument of the 5th Guards Regiment on foot 1904.
F. Schediwy INSTRUMENTENFABRIK LUDWIGSBURG
Royal Purveyor to the Court General Representative Forster & Grossheim
Berlin D.R. Patent. 5th G.R. z. F. 1904.

Timpanists and fanfare players of the 4th Guards Regiment on foot around 1886 with their staff-hautboist Gustav Roßberg, the later army music manager.

8.  Russian Gypsy Song for cornet and piano 1883
    Julius Kosleck 1825-1905

Instrument used:
Cornet in C “ Berlin model ”
Ernst Leberecht (Albrecht) Paulus 1839-around 1903 Berlin
Paulus came to Berlin in 1857 and worked for Julius Lemcke before taking over his business in 1866. From 1874 he also supplied the Berlin court orchestra, in which Julius Kosleck played, with French horns, trumpets and cornets. In 1878, Paulus built a cornet for Kosleck, which can be seen today in the Museum of Musical Instruments in Berlin. The engraving above the wreath reads “ To the Royal Chamber Musician Kosleck on February 18, 1878 ”. He was appointed court instrument maker on February 24, 1880. He expanded his workshop as he received large orders from a total of 23 regiments. In 1903, his business was taken over by Arthur Sprinz (1878-1939).




















9.   Concert Fantasy for cornet and piano 1874
      Julius Kosleck 1825-1905

Instrument used:

Cornet in Bb “ Berlin model ” Ferdinand Sydow Potsdam
Sydow continued to run the company founded by Carl August Heiser in 1824 from 1860 and was appointed court wind instrument maker in 1890.

At the age of eight, Kosleck was sent to the military music school Annaberg and trained as a trumpeter. From 1853-1863 he was a military musician in the music corps of the 2nd Guards Regiment of Foot in Berlin. From 1863-1893 he was a member of the Royal Orchestra, from
1873 to 1903 he taught trumpet and trombone at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin. As a cornet virtuoso he gave concerts in Germany, England, Russia and the USA. In 1870 Kosleck founded the Kaiser Cornet Quartet with soprano cornet in Bb, alto cornet in Bb, tenor cornet in Eb and bass cornet. It became one of the most famous and successful ensembles of its time, toured all over Europe, took part 1872 in the “ World's Peace Jubilee and International Musical Festival “ in the USA and played for the Tsar in Moscow.In 1890, Kosleck expanded it into the Patriotic Bläserbund with a large brass section, for which Richard Strauss composed “Solemn Entry of the Knights of the Order of St. John”.
Kosleck was 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 in 1888 in Vienna under Hans Richter.

He was very interested in the music of the old trumpeters' guild and is regarded as the originator of the misnomer “Bachtrompete”, not realizing that there were no valves in Bach's time, but he is not wrongly regarded as a pioneer of the modern piccolo trumpet. In 2008, a sensational find was made; a collection published by the Berlin publisher Eduard Anecke in 1896 with a total of 57 pieces for 4 trumpets and timpani up to his large brass ensemble. “ Trumpet music : Aufzuege, Fanfaren, Maersche; der heroisch ritterlichen Trompeter u. Paukerkunst “ Seiner Majestät Kaiser Wilhelm II.in tiefster Ehrfurcht gewidmet von J. Kosleck. Royal Professor and Teacher at the Royal Academy of Music. (More of his music can be heard on Helen Barsby's CD “Julius Kosleck Rediscovered").

10.  Not For Everyone 1894
      Polka brillant for cornet and piano
      Carl Höhne 1860-1938

The son of the town music director of Pritzerbe in Westhavelland, he joined the “Königin Elisabeth” regiment in Spandau in 1878 to study music and become a bandmaster. After transferring to the 76th Regiment in Braunschweig in 1884, he took up the post of 1st trumpeter at the ducal court theater 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 as Kosleck's successor as a teacher at the Royal Academic College of Music. Höhne also played in the famous Kaiser Kornett Quartet alongside his colleague Robert Königsberg. In a letter to Franz Schediwy from 1895, he expresses his enthusiasm for the cornet built by the master, as did Königsberg in 1898 about all four instruments in the quartet. Höhne himself was also an excellent soloist. A review in the Badener Bade-Blatt stated: “Here too, Mr. Höhne received all the acclaim that accompanied his performances in other cities. The artist's extraordinary technique and brilliant virtuosity met with general acclaim, as did his soft and beautiful tone, which is always of transparent clarity and purity ...”. Some of these skills are called for in this polka. (Is this where the name of the composition comes from?). It begins with a free cadenza, followed by a delicate andante, then the polka follows with everything the virtuoso's heart desires: double tonguing, triple tonguing and even quintuple tonguing, 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 must also be mastered, whereby the lip trill was added by the performer.

Instrument used:

Kreuzkornett in A, Franz Schediwy 1851-1933 Born in Bohemia, Schediwy settled in Ludwigsburg in 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 branch in Berlin, which also supplied the Prussian army and the Imperial Cornet Quartet with instruments. He was granted a patent for the so-called Kreuzkornett on September 4, 1900. He built 3 different models of this type, all of which are represented on this CD (No.6, No.10 and No.15). The arrangement of the valves and tubes optimized the air flow through the instrument, the machine was more protected than before and the side-mounted main tuning slide enabled very fast intonation adjustment.

The cornet made for me by the court instrument maker Mr Schediwy can be given the best testimonial with a clear conscience. Never before have I played such a perfect piston. First of all, it has a very full, soft, flexible tone, a very light, clear high register, as well as a very light, appealing sonorous low register. As far as purity is concerned, it would be difficult to equal this piston.
Berlin, August 1895
C. Höhne, Royal Chamber Musician at the Royal Court Opera

Dear Mr Schediwy!
I have happily finished my concert tour. I look back on this year's concerts with pleasure, because I performed well in every concert and received the full satisfaction of the audience. But I owe these successes to my piston, which you made. I am very satisfied with it and will therefore recommend you to my colleagues to the best of my ability. I hope that all the cornets you make will turn out as flawlessly. Allow me to send you my photograph as a souvenir.
Most sincerely
C. Höhne, Royal Chamber Musician at the Royal Court Opera
Berlin, 8 October 1895

11. Facilita
    Thema und Variationen for Cornet 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. Various positions followed, including with the Royal Sherwood Foresters, one of the best bands in the country. For four years he led the 4th foot Guards in Corfu. He transformed the 12th Lancers in Hounslow from a mediocre to a professional band. By the end of his career he was composing and arranging for British publishers. Facilita is a typical solo piece with introduction, cadenza, theme and three variations, which is still popular today, especially in Great Britain. This edition comes from a Russian collection that goes back to Wilhelm Wurm. What is special here is that the editor, 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

The Courtois cornet from 1879 with the serial number 13956

Cornet " Model Courtois from a

Heinrich Moritz Schuster catalog

The replicas

Instruments used:
Intro, cadenza and theme: Cornet á Pistons in Bb, 1878 Antoine Courtois Paris, founded 1789
Variation I: Cornet á Pistons in B flat, 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. Courtois models were played by Wilhelm Wurm, Willy Brandt, Oskar Böhme and Hugo Türpe.

The above-mentioned manufacturers and a few others often (re)built the ‘Courtois model’.

12. Allegro Scherzando from: 24 Duette 1906
     Hermann Pietzsch 1852-1920

Pietzsch studied in Dresden and was a trumpeter in the Düsseldorf Municipal Orchestra from 1876 to 1914. He composed several instructional works and solo pieces for cornet. The ‘Fantasy and Variations on an original theme’ by Carl Höhne are dedicated to him. The Scherzando from his 24 duets seemed suitable for us to present the two smallest of our collection, so-called pocket cornets. One is 19 cm long, the other 23 cm. These practical travelling cornets, or ‘women's cornets’ as they were called (only in those days, of course), were very often custom-made. The precisely shaped case with space for the mouthpiece and A crook and the engraved name of the cornet player on the Schmidt cornet indicate this.

Instruments used


Pocket cornet in Bb Adolf Schmidt Berlin, founded in 1876
Schmidt's cornet is equipped with a string mechanism as is still sometimes found on French horns today. These models
were almost exclusively intended for export to the USA (The change to the Périnet valve did not take place there until the end of the 19th century). 

This small horn, which remained in Germany, is therefore a real exception in several respects.

Pocket cornet in Bb Leopold Mitsching Ehrenfeld around 1900

13. Mother's Heart Op.28 ( 1900 )
      Fantasy for Echo-Cornet and Piano
      Theodor Hoch 1842-190

Hoch was solo cornet player in the orchestra of the Kaiser-Franz-Grenadier- Guards in Berlin. At the World Exhibition in Paris on 21 July 1867 Theodor Hoch won the prize for best soloist. From 1875 he played solo cornet with the forerunner of the Berlin Philharmonic, the orchestra Benjamin Bilse Orchestra. He emigrated to the USA in 1881. He is said to have given C.G. Conn, the famous maker of cornets, is said to have taught him how to play. In year 1888 he received a ‘Presentation-Conn-Cornet ’ from the town of Elkhart, which was said to be worth 1,000 dollars and took two months to engrave. An advert from 1887 states that the Conn Wonder Solo model with the ‘ Theodor Hoch-Patent mute’. Mother's Heart is a very folksy-musical piece that transports the listener to the mountains and makes use of another invention from
the end of the 19th century, the echo cornet. Through the attachment of a second, muted bell, which can be added at lightning speed with a fourth valve, an echo effect is simulated. The cornet is tuned one tone lower than usual in A flat. The reason for this was that the original case with all the accessories also contained an A flat crook. Since I didn't know any solo pieces in this tuning, I simply set it a tone lower. A week after I finished, Helen sent me the sheet music for “Gruss an die Waldesrose”, a piece by Julius Kosleck for echo cornet in Ab. You can listen to it on Helen Barsby's CD "Julius Kosleck revdiscovered".The dedication "To my dear friend Carl Fischer" is for his publisher, a brother of the Bremen music dealer August Emil Fischer,who opened a workshop in New York in 1872, hence the english title.

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 cornet is tuned one tone lower than usual in Ab.The reason was that the original case with all the accessories also contained an Ab pigtail. As I didn't know any solo pieces in this tuning, I simply tuned the piece one tone lower. A week after I had finished, a colleague sent me the sheet music for ‘Gruss an die Waldesrose’, a piece by Julius Kosleck for echo cornet in A flat. You can listen to it on Helen Barsby's CD ‘Auf den Spuren von Julius Kosleck’. The dedication ‘To my dear friend Carl Fischer’ is for his publisher, a brother of the Bremen music dealer August Emil Fischer, who opened a workshop in New York in 1872

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

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.

14. Serenade Op.22 No.1 (1903) for cornet 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. Sérénade d'amour Op.7 No.1 for cornet 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".

Instrument used:

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.

16. Russian Fantasy Op.1 for cornet and piano 1910

     Paul Wiggert 1878-1919

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.

17. "On the watch" Fantasy piece Paul Dierig

The signals at the beginning and at the end should be played from a distance, we have simulated this here by playing them into the open and not muted piano. The piece combines these 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.

Bolshoi-Brass-Quartet

with Willy Brandt at the back left

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.

The mouthpieces used are original mouthpieces from the 19th century. Some are nameless, but their shape and material indicate their origin. The most commonly used is an "all-round cornet mouthpiece" built by Leopold Mitsching in Elberfeld. For the delicate side of the instrument, a particularly deep mouthpiece is used:Couesnon & Cie 94 Rue D'Angouléme Paris No 2 EMBOUCHURE RAYÉE GUILBAUT Bte. S.G.D.G.

Post-Horn

Keyed Bugle

Courtois,

model Arban

Mitsching

Couesnon

Text: Willi Budde