Trumpeting Wind Instruments

Thanks to the relatively recent research of a few scholars, we now know that the keyed trumpet was used for far more than just solo playing. Rather, the instrument was employed in a variety of contexts during the early nineteenth century, including military bands, chamber ensembles, church orchestras, and the opera pit. My research both corroborates and builds upon that of earlier scholars, and, to date, my catalog of keyed trumpet works has grown to include around 460 surviving musical sources that employ the instrument. However, one area of music-making that the keyed trumpet is not widely discussed as being a part of is purely instrumental music for orchestra. While I have yet to find a full symphony that makes use of the keyed trumpet, I have cataloged 58 works for dance orchestra that make use of the instrument, most of which either do not appear in currently published catalogs or are not listed as having keyed trumpet parts.
After spending three months conducting research in the Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, where the majority of Joseph Lanner and Johann Strauss Sr's original musical manuscripts are held, I discovered that 48 of their works composed between 1826-1832, including marches, galops, potpourris, cotillons, and waltzes, make use of the keyed trumpet. Being that these two gentlemen are considered the fathers of the Viennese waltz, the fact that they both employed the keyed trumpet so extensively in their dance orchestras during their early careers is a particularly exciting revelation. While both composers made use of the keyed trumpet in slightly different ways, they both mainly employed the instrument for brief but prominent solos; typically, during just one of a dance's numbers. Both composers also required their trumpeters to be able to quickly switch between playing the keyed trumpet, natural trumpet, natural horn, and post horn over the course of a single work.

Glowing over-the-top instrument endorsements-especially for cornets-make ubiquitous appearances to the point of banality in nineteenth- and early-twentieth century band periodicals. Seemingly every virtuoso and bandmaster testified to the superior traits of at least one maker's craftsmanship. The unseen negotiations between manufacturers and musicians demonstrate a delicate balance of power that sometimes backfired. This paper will examine the process by which endorsement deals resulted in carefully-worded advertisement letters and will use case studies to elaborate on instances where unforeseen complications resulted. It will be argued that despite the apparent uniformity of these deals, both the makers and the performers took the endorsements quite seriously-to the point of mirroring many of today's athletic endorsement arrangements.
            In 1891 David Blakely delicately negotiated an endorsement of C. G. Conn's instruments with John Philip Sousa. Sousa, who still led the Marine Band, refused to write a satisfactory letter in the way the P. S. Gilmore had done the year before, arguing his position as a government employee made profiting from an endorsement unethical. In a series of letters between Blakely, Sousa, and Conn, the three parties became increasingly exasperated with each draft of the proposed letter, to the point where Blakely threatened to withhold part of Sousa's contractual earnings. Sousa modeled his initial letter on Gilmore's earlier endorsement, and he eventually acquiesced to a compromise wording.
            Bandmaster endorsements proved particularly problematic because they often required the entire band to play on one make of instrument. Such was eventually true of Conn's relationship with Sousa's Band-until cornetist Frank Simon started playing a Holton cornet without asking permission in 1918. Sousa attempted to keep the choice private, but within a year both Simon and Herbert L. Clarke were publicly endorsing Holton despite soloing for an all-Conn band.
            The manner in which the "world's greatest cornetist" Jules Levy manipulated the system provides remarkable insights into the stiff competition over the largest endorsement deals. Levy originally endorsed Henry Distin's cornets but abruptly switched to Conn in 1888. Distin made public accusations and a lawsuit nearly ensued when he continued to print Levy's original endorsement letter. Conn too would later sue Levy for breach of contract.
            Taken as a whole these sources demonstrate the extent to which the seemingly generic endorsement letter was actually a delicate exercise in business acumen for musicians wishing profit from their choices and to design or refine the instruments they played. By the same token, instrument manufacturers showed little regard for ethical practices-paying cash and providing custom-built instruments as necessary to gain an endorsement, regardless of preexisting agreements between the musicians and other manufacturers.