Arban’s Cornet
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Josh Landress posted this pic on a Facebook page today. He has apparently acquired the personal cornet of Jean-Baptist Arban, made in the late 1840s. No other photos at this time...
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@dale-proctor More photos are up now.
Richard III
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@richard-iii said in Arban’s Cornet:
@dale-proctor More photos are up now.
Yes, I saw them a little while ago. That water key on it bothers me, though.
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Did Arban play this instrument much? I have only found two pictures of Arban with a cornet and both look like Courtois style (double water key):
Maybe the rotary is an earlier Arban cornet.
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Arban only speaks about the Cornet á piston or simply "piston". I have never seen any reference tying Arban to a rotary valved anything. It also looks like someone else besides the bell engraver engraved the name into the bell.
I would be interested to see what proof Josh got of the provenance of this instrument. -
The pictures show a Courtois "Arban's model" cornet - the characteristic feature being how the two loops intertwine. Those came out around 1870 give or take, and Arban finished college in 1845 (wrote his method in 1864), so it stands to reason he played something else first.
Someone other than the manufacturer later adding a name to the space set aside on a presentation cornet, and thus differing in orientation and style, would be pretty normal. What bothers me about the subject horn is how astoundingly sloppy the engraving is. It isn't just done without a stencil, it looks like freehand without so much as a center line (or secondary center lines for what should be symmetrical shapes) - like the person doing it didn't know much about the craft (such as a music or department store apprentice engraver). I find it hard to believe that could have come out of Besson.
I wonder what evidence Josh obtained before buying this.
www.trumpet-history.com
A Timeline of Trumpets (Amazon)
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1975 Olds Recording R-20 -
Right, that is why I suggested it could be an earlier cornet of his.
Looking at it more, it doesn't look like a French instrument. Those style of keys are very much the German style with the shape of the key and the large "puck" the key is attached to. Besson did make some rotary valve cornets (e.g. Robb has one on his website) but the keys don't look like that. The thin bracing also does not look like any Besson bracing I have seen. Also that style of engraving looks later to me, the French engraving of that period is pure lines; that style of engraving is what was popular post-1900. And I agree the engraving looks too sloppy for a Besson. The water key has a coil spring on it which is also post-1900.
There could be explanations for this, e.g. Besson was copying the recent German designs and had not yet added their own touches to it. But, I would say some healthy skepticism is in order until there are more details
PS Here is a German cornet from around 1900, it looks a lot more like this than like any French instrument (notice the bracing for example). Also this style was patented in 1900 and popular then .. more strikes.
