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Re: Baritone/Baritone - alto cornet?

At 02:24 PM 2/18/97 GMT, you wrote:
>>   From what I can gather...
>>   
>>   ENGLISH	       AMERICAN
>>   
>>   Tenor Horn	    Alto Horn
>>   Baritone	      Tenor Horn
>>   Euphonium	     Baritone
>>   
>To add to the language mystery, has anyone heard of an Alto Cornet?  The 
>Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra are playing Mozart Requim soon, and
>whilst sorting out the parts, came across an alto cornet part!  ???
>
>		Darren Ashman,
>	     /  Secretary and Principal Cornet,
>|>---iii----<|  City of Cambridge Brass Band,
>  ( =lll==)  \  dashman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>   --lll--      http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/dsteele/ccbb/


Actually, there are no hard and fast rules!  The manufacturers often have
their own names for the instruments they produce.  What they sell now may
have little or nothing to do with previous models.  One also has to look
historically at the whole matter.  The "American baritone" has been defined
on this list with inconsistency and scorn, and even exemplified by a
Japanese brand!  

The mid-19th century brass bands in the States (and Canada, if based on the
American rather than the British model) employed mostly like-bored and
same-bell-directioned "Saxhorns" (mostly conical bore instruments similar to
a Fluegelhorn at all pitch levels).  The lead voices were the Eb sopranos
(or cornet -- 1st and 2nd), and Bbs were often called altos.  One pitch
range where the bore profiles did differ was with the Bb trombone-length
instruments, variously Bb tenors (narrow bore, more like valve trombones),
Bb baritones (medium wide conical bores), and Bb basses (wide bore, larger
belled -- we could equate these with today's euphoniums).  The Eb tuba was
often also referred to as a contrabass, especially if a Bb bass was in the
terminology.  A BBb tuba was very seldom employed in North American brass
bands of the nineteenth century.  
Whether valves are straight up and within the corpus or above the main
corpus (either way, the instrument is then played to the right), or angled
so that the instrument must be also angled across the body with the bell
pointing off to the left of the player, the bore-size/shape is more crucial
in determining the classification of the instrument.  Bell direction does
have an effect too.  

But I have three Besson Eb horns (call them either tenors or altos, Besson
calls them Eb altos in the catalogue I have, meant no doubt for North
American market) with "recording" bells (pointing forward, originally for
the purpose of projecting the sound to the collecting funnels of the old wax
cylinder recording machines) and angled valves, that have a lovely sound and
blend well in our Plumbing Factory Brass Band.  The same Besson catalogue
illustrates a 3-valve (similarly angled valves, with "recording" bells)
"euphonium" (their term).  An 1888 catalogue from the Canadian
Bandmaster/Dealer Thomas Claxton of Toronto of Band Instruments . . . of
Foreign and American Manufacture" lists echo, pocket, and "solo" Bb cornets
in addition to the regular types, Fluegel Horns, Eb Alto Bell Front (this
was usually called a "solo alto" and would be the equivalent of an alto
cornet or alto Fluegelhorn).  Other instruments listed and illustrated in
Claxton's catalogue include "Eb Alto--bell upright, Bb Tenor--bell upright,
Bb Baritone--bell upright, Bb Bass--bell upright [wide bore but with 3
valves], Bb Euphonium--bell upright, Eb Contra-Bass--bell upright, Double Bb
Monster Contra-Bass--bell upright." Helicons in Bb bass, Eb contra bass and
BBb monster contra bass are also illustrated, as are Eb Alto Trombone, Bb
Tenor Trombone, Bb Baritone Trombone, and Bb Bass Trombone (I own a huge
bore 9-foot Bb "Bass" valve trombone by Higham of Manchester, so North
America was not the only place to use such an assortment).  Such an array of
names for sometimes indistinguishable or minimal differences!  109 years
later and we still see the same marketing techniques with the proliferation
of names and models, all with their supposed advantages.  My personal
collection contains real examples of many of these types from throughout the
last 150 years.  Trust me, there are no hard and fast rules on what to call
these contraptions.  Perhaps we should relax the "rules" of "standard"
instrumentation then, in this mutating thing we call a brass band.  

Claxton copies other authors in listing the instruments recommended when
forming a brass band:  Band of Six -- 2 Bb Cornets, 2 Eb Altos, 1 Bb Tenor,
1 Eb Bass;  Band of Seven -- 3 Bb Cornets, 2 Eb Altos, 1 Bb Baritone (or
Euphonium), 1 Eb Bass; . . . Band of Eleven -- 1 Eb Cornet, 3 Bb Cornets, 2
Eb Altos, 2 Bb Tenors, 1 Bb Baritone (or Euphonium), 1 Bb Bass, 1 Eb Bass;
etc. etc. through a band of 17 members.  He adds that "Trombones may be used
for Altos, Tenors, Baritones and Bb Bass.  This new classification, as
introduced in many of the leading bands in this country [Canada] and Europe
with the greatest success, promises to be the prevailing style.  Helicon
Contra Basses may be used instead of the Upright Model."

The next page gives a chart of "Formation of Bands--American" from 6 to 17
members, where the primary differences are the employment immediately of the
Eb cornet (band of 6 -- 1 Eb, 1 Bb cornet, 2 Eb altos, 1 Bb Tenor, 1 Eb
Bass; ... band of 9 already employing 2 Eb cornets), and the mention of
"baritone" only (not "or euphonium").  Of course he was interested in
disseminating instruments and it probably didn't make much difference to him
so long as the orders came in.  Have things changed all that much in the
last century?  

Henry Meredith   <drhank@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

London, Canada


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