History of the Euphonium PDF

**History of the Euphonium** The earliest forerunner of the euphonium as the tenor voice of the lip and reed family is generally thought to have been the serpent, deriving its name from its snake-like appearance. It was constructed of wood, brass, or silver and played with a deep-cup mouthpiece mad...

**History of the Euphonium** The earliest forerunner of the euphonium as the tenor voice of the lip and reed family is generally thought to have been the serpent, deriving its name from its snake-like appearance. It was constructed of wood, brass, or silver and played with a deep-cup mouthpiece made of horn or ivory. The serpent is cited as a forerunner of the euphonium because they have several aspects in common. They both produce a sound the same way using a deep-cupped mouthpiece and both instruments are conical in bore and similar in length. Thus their tone colour and tessitura are similar. Some significant composers used serpents in their works. However it is well documented that the serpent was a very difficult instrument to play, largely because the finger holes are so widely spaced. Charles Burney, a nineteenth century music historian likened the sound of the serpent to that of a \'hungry or rather angry essex calf\'! Few serpents were made after 1835, they eventually gave way to the more refined ophicleide. The ophicleide was first introduced in 1817 by instrument maker, Jean Hilaire Aste. It was listed as the lowest member of a patented group of keyed bugles. It was made of brass and shaped somewhat like a saxophone. Like the serpent and the euphonium it was played with a cupped mouthpiece and produced a deep tone. Unlike the serpent, the ophicleide developed into a solo instrument. Several musicians became famous ophicleide soloists. The ophicleide was a difficult instrument to master. The ophicleide would, however, soon be consumed by the advances of technology through the invention of the piston valve and the rapid growth of the brass band movement in Britain. The first piston valve was collaboratively patented in 1815 by Heinrich Stolzel and Friedrich Blumel. In 1823 William Wieprecht made a piston valved instrument called a Tenorbasshorn and in 1838 Carl Moritz of Berlin made a similar instrument called a tenor tuba. However, it was in 1843 that Sommer of Weimar designed and named a piston valved, tenor voiced instrument called a \"euphonion\". Its name is derived from the Greek word euphonos, meaning \"sweet-voiced\" and many consider this instrument to be the ancestor of the modern day euphonium. The euphonium and the ophicleide co-existed for at least five decades, but the euphonium was easier to play, and both cheaper and easier to manufacture in large quantities. Interestingly, three ophicleidists Hughes, Prospere and Phasey, the latter learned the euphonium and earned a good living for himself. Sam Hughes ignored the euphonium, and died in 1898 leaving his widow in grief and poverty. During the industrial revolution manufacturing techniques and production skills improved. The piston valve was a product of the revolution as were many other musical inventions. However, the most significant development relating to the emergence of the euphonium was the amateur brass band movement. Algernon Rose was informed that there were 40,000 brass bands in Britain by 1893 and in Herbert\'s and Myers\' book, \'The British Brass Band\', Arnold Myers states that brass band instrumentation had crystallized around the same period. This would mean that in the 50 or 60 years since Sommer invented the euphonium there were approximately 60,000 amateur euphoniumists in Britain. The meteoric popularity of the instrument can not be attributed solely to the Industrial Revolution or the formation of the brass band movement. Instrument manufacturers actively promoted the euphonium by offering them as prizes to the best ophicleidists at competitions. This divisive practice contributed to the demise of the Ophicleide. Whilst the euphonium was flourishing in the brass band movement in Britain it was also becoming established in military bands throughout Europe and the USA. This trend of including euphoniums in the military band continued until the euphonium occupied a permanent position in military bands Worldwide. Richard Franko Goldman, son of the famous American concert band conductor, Edwin Franko Goldman said, \"the euphonium is indispensable in wind bands\". The design and development of the euphonium benefited from the technological advances of the industrial revolution. Early virtuoso players also contributed to the instrument\'s development. Alfred Phasey, professor of euphonium at the Military School of Music, Kneller Hall, increased the size of the instrument\'s bore twice, in 1859 and 1870. The designing of the first short valve action euphonium in 1864, is also attributed to him. Despite these developments the instrument still had inherent problems of intonation, especially in the lower register. Some manufacturers overcame the problem by adding extra valves; some euphoniums had five and six valves. Other manufacturers designed instruments with accessible main tuning slides so the players could pull or push when required. None of these methods were totally successful. In 1874 Dr David Blaikley, of Boosey and Co. London devised an automatic compensating system which dramatically improved the euphonium\'s intonation. He patented the invention and describes how it works below: \'The tubing connected to the third valve is passed through the first and second, in such a way that, when the third piston is depressed, air passes through passages in the first and second valves, besides the two passages ordinarily designed in the third. Additional tubing is connected with the first and second pistons respectively, to add two air passages to each of their valves. When the first or second piston is depressed with the third, the length of the passage is increased. When all three are simultaneously depressed, the whole of the additional tubing is employed, compensating for the lowering of the pitch of the instrument which is caused by depressing the third valve.\' When the patent ceased in 1974 the system was copied by most leading euphonium manufacturers including: Yamaha, Miraphone, Wilson, Hirsbrunner and Sterling. This advance allowed players even more easily than before to develop their technique and virtuosity. A further development took place in 1964 when the brass band movement changed from high-pitch (A=452.5 vibrations per second) to low-pitch (A = 440 vibrations per second). This was an important development in terms of the euphonium becoming a recital instrument and it allowed it to experiment more accurately with alternative ensembles to the brass band. In 1891 a journalist from the Daily Telegraph suggested the sound of the euphonium was, \"enough to make a Quaker kick his mother-in-law\" and likened the instrument to a \"fog-horn\". Yet in 2004 a journalist from the Times suggested that the euphonium was \"as flexible and agile as the trumpet\" capable of producing a \"superbly focused glowing tone\".