Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 4: Heyday of the Cornet by Sabine Katharina Klaus (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 4: Heyday of the Cornet by Sabine Katharina Klaus Bryan Proksch Trumpets and Other High Brass: A History Inspired by the Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection. Volume 4: Heyday of the Cornet. By Sabine Katharina Klaus. Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2022. [xv, 336 p. ISBN 9780984826971 (hardcover), $119.95.] Illustrations, bibliography, index, accompanying DVD. In this fourth installment of a planned five-volume set, Sabine Klaus once again dives headfirst into the brass instruments collected by the late Joe and Joella Utley, now held by the National Music Museum (NMM) in Vermillion, South Dakota. Once completed, the set will present the most comprehensive view—both historical and in photographic documentation—of "trumpets and high brass" ever written. Volume 4, perhaps the set's most specific in scope, examines some 150 cornets constructed from the 1840s into the 1990s, with a noticeable weighting for instruments made from about 1880 to 1920. Klaus studies a remarkably broad range of manufacturers, both large and small, making cornets in literally every shape and size imaginable (and some unimaginable) from all the major centers of construction in the United States and Europe, as well as Japan. The book is a remarkable achievement and will surely serve as a benchmark study and baseline reference work for decades to come. Although no book can be all things to all people, Klaus must be commended for making a strong effort toward that end. Scholars—especially organologists and musicologists—will find a compilation of details on manufacturers, countless patent drawings, line drawings of valve arrangements, discussions of construction techniques, raw measurements, waveforms, X-rays, and dates and places for specific makes and models. All are useful for both general knowledge and specific study. Meticulous and numerous footnotes allow those interested in pursuing more detailed research to do so with ease. Performers, especially the modern trumpeter, will discover historical photographs of the actual instruments played by their famous predecessors, with at least passing reference to a few not owned by the NMM. Highlights include J.-B. Arban's cornets (two, both at the Musée de la musique in Paris), Walter Emerson's 1881 Courtois cornet, P. S. Gilmore's unique "Antoniophones," and the odd slide cornet–trumpet hybrid played by Louis Armstrong from his famous photo session with King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band. For the lay reader—including collectors of instruments and ephemera—the book's lavish full-color illustrations, provided at a generous average of about three per page, will provide hours of armchair browsing interspersed with enjoyable skimming. The photos of the NMM's instruments are a treat unto themselves, but advertisements, ephemera, and other historical documents make this book far more than a simple parade of cornets. Even the most focused reader will [End Page 616] find it difficult to keep to Klaus's prose without getting distracted by the figures. The elaborate dedications and engravings on many of the Utley cornets—consistently featured with a detail photo as well as an in-text transcription and interpretation—are particularly enticing, given the way they offer peeks into artisan techniques, artistry, and historical details. Two jewel-encrusted Besson cornets used for exposition displays in the 1880s (NMM 7119 and 7120) are the visual highlight of the whole book and are featured on the dust jacket. When it comes to various issues in cornet history, Klaus consistently delivers thorough explanations using straightforward and accessible language. Her comparison of Périnet and Stölzel valves in chapter 1 presents the pros and cons of each, including scientific measurements alongside clear line drawings and photographs of instruments. On "high pitch" and "low pitch" cornets (pp. 76 and 77), she concisely explains the situations in both Europe and the United States as related to each instrument and practice. Cornet history is littered with instruments named after performers but outwardly similar in construction to the untrained eye. Those interested in knowing the difference between Courtois's "Arban," "Arbuckle," "Levy," and "Arbuckle/Emerson" models will find answers in terms of construction, decoration, and marketing. The same holds true for...