Other similar models of Euphonium are made by Besson Willson Jupiter and under the names of many storey American manufacturers now within the umbrella among others. Sep 10, 2014 List of Serial Numbers by Year, Besson Euphonium; If this is your first visit. 5, RUE MAURICE BERTEAUX - 78711 MANTES-LA-VILLE - FRANCE. Instruments Baritones Cornets Euphoniums Tenor Horns Trombones Trumpets Tubas Accessories. This all depends on how old the instrument is. The age of any instrument manufactured after 1963 can be easily dated using the serial number. However, instruments produced prior to 1963 cannot be dated. This is because of a devastating fire at the factory which destroyed all of the company's production records. It features 4 Front mounted valves. Bidding has ended on this item. The seller has relisted this item or one like this.
- 1The Normaphone
- 1.1Richard Heber
- 1.2The Normaphone in action
The Normaphon was a saxophone shaped trumpet with one bell.The history of the Normaphone is more or less the same as the history of the two-belled Jazzophone. Where the Jazzophone originated on the Czech side of the border, in Graslitz, the inventor of the Normaphone lived in Markneukirchen at the German side, only a few miles away.
Richard Heber
The Normaphon was invented by Richard Oskar Heber (1872-1938). Between 1900 and 1935 he produced brass instruments under the Norma-brand at the Schützenstrasse 36 in Markneukirchen. Heber advertised the Normaphone as very appropriate for 'Jazz-Band und sonstige Effekt-Kapellen'. Roughly 100 Normaphons were built from approximately 1924/25 until 1930, and were distributed through wholesalers such as C.A. Wunderlich in Siebenbrunn, R.O. Adler, Johannes Adler and C.G Glier in Markneukirchen, Ammon Gläser in Erlbach and M. J. Kalashen in New York. The Gebrüder Schuster in Markneukirchen, 'Fabrik und Export von Musikinstrumenten und Saiten', from 1854, had the Normaphone in their Katalog Nr. 70, (ca. 1929). Normaphones were sent out to musical directors all over the world to promote the new instrument.
Like the Jazzophon the Normaphone also had a D.R.G.M-registration, dates 26.02.1926, number 51c. 945 751, under the name 'Metallblasinstrument', on Richard Hebers name.
The C.G.Glier catalog from October 1926 states that patents are claimed both at home and abroad. There were four sizes of the instrument (specials possible), but most of them were build in tenor. Albert Rice explains that they were build not only with piston but also with rotary valves. The National Music Museum in Vermillion SD owns the only known rotary valve example. The soprano also had a version with an echo effect-valve, similar to the Jazzophon. Initially, there also was a choice between high and low pitch.
Max Adler from Erlbach offered in his catalogue number 25 also the English high pitch and the Normaphon in C and in F for the same price. Adler advertises the Normaphon as a solo instrument.
Remarkable: C.A. Wunderlich offered around 1928 also a soprano version of the Normaphon with an echo effect valve, a kind of Jazzophon in fact. The New Langwill Index states that C.A. Wunderlich held the Normaphon patent, that could be a misinterpretation or Wunderlich must have acquired it from Heber.
In or after 1931 Robert Oswald Adler still (and only) offered the sopran, alto and tenor Normaphon, as did Johannes Adler in his Liste 31. The 1934 C.A.Wunderlich catalog shows no Normaphons nor Jazzophons anymore.
Pieter Aafjes, from 1907 - 1947 musical director of Crescendo, a concert band in Culemborg, the Netherlands, obtained an alto Normaphon from C.A. Wunderlich with serial number 0104, to give it a try. Through Riet van Dillen, the daughter of his successor Jac van Dillen, it came in my possession.
Alto Normaphon in Eb, originally nickel plated, serial number 0104. On the bell: C.A. Wunderlich Siebenbrunn Vogtl. coll. Gerard Westerhof
The National Music Museum of the University of South Dakota has a soprano and two tenor Normaphons, one of them having rotary valves. This last one (serial number 0200), the only example with the usual Normaphon D.R.G.M. Germany engraving with rotary valves known so far, has no distributor name engraved.
Normaphones can be found amongst others at the Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, the MIM in Phoenix, the Museum of Musical Instruments of the Leipzig University, the HJM Brass Collection in Turku, Finland and the Trompetenmuseum in Bad Säckingen (that has a tenor from Schuster & Co.).
Leopold Renz
Normaphone in Bb, coll. Musikinstrumenten Museum Markneukirchen. Engraved: Leopold Renz, Instrumentenmacher Berlin N 58 Gaudystr.14
Leopold Renz, Instrumentenmacher, Berlin, N58 Gaudystr.14, made this tenor instrument, with a total length of 277 cm. Günter Dullat, who used it for the cover of his book Blasinstrumente names it also a Normaphone and states that the Normaphone (this Normaphon?) in the nineteen twenties was developed by Robert Schopper (1859-1938) in Leipzig. Renz worked as an instrument maker from 1916 onwards, and from 1927 under his own name. According to Dullat, he worked in Graslitz (Kaiserstr. 1051) as a woodwind instrument maker and moved to Berlin around 1936. This instrument is dated 'before 1939'.
The Normaphone in action
Damen Kapellen
Sofar the only pictures of a Normaphone in an ochestral setting found are those of the Damen Trompeter Korps Rheinland Mecklenburg (thanks to Vaclav Muska).
The Damen Trompeter Korps Rheinland - Mecklenburg with different sizes of Normaphons (2 sopran, 1 alto, 1 tenor, 1 baritone)
The full orchestra with Normaphons hanging at the wall in the back right.
In the German speaking countries of Europe in the 1890s through to World War I there appeared a large number of “Damen Kapellen”, troupes of entertainers: brass/wind ensembles, string “orchestras”, salon “orchestras”, singing, dancing and theatre variety groups. These largely consisted of women, usually led by a man, and occasionally including males as players. These were professional groups and performed in theatres, as part of larger variety and vaudeville programmes, also at various concert venues in town and countryside.
The female brass ensembles were generally known as “Damen Blasorchester” or “Damen Trompeterkorps” and consisted of a variety of instrumentalists, almost exclusively brass (though some groups did double up on stringed instruments, drums or handbells - for example). In addition to their instrumental playing they would sometimes also sing and dance and go through various costume changes as part of their performances. Fanfare trumpets were a feature of some ensembles.
The music performed ranged from the popular tunes of the day, military marches, and “salon music” to sophisticated arrangements of classical and operatic works. These were written and transcribed by the members, though perhaps more usually by the male “Director” of the ensemble. (I parafrase 'Damen und Damen - Ladies’ professional travelling brass ensembles of the German Empire 1871-1918 by Gavin Holman, 2017, who borrows a lot from Dorothea Kaumann's 'routinierte Trommlerin gesucht' from 1996.)
Ensembles including brass instruments were particularly popular in some environments – e.g. restaurants and outdoor events – where their music could be heard over the background noise. These brass groups had their origins in the military bands of the early 19th century which included woodwind and brass instruments, the brass being increasingly dominant as the instruments evolved, using piston valves and more efficient manufacturing techniques. The relatively low cost, ease of learning and playing of the brass instruments, made them eminently suitable for the new women’s ensembles (as also for the village and town bands). Indeed, many of these groups maintained the links to the earlier bands by adopting costumes modelled on military uniforms. Other costumes were based on traditional folklore dress and more normal female attire of the day.
It was not until the 1890s that the numbers of women’s groups increased significantly. Each city had at least one group resident or as part of a touring company, in Dresden alone, there were up to ten Damen Kapellen of various types regularly performing after 1900. They took advantage of the economic prosperity around the turn of the century, the popularity of theatres and vaudeville shows, the demand from large restaurants, bars and exhibitions for entertainers, and the easing of the labour market for women. Their engagements generally lasted from two weeks to several months, depending on the venue and tour commitments of the ensembles, moving on to the next town for their new contract, even beyond the traditional German speaking countries.
An analysis by Dorothea Kaufmann from adverts in “Der Artist” (a German version of “The Stage” or “Variety”) shows an increase in the numbers of Damen Kapellen from 43 in 1894, peaking at 299 in 1913, then declining sharply in the early 1920s, running around 30 or so until WW2. The groups averaged seven to eight females and up to two or three males. After WW1 the groups tended to reduce in numbers to three/four female and perhaps one male on average. The decline of these bands after WWI might be one of the reasons why the Normaphon and the Jazzophone didn't gain a market.
Karl Linsenmeijer
In 1956 Karl Linsenmeijer, then 16 years old, entered the Musikverein Offnadingen (a small village near Freiburg, Germany) and played an alto Normaphon untill he changed to clarinet in 1965. He played it together with Karl Schleer, who changed to flugelhorn. The Musikverein had severe losses during WWII, having only 5 active members left in 1945. The Normaphon was bought because at the time the money was very tight and sometimes even two musicians had only one instrument, so Jürgen Schleer, now chairman and son of Karl. Where it was bought is not known, after 1965 it went to a music store. In the orchestra the Normaphon was counted as a flugelhorn, the notes were always rewritten by the conductor, mostly from the tenor horn. 'The exotic Normaphon has always been a highlight and an eye-catcher at every party and every performance', says Jürgen.
Nat King Cole
In 1957 Nat King Cole performed 'Rosetta' in one of his shows together with Billy Eckstine (8 July 1914 – 8 March 1993), Eckstine playing a tenor Normaphone (from 2.12').
William 'Hicky' Kelley
William 'Hicky' Kelley played a Normaphone (probably an alto) in 1959 and 1960 with the Modern Jazz Disciples on two records, 'The modern jazz disciples' and 'right down front'. Kelley (March 12, 1929 Cincinnati - May 9, 1998 Cincinnati) started his musical career on the trumpet and later picked up the Normaphone. The notes to the original first album of the Modern Jazz Disciples state that Kelley would like it made clear that that his use of the Normaphon (and the euphonium on one track) is 'not one of novelty. He is dedicated to their use as jazz pieces. He has no desire to become an 'avant-courier' for them in the field of jazz.' Here's Kelley on the Normaphone in Disciples Blues (as of 4.50') (and here's more about this piece).
William 'Hicky' Kelley
MJD, left: William Kelley
Scott Robinson
Multi instrumentalist Scott Robinson from Teaneck, New Jersey, played a tenor Normaphon on his first LP Multiple Instruments from 1984 and in later years with Hazmat Modine on their CD Bahamut.
Tom Guralnick
Tom Guralnick has a tenor Normaphon (serial number 0238) that he got from Bob Klein in New York around 2001. Bob's father played in the NY Philharmonic and taught in a community music school where he discovered it some 50 years ago when he closed down the music school, and Bob gave it to Tom some 15 years ago. Tom is the director at Outpost, Albuquerque, and occasionally shows the instrument to guest musicians. 'Rosewell Rudd dug it'. Here's jazz trumpeter Bobby Bradford (1934) trying, with Tom looking.
Bobby Bradford and Tom Guralnick 12 april 2004, photo Mark Weber
Bob Zajíček
Legendary Prague trumpeter and cornettist Luboš 'Bob Zajíček (6-10-1938) and his quintet performed on December 18th, 2013 at ...., with Bob (center) on a soprano Normaphone, ... on Violinophone and .. on a Jazzophone, probably pitched in Eb. Bob Zajíček also hosts a programm called JAZZOFON on radio station Vltava. Zajíček and his friends, playing what's now called traditional jazz, are keeping alive a tradition of which the Jazzophon is the ultimate icon.
Bob Zajíček Kvintet
Soprano Normaphon coll. B.Zajíček
Normaphons overview
Here's an overview of the Normaphones I detected so far. Please let me know when you know of others. Serial numbers range from 0104 till 0441, suggesting that there might have been a few hundred of them. I didn't manage to find another Heber instrument with a serial number yet, to see if he used these numbers for all his instruments or for the Normaphones exclusively.
1
2
3
4
5
6
0117
0315
0344
0441
1525
200
0109
0104
0187
240
267
306
362
390
238
150
350
nr 0104 alto Normaphon D.R.G.M. C.A.Wunderlich Siebenbrunn Vgtl. valve casings stamped 28,29,30 coll. Gerard Westerhof, Netherlands
nr 0109 tenor Normaphon D.R.G.M Trade Mark/Fabrik Marke coll. Gigion Erino @ern_brass Yogyakarta Indonesia
nr 0117 soprano Normaphon D.R.G.M. Germany valve casings and caps stamped 10, 11 and 12. coll. NMM 7350 Joe R. and Joella F. Utley Collection, 1999 Vermillion South Dakota US US
nr 150 alto Normaphon, coll. Scott Robinson, Teaneck New Jersey, US
nr 0164 tenor Normaphon coll. Eric Budd, Melbourne Australia
nr 0187 tenor Normaphon D.R.G.M. D.R. Patent Germany valve casings stamped 10,11,12, offered on Ebay 2017
nr 0196 tenor Normaphon D.R.G.M. C.A.Wunderlich Siebenbrunn Vgtl. coll. Museum für Musikinstrumente der Universität Leipzig
nr 0200 tenor Normaphon D.R.G.M. Germany rotary valves coll. NMM 1526, Vermillion South Dakota US
nr 0238 tenor Normaphon coll. Tom Guralnick Albuquerque US
nr 0240 soprano Normaphon D.R.G.M. D.R. Patent, valve casings stamped 1,2,3, for sale on Ebay.be 2018
nr 0260 tenor Normaphon D.R.G.M. Germany 8188/M. J. KALASHEN/NEW YORK, valves and valve caps stamped: 16, 17, 18, coll. NMM 1525, Vermillion South Dakota US, acquired in 1977, on display at Meredith Willson Museum, Mason City, Iowa US
nr 0267 tenor Normaphon D.R.G.M. Germany 39819 sold through Ebay 2015
nr 0306 tenor Normaphon D.R.G.M. C.A.Wunderlich Siebenbrunn Vgtl. sold through Ebay.de 2014
nr 0315 tenor Normaphon D.R.G.M. coll. Edinburgh University, UK
nr 0344 alto Normaphon, D.R.G.M. acquired in 2010, coll. Han Savelkoel, Netherlands
nr 350 tenor Normaphon, coll. Scott Robinson, Teaneck New Jersey, US
nr 362 tenor Normaphon, D.R.G.M, sold through Auktionshaus Mehlis 2018
nr 0390 soprano Normaphon D.R.G.M. acquired in 2017 by Dirk Arzig GE
nr 0441 alto Normaphon coll. Heikki Moisio Turku, Finland
1. tenor Normaphon D.R.G.M. coll. MIM, Phoenix US, (until 2011 Fiske Museum, Claremont, US) (Albert Rice speaks of an alto, D.R.G.M./GERMANY'—sold by C.A. Wunderlich)
2. tenor Normaphon, D.R.G.M. Germany, restauration with new mouthpipe in 2012 by Robb Stewart, coll. Rick Schwartz, Virginia US
3. soprano Normaphon D.R.G.M. Germany sold in 1998 through Butterfield & Butterfield (maybe same as 0117) alto
4. tenor Normaphon, D.R.G.M. C.A.Wunderlich Siebenbrunn, Vgtl, offered from Sintra, Portugal through Olx.pt 2016
5 tenor Normaphon C.A.Wunderlich Siebenbrunn, Vgtl, coll. Musik-Museum Basel
6 bell of a sopran Normaphon D.R.G.M. diameter 11 cm, sold through Ebay.de in 2017
Other sax shaped trumpets
Somehow it seems to be attractive to make trumpets that have the form of a saxophone. The Jazzophone and the Normaphone are presumably the first ones, dating from the jazz crazy twenties of the last century. But there are more examples, some produced inserie, others built as project horns.More at the brasspedia page about Other sax shaped trumpets
My Tuba Family
The current stable comprises seven horns, some too new for this picture. Each has a story. At least the stories are interesting to me.
The big boy on the left is a Miraphone 186-4U BBb contrabass tuba. Miraphones are sort of out-of-fashion these days, for some reason. I don't care. This is one of the best BBb 4/4 German-style horns ever made, to my ears anyway.
The story of this horn is in the trading I had to do to get it. I started with a Besson Stratford, given me by a band director who thought it would be easier than hauling it to the dumpster. I'd fixed up that old Besson, with leadpipe mods and shortened tuning slides so that it had a hope of playing in tune some of the time. In its modified state, it was worth slightly more than junk, and I traded it for a cheapie valve trombone. I traded that for a like-new Musica F tuba at an unlikely Army surplus store in San Antonio, Texas. Musica was an instrument maker in Austria who assembled parts made usually by Czech companies. This one bore details extremely similar to Cerveny and Amati tubas of the 1980's. It was a typical small German-style F tuba, okay in the high register but a real oinker down low.
In the meantime, I'd purchased a Sanders BBb as a demonstrator. This horn was a stencil name of Custom Music Company, and was made by the Amati Group in Czeckoslovakia before the fall of the Iron Curtain. Cerveny horns of the same vintage are identical. That horn was a lot better than its price tag indicated, with a large bore and light, hollow rotary valves. But it wasn't durable, and it collected several dents while I owned it. I had also built a tuning stick to fix some of its more interesting intonation problems.
One of my section mates in a band wanted to switch to CC, and he had his eye on a brand-new VMI (in their first year in the U.S.). But he didn't have the scratch. He wanted to trade his Miraphone BBb for the VMI, but I told him that two horns would make better trade fodder than one. I said, 'If you are going to be dissatisfied with a BBb anyway, you might as well be dissatisfied with my Sanders, plus my Musica F (I had already bought the Yamaha F by that time), and let me have your Miraphone. When it comes time to trade, you'll do just as well, and you'll know how to play F tuba.' To my surprise, he bit hard on that bait, and we did the trade.
But the Miraphone was tired and in need of an overhaul. The valve linkages were clattery, and the horn was dented in many places. I was quite happy to own it, though. A Miraphone had been a dream instrument in my school days, and I finally had one. Tolerating its many problems was just the price to be paid. I immediately built ball-and-socket linkages for it (as I have on many horns for myself and others).
Then I had the opportunity to try out a new horn being imported by Orpheus Music when they still carried tubas. It was a Vespro, and even though it came at a lower price point than a Miraphone, it was an endearing instrument for a player like me. It had many fewer problems than the Miraphone, though it required a tuning stick for the C and D on the staff, which I later built. And it was recommended by my teacher, so I bought it.
I took the Miraphone to a local repair craftsman (Jubilee Music in San Antonio), and, ah, invited him to overhaul it for cheap. He did the job, with the big savings coming from leaving the horn in bare brass. The advantage to leaving it in bare brass (at least for me without the ears to hear a sonic difference) is that the technician doesn't have to file and polish nearly so much metal off the horn. When I got it back six months later, I found that it was the horn I kept taking to gigs. All the problems were fixed. I sold the Vespro. The repair technician did an odd thing, though. he reinstalled the bell 90 degress clocked from its original position, with the label pointing to the right. It, um, sounds better than way (that's my story and I'm sticking with it).
Here's another view of the Miraphone:
The smallest member of the collection is an old F. A. Reynolds euphonium. This is a classic American tenor tuba. They would have called it a baritone horn in those days, but by any measure it is very similar to a modern euphonium. Frank Reynolds made pistons for the H. N. White Company, who made King tubas in the early days. He left White in 1937 to form his own company in Cleveland. This horn was made in his first or second year. Since that time, the Reynolds company has been bought and sold several times, and stopped making professional horns. Not so this restored euphonium. It has a smooth, mellow sound, not at all dark like a modern Willson or Besson, but clearly a euphonium sound, even when I attempt to play it. This horn was restored by Pete Rodriquez in San Antonio, and is almost like new.
The Reynolds is not my only euphonium, though. I have no picture to post at the moment, but the euphonium I play when I'm asked to play euphonium is an old Besson New Standard. The New Standard was the precursor to the Sovereign, to which it is identical. It's a good compensating euphonium, but it came to me in rather terrible condition. I replaced the bottom bow with one from a Yamaha 321, fixed several leaks, had the sawed-off fourth-valve stem replaced by Dillon Music, and did my best to return the pliers-gouged bell to the proper shape. It's too ugly to show you, but it plays well enough to make me feel good about the few hundred dollars I spent on it.
The only horn in my collection that earned enough money to pay for itself is my workhorse Yamaha YFB 621 bass tuba in F. This horn was based on a design collaboration (for a small CC) between Renold Schilke and Chuck Daellenbach (of the Canadian Brass). It is a classic American design with British roots, with front-action piston valves and a rotary fifth valve (unfortunately, I suppose) in the leadpipe. Unlike the rotary F's I've played, this one has a bottom that just keeps on going. But it is a small horn, and only suited for solos, small groups, or in a section. It's not big enough for orchestral work, plus it's sound is too bright and soloistic. It is perfect for a tuba quartet, where a distinct voice is needed, and it was my mainstay when I played in the TubaMeisters.
This horn was the road demonstrator for the Yamaha reps in the first year of production, and this instrument's serial number indicates it's the 72nd horn of its kind. I bought it after having it tested by my teacher, and other professional players I knew, off the conference floor at a large show. Throughout the show, I babysat that horn to make anyone who tested it nervous enough to put it back down! Here it is again:
Recently, I've added a larger F tuba to give me an instrument I can use with a full ensemble. My current band plays lots of orchestral transcriptions, and I played a Berlioz work on the Yamaha. The response from the conductor was that my sound just wasn't getting out. I found this hard to bear, considering that my lips were flapping out the bell of the Yamaha. My only choice to be louder would have been to choose a shallow mouthpiece and go for a laser-like trombone sound. Instead, I bought another F tuba. Enlisting the aid of trusted ears, I conducted a test of projection, and while the Yamaha was literally unhearable in the Elephant Room of the Army Tuba Conference, the new instrument was clearly heard. And it had a particularly character to the sound that was more interesting to me than the small C sound of many current large F's. The instrument that found me was an old B&S Symphonie, dating from the days before the B&S F tubas were modified by Parantoni and Tucci to be louder. I don't think the newer examples are louder, but they did lose some of that quality and sound more like C tubas to my ears. This is the instrument featured in my article on ball-and-socket valve linkages.
Here is the B&S:
Every collection of tubas must include a project horn. Mine was made something over a hundred years ago by Missenharter, and it is now an F tuba, cut from Eb as a project that you can read about here. It plays with a darker, mellower sound than the Yamaha, and isn't as good for solo playing, but perhaps better for some kinds of ensemble work. It's a work in progress. Everyone needs a project horn. The picture below was taken before the major dents were replaced by ripples. The family picture at top is more recent.
I have long been a student of what it is about certain horns that produces a warm, easy sound. And the output of the Yamaha 621 seems far out of proportion to its size. I posed a series of questions about these topics on Tubenet. Few professional tuba players will tell you that this particular horn or that one will produce any given characteristic, because instruments don't always behave in the expected way with a particular player. But at least one highly respected professional recommended a particular instrument to achieve the characteristics we were discussing: A York Master.
York is a legendary name in the tuba world. The main reason is the unique sound they achieve, particularly in the hands of legendary players, such as Arnold Jacobs. His York tuba was made in 1930 for Philip Donatelli of the Philadelphia Orchestra, at the request of Leopold Stokowski. Donatelli found the horn an imperfect ergonomic fit, and sold the horn to his best student, Arnold Jacobs. Jacobs went on the play that instrument throughout his highly illustrious 44-year career with the Chicago Symphony. Two of these instruments were made, and they are now both owned by the CSO.
Even in the 1930's, York was not known for orchestral instruments, but for band instruments. The most well-known tuba player of that era was William Bell, who played a German-style instrument with rotary valves, made by an American company. This design was pioneered by Cerveny, a Bohemian tuba maker, soon after the tuba was invented, and is the direct ancestor of the modern rotary tuba such as the Miraphone. Bell's style was perfect for that sort of instrument: Bright and soloistic with an emphasis on technique. The notion that an orchestral tuba player should build a dark, broad foundation for the ensemble was built by Jacobs. It has been speculated, with a lot of plausibility, that the York was designed to provide a sound similar to that very unorchestral of horns, the sousaphone. Many tuba players now revere the sound of a good sousaphone, but few would dare to use one in an orchestra!
In 1940, the York Band Instrument Company was sold to the Carl Fisher Company, but production on musical instruments ceased during the war so the factory could make munitions. After the war, the factory reportedly made student horns and sousaphones until it was dismantled in 1971.
To keep the reputation of artist-grade Yorks alive, Carl Fisher imported a series of horns under the label York Master that were made in West Germany by Boehm and Meinl. Boehm and Meinl was a maker of good reputation that produced top-line horns for many American importers, including the coveted Marzan CC. The York Master was made in the American style, using designs adapted from the York instruments that had previously been made in the U.S. The York Masters were not nearly as large as the Chicago York, but many report that they had the same characteristic sound and playing qualities. Boehm and Meinl was purchased in 1992 by Walter Nirschl, who continues to produce superb copies of York designs including a popular copy of the Chicago York.
This particular horn was made probably in 1969 or so. It's first owner was Oscar Lagasse, who was the long-time tuba player for the Detroit Symphony. Seeking 'something louder,' he sold the horn to Chris Hall, who continues to play for the Metropolitan Opera. Hall sold it to a private collector under the proviso that it not be converted to CC, as has happened to many instruments of York design. That stipulation was passed by that collector along to me, and I'm only too happy to abide by it.
But I have made a few changes. One is having the valves ventilated by Matt Walters at Dillon Music. Another is reaming a proper taper in the mouthpiece receiver (read about that here).
Here are some pictures of the York Master BBb tuba:
It is true that the York Master follows a classic York plan, but with a decidedly German accent. In addition, it is a smaller instrument than Jacobs's York, intending to compare with the 4/4 Yorks rather than the 6/4 grand orchestral tubas such as the instrument Donatelli commissioned.
During the 1950's, Jacobs and his colleagues in the Chicago Symphony formed a brass quintet. They attracted Holton, an old-line American instrument maker, as a sponsor. Holton, eager to provide an instrument for Jacobs to endorse, made a near copy of the big York. Holton made only handful at a time, perhaps every few years, as demand trickled in. They were the only instrument in the grand orchestral tradition being made in those days (unless you count the Conn 2xJ, which had top-action valves and was not intended for orchestral use), and players seeking to follow that path sought them out. Sad to say, Holton did not know how to capitalize on this opportunity, and tried to expand the market by building instruments in the school-preferred key of BBb, and tried to make some profit by holding the line on costs and build quality. This strategy was not successful, and the instruments are rather notorious for being variable and showing considerable lapses in construction quality. But the good ones were remarkable, and those who bought the good CC Holtons tended to keep them.
Jacobs found several of the good Holtons to recommend to his students, but the good ones were too few. In the late 1970's, Hirsbrunner borrowed one of Jacobs's Yorks to create a replica that would attempt to reproduce the sound and maintain moderns standards of consistency and intonation. The Yorkbrunner was the result. A few years later, Warren Deck of the New York Philharmonic worked with Meinl-Weston to create a copy of the Holton, and the Meinl-Weston 2165 was the result. This sort of instrument is now the standard instrument in American orchestras, but they are and have been used in foreign orchestras as well. John Fletcher owned and used a fine Holton in the 60's when he played for the London Philharmonic, for example.
A discussion on Tubenet revealed that Baltimore Brass was offering on consignment a BBb Holton Model 345. That was Wednesday. On Friday, I was there with a tall redhead and my checkbook. As claimed, the instrument was a remarkable example of the Holton. It is resonant and has (unusually) excellent intonaton. It is responsive and easy to play, and it has a sound to die for. I spent two hours at the store, but truthfully I'd decided to buy it after playing a single low Bb. My wife could hear the difference in comparison with the York Master from across the store. There are no BBb Yorks of this type, and the old Conn Orchestra Grand Bass was notoriously difficult to play in tune. I'd experimented with a Conn 20J, and while the sound was wonderful, the 20J had two big weaknesses: it could not produce sound below mezzo-forte and the intonation was a constant struggle to manage. Holtons can have these weaknesses, too, but not this one. It will allow me to played noticeably softer, and with a better sound, than even the Miraphone. And I don't have to do anything extraordinary to manage the intonation. It is as good as my best tubas.
But what it ain't is pretty. Many, many small dents tell the history of its use in the Elkhorn, Wisconsin school district (probably not coincidentally, Elkhorn was where it was made). The consignee was in a premiere military band, and bought it to convert to CC, but later superseded that plan by purchasing a Yorkbrunner.
Since acquiring the Holton, I've sent it for a few months of rehab with Joe Sellmansberger, and he has ironed out the bottom bow and many of the other dents, straightened all those multi-directional slides, overhauled the valves, and generally brought it up to top playing condition.
Here is the Holton BB-345:
Willson Euphonium Serial Numbers Doreen
And here it is, compared with a Conn 20J: