Victor-Charles Mahillon

“ Each of these parts was confided to a special trumpeter, who executed it by using a larger or a smaller mouthpiece. Playing the clarino differed essentially from playing the military trumpet, which corresponded in compass to that called principal. Compelled to employ very small mouthpieces to facilitate the emission of very high sounds, clarino players could not fail to alter the tone of the instrument, and instead of getting the brilliant and energetic quality of tone of the mean register they were only able to produce more or less doubtful notes without power and splendour. ”

“ The disposition of the lateral holes is such that it is impossible to cover them with the fingers if the flute is held in the ordinary way. The instrument must be placed against the mouth in an almost vertical direction, inclining the extremity of the tube either to the right or the left. This inconvenient position makes it necessary that the instrument should be divided into two parts, enabling the player to turn the head joint that the embouchure may be most commodiously approached by the lips, which is not at all easy. ”

“ The Boehm flute, notwithstanding the high degree of perfection it has reached, has not secured unanimous favour; even now there are players who prefer the ordinary flute. The change of fingering required for some notes, the great delicacy and liability to derangement of the mechanism, have something to do with this. In England especially, the ordinary flute retains many partisans, thanks to the improvements introduced by a clever player, Abel Siccama, in 1845. [30] He bored the lateral holes of E and A lower, and covered them with open keys. ”

“ The first augmented the length of the tube by a tone, lowering by as much the natural harmonics. The second produced a similar effect for a semitone, and the simultaneous employment of the two pistons resulted in the depression of a tone and a half. The principle, therefore, of the employment of ventils or pistons is the same as that which governs the use of slides. For instance, a trombone is provided with three pistons, and without their help it produces the first of the following sets of harmonics (the numbers indicating the order) . ”

“ It was thus that the little groups of musicians in the service of princes, or those engaged by some large town on the occasion of a festival or public ceremony, were composed of several tournebout players combined with some flautists and oboe players. In 1685 the orchestra of the Neue Kirche at Strasburg comprised two tournebouts, and until the middle of the last century these instruments formed part of the music called "la grande ecurie " in the service of the French kings. Tournebouts have in our days become of extreme rarity, and scarcely exist in collections. ”

“ This mode of blowing appears to be of very ancient origin: the Hindus, Chinese, and Japanese claim to have used it from time immemorial; in Europe the high antiquity of a lateral embouchure is generally admitted, although it does not really rest, so far as our present knowledge goes, on any conclusive evidence. ”

“ The first and fourth of the six lateral holes are double, but those holes are stopped up with wax which have become useless through the player's habit of using the fingers of the right or left hand to cover the higher three holes. The bass flute shown in fig. 1 is the facsimile of an instrument in the Museo Civico of Verona. ”

“ The upper extremity of the flute, beyond the embouchure orifice, is closed by means of a cork stopper. On the position of this cork depends, in a great measure, the accurate tuning of the flute. It is in its right place when the accompanying octaves are true. ”

“ Notwithstanding the increased facility obtained by the use of pistons, they are very far from having gained the suffrages of all players: many prefer the slide, believing that it gives a facility of emission that they cannot obtain with a piston trombone. ”

“ But, though the keyed trumpet was a notable improvement on the invention trumpet, the sounds obtained by means of the lateral openings of the tube did not possess the qualities which distinguish sounds caused by the resonance of the air-column vibrating in its entirety. But in 1815 Stölzel made a genuine chromatic trumpet by the invention of the ventile or piston; for this ingenious mechanism, see Trombone. The simple trumpet is now no longer employed except in cavalry regiments. It is usually in Ej>. The bass trumpet in E|j, which is an octave lower, is sometimes, but rarely, used. ”

“ Thus to pass from a note furnished by one of the four positions to another a semitone lower it was necessary to lengthen the slide by two fingers; if the semitone higher was required the slide had to be shortened to the same extent. [5] A consideration of the laws affecting lengths of pipes will show the viciousness of that rule.
Of all wind instruments the trombone has perhaps been least modified in form; changes have occasionally been attempted, but for the most part with only trifling success. The innovation which has had the most vogue dates from the end of the 18th century ”

“ The combination in this double action is the embryo of the mechanism that a little later was to transform the system of the flute. Two years later Macgregor, [23] a musical-instrument maker in London, constructed a bass flute an octave lower than the ordinary flute. The idea was not new, as is proved by the existence of the bass flute mentioned above. The difference between the two instruments lies in the mechanism of the keys. ”

“ The Roman cornu was probably like the Greek keras. The three preceding instruments were used in giving signals to the infantry. The cavalry calls were given with the lituus, a specimen of which exists in the museum of the Vatican, found in 1827 in a tomb at Cerveteri (Caere) . ”

“ The bass (see accompanying figure) , besides having two keys, is distinguished from the others by a kind of small bolt, two of which slide in grooves and close the two holes that form the lowest notes of the instrument. ”