This Eb cornet with bell front and side action valve levers as pictured to the
left has been well known to collectors of American brass instruments for
many years because it had appeared in Mark Elrod and Robert Garafalo's
book A Pictorial History of the Civil War Era Musical Instruments and
Military Bands. The current owner, Alexander Pollock, contacted me and
wanted it restored and informed me that not only had it originally had the bell
over the shoulder, but it had contained the mechanism described in
Eisenbrandt's US patent of January 26, 1858. This involves a fourth valve to
change the pitch to Bb and a system of levers that adjust the three valve slide
to compensate for the key change. I was skeptical, so he sent me the cornet.
I examined it, and sure enough there was clear evidence that there had been a
fourth valve and there were a few remnants of the mounts for the pull rod
connections on the valve slides. It wasn't identical to the patent drawing in
some minor details and I believe that it had been made after its issuance. It
was also very clear that the extant curved tubing was not original, displaying
very crude workmanship even though made of German silver that matched
the original parts. I had a lot of research to do on this project. I found out
that there were five or six other Eisenbrandt brass instruments known, so I
contacted all of those owners. I learned that Eisenbrandt, a native of
Germany who had established a music store in Baltimore in 1819, had
developed a very close working relationship with Leopold Uhlmann of
Vienna, Austria. Details of the known instruments show that they were
indeed made in that shop. The only other Eb cornets that I could find were
in the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum having never been sent to the US.
Interestingly, two other known instruments by Eisenbrandt, a Bb cornet and
an Eb alto horn, are still owned by descendants of CH Eisenbrandt. All of
the known Eisenbrandt instruments are made of German silver with gold
brass trim and have the bell over the shoulder but none of them have the
fourth valve or key change mechanism, so I was stuck using the "sketchy"
patent as my only guide for recreating it. Happily, the two instruments in
Austria are Eb cornets of the same size as this, so getting the details of the
bell curve and large bell brace was made much easier. I was able to
determine, mathematically, that it was impossible to have the mechanism pull
out the second and third valve slides far enough to compensate for the key
change to Bb so I must conclude that the maker considered it an acceptable
compromise to pull them out as far as possible. In practice, I would say that
the instrument is playable in both Eb and Bb but I'm also quite sure that any
good player would not be very happy with the second and third valve notes
being as sharp in pitch as they are. You can study the patent yourself and
judge how well I made the mechanism. Here is an interesting quote from the
patent specifications revealing some terminology of the day: "it is an Eb
soprano Saxhorn, and in its convertibility it becomes a Bb cornopean.
The balance of the restoration was somewhat complicated as can be seen in
the close up of the broken bell and valve casing knuckles. I could have
disguised the new bell curve if I had silver soldered the bell to it, but I would
have had to cut away a significant piece of ragged original metal. In an
extremely rare, one of a kind instrument such as this, it is more important to
preserve every original bit possible. For the valve knuckles, I had to attach
new curved tubes to a flange to solder to the casings, which makes the repairs
visible but not obtrusive. The large bell brace and tuning mouthpipe were
copied as best I could from the museum photographs.
left has been well known to collectors of American brass instruments for
many years because it had appeared in Mark Elrod and Robert Garafalo's
book A Pictorial History of the Civil War Era Musical Instruments and
Military Bands. The current owner, Alexander Pollock, contacted me and
wanted it restored and informed me that not only had it originally had the bell
over the shoulder, but it had contained the mechanism described in
Eisenbrandt's US patent of January 26, 1858. This involves a fourth valve to
change the pitch to Bb and a system of levers that adjust the three valve slide
to compensate for the key change. I was skeptical, so he sent me the cornet.
I examined it, and sure enough there was clear evidence that there had been a
fourth valve and there were a few remnants of the mounts for the pull rod
connections on the valve slides. It wasn't identical to the patent drawing in
some minor details and I believe that it had been made after its issuance. It
was also very clear that the extant curved tubing was not original, displaying
very crude workmanship even though made of German silver that matched
the original parts. I had a lot of research to do on this project. I found out
that there were five or six other Eisenbrandt brass instruments known, so I
contacted all of those owners. I learned that Eisenbrandt, a native of
Germany who had established a music store in Baltimore in 1819, had
developed a very close working relationship with Leopold Uhlmann of
Vienna, Austria. Details of the known instruments show that they were
indeed made in that shop. The only other Eb cornets that I could find were
in the Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum having never been sent to the US.
Interestingly, two other known instruments by Eisenbrandt, a Bb cornet and
an Eb alto horn, are still owned by descendants of CH Eisenbrandt. All of
the known Eisenbrandt instruments are made of German silver with gold
brass trim and have the bell over the shoulder but none of them have the
fourth valve or key change mechanism, so I was stuck using the "sketchy"
patent as my only guide for recreating it. Happily, the two instruments in
Austria are Eb cornets of the same size as this, so getting the details of the
bell curve and large bell brace was made much easier. I was able to
determine, mathematically, that it was impossible to have the mechanism pull
out the second and third valve slides far enough to compensate for the key
change to Bb so I must conclude that the maker considered it an acceptable
compromise to pull them out as far as possible. In practice, I would say that
the instrument is playable in both Eb and Bb but I'm also quite sure that any
good player would not be very happy with the second and third valve notes
being as sharp in pitch as they are. You can study the patent yourself and
judge how well I made the mechanism. Here is an interesting quote from the
patent specifications revealing some terminology of the day: "it is an Eb
soprano Saxhorn, and in its convertibility it becomes a Bb cornopean.
The balance of the restoration was somewhat complicated as can be seen in
the close up of the broken bell and valve casing knuckles. I could have
disguised the new bell curve if I had silver soldered the bell to it, but I would
have had to cut away a significant piece of ragged original metal. In an
extremely rare, one of a kind instrument such as this, it is more important to
preserve every original bit possible. For the valve knuckles, I had to attach
new curved tubes to a flange to solder to the casings, which makes the repairs
visible but not obtrusive. The large bell brace and tuning mouthpipe were
copied as best I could from the museum photographs.
| Cornet in Eb and Bb by CH Eisenbrandt Baltimore, Maryland |
