German Bb Trumpet with Two Double Piston Valves

This very rare and early German Bb trumpet was offered at a small auction house in Pennsylvania in the second half of 2020 and ended up in the substantial collection of Dr. Henry Meredith, music professor at Western University in London, Ontario. Unfortunately, it wasn’t signed by a maker and was in very rough condition (see last photo below), but still went for a fairly healthy price. It is very rare in several ways and worth featuring here. I will do my best to present what we know and don’t know about it.

This style of trumpet was made as early as 1830 by Leopold Uhlmann, developed and improved from earlier double piston valve designs by Christian Sattler and Joseph Riedl. At the time, there were many more players of natural trumpets, horns and keyed bugles. The the third valve would add complications to the new system and was not used much in the lower pitched trumpets that played in the higher harmonics. Most were pitched in G or F with crooks for lower pitches, typically to Bb (an octave below this). Much less common are very early German trumpets in Bb like this one or Ab.

It was not uncommon for trumpets in F and G to be cut down to Bb when the former were no longer needed or wanted. I examined this trumpet very closely for any evidence that it had been altered. The braces between the mouthpipe and bell tube and between the first valve slide and bell tail were crude replacements, demanding close examination. There was also a sleeve covering the mouthpipe. Once disassembled, I examined these areas very closely and found the outlines of the original braces in the same four spots. There were no other traces of former braces or movement of an existing brace. It is possible, however, that the tuning slide was shortened to play in high pitch, but it isn’t obvious.

It’s impossible to know for sure if this trumpet originally had crooks to lower the pitch, but its utility is limited by not being able to play chromatically through its primary range in Bb. The mouthpipe and receiver appear to be original and would accept a typical trumpet mouthpiece from that era, so any shanks or crooks would have been fairly small in diameter. With a typically sized mouthpiece, the tuning slide has to be drawn out about an inch, so I made the Bb shank, which may not be accurate. Along with the lack of a third valve, the other clue that it might have had terminal crooks is that the slide tubes on the second slide extend as far as possible over the casings of the pistons. It can be drawn out far enough to tune to a half step in F.

Other questions to try to answer is “when was this trumpet made and where?”. Double piston valves (often called “Vienna valves”) were first made in 1821 and improvements, including levers with clockwork springs as seen here, by 1830. With only two valves, we might guess that this is a very early example, but there are a few clues indicating otherwise. The pushrods in the earliest lever mechanisms were attached with a screw through a hole in the end of the rod or the end of the rod was threaded and secured through a hole in the link between the pistons with a nut. Uhlmann used the latter design in earlier instruments and later used a spring clip as seen in close up photos of this trumpet below.

I also noticed that the pushrods in this mechanism, rather than being offset by the same amount, the first pushes straight from the lever to the valve and the second has a large offset. If you look at the photos of the 1840s Uhlmann F trumpet featured on its own page, you will see that the pushrods of the second and third valves are very similar to the first and second valves on this trumpet. I believe that this trumpet was made after three valve instruments were the state of the art and to make a less expensive, old fashioned two valve trumpet, the maker would have utilized parts that were already being made for the three valve instruments.

The fact that this trumpet is not signed by a maker and has typical oak leaf and acorn engraving, executed by a low skilled engraver on the nickel silver kranz or garland, make it very likely that it was made by a second tier or less established maker in Markneukirchen in Saxony, where the largest number of brass instruments were being made in proto-Germany at the time. Presumably, it was much less expensive than a three valve trumpet made by a better known maker. My guess is that it was made in the 1840s, or as late as the early 1850s for a trumpet player that didn’t need the most up to date orchestral trumpet.

To learn more, the best resource are Sabine Klaus’ three volumes (a fourth soon) “Trumpets and Other High Brass” published by the National Music Museum. The third volume cover valve brass instruments from the very start.