Cornopean and other Brass by Joseph Anton Rohe

I restored this cornopean (Stoelzel valve cornet) for polymath (assuming that brass music is a math) Jeff Stockham in 2002 and took the photos with my first digital camera so the images are clear but small.  The work was extensive and required reproducing a number of missing parts based on an un-restored, but more complete example in my collection.  

I'm revisiting this now, not so much that the restoration was interesting, but because an instrument by Rohé was the subject of an inquiry by Sabine Klaus recently.   Sabine is studying the use of instruments with double piston valves (like those in a Vienna style horn) in the US and asked what I thought of the origins of a post horn (the name for a small trumpet in the US at the time and called "trompettino" in Europe) stamped "JA ROHÉ À PARIS", the same as this cornopean and a number of other brass instruments that all appear to date from before 1860.  There are two of theses known to exist now, one owned by Vince DiMartino and another by Dan Rossi, pictured below. 

The most numerous of the instruments with Rohés name stamped on them are cornopeans like this one, but also include other early style instruments with Berliner piston valves.  I believe that the cornopeans and Berliner valve instruments were made by Gautrot (or Guichard before 1845) in Paris.  This style of trumpet originated in Mainz, Germany before being used in the US and elsewhere. I had originally thought that Rohé had the post horns made in Mainz or other German city, but another cornopean by Rohé in Dan Rossi’s collection has indicated otherwise. This cornopean is pictured below and you can see that the details of the Bb shank are the same as that in the post horn above. This seems to indicate that both these instruments were made in the same shop and almost certainly that of Gautrot or Guichard. This cornopean is extremely well preserved with original case, shanks, crooks to Eb and mouthpiece.

Rohés instruments with Berliner valves are copies of instruments made by Adolphe Sax and were almost certainly made by Gautrot or Guichard as well. Photos below are a Sax-cornet, also in Jeff Stockham’s collection and Eb contrabass Saxhorn in Mark Elrod’s collection.

Also extant marked “J.A. Rohé a Paris” is a trombone with bell over the shoulder, another sort of instrument popular both in France and the US in the early 19th century.

I've taken this opportunity to do a little research into the mysterious Mr. Rohé.  At the time that the "New Langwill Index" was published in 1993, there was only a suggested link between J.A. Rohé in Paris, France, known only from the bell markings on instruments and Joseph Anton Rohé who was known to be active in the business, first in Philadelphia, in 1838 to 1839, and then in New York City, from 1840 until his death in 1869 (this date is now known to be wrong).  Collectors that came across the former name on instruments assumed that they predated the man's immigration to the US in 1838.  After coming across a number of the Paris marked instruments and never learning of any marked with the US cities, I theorized that Rohé was importing these into New York and selling them there during the time he lived there.  

Langwill reports of a partnership, "Rohé and (Henry M.) Leavitt" in New York City between 1851 and 1863 and there are a number of instruments marked in this way that we can confidently say date from these years.  We might infer that the instruments marked "JA ROHÉ À PARIS" were made between 1839 and 1850, since all of the instruments signed by the partnership are of the style that was most popular in the US at the time (1851 to 1863), but we now know that he two brand names overlap.  Steve Dillon confirmed this when he found a series of advertisements published in the "New York Musical Review and Gazette" in the last quarter of 1855 which clearly show both names in the same ads.  Another Internet search turned up a "Wilson's Business Directory..." listing from 1853 stating much the same.  One of these Gazette ads is illustrated below. "JA ROHÉ À PARIS" was reserved for European style instruments including cornets, saxhorns, post horns, woodwind and string instruments, while “ROHÉ & LEAVITT” was for American style rotary valve instruments of all sizes.

What I have most recently learned about Joseph Anton Rohé, is that at the time of his naturalization on November 4, 1846, he was a citizen of the Kingdom of Bavaria.  He was born in the city of Kleinwallstadt on May 1, 1814 to an unmarried woman.  His childhood was very difficult, but he was able to save enough money as a young man to move to Paris.  It isn't known  how long he lived in Paris, but we can guess that he made important business contacts that would prove to be very valuable to his later activities.  Presumably, this was also the time that he decided to add the accent aigu to his name, making it appear French.

Moving to the US, he first settled in Philadelphia and in 1838 and 1839 where he is listed in the city directories as an importer of music and instruments.  In 1840, he was listed on Maiden Lane in New York City, again in the music business and where he stayed until he left the business in 1863.  

Rohé visited Europe at least six times between 1849 and 1874, sailing twice to Liverpool, England and four times to la Havre, which was the closest port to Paris.  His family history states that he also traveled back to Kleinwallstadt during these trips, which is about 380 miles from Paris and the overland trip could have been made via Mainz, which was less than 50 miles east of Kleinwallstadt.  

I wasn't able to directly answer Sabine about the origins of the post horn, but it isn't too much of a stretch to think that he may have had business dealings with instrument makers in Mainz and other German cities (see above for contrary evidence now in hand).  The design of the valve mechanism in the "post horns" marked by Rohe and other US sellers and makers originated in Mainz and so is know to us today as "Mainzer machine".  I also suggested that there may have been wholesalers in Paris or la Havre selling instruments made by makers throughout Europe.  This would be another interesting angle to investigate, but we are now fairly confident that all of the instruments stamped "JA ROHÉ À PARIS” were made in Paris.  I can finally answer Sabine’s question that these post horns with Mainzer machine valve mechanisms were almost certainly made in Paris, copying those made in Germany.

The ad pictured above indicates that they were also selling string and woodwind instruments from their music store.  Rohé would have been interested in buying any instrument for which there was a demand in New York and during the 1850s and the demand was increasingly for the distinctly American style brass instruments with rotary valves.  He sold instruments of this style under the name "Rohé and Leavitt" that were most likely made in Germany.  Based on the number of extant instruments marked by Rohé during his New York years, he must have been one of the most successful in the business of importing and selling brass instruments in the US.  During these years, the demand for brass instruments was greatly increasing and transportation across the Atlantic was becoming safer and more plentiful.  

Bob Eliason reports in volume 38 (2012) of the Journal of the American Musical Instrument Society in a very well researched article on the life and work of John F. Stratton, that J. Howard Foote had worked for Rohé and Leavitt starting in 1857.  A Foote family genealogy states that Foote started working there in December of 1853.  In 1863, Foote took over the business and entered a partnership with Stratton the next year.  The demand for brass instruments continued to grow during the 1860s and 1870s and Stratton was the most successful supplying America with inexpensive European made alternatives to the domestic product.  Stratton and Foote claimed to have a factory in New York making all of these instruments, but there is very little evidence to indicate that this was true. It does seem likely that they had what we today might call a “Custom Shop” or “Atelier”, finishing and customizing the imported instruments and parts.

Still only 50 years old in 1863, Rohé had become a very wealthy man and moved back to Kleinwallstadt where he funded a home for the elderly, which still exists today.  He is also remembered in his home town in the name of the Josef Anton Rohe Schule (elementary and middle school).  Eventually he retired to Italy, where he died in 1892 .  In 1874, he took one more ocean voyage to New York City via Liverpool, but this time it was likely more for pleasure as business, travelling with a close friend from Italy.  

Post Script:
When Jeff Stockham read what I had written about Joseph Anton Rohé and his instruments, he immediately forwarded to me his communications with Helmuth Lebert, Rohe's second cousin, four times removed, who still lives in Kleinwallstadt and has done much research into his life.  I have incorporated some of this information into the story above and we will likely learn even more in the near future.