First, I must state that thoroughly covering this topic is too complex for a short essay and I’m not the most qualified person to write a definitive history. Rather, my intention is share my point of view and tidbits that come from my particular familiarity with the instruments. My interest has recently been sparked by conversations with other knowledgeable people and some research connected with assembling pages for my website. In this, I hope to spark some interest and possibly a conversation with the reader. In other words, approach this as a work in progress and let me know where I’ve made mistakes or have left something out, hopefully leading us to a better understanding of the subject and a document that we can share with those interested in learning.
The time period of gestation for the “Modern Trumpet” is roughly 1815 to 1910, or from the invention of a workable valve for brass instruments to the explosion of popularity of the French style Bb trumpet. I know that there may be discussion on the topic of what is the ultimate modern trumpet, but it seems very clear to me that the modern piston valve Bb trumpet, with many slight variations, being made by all the large makers and most of the smaller makers is almost universally used around the world. Trumpet players tend to focus on the diversity among the many choices, but when compared to other brass instruments, especially tubas, modern trumpets are amazingly generic.

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1. Besson 2-20 serial number 446291 - Answered by a verified Musical Instrument Appraiser We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our website. By continuing to use this site you consent to the use of cookies on your device as described in our cookie policyunless you have disabled them.
2. Besson (Boosey and Hawkes) Serial Number List 1974-2002 This chart is primarily intended to help with the identification of Sovereign Cornets but will help with Identifying other Boosey and Hawkes made brass instruments. Serial numbers are in the format 928-817061.
3. This French Besson trumpet was made sometime in the mid 30's probably and rather then me bore you with opinion I will post what I learned from noted authority Niles Eldredge: 'Two concerns were importing Besson trumpets to NY in the 1930s- both without the Besson name, as it was ilegal to import Bessons from France then (because the English.
4. On the bell, it has 'Besson' in big letters over an eighth note. Inside the note is 'Stratford', and underneath that in smaller print is 'Made in England'. The serial number is 341XXX. I've checked a couple sites to try and find the year that it was made, but I can't find anything.

The subtitle may not at first seem appropriate, but comes from a thought that struck me recently: the modern, French style Bb trumpet was invented, at least in some part, as a substitute for the use of cornets for performing the trumpet parts in symphonic orchestras. There certainly are cornet parts written into symphonic scores, especially in French Romantic music, but by and large, the trumpet was the soprano brass of choice even when cornets became available. Hector Berlioz, who at a time when trumpets and cornets were very different instruments, very often included cornets in his scores, stated in his treatise on instrumentation in 1855: 'A phrase that would appear tolerable, when performed by violins or the woodwind, becomes flat and intolerably vulgar when emphasized by the incisive, brash and impudent sound of the cornet.' Much later in the century, a similar, but more strongly critical comparison to the orchestral trumpet is expressed by Ebenezer Prout, professor of music in the University of Dublin, in “The Orchestra, Volume 1. Technique of the Instruments”, published in London in 1897: “The tone of the trumpet is the most powerful and brilliant of any in the orchestra…Its quality is noble and it is greatly to be regretted that in modern orchestras it is so frequently replaced by the much more vulgar cornet. The tone of the cornet is absolutely devoid of the nobility of the trumpet, and, unless in the hands of a very good musician, readily becomes vulgar. It is, however, so much easier to play than the trumpet, that parts written for the latter instrument are very often performed on the cornet. In some cases, especially in provincial orchestras, this may be a necessity, as it is not always possible to find trumpet players; but it is none the less a degradation of the music. We cordially endorse the dictum of M. (Francois- Auguste) Gevaert, who says—‘No conductor worthy of the name of artist ought any longer to allow the cornet to be heard in place of the trumpet in a classical work’”. The trumpets described and illustrated there are pitched in G and lower, with and without valves. Even at this late date, he makes no allowance for the possible use of trumpets in Bb or C even though they were becoming common. These are fairly strong words, and while the sentiments may have been held by some, and possibly many, in the world of symphonic music at the time, it is surely a resistance to change that was already well under way.

The long trumpets in F and G were disappearing from the scene and mostly used in the older and more conservative organizations. Indeed, at its founding in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra brass section included two cornet players and two trumpet players, although by the end of the decade they were all described as trumpets. I can only guess what trumpets they had at their disposal, but my suspicion is that it was F trumpets at the start and Bb and C trumpets a decade later. A Chicago Tribune columnist, in 1902, writing about a performance of Bach's D Minor Mass, indicated that Theodore Thomas 'had solved the perplexing trumpet problem' by covering the (three) trumpet parts with six trumpets augmented by six clarinets. Perhaps these examples indicate the limitations of both instruments and performers of their times, but also a deep rift, culturally, between trumpets and cornets, even if performed on by the same musicians.

In the last quarter of the 19th century, there was a great increase in the demand for proper symphony orchestra performances. Only a few orchestras had existed in the US previously and the only source for classical music for most of the country was as played by brass bands, in church or in the parlor by family and friends. Europe had long established classical musical organizations but there too, a growing and more educated middle class had a hunger for culture. Some cornet players took up the trumpet, but for the most part orchestras in smaller metropolitan areas would have great trouble finding musicians or even the correct instruments for them to play. In 1869 in New York City, Theodore Thomas hired the world famous Jules Levy to play cornet in his Summer orchestra concert series. Thomas didn't think much of the cornet as a substitute for the trumpet although he didn’t complain about the increased ticket sales and Levy was hired as a cornet soloist and not a member of the trumpet section. In London, Levy had played in orchestras of the Royal Opera House and Crystal Palace Promenade Concerts, although I haven't been able to find out if he ever played the trumpet in those situations.
It is well known that the Bb trumpet was widely adopted in Germany, Austria, Prussia and other eastern countries long before the rest of the world, but I was surprised by how early some existing small trumpets were made and even more commonly included in very early price lists. A good surviving example from about 1837 is a two double piston valve trumpet made by Andreas Barth, Munich in the Utley collection. Two earlier examples of similar design have fixed half tone crooks indicating that they were intended to play in Bb only are one in the Stadtmuseum Nördlingen (Bavaria), is engraved with the date 1828, made by Michael Saurle and another in the Beyerisches Nationalmuseum by J.G. Roth that might have been made in the early 1820s. There are a few trumpets in high C and even D in price lists of Leopold Uhlmann and Joseph Saurle before 1850. By the late 1850s Bavarian maker Ferdinand Stegmaier lists high Eb and F trumpets (each with one crook for additional pitch). Most of these very early (before 1860) small trumpets came with three or four crooks making me believe that they were intended for the orchestra rather than the military band. In contrast to this fact, most existing very early Bb and C trumpets appear not to have been supplied with crooks. There are several explanations for this apparent contradiction. The most likely is that the biggest demand was by military and civic bands where they weren’t as likely to be required to play in a variety of keys. So a maker listing two Bb trumpets, one with crooks and the other Bb only may have sold 100 of the latter for every one of the former. Survival rate for such rarities can’t be used as a firm measure of original numbers either, but rather as an indicator of possibilities. The other explanation is that many instruments are modified for a variety of reasons. Most often it is in an attempt to repair damage or loss of original parts but also to fit a different mouthpiece or change the pitch. Many F trumpets were shortened to make Bb trumpets and even cornets. In his very comprehensive 'Das Ventilblasintrumenten', Herbert Heyde has thoroughly studied these instruments including the occasionally used term 'trompetina' as applied to the early small trumpets. He makes a good case for the connection between these and the French cornets à pistons, but it seems one of coincidence of inspiration rather than a direct cultural connection. He determines that the small trumpets were earliest used in southern Germany, Austria and Italy (cornetto a pistoni with rotary valves) that both in the particulars of design and name, they were somewhat variable depending on local traditions. By 1860, they began to supplant the G trumpets in military bands in Prussia, and by this time, the French cornets were a distinct tradition and the Germanic Bb trumpets were eventually embraced by almost all of eastern Europe.

In part of my research for this essay, I made a list of all the early examples of high trumpets (Bb, C and smaller) that I could locate and also those in catalogs and price lists from the time, even though you might say that most (all?) of them are
not within the direct lineage leading to the modern trumpet. A clear example of this fact are the very small bore double piston valve Bb and high Eb trumpets made in the US that were known as post horns. These were almost direct copies, although with even smaller bores, of small German trumpets (sometimes called trompetina) and were completely abandoned in favor of keyed bugles, rotary valve cornets and Saxhorns in the 1850s. A singular example of a rotary valve trumpet made in Boston by E.G. Wright in about 1860 has the general appearance of a German Bb trumpet. This form was generally known as cornet in the US, including in the D.C. Hall (also in Boston) catalog of 1864, but I judge this one to be a trumpet because it retains its original mouthpiece that is very much different from those supplied with cornets, that is very trumpet like in form. It also has an original crook for the key of G and would have originally had one for Ab and shanks for Bb and A and possibly larger crooks for lower pitches. The more important progenitors to our modern trumpets were the longer instruments (mostly in G and F with crooks for lower keys) that the music was written for, but for this essay, I am interested in the early origins of the small trumpets that existed alongside the cornets in the same keys.

English Besson Trumpet Serial Numbers Pdf

It seems that the small trumpets were slower to arrive in France and even more so in conservative England. The very wide acceptance of the cornets à pistons covered most of the musical territory that trumpets did in the east and the casual observer might justifiably think that it is a distinction without much difference. If the largest difference between the two is the shape of the mouthpiece cup, then we can’t comment without making a study of the mouthpieces used and mouthpieces are harder to assign date, geography and purpose than the rest of the instrument. In most cases, antique brass instruments survive without original mouthpieces. Not surprisingly, I don’t find as many examples of French small trumpets (Bb and higher) in either catalogs or collections.

In the catalog of the Parisian music dealer Husson & Buthod from about 1850, is illustrated a trumpet with three Berliner valves. This appears to be in Bb or C but could be in Ab or G and is not described except to call it a trumpet. It came with one shank and six crooks, which is the evidence that leads me to believe that it was in one of the higher pitches, and lowering the pitch to D or C. Gautrot Aine & Cie was the largest French brass instrument maker in these years and may have supplied that instrument. But in Gautrot’s very extensive catalog of 1867, offering many choices in cornets and Saxhorns, they only offer trumpets in F and G with crooks to C. They did offer two styles without valves as well as the choice of Stoelzel, Berliner and Perinet valves. Gautrot’s successor, Couesnon still had the same offerings in their 1889 catalog. All of these are called “trompettes d’harmonie”, distinguishing them from the band instruments.

The smaller Parisian maker, Courtois, made a specialty of supplying expensive (generally costing 40 to 50% more) instruments to the most discriminating customers. Their Perinet valve F and G trumpets were widely copied by other makers in France, England and Germany (for export). Of course, there were instruments available that were not illustrated in the catalogs. In 1861, Courtois made a trumpet in high D for Belgian Conservatory cornet teacher Hippolyte Duhem, presumably for playing the high trumpet parts of Bach and Handel, which were enjoying a revival. This may have been similar to the one that was illustrated in the 1885 catalog shown here and there is a C trumpet of this general configuration in Arnold Myer's collection at Edinburgh University that was made in about 1874 and retains its original tuning slide extension for Bb as well as Bb and A shanks and crook for Ab. Both Mahillon and Besson also made trumpets in high D by this time for the same purpose. There does exist in the Utley Collection a Courtois trumpet in Bb, unusual also in that it has double piston valves that are very similar to the mechanism on Belgian style trumpets, and was made in about 1875. It has Bb and A tuning slides, but it doesn’t appear to have had crooks for lower keys. This was sold new in London, which is interesting in the fact that a few decades later, Belgian Bb trumpets (with Perinet valves) were used in some English symphonic orchestras. Sabina Klaus reports that it retains a (likely original) mouthpiece adaptor to fit a cornet mouthpiece, indicating that it was used as a cornet as well. This became a common feature of Bb piston valve trumpets made in the US in the 1920s and 1930s, but was not known to be common in the 1870s. In their 1897 catalog, Courtois was still offering their famous F trumpet, but also a small C trumpet with crooks for Bb and A (see illustration). It is not illustrated and I suspect that it continued in the form from the previous decades, like a scaled down F trumpet, with the mouthpipe directly entering the first valve rather than extending to a tuning slide that leads to the third valve as in our modern C trumpets. This is true of the 1875 Courtois Bb trumpet mentioned above and the earliest known Besson Bb trumpets known (from about 1875 also) as well as the Belgian style trumpets that were used in that country until mid-20th century. By about 1900, Courtois was making trumpets in Bb, C and D that are very much like our modern instruments other than being smaller through the bell flare. By 1919, the Courtois Bb trumpets had bells of very similar proportions to those made by Besson. Judging by the number of instruments that have survived, made during the mid-20th century, Courtois must have competed fairly well with Besson for the trumpet market in the years between the wars, even though Besson is remembered as being more important.
In England, the slide trumpet in F (with crooks to C) dominated the orchestral scene, its use starting in the late 18th century and still used into the 20th by some players. This is arguably the trumpet most similar to the trumpets of the Baroque era and before and yet there were moves to modernize the trumpet in England as well. The best known maker of the English slide trumpet, Kohler (London), began making two instruments with three piston valves, patented by John Bayley in 1862: the Handelian Trumpet (in F) and Acoustic Cornet (in Bb). See: 'The Kohler Family of Brasswind Instrument Makers' by Lance Whitehead and Arnold Myers. Both of these had fixed, tapered mouthpipes instead of being cylindrical with terminal crooks to change the pitch as in almost all other trumpets from this time. Both of these instruments utilized alternate tuning slides for playing in lower keys and fit mouthpieces with cornet shanks. They looked very similar in layout, the trumpet having an extra loop of tubing and the cornet being very much like the modern trumpet with the tapered mouthpipe leading directly to the tuning slide and then the valves and bell. These instruments didn't catch on and later 'Handelian Trumpets' by Kohler were in Bb with cylindrical mouthpipes.
It is widely known that the Besson Bb trumpets were the benchmark design that all modern makers copy to one degree or another. Perhaps, with our dizzying array of models of very similar design available to us, it is more accurate to say that they are copies of copies. Early trumpets by Bach, Olds, Conn and other makers, introduced in the first 30 years of the 20th century, look very much like Besson trumpets in basic shape and emulated the basic acoustical design, although had their own designs for decorative braces, caps, hooks etc. In the 1930s Benge started building trumpets that looked even more like those by Besson. About this same time, it must be said that the large US makers also made popular models with very small bell flares for the (mostly amateur) dance band market that wanted a sound that deviated more thoroughly from the old fashioned cornets. This fashion was short lived and these trumpets were replaced around 1930 with narrow, 'streamlined' (now sometimes called 'peashooter) trumpets with small bell rim diameters that were in fact full size trumpets acoustically. These were popular with jazz trumpet players, but disappeared from the market after World War II.

It seems that most of the Besson inspired trumpets came on the market after the above mentioned explosion in popularity after 1910, although the demand for Bb trumpets in popular music was already growing before this date. In the US, this was due in large part to the fact that Sousa’s band was using them starting in 1892 and that John Philip Sousa was writing parts for them in a large number of his compositions for band. Before Sousa's professional band, Patrick S. Gilmore employed two or three F trumpets crooked to Eb. It is possible that in Sousa's first few years he followed this tradition, but I have only seen Bb trumpets in photos. Before 1900, Sousa's trumpet players were playing Conn Perfected New York Wonder cornets as pictured in the 9th photo on the right. In an earlier photo, the trumpets are not seen clearly enough to identify, but appear to be in Bb.

The two largest US makers in the 1880s and 1890s, Conn and Boston, were offering F trumpets with crooks for lower pitches (examples by Graves and Wright preceding those as far back as the early 1840s) and Boston also mentioned a trumpet in Bb in their 1887 catalog. Unfortunately, we don't know what the Bb trumpet looked like, but I would guess that it was very similar to the F trumpet (see image at left) without the extra loop of tubing, which would make it very much like our modern trumpets. In Conn's November, 1885 'Trumpet Notes', they offered for sale, without illustrations, trumpets in G and F, each with crooks in half steps down to C. Surprisingly, they also list a trumpet in (high?) D with shank for Db. I can only guess that, as in Europe, Conn saw a demand for these trumpets for playing 18th century orchestral literature, especially being without a crook to put it in C and/or Bb. By 1899 (see image to the left), Conn was making Bb trumpets that were clearly a development or re-arrangement of the Wonder model cornets including the 1886 patent valve design and distinctive bell curve. By 1910, they had modernized the look in parallel with the Perfected Wonder model cornets, sharing bore sizes and bell designs with them (which I have confirmed by measuring).

J.W. Pepper and others were importing Bb trumpets of a somewhat different character, with long, cylindrical mouthpipes and very wide, almost flugelhorn looking bell flares and aside from a “shepherds crook” bell, they copied the Besson layout. The earliest Besson Bb trumpets in this mode were being made by the 1870s and also had the “shepherd’s crook” bell shape and removable mouthpipe shank to accommodate crooks for other keys. Looking beyond these differences, they were very similar in proportion to the modern trumpets; the mouthpipe was tapered and the bell was about the same length and with a similar flare.
The last illustration on the right is from Besson's 1910 catalog, showing trumpets in Bb, C and D, very much the same as modern trumpets. The only Besson Bb trumpet made before 1905 that I have closely examined was made about 1897 and appears to have been modified from a C trumpet, so I can’t draw conclusions from it. The mouthpipe and tuning assembly is from a later Besson Bb trumpet and it is also possible that the bell is not original. Another Besson C trumpet, made in the 1880s and appearing to be unaltered, looks very much like those made after 1910. I’m assuming that the pre-1900 Bb Besson trumpets (serial numbers before about 65,000) were very much like the later instruments that we are more familiar with although this is an important deficit in my discussion and additional data may alter my thesis. If any reader knows more here, I’d like to hear from you.

Noted paleontologist and collector of cornets and trumpets, Niles Eldredge, has made a study of Besson trumpets and cornets. He has been able to answer many questions, but even more questions have arisen. Niles is currently working on an article to be published in the Historic Brass Society’s Journal in which he will present what he has learned about Besson’s early trumpets. I look forward to filling in at least a few gaps after reading that. In my essay on the difference between the trumpet and cornet, I posit that the Besson Bb trumpet was a development or rearrangement of the parts of their cornets that they had been making for three decades by that time. The bell and valve section are very similar in dimensions. The major difference is in the shape of the mouthpiece cup, which would be more bowl shaped rather than the funnel shape of the cornet mouthpieces. What they created was an instrument with the easy playing qualities of the cornet but intended for playing parts written for the trumpet.

A promotional poster issued by the English Besson factory in about 1880, at the time still under the ownership of Marthe Besson, along with the French factory, included a photograph of what appears to be a Bb trumpet in modern form except for the fact that it had removable mouthpipe shanks. The alternate shanks were presumably for additional pitches, but the name of this instrument, “trumpet-cornet” begs speculation that it may have been supplied with one shank for trumpet mouthpiece and another for cornet and may have been the first 'modern trumpet' with cornet proportions. Confusingly, the 1910 Paris catalog offers a 'cornet-trumpet' in C and Bb without illustration or further description. Besson (France) supplied both cornet and trumpet mouthpipe shanks with the pocket cornets in the 1920s and 1930s. The very maker that provided the prototype model for our modern trumpet didn’t avoid blurring the distinction between their trumpets and cornets.
After parsing the facts as best I can, I have concluded that the family tree of our modern trumpets is as complicated as those of most families. There were early trumpets, similarly sized to our modern trumpets and using similar mouthpieces that were played in both orchestras and military bands but are not directly linked by history or tradition. There are the longer trumpets which were developed from the long tradition of valveless trumpets, early on used in eastern European bands but mostly intended for the orchestral performance. These trumpets only passed down their literature and basic mouthpiece shape. Then there were the Besson small trumpets that got most of their “DNA” directly from the cornets. Only the basic mouthpiece shape was inherited from the traditional trumpets in an attempt to imitate the nobility of the trumpet sound with the easier playing qualities of the 'vulgar cornet'.

Paul AyickVintage Brass

Trumpets, Cornets, Brass, Misc Other Winds...

I buy, sell, and trade vintage trumpets, cornets, and other brass and wind instruments as they become available. Some of my satisfied customers include players from the Chicago Symphony and Boston Pops orchestras. More and more, players seem to be discovering the joy of playing and owning some of these wonderful vintage instruments. The workmanship, detailing, and tone can be astounding.

MY COLLECTION

I currently am offering some really nice horns check them out in this section as well as mouthpieces , other instruments and musical items!!! If something on my site you see interests you e-mail me at: bulos@earthlink.net

I will sell just about any of the instruments for the right price.

(if you see a mouthpiece on the list that interests you e-mail me for images and price)

Once you go to any particular directory it is a simple matter to view all the images therein as thumbnail sized images.. To accomplish this merely click on thefileman.htm file and wait for the thumbnails to load.

(bulos@earthlink.net)

I strive for accuracy in the descriptions of each horn I sell, and all horns are shipped securely packaged, fully insured and sent promptly. If you are someone who just discovered 'Uncle Harry's' old horn in the attic, well then, you are just the kind of person I would like to hear from! I work entirely from my home in South Florida where I also work as a trumpet player. I enjoy hearing from anyone with a question, comment, or just to say hello, I always have time to 'talk trumpet', however I am not a free appraisal service so please don't e-mail me asking what your horn is worth; I can provide this service however.

Here are some shots of some of the horns in my collection. To see all the photos and all the horns pick the appropriate horn from the 'my collection' area above. Lots of horns to see!

A Few Of The Horns In My Collection

Bach NY #1387 14 1929

An all original 1929 NY Bach. It had some small tears in the leadpipe but rather than replace it I opted to keep it all original by adding 2 small patches to it. This horn plays great.

Besson Brevete Circa 1908

W.C.Handy and his Conn 2B!

Conn 2B Gold Plated Bb Trumpet

Another late 20's gold plated 2B Conn This one plays a bit darker and more open than the one above but I like them both, these 2B's are one of the best designs Coinn ever produced in my opinion. Check out the great engravings.

Rare French Besson 'Fabrication' Bb Trumpet Circa 1935

This French Besson trumpet was made sometime in the mid 30's probably and rather then me bore you with opinion I will post what I learned from noted authority Niles Eldredge: 'Two concerns were importing Besson trumpets to NY in the 1930s---- both without the Besson name, as it was ilegal to import Bessons from France then (because the English branch kept anglophone export rights when they bought out the French family in 1895-1896).Both said only 'Fabrication Francaise Perfectionée'; Later, there was the diamond Meha stamp added. One was the Leisch boys (Oscar, predominantly)--- who brought in what would have been a normal 'Grands Prix' trumpet (i.e. with the medals), --set up with third slide tuning--with the throw ring below and the stop rod on top; this is the ax that Bach copied (but with the ring on top--the stop rod on the bottom) (Besson thought you shouldn't have your left hand in contact with the bell--so they set it up lower).The other was Joseph Rapuano--who brought in a model we have never seen for sale in Europe--but which is a throw back to their earliest days (I have a 1888 'Rapuano): long third valve slide, no tuning; first valve tuning (again underneath--). '...........Thanks to Niles.. This one is a Rapuano that I was able to restore recently. .445 bore but surprisingly free and powerful.

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English Besson Trumpet Serial Numbers Doreen

I am trying to decide how, or even if, to refinish this horn ; it looks kind of nice like this what do you think?

Rare French Besson 'Brevete' Bb Trumpet Circa 1935

The standard by which all other trumpets are judged is the orignal French Besson trumpet. Bach, Benge, Schilke, Olds, Conn, King, etc; they all studied and tried to copy the designs of these great old horns. Besson had a few different models; the 'Fabrication' , the 'Meha' (named after one of the Besson family daughters) , and the 'Brevete', (which actually just means patented), like the one pictured here from my collection is a .464' bore. Information on these old pre-Boosey & Hawkes (pre- WW II) Bessons is hard to come by, but, noted vintage brass expert and master technician Robb Stewart told me this; 'The large bore (.468') MEHA didn't appear until after WWII. The Rapuana versions are usually medium bore, but this one (a pre- WWII Meha he has) is ML (.460'). I don't believe that there was a .464' bore.' Anything Robb tells me I take as fact, he is the man, along with Niles Elderedge who has compiled the best Besson dating chart I know of. The Benge MLP, long a favorite of lead players, is a direct copy of these old Besson 'Brevettes.' A truly sensational trumpet to play.

Very Rare Conn'Rosebrook' Bb Trumpet Circa 1923

Besson Serial Number List

This is the only Conn trumpet from this time period that I have ever seen with the forward facing 2nd valve crook and hanging 3rd valve slide ring. Both of these features are specific to the old French Bessons; perhaps Conn was copying them? I have never seen this horn listed in any of the old Conn catalogs either. If anyone has any information I'd love to hear about it. This is a .458 bore finished in satin and burnished gold.

Besson 2 20 Serial Numbers

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