The December Horn of the Month is a Besson Bb echo cornet (see Nov 2014 for information about Besson). This is a new echo cornet (1992) which has not yet been used in a Chestnut Brass concert. But the instruments’ story is a good one. For many years the Chestnut Brass Company had a fun and popular concert series in Philadelphia. It gave the group an opportunity to do repertoire different from the tour concerts. Some were expanded size groups that resulted in special recordings-
The Music of Francis Johnson (http://www.amazon.com/Music-Francis-Johnson-Chestnut-Brass/dp/B000BFY35C )
Tippecanoe and Tyler Too! (http://www.amazon.com/Tippecanoe-Tyler-Too/dp/B00000E02J/ref=pd_sim_m_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=0M4P0HKRKQ1QDQ9S0Q0V
also called Hail to the Chief! (http://www.amazon.com/Chief-Chestnut-Brass-Company-Frien/dp/B0000029QW )
Sometimes in contrast, the concerts were small scale- quintet sort of as usual. Such was “The Bizarre Brass” concert which featured unusual brass instruments. For this concert Steve Dillon of Dillon music graciously offered to loan Chestnut Brass an echo cornet for the performance of Alpine Echoes. The magic of an echo cornet occurs because the cornet has a fourth valve that channels the sound into a muting bell, thereby producing the contrast “echo effect” to the beautiful open sound of the cornet. Mr. Dillon had two original early echo cornets and the modern Besson 928e as well. I chose to use the Besson- such a beautiful sound- an easy choice. It was a fun and well received series of concerts and I very much regretted having to return the cornet. Marian Hesse (CBC horn player), my wife, knew how much I loved that cornet and had wanted to keep it. Secretly, she monitored Ebay for a couple of years and one Christmas Eve a Besson 928e echo cornet appeared for sale- a card the next morning under the tree told me that “My echo cornet” would arrive shortly. “Shouts of glee” by small children in fact are soft in comparison to my shouts of joy that morning. That cornet is very special in my collection- but my wife, Marian, is obviously the real treasure…
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all- may the elves work hard in the background for all- and peace and joy be our gifts in the New Year!
Of Interest
Crispian Steele-Perkins demo of echo cornet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPwlafkbvdY
Vintage Cornets website- discussion of echo cornets
http://www.vintagecornets.com/html/echo_cornets.htm
Robb Stewart - one of a kind special instrument built by a master craftsman
http://www.robbstewart.com/OtherProjects/Duplexcho.html
Robb Stewart- display and commentary of echo cornets
http://www.robbstewart.com/Museum/19thCentury/BessonEchoCornet.html
A descriptive site by Gordon Hudson about the development of the Besson 928 cornet (included 928E- echo)
http://www.ecalpemos.org/2012/08/my-definitive-guide-to-sovereign-cornet.html
Historic Brass Journal article -Curtis Janssen Collection at the Fiske Museum by Albert R. Rice - item #19 is an echo cornet by Keefer (1915)
http://www.historicbrass.org/Portals/0/Documents/Journal/2005/HBSJ_2005_JL01_005_Rice.pdf