Flap horn
The bugle is a brass instrument , which because of its wide scale to the Horn instruments is counted. In order to enable diatonic or chromatic playing, in contrast to the natural horn , keys of different sizes are attached to the body of the instrument . The flaps are closed in the rest position.
Instrument family
Instruments with these characteristics belong to the family of the keyed horns. The first key horns existed since around 1760. Compared to the older finger hole horns ( zinc , serpent ), the key mechanism enabled a better compromise between the musician's finger position and the physically correct locations and sizes of the holes in the body and thus an improvement in intonation . One of the oldest keyed horns, which prevailed mainly in military music, was the bass horn since around 1800. The Serpent was also provided with keys and was able to last into the 19th century.
There are essentially two types of keyed horns: the bow-shaped horns with keys, the bell of which points to the front, and the ophikleiden , whose bell is pointing upwards. The French horn with keys could not hold its own. - There were also tightly bored brass instruments with keys such as the keyed trumpet .
Kenthorn
The flap horn in the narrower sense (also Kenthorn, English Royal Kent bugle, keyed bugle ) is an instrument in British military music that was introduced by Eduard August, Duke of Kent and Strathearn . It comes from early signal trumpets (similar to the Clairon ), was patented by Joseph Halliday in Dublin in 1810 and has five keys and an open finger hole . A total of around 25 notes could be played on it. It was made in different tunings, mainly in C. This keyed horn remained in use until the late 19th century. It was more and more replaced by the (chromatic) flugelhorn .
Further developments of this keyed horn, for example in Germany, had an additional key and could thus play chromatically over its entire range of around two octaves . There was also an alto keyed horn that was tuned in F or Eb.
Newer development
With the invention of valves by Heinrich Stölzel and Friedrich Blühmel since 1813 , the keyed instruments with brass mouthpieces gradually went out of use. Due to its simpler and therefore cheaper design, the flap horn could still hold up as a "folk instrument" for a long time (see flap horn verse ). The saxophone is a kind of further development of the valve horn with a clarinet mouthpiece. A return of the valve horns, especially the ophicleids, has been observed in the last few decades.
literature
- WFH Blandford: The Regent's Bugle , in: The Musical Times , Vol. 66, No. 990 (1925), pp. 733f.
- Willibald Gurlitt, Hans Heinrich Eggebrecht (Eds.): Riemann Musik Lexikon , Sachteil, Mainz: Schott 1967, p. 460
