Re: Alto vs. Tenor


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Posted by K on December 03, 2003 at 23:34:53:

In Reply to: Alto vs. Tenor posted by GC on December 03, 2003 at 15:57:12:

For Adolphe Sax the soprano, tenor, and contrebasse saxhorns were in Eb, whereas the alto (mezzo-soprano), baryton, and basse saxhorns were in Bb.

The post-civil-war-era US bands and the Danish/Swedish brass ensembles up to around 1960 followed the same practise of having the Eb cornet as the lead soprano instrument. So one cannot say, that Adolphe Sax was a loner with his views. Even Vincent Bach calls his Bb trumpets "mezzo-soprano trumpets" in the catalogues issued during his life-time.

But seen through the glasses of more modern band arranging practises, the Adolphe Sax nomenclatura certainly provokes much confusion. Bevan in the first edition of his book tells something to this effect:

When he played his tiny Eb tuba shaped instrument during church concerts, he wondered why that instrument was called a a tenorhorn, when he actually always played the alto voice of the chorales/hymns (sorry for the sloppy quote, but I haven't had that book in my hands since 20+ years ago).

The clashes of different terminologies would not be a real problem, if modern fast communication did not exist. But as long as we benefit enormously from such communication, I am ready to be tolerant towards problems of the described nature.

However I can give a rule of thumb:

If a person in my country calls the Eb instrument a tenorhorn, then he/she reveals him-/herself a being trained within the brass band moment and having received no music education at all from any other source. I pretty much believe the same goes for all other countries with the exception of the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Klaus


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