Posted by ken k on August 06, 1999 at 11:26:29:
In Reply to: Where did alto horns come from ? posted by JRTapes on July 27, 1999 at 10:02:37:
Hello,
Adolphe Sax (or was it Antoine?) (the same man who invented the saxaphone family BTW) invented a family of conical bored piston valved brass instruments (some people believe he invented these to make up for the saxaphone family! ;-) ). Anyway they were pitched in soprano Bb (similar to the flugelhorn), Eb (the alto or tenor horn), a baritone horn (which is smaller in the bore than our american "Baritone" which is really a bell front Euphonium)& Eb bass. I do not know if he made a BBb bass, that may have come later. These instruments are more in common use in england nowadays, as others have mentioned in their comments. In America they were sort of made, along with mellophones, to replace the FH in marching bands, etc, with usually poor results. It seems the brass instruments made in that range all seem to have that same nasally tone quality, unless played by a very proficient player. I play trombone and have an alto trombone, and even that instrument has that same tone quality. Which is probably why they have not become as popular as the other instuments in the brass family. ken k