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The History of the Flugelhorn
In the Beginning
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Like the cornet, the Fluegelhorn began life as a type of bugle. The Fluegelhorn is possessed of certain Horn-like attributes, such as a deep funnel-cup mouthpiece, conical bore, and larger bell than the cornet, but like the cornet and trumpet, the B flat Fluegelhorn is approximately half the length of its analog in the Horn family of instruments, causing it to share the same partials as the cornet and trumpet in the first two-and-a-half octaves. The Horn, because of its greater length, has partials that are much closer together in its playing range, giving it different fingerings, tone and performance attributes.
The early 18th century Fluegel horn was a large hunting horn of semicircular configuration. It’s bearer was referred to as the “Flügelmeister.” The rôle of the Flügelmeister was to direct the phases of the hunt, which like its British counterpart was a formalized affair. During the Seven Years War (1756-1763), a war of near worldwide proportions involving Europe, North America and India (which confirmed Prussia’s new rank as a leading world power and made England the world’s chief colonial power at the expense of France), the Fluegelhorn was adopted as a military instrument.
The name, Flügel, means flank, and probably originally referred to the flanking maneuver used to encircle and trap prey in the course of the hunt. This name is not altogether appropriate for the conducting of warfare, because the flanking maneuver is but one of many types of signals that would have been given during the course of battle. The signal for full retreat inevitably comes to mind.
A Family and its Related Instruments
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Most of us, when we hear the word “Fluegelhorn,” think of an instrument that looks like a cornet or trumpet with a very large bell. This notion is pure fiction. In truth, the flugelhorn has been extinct for some time. The most current examples date from circa 1900, although I'm fairly confident that examples will turn up dating from some time between 1930 and 1950.
In circa 1810, the flugelhorn gained keys, courtesy of the Dublin instrument builder Joseph Halliday. This instrument, named for the Duke of Kent, is today known as the keyed bugle, and the keyed bugle in turn is a keyed flugelhorn.
It is not currently known who first added keys to the flugelhorn, but various incarnations of this instrument soon followed, and by the mid-1800's had grown into entire families of instruments.
The Fluegel family in its entirety consisted of: an E flat soprano, B flat alto, the B flat tenor and the E flat bass. Fluegelhorns have also been made in such other various keys as C, F, G and A. The E flat soprano and B flat alto instruments are configured in the same manner as the modern trumpet, whilst the tenor and bass instruments were configured like Saxhorns.
An early family of related instruments was the Koenig family of horns, first manufactured in 1855 by Antoine Courtois, which at first used the same funnel-type mouthpiece, and had a similar bore-profile, though these instruments differed in design in that they were circular, with the bell facing down, forward or up, depending upon the manufacturer.
A bell-up copy of this family of instruments called the ballad horn, designed by Henry Distin, was manufactured by Boosey & Co in 1868. The family consisted of a soprano, alto, tenor and bass. Another company, Rudall Carte, soon brought out a competitive copy marketed under the name “vocal horn.” The degree to which these and other instruments followed the Fluegel design configuration varied greatly, from 1856 to the mid-1920's, when the last of them finally went out of production. The Salvation Army C tenor ballad horn was a common instrument of this period, and closely resembled the “classic” mellophone in appearance.
The Various Spellings
The word Fluegelhorn has been variously spelled: Fluegelhorn, Fleugelhorn, Flügelhorn, Fluglehorn, Fluegel horn, Fleugel horn, Flügel horn and Flugle horn. There are other variations, but these seem to be the most common.
Untruths of Indeterminate Origin
This researcher has repeatedly come across “information,” much of it offered as fact by otherwise reputable reference books and Internet resources, stating that: Antoine (Adolphe) Sax invented the Fluegelhorn; that the Fluegelhorn is a member of the Saxhorn family; that the Fluegelhorn was originally Sax’s E flat soprano or B flat alto Saxhorn instrument, and so on.
Sax could not have invented the Fluegelhorn. It’s existence has been noted since the beginning of the 18th century. The Fluegelhorn is not a Saxhorn. Saxhorns are valved bugles that resemble the valved bugle or cornopean in bore profile. The instruments attributed to Sax that appear on his 1840's patent sketches and in his 1850 catalogue are not flugelhorns.
The Reasons for the Confusion
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Circa 1846, German bandmasters began referring to the new E flat soprano Saxhorn as a Flügelhorn, while in continental Europe there was an F or E flat soprano instrument referred to as the petite bugle in France, and the pikkolo in Germany. The E flat soprano and B flat alto Saxhorns, however, are not Fluegel instruments, as they have a saxhorn, not a fluge, bore-profile. The mouthpiece, bore profile and bell-size of the Saxhorn family of instruments are of valved bugle (or cornopean) configuration, and the valved bugle was a departure from the flugel design.
This confusion stems from interchangeable usage of the words Fluegelhorn and bugle. In many cases what is being referred to is actually one and the same instrument. The keyed bugle is often considered to be the parent of both cornet and valved Fluegelhorn, and this is true. The modern cornet and flugelhorn share a common ancestor in the keyed bugle.
Design and configuration were anything but standardized in those days, along with the nomenclature. Many people continued using these non-standardized names long after standardized design configurations and names were established, the way a person might refer to a trumpet or cornet as someone’s bugle, or horn, or if we were in 19th century Germanic Europe, Flügelhorn.
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This researcher has come across many instruments bearing names that are clearly inappropriate by today’s standards, through regional convention or because of the then non-standardised word-usage. I have seen examples of cornets that are Fluegelhorns, trumpets that are cornets, Fluegelhorns that are cornets, trumpets that are early circular cornet\posthorns (cornet ordinaire), and so on.
So for the sake of clarity and continuity, this researcher will refer to all instruments having the universally accepted Fluegel profile as Fluegelhorns or instruments having Fluegel characteristics that place them squarely in the Fluegel family of instruments. The same goes for instruments belonging to the Horn, Cornet and Trumpet families.
Building Materials
Fluegelhorns in the past have been made from a number of unlikely materials, including wood, clay and ceramic. They have also been made entirely of: brass, bronze, silver and nickel. The modern Fluegelhorn is most often made of brass, and is sometimes electroplated with silver, nickel, gold or copper (rose).
The Modern Instrument That Isn't
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The modern instrument everyone calls a flugelhorn is actually not a flugelhorn. It is a saxhorn that was patented by Sax in the 1840's and which first appeared in the 1850 Sax catalogue. It is properly called an Infantry horn.
Antoine (Adolphe) Sax never worked on flugelhorns. His instruments, originally an E flat soprano and B flat alto, are actually the two highest sounding members of the saxhorns. The other E flat soprano and B flat alto saxhorns more resemble the cornet in bore profile, and are a departure from the lower-voiced saxhorns in bore-profile.
The distinction here is that flugelhorns are a Germanic instrument whilst the saxhorns are a Franco-Belgian instrument.
Recommended Recordings
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The Classical Flugelhorn; Soloist: Frank
Fezishin. The collection of horn concertos in “The Classical Flugelhorn” was arranged by Frank Fezishin for flugelhorn, strings and continuo. “The Classical Flugelhorn” was recorded at the Regnum Marianum Church, Budapest, Hungary on May 28, June 2, 5, 7 and 11, 2003 using a custom Benge flugelhorn and a GR custom flugelhorn mouthpiece. You can find information about Mr. Fezishin, as well as order recordings from Tromba Classics at http://www.trombaclassics.com/. This CD is definitely an interesting presentation of some classic works, especially for the French Horn. It shows that the music can transcend the instrument, making it completely acceptable and plausible on the flugelhorn in a totally classic setting.
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