Musical Myths and Facts, Volume 1 (of 2)Engel, Carl
History
Musical Myths and Facts, Volume 1 (of 2)
Engel, Carl
Music -- History and criticism
This may be the place to notice a fine collection of old trumpets in the
possession of Prince Charles of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. They were made
by Johann Leonard Ehe, in N¸rnberg; Hieronymus Stark, in N¸rnberg, anno
1669; Christopher Frank, Magnus Wolf, Wilhelm Haas, anno 1688.
Passing over the Royal Museum of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen,
which contains highly curious specimens of the old Scandinavian brass
trumpet called _lure_--especially interesting if compared with the
bronze trumpets of mediÊval time excavated from bogs or mosses in
Ireland, and now preserved in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy at
Dublin--we now proceed to a cursory survey of the musical antiquities in
the museums of London.
The British Museum possesses several instruments, or fragments of
instruments, of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, and old
Celtic trumpets which have been found in Ireland. In the ethnological
department of the British Museum are particularly noteworthy:--The
specimens of Chinese instruments brought over to England by Mr.
Tradescant Lay; those from Siam, obtained by Sir John Bowring; those
from Java, obtained by Sir Stamford Raffles; a considerable number of
flutes, including nose-flutes, and of trumpets, from Otaheite,
Tongataboo, and New Zealand; well-preserved drums from the Polynesian
Islands; serpent-headed drums of the natives of New Guinea; Negro
instruments from Western Africa, etc.
The Museum of the East India House, in London, contains upwards of 120
musical instruments, mostly from Hindustan and Burmah, some of which are
very fine, but many are out of repair. An assemblage of curious pipes,
trumpets, and drums of the Polynesians, as well as fiddles of the
Hottentots and Kafirs in Southern Africa, may be seen in the Museum of
the London Missionary Society. Furthermore, the Botanical Museum at Kew
possesses several interesting contrivances of this kind, made of
peculiar species of wood by Indian tribes in South America.
The collection of musical instruments belonging to the South Kensington
Museum is now, as far as is known, the most comprehensive in existence.
The latest edition of its catalogue, published in the year 1874,
describes 353 instruments, of which 246 belong to the Museum, and 107
are on loan. The catalogue contains 143 wood-engravings and six
photographs of instruments, and is preceded by an essay on the history
of musical instruments. A glance at its comprehensive index will perhaps
convey to the reader the impression that it takes cognizance of almost
every musical instrument in the world. This is, however, by no means the
case. Even an account of all our own instruments in use at the present
day would fill a large volume. But, endeavour has been made to render
the catalogue as comprehensive as is consistent with its object, and the
reader will find in it illustrations and descriptions of most of the
instruments mentioned in the present essay.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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