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The
first publicly reported
valve system was announced in 1815 and attributed as the invention of
Heinrich Stoelzel (1772-1844) - a Silesian horn player. The
Stoelzel valve design was patented in Berlin in 1818. These valves
utilize the length of the valve itself as part of the airway- instead
of merely redirecting the airway across the valve as in later designs
such as the Perinet valve designed in Paris in 1839 - and still used on
all modern valved instruments.
The brass 'cornet' was first invented in France in about 1828. It is not to be confused with the 'cornett' or 'cornetto' which were wind instruments of the 16th to 18th centuries made of wood or horn, with finger holes and cup mouthpieces. The short, early form of the valved cornet with 2 or 3 Stoelzel valves was known as a 'Cornopean' in England, and was manufactured though the end of the century. They usually had a series of crooks in Ab, Eb and F and shanks in Bb and A. This Cornopean was made by "Secchi" 19 Boult Beaumarchais, Paris - probably around 1855. Unfortunately, it currently has only the F shank. Interestingly, this cornopean has the valve cluster between the bell and leadpipe- indicating a further evolvement toward the modern cornet design.   |
